When you are looking for a safe, reliable and qualified installer for electrical or other property work, who can you turn to? A NAPIT registered tradesperson works to British Standards for electrical safety (BS 7671) and must meet strict entry requirements including qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge whilst having the relevant insurance policies in place. We find out the facts
What is NAPIT and who are its members?
NAPIT is a leading government approved and United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accredited membership scheme operator in the building services and fabric sector. There are currently more than 17,000 NAPIT registered installers in the electrical, heating, plumbing, ventilation, microgeneration and building fabric trades across the UK domestic, commercial, and industrial markets.
How does a business join NAPIT?
All NAPIT membership schemes require certain levels of core qualifications, and/ or in the case of an experienced worker route, and the ability to demonstrate that you can competently and safely carry out the work involved.
As well as the core qualifications there are insurance requirements – a minimum of £2m public liability insurance and at least £250,000 professional indemnity insurance if the work involves design, advice or the reporting of test results.
There are five steps to joining, upon application, there will be a review of application and an assessment will be booked. The assessment will take place where one of technical officers will observe a number of jobs and review the paperwork and policies. Following the assessment, there will be a writeup and the application will once again be reviewed, any outstanding actions will be sent over to complete, and upon receiving all information and successful completion of the assessment and review certification will be awarded.
Why should consumers choose a NAPIT member to carry out work?
Using a NAPIT certified scheme registered electrician to complete your electrical installation work provides you with piece of mind and insurance security.
A NAPIT registered tradesperson works to British Standards for electrical safety (BS 7671) and must meet strict entry requirements including qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge whilst having the relevant insurance policies in place. They can self-certify and provide Building Regulations Compliance Certificates on notifiable.
NAPIT members are committed to quality, safety and customer care and are kept up to date with all the latest health and safety regulations. The NAPIT Search Facility finds members close to you, you can filter by postcode, type of work and trade and take your pick.
What schemes and certifications are managed by NAPIT?
There are currently 15 schemes and certifications managed by NAPIT:
- BAFE DS301 Domestic Fire Alarm Scheme
- Competent Person Scheme
- Electrotechnical Assessment Scheme
- Microgeneration Certification Scheme
- Electrical Inspector Scheme
- Electrical Third-Party Certification
- Energy Efficiency Measures
- Portable Appliance Testing Scheme
- Temporary Electrical Systems Scheme
- Associate Membership
- Corporate Membership
- Local Authority Corporate Membership
- Electrical Duty Holder Support
- NAPIT Foundation Student Membership
- TrustMark Membership
How many NAPIT members are there and what else does NAPIT offer members?
There are currently 18,324 NAPIT members. We offer our members an unlimited free technical support helpline, discounts off Training Courses, and NAPIT Direct products such as publications, workwear and tools as well as external companies like TradePoint and Wickes. We travel up and down the country delivering our CPD at our EXPO Roadshows as well as attending events throughout the year such as Solar Storage Live, ELEX Show and The Installer Show. We provide monthly CPD sessions via online webinars and a quarterly magazine with technical articles, industry updates and various industry leading experts sharing their insight.
What sort of complaints can NAPIT investigate?
If you have concerns about the compliance of your installation, you must register this with the installer who carried out the work and give them the opportunity to resolve the issue. If you approach NAPIT without having gone through this stage we will note that a complaint is to be raised, notify the installer that we are aware of the complaint and ask you to contact the installer directly. If the installer does not resolve your complaint, you can escalate it to NAPIT.
We will review the information provided and approach the installer in order to determine the best approach:
- If it looks possible to reach a mutually acceptable agreement about a resolution that will satisfy you, we will document our understanding of the resolution and hold the investigation open until both parties tell us the complaint is resolved
- If it is not easy to agree a resolution, we will investigate by taking evidence from the NAPIT member and, if we deem it necessary, we may organise a site inspection to gather evidence for ourselves. Following the investigation, we will document our findings and if an issue with the installation is found, we will put them to the NAPIT member for them to propose how to address it. If we consider their proposed resolution to be satisfactory, we would ask the Complainant to agree to it. Following agreement, we would ask for evidence of completion and the Complainant’s satisfaction (or if appropriate attend site again to verify satisfactory completion) before closing the complaint
- If at any time NAPIT do not consider the offered resolution to be satisfactory the installer would be referred to the NAPIT Compliance Panel to consider sanctions such as suspension of their certification, or additional monitoring of their activities until a suitable resolution was offered
There are circumstances where an agreement cannot be reached, or is not being adequately delivered, typically for one of the following reasons:
- The installer disputes the details of the complaint and the evidence from both parties is inconclusive regarding fault
- The complaint is not being handled in a timely manner
- The offered resolution is considered appropriate by NAPIT but is not accepted by the complainant
- The offered resolution involves the installer returning to carry out rectification work but the complainant does not wish them to return
In these circumstances NAPIT is not sufficiently independent to judge between the parties and either legal action, or Alternative Dispute Resolution options will be recommended.
Can NAPIT pay compensation?
NAPIT’s responsibility in handling consumer complaints is to impartially judge the appropriateness of any complaint resolution offered by the installer to the consumer, and to take action against the installer if the resolution does not resolve the complaint in a manner that achieves compliance in a timely manner. NAPIT is also responsible for considering the impact of the evidence from complaints on the ongoing surveillance and certification of installers.
The process does not involve NAPIT paying compensation, or funding other installers to carry out rectification work, although if these things are offered by the installer themselves, they can act as suitable resolution options.
Before a complaint is escalated to NAPIT, the installer must have been given the opportunity to resolve the complaint themselves.
What’s the story behind NAPIT?
Formed in 1992 as The National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers (NAPIT) was a Trade Association, following the introduction of Part P of the Building Regulations, in 2004, NAPIT was authorised to operate Electrical Competent Person Schemes (CPS) under Full Scope and Defined Scope. In 2005 NAPIT added additional services such as their training facilities, insurance, and additional schemes such as TrustMark. Since then, NAPIT have continued to invest in company, developing new digital certification software, NAPIT FastTest, and our online shop NAPIT Direct. In 2015 NAPIT took a huge step by gaining authorisation to be a City & Guilds Accredited Training Provider and expanded the NAPIT Training brand adding with additional accredited satellite centres around the UK and the City & Guilds Accredited Competence in the Installation and Testing of Electrotechnical Systems NA-7232-(5) programme was developed.
NAPIT have continued to grow, providing more technical content then ever through publications such as our award winning EICR Codebreakers and On-Site Solutions, and the technical webinars and roadshows.
Where can I find out more about NAPIT?
To find out more about NAPIT, visit: https://www.napit.org.uk/
