Now that the Green Deal soft launch is underway, it is important that installers understand what qualifications and business changes they face before taking part, including the changes to Competent Person Schemes (CPS) brought in by government earlier this year.

Now that the Green Deal soft launch is underway, it is important that installers understand what qualifications and business changes they face before taking part, and keep in mind the changes to Competent Person Schemes.

Department for Communities & Local Government (CLG) introduced new CPS requirements in June stating that all CPS operators would be required to achieve UK Accreditation Service (UKAS) accreditation in order to continue to approve businesses to self-certify under the scheme.

Under the new requirements the initial assessment of qualifications and insurances will still apply, as will the on-site inspection to view work that has been recently completed.

However, there are several new requirements that businesses will have to be measured against in order to maintain their self-certification status under a CPS.

Existing CPS members have a transitional period during which they can begin to be measured against these new requirements.

The document: Building Regulations: Competent Person Self-Certification Schemes Conditions of Authorisation provides outline detail on many of the requirements and is available to download on the CLG website.

For those who wish to continue to self-certify their own work, making these changes now can place your business in an excellent position not just for continuing to be part of a CPS but also to join a Green Deal installer scheme at a future date.

“For some businesses this may at first appear to be burdensome but many businesses will already have the necessary processes in place and it may just mean simply documenting them for consistent use across the business,” said John Thompson, APHC chief executive.

For those who require a little extra support, APHC will also be running a one-day course on ‘Developing a Quality Management System’.