Spring has arrived and warmer weather is approaching, giving us some much-welcomed glimpses of sun. Traditionally the end of March is the time when most people turn off their heating, bringing us some respite and an opportunity to get on top of our busy workload.

The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) visited us on 7-8 March 2024 to undertake their annual audit, and we are pleased to announce that we have met Government and UKAS ongoing requirements again this year. UKAS audits are required by the first condition of authorisation from Competent Person Self-Certification Schemes, and they provide us with the opportunity to receive feedback on how we can further streamline our services for our stakeholders. We had some interesting and constructive conversations with the UKAS team during their visit and we are looking forward to implementing their suggestions so we can continue to support our registrants, providing the highest quality service. 

Competent person schemes are required to ensure registrants are kept up to date with technical knowledge, for example, due to changes to the Building Regulations, BS/EN standards, or technical approvals. Additionally, we must provide ongoing technical help and support to you as required. This is achieved through our dedicated Technical Hub, ongoing communications, our quarterly Technical Bulletins, with edition thirty-three due to be with you very soon, and through the support of our dedicated technical helpline. Our core helpline team of Kevin, Alex, and Cain are on hand to support you. Each of the team have on the tools installation experience and understand the challenges you face. This team has the further support of the technical team who have a wide variety of standards, legislation, product, and best practice knowledge. We are proud to offer such support to our registrants and want you to make sure you make use of their expertise. Contact the team if you ever need their expertise and advice. Look out for out for Technical Bulletin thirty-three which will land in your inbox very soon. 

The HETAS Unsafe Situations Procedure (HUSP) was developed to create a more rounded and consistent approach when identifying risks in installations. Using an installer’s competence, experience, and training as the foundation, the procedure makes installations safer and encourages thorough inspections to be undertaken. Find out more about HUSP in our article. 

As a not-for-profit organisation promoting cleaner, safer practices in the industry, we understand the importance of protecting our brand. To ensure that we can continue to support our registered businesses, we will keep working with Trading Standards to deter those who attempt to damage the brand. We want those businesses that do the right thing to feel supported with the safe and high-quality work they do. 

Behind the scenes, our technical team is working on reviews of BS 8303 (Installation of domestic heating and cooking appliances burning wood and solid mineral fuels) and BS 6762-2 (Services for leisure accommodation vehicles and transportable accommodation units). 

In the biomass sector, there are some upcoming changes to the eligibility of products that can be used for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS). The BUS contains a number of announcements, including an expansion of eligible boilers – boilers with an integrated cooking function that cannot be controlled separately are now included within the definition of biomass boilers. 

I hope you have an opportunity to take a much-deserved break from work over the Easter bank holiday. Our office will be closed on Friday 29 March and Monday 1 April for the bank holiday break.  You can contact the team in the usual ways, and we will get back to you from Tuesday 2 April.