ECA and ESC announce major partnership

[NICEIC ENGINEER]

As announced yesterday the ECA and ESC have formed a new partnership for the good of the industry.

From April next year the NICEIC and ELECSA brands will be operated by a new venture called Certsure giving the industry a stronger voice to government and major stakeholders.

The move will bring many benefits to NICEIC and ELECSA registrants, the first of which is the creation of www.electricalsafetyregister.com a definitive searchable database of more than 30 000 registered electricians.

As part of our policy to be open and informative about the merger we have set up this thread for anyone to ask any questions or queries they might have.

A member of the NICEIC team will monitor the site at various points over the next week and provide answers to any questions you might have about the move.

We want you to get involved and look forward to hearing from you.

 

[Knobhead]

Thought they ran the EU, costs a fortune to run but does no useful work.

 

[Guest55]

i'm actually thinking of setting up my own scheme , biffcompetantcowboy.com

i offer FREE van go-faster stripes !!!

 

[Spudnik]

Can we please keep this thread on topic.

Thanks.

 

[lushers]

Absolute sham, completely pointless exercise. What our industry needs like a hole in the head is yet another 'scheme' to confuse customers. It's quite simple: all contractors need to comply with one legally required body; a la heating engineers with gas safe, then there's little, if any confusion. Judging by the way this latest NIC/ELECSA love in has occurred, this isn't going to happen any time soon.... I hope I'm wrong

 

[NICEIC ENGINEER]

Morning all, thanks for the comments. I will try to answeras many as possible.
Is this move just thecreation of another scheme?
No. The merger between ECA and ESC is not another scheme.The NICEIC and ELECSA brands will continue to operate alongside each other.Registrants do not need to change anything. The electricalsafetyregister is asite that combines the best of both brands. It is the definitive, searchabledatabase to find electricians from NICEIC, ELECSA and ECA.
What happens toAscertiva?
The Ascertiva Group will continue to exist. The AscertivaGroup is a global company and will still be serviced by its NQA and Puragenbrands.
Fragmentation of theindustry
Rather than fragment we are bringing together two of thebiggest brands in the industry together to create a stronger voice togovernment, stakeholders, contractors and householders. Theelectricalasafetyregister will become the number one destination for anyonelooking to employ an electrician and will be promoted to customers andspecifiers of electrical work accordingly.
Other schemeoperators
As mentioned previously the new Joint Venture is theculmination of two years hard work to bring some unity to the market. The ESChas tried in recent years to bring all schemes together under one register butsome operators did not want to co operate.
Promotion of Part P
The electricalsafetyregister is about more than Part P – it containsdetails of all registered firms not just domestic installers. However, werecognise that promoting Part P to householders is an important issue and madethis point to government in our recent response to the DCLG consultation.
Domestic Installer,Approved Contractor and Fees.
The NICEIC Domestic Installer Scheme and Approved ContractorScheme are unaffected by this move. They continue to run as normal and the contactdetails for either scheme remain the same.
Fees will also be unaffected. In fact there is a currentsmall difference (around £9) between what NICEIC Domestic Installers pay and thosewith the ELECSA scheme pay, based on Direct Debit payments. We will now ensurethat these are aligned to the lower figure. NICEIC has frozen its fees for four of thelast five years

 

[amberleaf]

NICEIC-ENGINEER .

Welcome to the forum . and taking the time to post .

 

[kingeri]

It just seems unfair that Joe Public will search the database and those folks in NAPIT will not come up on it, suggesting to the public that they are in some way less or even not competent.

 

[BlueToBits]

It just seems unfair that Joe Public will search the database and those folks in NAPIT will not come up on it, suggesting to the public that they are in some way less or even not competent.

Welcome to enlightenment. You have 2 options. You stand your ground and complain to anyone who will listen, or you pay your money to the NICEIC or ECA/ELECSA . Why do you think this partnership was created?

 

[Knobhead]

I’ve no use for schemes being retired, nor did I during my 40years working in the industrial field. So looking from the outside I really can’t see any advantages to any scheme. A national register yes, but this would have to be out of the hands of the mandarins in their ivory towers.

I envisage the various schemes all folding due to political in fighting and the rush to make money from the current crop of unskilled, ill-prepared trades men.

