Advice required regarding finding a suitable "certifier" when not personally registered

[david bell]

I am an old "spark" who is looking to re-enter the industry working self-employed in domestic premises. Can any of you kind folk help with the following.

I am City and Guilds qualified (A and B ) and also have the 17th edition certificate. However due to working in other fields / abroad for many many years I have no chance of becoming "registered" any time soon and therefore I will obviously have issues when completing any work that is notifiable.

However I read the following extract on the net that states, "From April 2014 you will also be able to employ a non-registered electrical installer who has appointed a registered third party certifier to carry out the required inspection and testing of the work both during and on completion."

I would like to hear the views on this from people currently in the trade and also ask if anyone does any work as a "certifier" or where they can be found.

thanks in advance, DB

 

[Dan]

Did anything come of this mate? @david bell - Did you get on the blower to them?

 

[Simon47]

I suspect it may be a money issue. If I don't join the NICEIC or ELECSA because I can use a 3rd party certifier, then they lose out on £££s each year.

Not only that, but their members aren't generally pleased with the idea of others "getting away with" avoiding the overhead of paying the scheme membership.
And who is going to sign up as a third party certifier so they can test work that they'd rather have for themselves ?

 

[Pretty Mouth]

Not only that, but their members aren't generally pleased with the idea of others "getting away with" avoiding the overhead of paying the scheme membership.
And who is going to sign up as a third party certifier so they can test work that they'd rather have for themselves ?

I suspect a lot of electricians do think that way, but it's not logical. Whilst we are sort of in competition, my 3rd party guy gets a small slice of the cake from any notifiable work I do, so he benefits from it. If 3rd party certification wasn't permitted, then I'd have to join a scheme. Still in competition, but no benefit to him.

 

[Simon47]

You're in a minority I think. For most, it's a choice between paying someone else to do the work or paying LABC fees. In my case, I just don't do enough to cover the membership fees - and AFAICT none of them have a "low volume" membership option.
So I think for the majority of sparks, not being a 3rd party certifier means they get the whole cake rather than just a slice.