How to check an electrician is properly qualified

• Search the Registered Competent Person Electrical register
• Ask for 18th Edition and 2391 qualifications
• Check public liability insurance is in place
• Every job should end with a certificate

Anyone can buy a van, print “electrician” on the side and start taking bookings. There is no licence to practise in England the way there is for gas work. What there is instead is a set of registers, qualifications and certificates that a properly qualified electrician will have, and it takes about ten minutes to check them. This guide shows you how. It applies to us as much as to anyone else, so check us too.

Why it matters

Bad electrical work is invisible until it is not. A loose connection behind a socket can sit for years before it overheats. A consumer unit (the fuse box) fitted without RCD protection looks like any other until someone drills through a cable. And the paperwork that proves the work was done properly matters when you sell the house, claim on insurance, or have a tenant’s solicitor or the council’s licensing team ask for it.

We are regularly called to put right cheap work by someone who turned out not to be registered. It is nearly always dearer than doing it properly the first time.

Competent person schemes

In England, electrical work in homes is covered by Part P of the Building Regulations. Part P says the work must be designed and installed so that it is safe, and that certain jobs, called notifiable work, must be reported to the council’s building control department. Notifiable work includes a new circuit, a new consumer unit, and most work in a bathroom. Our guide on Part P explains the detail.

Rather than pay the council to inspect every job, a registered electrician can self-certify. To do that they must belong to a competent person scheme: a body approved by the government that assesses the electrician’s qualifications, test instruments and the standard of their work, and re-assesses them regularly. NICEIC and NAPIT are the two most common schemes in our area. A scheme member notifies the council on your behalf and you receive a building regulations compliance certificate, usually within a few weeks.

The way to check is the Electrical Competent Person Register, a single government-backed website that searches all the schemes at once. Type in the trading name or postcode and the firm should appear, with the schemes they belong to and the type of work they are registered for. If they are not on it, they cannot self-certify notifiable work, whatever the van says.

Wales has its own version of Part P and the same registers apply. Scotland has a different system, with a building warrant process and its own approved certifier scheme, so this section does not read across.

With a registered firm, the scheme assesses the firm’s qualified supervisor and its systems, and the firm takes responsibility for every electrician who works under its name. With a sole trader, the register entry is the person who will turn up.

Qualifications and the ECS card

Scheme registration tells you the business has been assessed. The qualifications tell you about the person doing the work. The ones that matter in 2026 are these.

A Level 3 electrical installation qualification, such as the City & Guilds 2365 Level 3 diploma or the Level 3 NVQ, which includes assessed work on real sites. This is the core trade qualification. Level 2 on its own is a trainee, not a qualified electrician.

The AM2, a practical assessment taken in a test centre at the end of an apprenticeship or NVQ, where the candidate installs, tests and fault-finds a full installation under exam conditions. Passing it is the point the industry treats someone as a qualified electrician.

The 18th Edition, formally the City & Guilds 2382 qualification in the current wiring regulations, BS 7671:2018 and its amendments. This is the rulebook, re-sat whenever a new edition or amendment comes out.

The City & Guilds 2391 in inspection and testing, for anyone producing EICRs. Not every electrician holds it.

The ECS card, from the Electrotechnical Certification Scheme, is the industry’s photo ID card. It is issued only when the holder has proved their qualifications and passed a health and safety test, and the colour shows their grade: gold for a qualified electrician, other colours for apprentices and other roles. Ask to see it. A real electrician will have it in the van or on their phone and will not mind the question.

Questions to ask before you hire

• Which competent person scheme are you registered with, and under what name? Then check the register yourself.
• Who will actually do the work, and are they qualified or an apprentice under supervision?
• Will I get a certificate when the job is finished, and who will notify building control?
• Do you have public liability insurance, and for how much?
• Can I have a written quote, not an estimate, before you start? An estimate can grow; a quote is a price.
• What happens if you find something unexpected once the job is open?
• Are you TrustMark registered? TrustMark is the government-endorsed quality mark for trades working in people’s homes; registered firms have been vetted on their work, customer service and finances.

Paperwork you should get afterwards

Every piece of electrical work should come with a certificate, signed, with a copy for you to keep with the house deeds.

An Electrical Installation Certificate, an EIC, for a new circuit, a new consumer unit or a rewire. It records the design, the test results and who did the work.

A Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate, a minor works certificate, for a small addition to an existing circuit, such as an extra socket or a replaced light fitting.

A building regulations compliance certificate for notifiable work, which comes from the scheme, not the electrician, after they have notified the council. If you have had a consumer unit replaced and nothing has arrived within about a month, ask. Solicitors check for it when a house is sold.

An Electrical Installation Condition Report, an EICR, if you have had an inspection rather than work done. It is a report, not a certificate, and grades what was found.

A certificate with no test results on it, or a receipt with “tested” written on it, is not a certificate.

Red flags

• Not on the Electrical Competent Person Register, or on it under a different name from the quote.
• Cash only, no written quote.
• Cannot or will not show an ECS card or a scheme registration.
• Says a job does not need notifying when it plainly does, such as a new consumer unit or a new circuit.
• Says a certificate is extra, or will be “posted later” with no date.
• No test instruments in the van. An EICR or a new circuit cannot be tested without them.
• Pressure to decide today, or a price that is a fraction of everyone else’s.
• Suggests “just adding a couple of circuits” to rubber wiring.

One of these is a reason to ask more questions. Two or three together is a reason to thank them for their time.

Where Fylde Sparks fits in

We would rather you checked than took our word for it, so here is what you will find. Fylde Sparks Electrical Ltd is an NICEIC Approved Contractor for domestic and commercial work, which means we are Part P registered through NICEIC and can self-certify notifiable work in your home. We are TrustMark registered and a member of the Electrical Contractors’ Association. Every electrician on the team holds a Level 3 qualification and the 18th Edition, our inspection and testing lead holds the City & Guilds 2391, and everyone carries an ECS card. We carry £5 million public liability and £10 million employer’s liability insurance, with certificates available on request.

Search for us on the Electrical Competent Person Register under our trading name. If anything on this page is not true of the person standing in your hallway, whoever they work for, do not let them start.

Need a hand?

If you want an electrician you have already checked, our EICR and landlord certificates page explains what an inspection involves and our consumer unit upgrades page covers the job people most often get caught out on. Get in touch through the contact page and ask us any of the questions above.