How to become MCS certified

The order that actually works

Each step below depends on the one above it. Skipping ahead does not save time; it produces an application that stalls waiting for something you have not done yet, while the fees you have already paid keep running.

• ·Get qualified. The Level 3 air source heat pump units, plus low temperature heating and hot water system design, and G3 for unvented hot water storage if you do not already hold it.
• ·Have a business to certify. A company or a sole trade, trading, with public liability and professional indemnity insurance - the professional indemnity matters because MCS treats you as the designer.
• ·Decide who holds which role. Main Contact, Licensee and Technical Supervisor. In a one-person business all three are you, but they still have to be named.
• ·Write your processes down. This is the quality management system, sized to how complex your MCS work actually is.
• ·Join a consumer code. You cannot be certified without one.
• ·Complete at least one fully compliant installation for each technology you want certifying. Your certification body assesses you against a real job.
• ·Apply to a certification body. They pass the application to MCS - you do not apply to MCS separately.
• ·Pass MCS Scheme checks, starting with the onboarding call.
• ·Pass the certification body assessment, and close out any non-conformities.
• ·Sign the Installer Agreement, get set up on the MCS Installations Database, and start certifying installations.

Qualifications, and what the RPL route is

Competence is assessed at the level of the business, but it is evidenced by individuals. In practice that means somebody in the business has to hold the Level 3 air source heat pump qualification and the design qualification for low temperature heating and hot water systems, and be able to show it.

Recognition of prior learning is the route for people who already have the trade. Rather than sitting a full college course covering pipework and principles you have been doing for fifteen years, you demonstrate the specific Level 3 knowledge by assessment. It is a recognised route to the same qualification, and it is the shorter and cheaper one for an experienced plumber or heating engineer.

Unvented hot water storage needs separate G3 competence, and it comes up on the Level 3 paper regardless of whether you already hold it. Most heat pump installations involve a cylinder, so most installers need both.

The three business roles

Under the redeveloped Scheme your application names three roles, and the assessor will ask about them on the onboarding call. They are not job titles - they are accountabilities.

• ·Main Contact - handles Scheme queries and is the point of contact for MCS and your certification body.
• ·Licensee - has authority to sign the Installer Agreement on behalf of the business, and by signing accepts ultimate responsibility for meeting Scheme requirements. Normally a director.
• ·Technical Supervisor - responsible for each installation being compliant with the relevant MCS installation standards, and signs off every installation. A larger business may need more than one.

You need a real installation before you can be assessed

This is the step that catches people who prepared everything on paper. For each technology you want certifying, your certification body needs at least one fully compliant installation to assess against. The assessment is site-based as well as documentary: they look at the job, then follow it back through your paperwork.

Because an installation cannot be certified retrospectively, that job will not itself become an MCS-certified installation. Plan it as the cost of entry - and pick a job you are willing to have examined line by line.

Scheme checks and the onboarding call

Once your certification body passes your application to MCS you are assigned an account manager, and the first thing that happens is a short onboarding call - about fifteen minutes. You are asked to demonstrate that you understand the Customer Commitment and the Installer Operating Requirements, and that they are embedded in how you actually operate. It is not a technical exam about heat pumps. It is a business conversation, and it is the single most preparable step in the whole process.

Alongside the call, MCS checks four things about the business: financial health, business details including directors and persons of significant control, any previous MCS certification history, and how the business presents itself online. There are also eligibility criteria covering unspent criminal convictions, convictions spent within the last five years, and any current banning, court or disqualification orders.

How long it takes

Three to six months from application to certification is the range people quote, and the variance is almost entirely on your side of the table rather than the assessor’s. Applications that move fast are the ones where the quality management system already existed, the compliant installation was already done, and the roles were already decided.

The things that add months are predictable: waiting on a training course to get the qualification, waiting to complete a suitable installation, and reworking a quality management system that was downloaded rather than written for the business it describes.

Common questions