Which qualifications to be self employed electrician?

[Green Smurf]

Hi guys, wasn't sure if this should go in general forum or in business section so if a mod needs to move it, fair enough and sorry. Basically I'm asking on behalf of my brother, he worked as a sparkies mate/unqualified person for a small electrical contractor in Surry/London for 4 or 5 years in late 90's and early 2000's. In those 4 or 5 years he got a pretty good level of working knowledge and a lot of hands on experience, in his last couple of years he would work pretty much unsupervised on smaller jobs (domestic rewires etc) and his boss or one of the other qualified guys would "check" his work before handover/notification or whatever. The firm did some pretty big, prestigious jobs too, commercial/retail jobs for national retailers and even on the homes of middle eastern royalty! Anyway, he never did any courses or qualifications at the time (despite his boss offering him to do training on the job). He had previously trained as a metal fabricator & welder and did that for a few years when he finished school.
When he left that job, he did some other stuff, spent quite a few years travelling around building railways. Now, he's a at a point where he doesn't want to do the travelling and be away from home all the time. He would really like to set himself up locally and work for himself. He knows a few builders locally that would use him for electrical work if he was suitably qualified and registered to do it. I run a lighting wholesale business and our other brother works for one of the national electrical wholesalers at a local branch too, so he would get plenty of referrals from us too.
So that's my very long winded way of asking a simple question is... What courses/qualifications does a person need to have to register with NICEIC/ELECSA etc and carry out electrical work?

I wrote all the background info there to give you an idea of his circumstances. He is over 40, with a mortgage and kids etc and little or no savings so doing a 3 year full time course at college and working as an apprentice/improver for another couple of years isnt really going to be possible. He is on the verge of borrowing over £5k to do some 16 week intensive course that he says will give him the qualifications he needs, but I am wary as I know of other people that have paid a lot of money to do "short intensive courses" to become a plumber/sparky/network engineer etc only to find they DON'T actually have what was required to do the job.

So if anyone can spell out exactly what minimum requirements in terms of City & Guilds or other certs that are required to register and work as an electrician (approved contractor) and then what further courses/qualifications he would need to be able to test and inspect and sign off works for building control, that would be fantastic. I really don't know whose information to trust, who is the definite authority on what makes an individual qualified? Most of the websites you find are selling courses, they are in the business of getting you signed up and taking your money, they are not concerned with whether you will be able to do what you thought you would after your 16 weeks and £5k. Will the NICEIC give out the right information. Can anyone recommend a course that would suit?

Bearing in mind he has several years experience working in the trade and is competent to a degree but would definitely need to learn a fair bit about the theory, designing installations, calculations, testing procedures and current regs.

I appreciate any constructive advice, thanks for reading guys!

 

[MDJ]

Cotty, that's the moderator.......

Or even an administrator.

 

[Green Smurf]

Thanks for your input so far chaps and chapess. I've been onto the NICEIC this morning and have been looking at various sites. NICEIC say to register on the Approved Contractor scheme, he would need NVQ Level 3, then do their 17th Edition regs course and their 2394 & 2395 at a cost of around £1200 for all three. I said, what if he hasn't got the NVQ 3? I was told in that case he could possibly be given some sort of technical interview by one their people to assess if he has the required technical knowledge. Has anyone done it this way? I'm not sure if he would have the required theoretical knowledge either.
Then I was reading about the JIB ECS scheme. This seems to be a proper accreditation that says you have all the qualifications needed, am I right? If you want to call yourself a bonafide electrician do you need to have an ECS card? They say that NVQ Level 3 is mandatory.
I then came across EAS (Electrical Assessment Services) who seem to offer an NVQ level 3 (or equivalent) without actually attending college. They do it by field based assessments and by completion of a portfolio of work demonstrating all the necessary skills and knowledge, they call it REPS or RAKS programmes. JIB actually have it written on the ECS card application "For info on NVQ Level 3 Diploma in your appropriate discipline, Contact EAS UK Ltd...."
So, it seems to me it is a genuine recognised scheme, what do you think? Has anyone got experience of the organisation or getting an NVQ 3 in this way?
Would he be able to do it this way working for himself or would he have to work for a company that was already JIB member or something?

 

[lyndonh]

Well I studied city and guilds level 2 and level 3 at college and studied the 17th edition wiring regs.

I did a PAT training course

I do Electrical Testing and PAT Testing domestically.

 

[Hawkmoon]

Thanks for your input so far chaps and chapess. I've been onto the NICEIC this morning and have been looking at various sites. NICEIC say to register on the Approved Contractor scheme, he would need NVQ Level 3, then do their 17th Edition regs course and their 2394 & 2395 at a cost of around £1200 for all three. I said, what if he hasn't got the NVQ 3? I was told in that case he could possibly be given some sort of technical interview by one their people to assess if he has the required technical knowledge. Has anyone done it this way? I'm not sure if he would have the required theoretical knowledge either.
Then I was reading about the JIB ECS scheme. This seems to be a proper accreditation that says you have all the qualifications needed, am I right? If you want to call yourself a bonafide electrician do you need to have an ECS card? They say that NVQ Level 3 is mandatory.
I then came across EAS (Electrical Assessment Services) who seem to offer an NVQ level 3 (or equivalent) without actually attending college. They do it by field based assessments and by completion of a portfolio of work demonstrating all the necessary skills and knowledge, they call it REPS or RAKS programmes. JIB actually have it written on the ECS card application "For info on NVQ Level 3 Diploma in your appropriate discipline, Contact EAS UK Ltd...."
So, it seems to me it is a genuine recognised scheme, what do you think? Has anyone got experience of the organisation or getting an NVQ 3 in this way?
Would he be able to do it this way working for himself or would he have to work for a company that was already JIB member or something?

Yes but their entry requirement may be level 2 - otherwise I don't see how you could do level 3 standalone and learn sufficient theory on site

 

[7029 dave]

Yes but their entry requirement may be level 2 - otherwise I don't see how you could do level 3 standalone and learn sufficient theory on site

Theory on site?, that was the job for the tech college, only practical on site in my day lol ( theory within reason)

 

[Hawkmoon]

Theory on site?, that was the job for the tech college, only practical on site in my day lol ( theory within reason)

I know the depth of theory has been 'softened' a bit compared to the old 236 1,2 & C but...

...same in my day, most of the older electricians I worked with would never have been able to instruct anybody in algebra let alone power factor correction or 3 phase theory - it's mostly forgotten.