Although I have used fixed installation testers which do auto log results in the main it has been manual reading and putting the results down on paper although I would later copy them into excel which would auto highlight where there were problems with the readings.
However the last time I down loaded the forms for PAT testing from IET website they had changed to allow multi-entries on the same sheet which was designed to show a trend.
If the same is done with an EICR which would make sense then clearly a tester could copy the last test results, and since one is suppose to give the tester the last test results so he can show the trend then if done to the book there is nothing stopping testers from copying last years results.
In other words if done by the book then it is all about trust there is nothing to stop a tester cheating.
However any tester doing the first set of results would need to do the job correct as next year any errors would be high lighted.
Not sure the client would want multi entry forms or showing last years form to new tester as it high lights any remedial work not completed we see this with houses a lot where even today where there should have been according to rules at least 5 PIR/EICR raised showing no earths on lights and yet householders say they can't afford re-wire and clearly they have know it was wanted for 50 years. My mothers house is one of them.
There was a code for complied with previous edition of BS7671 however there has never been an edition of BS7671 which allowed either water pipes to be used as earth or lights to have no earth. There is an editions of the IEE wiring regulations but at that time they were not adopted by British Standards.
I saw one firms form for the old PIR which asked for cable types 6181XY, 6181Y, 6181B, 6491B etc which is fair enough when one has the installation certificate to copy from but in real terms one has little chance of identifying cables by just looking at them and once a tester guesses then any tester after will just copy down what last tester put down and PVC and LSZH cables have different current carrying capacity so a mistake could result in a circuit being over loaded many years down the line. The IET form only asks for CSA not insulation type.
But as to cheating the whole point has to be we do rely on previous information one of the first tick boxes is TN-C, TN-S, TN-C-S, TT or IT supply and often there is no way to work out if TN-S or TN-C-S and we would copy from last report. To me this is not cheating enquiry is a valid method and although we would clearly take actual readings even things like short-circuit capacity of MCB's it is acceptable to use the information off the last test results one would not remove MCB's to read the values.
The other question is should an EICR also be a service? Should terminal tightness be tested? Clearly this is extra work but I have changed all wire fuses during an inspection and test to ensure one they have not degraded and two they are the right size.
By advertising you will do this in the quote you then make it so there is no direct comparison with other competitors. Offering a discount for if previous results are furnished or repeat tests is something which could work both ways but with note that it stops the tester having to remove MCB's to read data on their sides may help but in most cases we recognise if 4.7k or 10k so in practice we don't really need to remove any.
The is a standard note "Cables concealed within trunking and conduits, or cables and conduits concealed under floors, in roof spaces and generally within the fabric of the building or underground have not been inspected." to include MCB's will not be removed to record SCC or CSA is approximate where not copied from previous test results could be valid comments. To identify between 7/0.029" cable and 2.5mm is really not something one is likely to do without a micrometer although one normally has a sixth sense it's not 2.5mm but could also be mistaken for 4mm so only 7 thou between them on each strand so we really do need the previous test results or installation certificate if we are going to produce a report within a reasonable time. i.e. no point re-inventing wheel or remeasuring CSA of cables.