Other than a Local Authority Building Control body issuing a completion certificate the only other way of achieving this level of formal certification is to employ the services of a competent person belonging to one of a dozen different industry schemes. 



These schemes albeit private businesses are licensed by the DLUHC (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) and accredited by UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) to whom all schemes are answerable.



Competent person schemes have no regulatory or statutory authority whatsoever with the exception of the Gas Safe Register, although all competent person schemes are accredited and monitored by UKAS they themselves have no regulatory or statutory authority therefore powerless to restrain and/or punish scheme operators when found to be in contravention of their license limitations, similarly, scheme members when caught carrying out non-compliant, dangerous and/or negligent workmanship.



Firstly, it would be wise to understand the following;



Gas/LPG installations must comply with Approved Document J of the Building Regulations, the Gas Appliances (Safety) Regulations 1995 and Gas Safety installation & User Regulations 1998, these are statutory instruments, compliance with the Gas Appliances (Safety) Regulations 1995 and Gas Safety installation & User Regulations 1998 is a mandatory requirement.



Oil appliance installations must comply with Approved Document J of the Building Regulations and relevant BS/BSEN best practice guidance notwithstanding technical information provided by oil appliance manufacturers, there is no requirement to comply with a regulation if an alternative means of meeting compliance can be demonstrated.



Electrical installations must comply with Approved Document P, 18th Edition Wiring Regulations (BS 7671:2018+A2:2022) and relevant BS/BSEN best practice guidance notwithstanding technical information provided by electrical appliance manufacturers, there is no requirement to comply with a regulation if an alternative means of meeting compliance can be demonstrated.



Solid Fuel (wood/coal) installations must comply with Approved Document J of the Building Regulations and relevant BS/BSEN best practice guidance notwithstanding technical information provided by stove and fireplace appliance manufacturers, there is no requirement to comply with a regulation if an alternative means of meeting compliance can be demonstrated.



Generally speaking, any competent scheme member can issue a certificate of compliance via their scheme but what does this really mean in reality when a scheme certificate is issued against notifiable work?



Let’s take a look at the solid fuel industry for instance fuelled by a manic desire by many homeowners to avail themselves of a wood burning stove and a new chimney lining product irrespective whether one is needed or not, of course in instances where is no masonry chimney to erect an external stainless steel twin-wall system chimney irrespective of circumstance.



All of the above are considered to fall within the sphere of ‘notifiable work’, this means work that must be registered with a local authority Building Control body either by the homeowner if considering a spot of DIY or via a competent person scheme member. 



If the intention is to use a member of a competent person scheme to undertake installation work that person and/or business is required by the scheme they are members of to comply with section 4 and section 7 of the Building Regulation;



So, what are regulations 4 and 7 of the Building Regulations and Approved Document J, G and L?



Regulation 4;

“Description of Work where no Building Notice or Deposit of Full Plans Required”



Summing up, this regulation has everything to do with work on or to a combustion appliance that is not an installation and nothing whatsoever to do with either the installation of a combustion appliance or the lining of a masonry chimney both activities which are lawfully notifiable.



Regulation 7;


“Provides guidance on materials and workmanship, i.e. the use of the appropriate materials for a construction and how those who are working on the building must behave in a workmanlike manner”



Summing up, it is abundantly clear that this regulation has everything to do with the use and application of materials in a construction environment and those working on a construction site who must carry out their function in a workman like manner and nothing whatsoever to do with either the installation of a combustion appliance or the lining of a masonry chimney, both activities lawfully notifiable.



Approved Document J



“If guidance in an Approved Document is followed there will be a presumption of compliance with the requirement(s) covered by the guidance. However, this presumption can be overturned, so simply following guidance does not guarantee compliance. For example, if one particular case is unusual in some way, then ‘normal’ guidance may not be applicable. It is also important to note that there may well be other ways of achieving compliance with the requirements. There is therefore no obligation to adopt any particular solution contained in this Approved Document if you would prefer to meet the relevant requirement in some other way. However, persons intending to carry out building work should always check with their Building Control Body, either the local authority or an approved inspector that their proposals comply with building regulations”



Summing up, Approved Document J is merely a guidance document, it is generally assumed those carrying out installation work comprising of a wood burning appliance and lining of a chimney and/or the erection of twin wall system chimney will have sufficient prior knowledge and lengthy experience allowing them to competently interpret the guidance within an approved document supported by way of a number of British Standards. 