The government has its share of the blame with the introduction of ill thought out regulations which have been corrupted in to money making schemes. Training has gone to the dogs with training providers putting profit first with the blessing of the government.

My once proud trade has gone from a highly respected position in society to be on a par with a back street mechanic.

As for Mr. J Public, he’s never heard of you and basically couldn’t care less. The Electrical Safety Council, which should be a force to be reckoned with, is instead like a voice in the wilderness that no one is listening to.

 

[malcolmsanford]

I’ve no use for schemes being retired, nor did I during my 40years working in the industrial field. So looking from the outside I really can’t see any advantages to any scheme. A national register yes, but this would have to be out of the hands of the mandarins in their ivory towers.

I envisage the various schemes all folding due to political in fighting and the rush to make money from the current crop of unskilled, ill-prepared trades men.

The government has its share of the blame with the introduction of ill thought out regulations which have been corrupted in to money making schemes. Training has gone to the dogs with training providers putting profit first with the blessing of the government.

My once proud trade has gone from a highly respected position in society to be on a par with a back street mechanic.

As for Mr. J Public, he’s never heard of you and basically couldn’t care less. The Electrical Safety Council, which should be a force to be reckoned with, is instead like a voice in the wilderness that no one is listening to.

Tony have you any of those pills going spare, because I do not think anyone here could have penned this better or more succinctly.

I proffered in another thread, that though they are far from perfect the JIB are perhaps the nearest and best suited to carry the mantle for an Electricians Register.

They cover all areas and at least have standards, that are not swayed by the colour your money.

My once proud trade has gone from a highly respected position in society to be on a par with a back street mechanic.

That my friend says it all, a trade destroyed by narrow minded governments who over the years thought that trades were a thing of the past, things like manufacturing, coal, steel, ship building was a dirty word, and that the future was a service driven industry where we would all sell insurance, banking services and work in call centres, if there are any left.

Now it is coming back to haunt them, with a population of 60 odd million and not an handful of tradesmen, in any discipline, you can shake a stick at. Just some poorly trained lads, who through no fault of their own, have been lied to and conned into thinking they are getting trained

 

[RJT_94]

So basicly anyone with Napit and Storma are stuffed, if this takes off and the public see it as like the gas register. Anyone not in will start lossing work as they are not on this register. Yet again fully competent hard working sparks are going to be bent further over the table! why there cant just be a level playing feild and all schemes are in it bafles me.

Hello NICECI ENGINEER, What is going to be done to get other schemes on board and shouldnt it have been done proir to the register being open. Surely it entered someones head that its not going to work and cause confusion with customers without all schemes in!

 

[kingeri]

The register must be open to members of all schemes, otherwise it just sucks big time. I'm actually quite annoyed by this, so much so that I can't formulate an intelligent post at the moment.

 

[Spoon]

The register must be open to members of all schemes, otherwise it just sucks big time. I'm actually quite annoyed by this, so much so that I can't formulate an intelligent post at the moment.

Discrimination springs to mind....

 

[RJT_94]

Just awaiting a response to my email to Napit, if I get oneback that is.

 

[BlueToBits]

So basicly anyone with Napit and Storma are stuffed, if this takes off and the public see it as like the gas register. Anyone not in will start lossing work as they are not on this register. Yet again fully competent hard working sparks are going to be bent further over the table! why there cant just be a level playing feild and all schemes are in it bafles me.

Hello NICECI ENGINEER, What is going to be done to get other schemes on board and shouldnt it have been done proir to the register being open. Surely it entered someones head that its not going to work and cause confusion with customers without all schemes in!

He answered this here.

...Other schemeoperators
As mentioned previously the new Joint Venture is theculmination of two years hard work to bring some unity to the market. The ESChas tried in recent years to bring all schemes together under one register butsome operators did not want to co operate.
...

You can read what you like into the word "cooperate" but I know what I think.
The main thing here is 'IF it takes off..'. Previous track records of publicising electrical scheme operators have fallen very short of making any electrical scheme a household name. So NAPIT and STORMA (whoever they are) are not necessarily stuffed. This partnership is obviously formed to encourage NAPIT and STORMA members into joinig NICEIC or ELECSA. It may not be such a bad thing to do. The joining and assessment criteria and fees must be much the same. Go with the one you think overall offers the best benefits to you. Loyalty to one scheme or another is pretty much irrelevant.