I sent an email to Sandra Kerr last night at Elecsa and this is her response:
"Thank you for your email.
I have copied below the link to the DCLG document ‘competent person schemes conditions of authorisation’ which we must comply with as a Competent Scheme Operator. This document was published in June 2012 and all CPS operators were given two years to meet these new conditions of authorisation.
Please refer to point 17 which states ‘Financial protection
must be provided, not offered, for a minimum of six years for work to dwellings. But where a manufacturer’s product guarantee is for a shorter period, this period will take precedence for that product. I have highlighted the significant change in this clause whish states protection must be provided as opposed to offered.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/competent-person-schemes-conditions-of-authorisation
Our new Platinum Promise goes beyond this DCLG requirement and not only provides protection to consumers in the event of an electrical contractor going out of business, it guarantees that any work undertaken by an ELECSA contractor will meet the required standards and in the unlikely event the contractor who carried out the work is not willing to rectify any issues, ELECSA will be here to assist. The guarantee also covers all types of work you are certified by us to undertake, not just the work the needs to be notified to Building Control.
I do appreciate the general public’s awareness of the requirements of Part P are limited at times and together with Electrical Safety First (formerly the Electrical Safety Council) we work hard on promoting to consumers the need to employ a competent person to carry out any electrical work in the home. I also appreciate that if given the choice some consumers will not pay for extra insurance, such as the fridge example, my view would be not to specifically detail the cost of the notification and guarantee to a customer, instead talk about these as added benefits of using a competent electrician who is registered with the ELECSA competent persons scheme.
I hope the above gives you the information you were looking for? I would of course be happy for you to call me on either of the numbers detailed below if you want to discuss or let me know a suitable time to call you."
Cobblers!