Does an electrician HAVE to be a member of a competent person scheme to do an EICR?

“When commissioning an inspection, in order to establish if a person is qualified and competent landlords can: check if the inspector is a member of a competent person scheme; or require the inspector to sign a checklist certifying their competence, including their experience, whether they have adequate insurance and hold a qualification covering the current version of the Wiring Regulations and the periodic inspection, testing and certification of electrical installations.” https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electrical-safety-standards-in-the-private-rented-sector-guidance-for-landlords-tenants-and-local-authorities/guide-for-landlords-electrical-safety-standards-in-the-private-rented-sector#what-do-the-electrical-safety-standards-in-the-private-rented-sector-england-regulations-2020-require The insurance the electrician requires is professional indemnity as an EICR is considered advice. It would need to be of a sufficient limit to cover all your potential liabilities from them giving negligent advice. Say, the electrician tells you it is safe and the house burns down with your tenants in it, is their insurance going to cover it. Or, if your tenants get an electric shock will their insurance be enough to cover it. You can always ask for a higher level cover, most insurers are quite flexible regarding changes in cover. The minimum requirement for Competent Person Schemes (CPS) is £2,000,000PLI and £250,000PII they are the most common levels of cover across the industry. They only require PII for EICRs for some reason, despite the fact installation and design in most circumstances would also require PII should the electrician be negligent in their work. They also require all electricians have EICRs in their records to be inspected before they endorse them for EICRs. So, it would probably be an electrician not yet registered and building a portfolio. Competent Person Schemes are for self-certifying Part P notifiable work not for electrical certificates.

It’s not mandatory, the NICEIC will obviously recommend that an electrician is registered. Insurances impose the need for registration in some cases. If your elec has the C&G 2391 qualification or equivalent, and all the others that make him an electrician...you’re okay. You might want to make sure he’s insured though, for your own piece of mind. All this may change however... Regards, Carl.

As long as they have the 2391 testing qualification or equivalent and public liability and professional indemnity insurance then an eicr can be done out of scope competent persons scheme is for new installations or modifications of existing installations however if he has got too do repairs he may have too issue minor works certificate for some of the works depending on what needs doing and that would require a competent persons scheme

No you don’t have to be to do an EICR, but don’t worry the NICEIC & others have a way of screwing more money out of us registered electricians to carry them out. By the way, the NICEIC do not run the electrical contracting industry.

If they are part of an (inspector) competent person scheme it demonstrates they have had their qualifications checked and it gives the client the peace of mind that the person undertaking the testing is competent to do so (technically anyway). Certainly looks better if the document was ever needed in any sort of legal situation.