Is this statement about Part P correct?

[jim_in_sussex]

Sunday Telegraph 14/5/06 page 14: report by Christopher Booker:

heading: ' A shocking mess Mr Prescott left'

[1st 3 paragraphs concern a Mr Walker, a former electrician now working in an electrical shop due to 2 (s)hags' Part P rules, who served a customer charged =A31250 by a Part P electrician when he would have charged =A360.]

.=2E.....At least when I had a new shower unit installed recently, I was more fortunate than Mr Walker's ex-customer. My pliumber did the job with his usual skill. But Part P meant that I also had to pay =A320 to an electrician to stand chatting for 10 minutes while the work was done.

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My undertstanding is that membership of a Part P scheme is a permit to actually undertake the restricted electrical fitting work NOT a licence to supervise, oversee or inspect a thrid party's work.

Any opinions please?

If that is the case, it rather seems that Mr Booker needs to reclaim his =A320 from the plumber and hot foot to his local building control with a =A3300 regularisation fee.

[Joe]

Yes, it *is* a licence to supervise, etc. Part P requires that either a council Building Control Officer (not necessarily electrically trained or qualified) or an *employee* of a company registered with one of the half-dozen organisations able to approve self-certification should certify the installation compliant with regulations. It does not require any particular person to do the job. DIY is still perfectly acceptable, as long as approval is obtained from a certified person.

[Andrew Gabriel]

An employee of a company registered with one of the half-dozen organisations able to self-certify can _do_ the work, but cannot certify someone else's work for the purposes of Part P. A number of the local authorities were claiming this was acceptable, but Part P has been reissued to make it clear it is not. Only the local authority can inspect someone else's work for the purposes of Part P.

It must be obtained from the LA if the person is not in one of the self-certify organisations. The council can subcontract the work, and in that case the sub- contractor does not have to belong to one of the Part P self-certify organisations (since this doesn't count as a self-certify). The council are not allowed to charge you for this inspection (other than the regular building control fee). Again, several councils were charging for the inspection in spite of being told not to by ODPM, but this is now explicitly forbidden in the reissued Part P.

[jim_in_sussex]

TFT

that was my understanding, & having just reread the new Part P, paragraphs 1.18 to 1.29 on pages 11 & 12, still is; ie part P membership is a permit ONLY to DO the installation work & complete paperwork relevant to your own work - without reference to Bldg Control.

++new Part P in force from April 2006 available at Chris Booker stands to get his money back.......

[thankyousam]

But presumably Joe's comment "DIY is still perfectly acceptable, as long as approval is obtained from a certified person" still stands under the "newer" Part P regs?

[jim_in_sussex]

That's not what the regs say 1.18 to 1.20 (page 11/12) exempt notification to building control ONLY when the installer ACTUALLY DOING the job is a Part P scheme member.

Otherwise, as explicitly stated in paragraphs 1.21 to 1.29, the work must be done under the aegis of local authority Building Control The local authority must be notified before work starts. Anyone can do the work and the local authority BC is responsible for assuring the work on completion. It may rely on the person doing the work or it can use ANYONE else (including its own BCO) it chooses to sign the work off

- there's no requirement that the person should be a Part P scheme member.

In short a Part P scheme membership is a permit to undertake on a commercial basis home electrical work - and complete associated paperwork for the job in hand, such as test schedules and BS7671 certificates - without prior notification to the local authority.

It is NOT a licence to supervise or oversee other people's work NOR a qualification to test or sign BS7671 certificates EXCEPT for YOUR OWN work.

DIY is completely acceptable AND completely outside Part P schemes, but Building Control must be brought in from the start (and fee paid).

Do not be confused by the term 'approved inspector' in reg 1.21. These people are a rare breed and do building control work in place of the local authority Building Control Department. The title has nothing to with membership of a part P scheme.