Legally, you don't need anything to go out and work as an electrician - it's not a protected title, unlike say an architect.


Sensibly you should be able to show that you're able to work to the wiring regs and have some insurance - but that's really to protect yourself or to meet customer's requirements rather than any legal obligation. Some customers like the reassurance of some big well known organisation being there to vouch for you - but others are less bothered.


When it comes to building regulations - some work is notifiable (under part P) - which of itself doesn't make a legal difference (anyone can still carry out any electrical work) but economically it makes a lot more sense to be a member of a Competent Persons Scheme and be able to self-notify (and self-certify) for building regs (it's usually a couple quid per job via the scheme) rather than having to notify via the local council (or perhaps a 3rd party building inspector) where the cost is likely to start at over £200 per job even for the smallest job.


Note that part P of the building regs (and all the notification that goes with it) only applies to domestic installations - not to commercial or industrial ones. Some of the Schemes operate differing types of membership as a result - some (predating the building regs) concentrate on a wide range of electrical work and have just tagged on the ability to self-certify for domestics as an extra, other are solely domestic memberships and don't cover you for say commercial or industrial installations.  Likewise support for performing periodic inspections and issuing EICRs may or may not be included, You pays your money and you takes your choice.


You correctly identify a snag in that it's tricky to do some notifiable work in order to show it to a scheme before you can become a member. In theory you could get around this by notifying (in advance) through your local building control dept and paying their fee (£200+++). Most recognise that that's a bit unreasonable and as scheme members have the privilege of notifying after the event (by several tens of days) the accepted practice is to go ahead and do the work and then notify retrospectively once you've been accepted as a member. Even if you fail the assessment the first time you should still have time to notify once you have passed (just try not to fail repeatedly...)


   - Andy.

Legally, you don't need anything to go out and work as an electrician - it's not a protected title, unlike say an architect.


Sensibly you should be able to show that you're able to work to the wiring regs and have some insurance - but that's really to protect yourself or to meet customer's requirements rather than any legal obligation. Some customers like the reassurance of some big well known organisation being there to vouch for you - but others are less bothered.


When it comes to building regulations - some work is notifiable (under part P) - which of itself doesn't make a legal difference (anyone can still carry out any electrical work) but economically it makes a lot more sense to be a member of a Competent Persons Scheme and be able to self-notify (and self-certify) for building regs (it's usually a couple quid per job via the scheme) rather than having to notify via the local council (or perhaps a 3rd party building inspector) where the cost is likely to start at over £200 per job even for the smallest job.


Note that part P of the building regs (and all the notification that goes with it) only applies to domestic installations - not to commercial or industrial ones. Some of the Schemes operate differing types of membership as a result - some (predating the building regs) concentrate on a wide range of electrical work and have just tagged on the ability to self-certify for domestics as an extra, other are solely domestic memberships and don't cover you for say commercial or industrial installations.  Likewise support for performing periodic inspections and issuing EICRs may or may not be included, You pays your money and you takes your choice.


You correctly identify a snag in that it's tricky to do some notifiable work in order to show it to a scheme before you can become a member. In theory you could get around this by notifying (in advance) through your local building control dept and paying their fee (£200+++). Most recognise that that's a bit unreasonable and as scheme members have the privilege of notifying after the event (by several tens of days) the accepted practice is to go ahead and do the work and then notify retrospectively once you've been accepted as a member. Even if you fail the assessment the first time you should still have time to notify once you have passed (just try not to fail repeatedly...)


   - Andy.