The same rule applies to Approved Documents G and L



As the opening gambit within Approved document J suggests; “Simply following guidance does not guarantee compliance” Therefore each and every time a certificate is issued it is issued against this incredibly ambiguous criteria.



When a scheme issues a compliance certificate it is lawfully stating to a homeowner and on behalf of its member that it ‘assumes’ the work carried out by its member (this is never scrutinised at completion) is in accordance with two rather pointless regulations (4&7) and thus it is a guess that such work meets compliance, schemes never physically carry out a post installation inspection to verify at completion certified work is actually safe, in accordance and does not represent a risk therefore it is left to the individual and/or business to their own devices to decide if they have complied or not.



A typical reference found on a well-known schemes certificate issued to a homeowner states:

“Please note that whilst installers are expected to satisfy certain criteria in order to join the --- CPS and installers are expected to meet all relevant safety and building regulations, --- Ltd disclaims all liability in the event of non-compliance of the installation”



If one takes the above literally, the issuer of the certificate merely ‘assumes’ their member has and continues to ‘meet all relevant safety and building regulations’ however, this is purely an assumption as there is no way of knowing if they have or have not nor the level of risk or potential non-compliances that have been left unchecked.



The following text is taken from a completion certificate issued by a well-known competent person scheme to a property owner within the last two weeks;



“The competent person named above has confirmed the appliance and any associated work has been installed in accordance with the --- rules of regulation and that the work complies with regulations 4 and 7 of the Building Regulations, Approved Document J,G & L as applicable”



Irrespective of non-compliance with any regulatory and/or best practice document this scheme incredulously denies all liability for or on behalf of its members making the certificate you have been issued potentially worthless if any of the work is found to be in contravention or negligent, the downside of this is that a fraudulent document would have been issued and lodged with your local authority Building Control body that potentially until verified otherwise may represent little relevance to work either seen or unseen, non-compliance, hazardous and/or incompetent, negligent workmanship could, in theory, result in an insurance related claim being considered ‘null & void’. 



In a letter from MHCLG (now DLUHC) to a NACE client concerning negligent installation work a senior policy advisor wrote;



“Please note, that the scheme operator itself assumes no liability for any breaches under provisions in the Building Act 1984 and the Building Regulation 2010, the liability rests with the installer who undertook the work” 



Furthermore;



“Certificates are normally issued via a scheme operator, it I the scheme installer and not the scheme operator asserting that the work complies with all relevant requirements of the Building Regulations. Competent person scheme certificates are evidence BUT not conclusive evidence of compliance, in other words, the certificate is not a 100% guarantee of compliance. Once given, a certificate cannot be withdrawn or rescinded” 



The above paragraph clearly confirming that a scheme certificate should never be accepted as proof an installation has been carried out competently, correctly or in accordance with any regulatory standard unless independently verified.



It is therefore onerous upon the householder/property owner to make sure he/she/they fully understand what they are buying into, are in possession of clear and precise information surrounding the intended work and why it is necessary, a detailed Scope of Works, Method Statement and consumer contract outlining procedure, contract cost at completion, allowance for variation orders, cancelation procedure and the cost of intended components. 



It is also worth noting that any building work resulting in an alteration, addition, removal and/or redesign to or on a Controlled Service (Chimney/Flue system and Fireplace Opening) that may be structural in nature or that results in a physical change must be registered with the appropriate authorities. (A Building Control Body) 



Scheme registration parameters and license limitations in accordance with DLUHC license requirements do not allow directly or indirectly or authorise scheme members to ‘sign off’ any type or form of building work and/or alteration as part thereof an installation although this clearly continues without the general public being aware of the hazards or defect consequences from unauthorised building work and/or alterations.



Advice and guidance on this and many other subject matters arising from questionable installation work is available on request from NACE Technical.