Kitchen electrics

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Maybe something in the rules has been changed since I left Britain, but last I heard they were not allowed to make an additional charge for electrical work where a building application was already being made for the whole project, and those (many) local authorities which were trying to do so had been told in no uncertain terms to desist immediately.
Yes - it's changed.

Not only are they allowed to make an additional charge, they are obliged to recover the cost of any services they contract out.
 
New reply - Anyone heard of sending qualifications over before?
Yes.


Which specific ones would they be looking for?
Probably copies of his City & Guilds qualifications (which I'm assuming he has), including the one which shows he's up-to-date with the current version of the regulations.


1. If I have the work done by a friend who is a competent electrician although they cannot self-certify and they are not a member of a Competent Person Scheme. Would I then need to pay the LA a building notice prior to work starting?
Sounds like if he is judged to be competent then all you have to pay the council is a £50 admin fee, which is nice.


then pay an additional inspection charge as my electrician wouldn’t be able to provide certificate?
But he can provide an Electrical Installation Certificate. That's the whole point, and what they are referring to when they say "a person who is qualified to complete BS 7671 installation certificates".
 
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Not for the councils - they are required to recover costs, not to make a profit. It means that the taxpayer does not have to pick up the tab for inspection of other people's electrical work.
 
Not for the councils - they are required to recover costs, not to make a profit.
It costs them £264 to have an electrician inspect & test? And it costs them £50 to receive a piece of paper in the mail, rubber-stamp it, file it away and send out a standard completion certificate?
 
In actual fact, they may be but not if they say that is what it costs.

This is Britain, don't forget.
 
1. If I have the work done by a friend who is a competent electrician although they cannot self-certify and they are not a member of a Competent Person Scheme. Would I then need to pay the LA a building notice prior to work starting?
Sounds like if he is judged to be competent then all you have to pay the council is a £50 admin fee, which is nice.

It is not nice as it goes against the basis of the CPS regime. The CPS schemes will kick up a storm if they discover that anybody can get their Building Regs Completion done by waving a C&G certificate at LABC and paying £50.

It costs the average CPS member many hundreds of pounds a year just to participate, not to mention mandatory insurances, paperwork, test equipment calibration, etc etc.
 
It is not nice as it goes against the basis of the CPS regime. The CPS schemes will kick up a storm if they discover that anybody can get their Building Regs Completion done by waving a C&G certificate at LABC and paying £50.

It costs the average CPS member many hundreds of pounds a year just to participate, not to mention mandatory insurances, paperwork, test equipment calibration, etc etc.

None of which ensures that the person doing the wiring or writing the certificate has any qualifications, or test equipment with them on the job etc. They do not even need to be supervised on the job by a qualified supervisor.
 
It costs them £264 to have an electrician inspect & test?
How much do you think electricians should be allowed to charge? Would you be happy with a system whereby the government (central or local) had the power to control the fees of self-employed tradesmen?


And it costs them £50 to receive a piece of paper in the mail, rubber-stamp it, file it away and send out a standard completion certificate?
Would you be happier if the council didn't bother to check that people claiming to be qualified electricians actually were?

And the people who work for the council - should they have to do so in the open air, with no offices, no furniture, no lighting, no heating and no toilet facilities?

Should they have to buy their own stationery etc?

Should they not get a pension?

Should they not get paid holidays?

Should they not get paid if they are off sick?


Please note - none of the above questions are rhetorical. You can choose between honest answers, which you are prepared to defend with reasoned arguments, and ignoring them because you are an ignorant and unthinking whinger.
 
It is not nice as it goes against the basis of the CPS regime.
No it does not.

Unless, of course, you would like to explain that the schemes are actually meant to be a closed-shop, job-protection kind of thing.


The CPS schemes will kick up a storm if they discover that anybody can get their Building Regs Completion done by waving a C&G certificate at LABC and paying £50.
Will these be the same schemes who, after decades of insisting that their members had to be properly qualified, then found that once there was new, large, untapped membership-fee paying resource to exploit, that actually all they needed was to pass a 5-day Domestic Installer course and an open-book show-that-you-can-read exam?

My heart bleeds for them

It costs the average CPS member many hundreds of pounds a year just to participate, not to mention mandatory insurances, paperwork, test equipment calibration, etc etc.
How many hundreds, just for the membership? Insurances, certifications, test equipment etc are all expenses an electrician will have anyway.

Then double that number of hundreds, and that's how many notifiable jobs the electrician has to do before membership is cheaper.

Then, and I look forward to this, please produce your reasoned argument explaining why councils must be made to charge their normal full plans-checking and inspecting whack when they aren't actually having to do any of that work because of the qualified nature of the electrician involved, in order to not damage the revenues of CPS organisers.
 
The options given earlier in this thread are correct. However the reality in the real world is:

Local authorities really couldn't care less about homeowners notifying electrical work, particularly when it is minor insignificant items.

The vast majority of DIY work which should be notified is not, either due to people being unaware or simply not bothering as doing it properly is expensive and time consuming for no benefit whatsoever.

The only examples of anyone being prosecuted for non-notification of electrical work were a tiny number of cases where the work itself was so dangerous and shoddy that people were killed as a result.

Competent persons schemes are there to mainly ensure the electrician has a pile of documents and publications, most of which are never read and only moved from the shelf at the annual inspection. As an aside, a couple of electrical jobs will be looked at. Collecting the annual fee is probably the top priority.

Electricians that wish to comply with the law and do things properly will most likely belong to a competent persons scheme and have to pay for it.
Others that complete work that does not comply with BS7671 and have no interest in doing things properly will carry on just as they always have. They do not pay for schemes, notification or anything else.
 

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