Qualification expiry and legal requirements

[Selfmade]

I have City & Guilds 2382-12 and 2392-10, as well as various other certificates, all gained from OLCI, and am working as a self-employed "Domestic Electrical Installer". I always thought that qualifications were for life, but the more I read about this in relation to electrical qualifications, the more confused I become.


Essentially I have two questions - is it unlawful for a person without relevant qualifications to do domestic electrical wiring work on a commercial (i.e. being payed by the property owner) basis? Obviously this doesn't apply to me at present as I do have relevant qualifications, but my next question will, I hope, make it apparent why I am asking - do such legal requirements change over time, in other words will there be a time when, despite my current qualifications, I am no longer lawfully allowed to do this work?


I ask largely because of an article in Professional Electrician and Installer (p59 of the July/August issue) which talks about electricians being "left out in the cold if they have part qualifications which may not be adequate for the new requirements". It's not clear from the article whether this means that the qualifications will no longer be valid, or just that it will be harder to progress to an NVQ.


I'm certainly not averse to continuing study, staying up to date and enhancing my knowledge - but I'm not yet earning enough to justify spending hundreds or thousands of pounds on new courses just to stay where I am. If anyone can cast any light on this I'd be very grateful. I'm in Scotland, which often makes things more complicated as the law here is often unbelievably obscure, in my opinion at least!

 

[Alana Fox]

Hi Selfmade,

Alana here from OLCI Construction Training.

I can see you have a few questions about your qualifications with us and I would like to help you. Please call me on 0800 316 8100, alternatively, you can email me on [email protected] with a phone number and suitable time to call you back.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,

Alana Fox

 

[SirKit Breaker]

Hi selfmade,

You're current qualifications are more than adequate. You will only need to upgrade as and when things change significantly. An example is the 17th edition, there were few changes from 16th to 17th, so a one day update course was available to qualify to 17th edition. Then 17th amendment 1 came in, and the changes were substantial, so the one day update from 16th to 17th was dropped, and so anyone not holding the 17th by a certain date had to do the new 17th first amendment course. If you hold a 17th edition qualification of any sort, then there is no requirement to upgrade unless you want to through choice.

The Pat course has changed, but it is still 2377, and the new code of practice has been introduced, but you don't have to do another course to be compliant.

The biggest change has been with the old 2391, which has now gone, and been replaced with 2394 and 2395. but if you hold the 2391, you dont need to get 2394 and 2395, the 2391 is still adequate.

There is actually no legal requirement to hold any qualification at all. We have to legally comply with legislation, and that legislation for an Electricians is The Electricity at Work Regulations (there are others), and these only state the you must be competent. How you might prove competence without qualifications is another matter. So don't feel pressure to update qualifications that you don't need nor can afford, especially when you have adequate quals to start with.

This industry like any other has its fair share of scare mongerers, and will do all they can to tempt you to part with your hard earned. Before you do, take professional advice, like that offered in the post above. i have never had anything to do with OLCI, but if they are a forum sponsor, then they will be of a good reputable standard.

Cheers............Howard

 

[Selfmade]

Hi selfmade,

You're current qualifications are more than adequate. You will only need to upgrade as and when things change significantly. An example is the 17th edition, there were few changes from 16th to 17th, so a one day update course was available to qualify to 17th edition. Then 17th amendment 1 came in, and the changes were substantial, so the one day update from 16th to 17th was dropped, and so anyone not holding the 17th by a certain date had to do the new 17th first amendment course. If you hold a 17th edition qualification of any sort, then there is no requirement to upgrade unless you want to through choice.

The Pat course has changed, but it is still 2377, and the new code of practice has been introduced, but you don't have to do another course to be compliant.

The biggest change has been with the old 2391, which has now gone, and been replaced with 2394 and 2395. but if you hold the 2391, you dont need to get 2394 and 2395, the 2391 is still adequate.

There is actually no legal requirement to hold any qualification at all. We have to legally comply with legislation, and that legislation for an Electricians is The Electricity at Work Regulations (there are others), and these only state the you must be competent. How you might prove competence without qualifications is another matter. So don't feel pressure to update qualifications that you don't need nor can afford, especially when you have adequate quals to start with.

This industry like any other has its fair share of scare mongerers, and will do all they can to tempt you to part with your hard earned. Before you do, take professional advice, like that offered in the post above. i have never had anything to do with OLCI, but if they are a forum sponsor, then they will be of a good reputable standard.

Cheers............Howard

Thanks Howard - that's really helpful and clear. I guess with these legal things it's often a matter of interpretation, when it comes to things like proving competence. I was schooled at home and have since got two degrees (great experience, career disaster!), so am used to learning by just reading about something until I understand it. That's why I don't want to have to keep paying for courses just to learn stuff I could learn from the web/books, simply in order to get an up-to-date certificate! But I guess with some courses it's possible just to pay for and sit the exam, having studied the material from web/books.

Thanks also Alana for your offer of help, and sorry I didn't get around to taking you up on it. I think Howard has answered my questions now!

Thanks again

Sam