Well said!

Perhaps you would be a mug to go into gas as a teenager. Careers are much more flexible than they once were and mature entrants should be encouraged rather than discouraged.

In that screenshot that Jon has posted it says there are 65,000 NICEIC registered electrical contracting businesses, in a recent post on this forum someone else claimed that last years changes to the entry requirements to the NAPIT and NICEIC Competence Schemes has stopped 25,000 electricians from being able to apply for membership.

It was a full fifty years last year since I went to the youth employment office in Redditch and got my National insurance number as back then you could leave school and get grown ups jobs at fifteen, I actually worked full time in a factory over the summer then carried on at school in the autumn.

To keep numbers simple, if we worked fifty years 2% of the work force would retire each year, but it's an older workforce and the rate of retirement is older so the retirement rate is more, plus a lot of older guys who had carried on working past retirement age did not start again after being told to stop at home during the Covid lockdowns.

At a steady 2% retirement rate I would expect the NICEIC to have lost between 2,000 to 3,000 contractors since the start of Covid two years ago, but with the higher retirement rate and older guys past retirement dropping out I would not be surprised if the figure is more like 10,000 contractors, in addition there are the NAPIT and unregistered self employed contractors to take into account.

I suspect that in reality the number of registered electrical contractors has fallen dramatically, I also think a lot of younger electricians are not registering with either scheme, as they can make more money with less hassle sub-contracting and flying under the radar.

All in all, I am really not surprised that someone cannot find an self employed electrician to sort out a bit of messy wiring that someone else put in.

Zoomup said:

...

Are modern sparks incompetent, lazy or just useless?

Z.

Possibly, however I do find independent retail customers hard work. Quite often you can't switch off power during working hours so you have to do it out of hours and gaining access can be an issue. Often it needs to be done yesterday and budget is also very tight.

Maybe these "incompetent, lazy or just useless sparks" are just shrewd businesses owners and  just don't want the hassle especially if there is a lot of work around at the moment?

The true fact is that electricians, like all human beings are not equal in many ways, including intelligence, integrity, motivation and conscientiousness, Those who are sole traders and not assessed regularly by a registration body are probably unable to be registered; Those who are registered are also not blameworthly, an openbook exam is not a challenge.

Jaymack   

It is interesting to note the numbers of part P scheme members and how many jobs they inspect and notify more generally.

A govt PDF listing year by year up to 2017.   I understand these are the figures submitted to the govt by the scheme providers. Note that  for some years 'ASCERTIVA' and later 'Certsure' includes NICIEC figures and some others as well so Niciec have slightly less than that.

At no time has that figure exceeded 36,000 in recent years for NICIEC, and about 42 to 45 thousand all schemes together, and on average there are slightly  less than 2 notifications per month, per registered company. For what it achieves it is a very admin heavy scheme, and I can fully understand folk deciding to avoid notifiable works altogether if there is enough to  do to make a living with small stuff. (and may be the odd job that should have been notified but somehow was not.)

More generally work is poor quality, much like poor service in restaurants, when the customers know no better, and do not reject it. As a nation  we are quite tolerant, and it sometimes seems we half expect folk to have the wrong papers,  not to finish the job, and generally disappoint, especially with building trades.  If British customers complained in a more Germanic way we might get a better, but more expensive job, but without that I fear no amount of legislation tinkering is going to help.

(and despite assurances of 'bonfires of red tape'  (latest drivel )we seem very good at creating hurdles that are not actually an improvement.)

Mike.

Yep. I love 'em. It is an interesting challenge. Today I found that a "builder" had connected three double sockets in the kitchen, supplying a washing machine, a tumble drier, a 3kW water heater and at the back of the building an 8.5kW electric shower. The supplying breaker is a B20 for the lot! Oh, and the shower is wired in 2.5 T&E, the sockets in 13 Amp. flex.

I am going to run a three phase sub-main to the kitchen to solve the problem. One man's meat etc.

Z.

To be honest i walk away from a lot more pain in the backside jobs that i used to do. Especially those where things have been done in the wrong order such as decorating or fitting kitchens then expecting you to sh-t miracles without disruption. 

Gary

Hmm I would be getting a red-flag feeling about this customer if that many people had been before me. Either wants the job doing for nothing, unrealistic time frame or bad payer history. There is nothing wrong with cherry picking jobs when factors like that are to be considered, especially if there is plenty of work out there. To label modern (I'm guessing its more 'younger' you really mean) as incompetent, lazy or useless sounds a bit cynical older generation to me. Without talking to the 5 previous people involved with the job, and getting all the facts, you can hardly form a fair judgement on them or there reasons for not wanting the job

Jon.

Not sure I'll sign this petition!

On the face of it, the NICEIC seems to be a good starting point. However, I found this quote on-line...

"Established almost 50 years ago, the NICEIC is the industry’s independent, non profit-making, voluntary regulatory body covering the entire UK. The organisation’s sole purpose is to protect consumers from unsafe and unsound electrical work.

The NICEIC is not a trade association and does not represent the interests of electrical contractors, but it does keep a Roll of Approved Contractors that are assessed every year to check their work meets the national safety standard and other relevant technical standards."

I'm currently an ELECSA Electyrician, but moving across to NAPIT. NAPIT is a 'Trade Association' and looks after the interests of Electricians. Whereas, NICEIC does not give two hoots about us Electricians. The NICEIC does play a very useful role in looking after the interests of the Consumer - But be very careful, they are Consumer biased!!

I agree, we DO need a central fully regulated list of Professional, Qualified, Electricians, but feel that the NICEIC is not the place to put this. Maybe The IET or the ECA would be better suited, as they are both Professional Trade Associations.

I have also found in my everyday work - Over 20+ years,I have NEVER, EVER, been asked by ANY potentail customer, about my Qualifications, Registrations, Insurance, etc. This is a sad state of affairs, when we are charged so much to be 'Part-P' registered, and the customers don't give a damn & generally won't pay our higher prices :(((