Licence Types & Criteria

The SparkSafe Electrical Licence to Practise system has been designed to inform Clients of the identity and occupational competency of electrical workers who are trained, assessed and qualified specifically in electrical installation practice.

Four licence types have been determined for the benefit and understanding of the Client.  They are not intended or designed to match the conventional pay and grading structure.  Essentially, the Client wants to know if the worker or workers providing a service on their behalf, are identifiable and sufficiently competent to fulfil the requirements of the contract.

The SparkSafe system is designed to provide the Client with online visibility of the electrical contractor’s workforce by licence type on a project by project basis.  As a result, the Client will be able to monitor, assess and report on the composition of the electrical contractor’s workforce.  This will help ensure that appropriate competency levels are achieved and maintained to meet the requirements of each project.

The licence types available for electrical workers include – Licence to Practise for Assessed Qualified Electrician, Qualified Electrician, Restricted Electrical Worker and Apprentice Electrician.

Assessed Qualified Electrician [AQE]

The purpose of this licence is to indicate to the Client that the electrical worker has met the requirements of the SparkSafe Qualified Electrician (QE) licence and has been technically assessed onsite by a UKAS accredited certification body to the IET’s Electrotechnical Assessment Specification standard.

The aim is to provide all customers, including commercial and industrial with assurance that work undertaken in these categories has been independently assessed on site by a third party UKAS accredited organisation. For this reason, the AQE Licence includes a strict requirement to cover full scope – all electrical work (EAS – A1.2 BS7671).

Qualification and Supporting Evidence for an AQE Licence Click Here

Criteria

• Meet the qualification criteria for Qualified Electrician licence holder.

Supporting Evidence

• A current copy of the certification scheme certificate of approval (full scope – all electrical work) as well as a copy of the most recent onsite assessment report completed by a UKAS accredited certification body (within the past 12 months).   [Verification will be sought from the UKAS accreditation certification body that the applicant has been technically assessed on-site]
• Photographic ID – Passport, driving licence or electoral card only.
• Digital Photograph – Head shot against a plain white background, must be emailed.
• A minimum of 2 years experience employment verification in the industry is required.  Applicants must be able to demonstrate that they have relevant, up to date skills and work experience in the electrical installation/contracting industry.

Qualified Electrician [QE]

The purpose of this licence type is to indicate that the person is experienced, skilled, and up to date with the latest industry regulations.  The licence type is intended for workers who meet the industry recognised standard to be deemed as a qualified electrician within the UK electrical contracting/installation industry.

Qualification and Supporting Evidence for a QE Licence Click Here

Criteria [Certificates must be provided]

• NVQ Level 3 in Electrical Installation or Industry Approved Apprenticeship Completion Certificate In Electrical Installation.  Please note that the Apprenticeship Completion Certificate should only be provided as evidence for those who completed their training prior to the introduction of the NVQ Level 3 in electrical installation.  Where the industry approved Apprenticeship Completion Certificate/Deeds is provided, we also require awarding body evidence for the industry approved technical qualifications completed as part of the apprenticeship.
• The current BS7671 IET Wiring Requirements qualification

Supporting Evidence

• Photographic ID – Passport, driving licence or electoral card only.
• Digital Photograph – Head shot against a plain white background, must be emailed.
• A minimum of 2 years experience employment verification in the industry is required.  Applicants must be able to demonstrate that they have relevant, up to date skills and work experience in the electrical installation/contracting industry.

Please note if the required certificates are not received in support of a QE Licence but sufficient evidence has been received for an Restricted Electrical Worker [REW] Licence, the application will be passed to the approval team for an REW Licence.  Once the required certificates have been received, and validated the licence type will be upgraded to a QE Licence at no additional cost.

Restricted Electrical Worker [REW]

The purpose of this licence type is to indicate that the person is not fully qualified or up to date with the required electrical qualifications.  This licence type is aimed at a broad range of electrical workers.  This includes graded labourers through to practising electricians who are not currently up to date with the BS7671 IET Wiring Requirements.  New entrants and novice workers are excluded from this category of licence.

Specialist installers/contractors of ELV (and LV) such as Lift Installation, CCTV, Data Cabling and Cable Jointing should be registered with a Licence to Practise system.  Many of these installers are drawn into mains voltage enabling work and become responsible for final connections between the work of the principal electrical contractor and the wiring and/or final connection of their products/systems.  Specialist installers such as those mentioned above may be eligible for an REW licence.

Supporting Evidence Click Here

Supporting Evidence

• Photographic ID – Passport, driving licence or electoral card only.
• Digital Photograph – Head shot against a plain white background, must be emailed.
• A minimum of 2 years experience employment verification in the industry is required.  Applicants must be able to demonstrate that they have relevant, up to date skills and work experience in the electrical installation/contracting industry.

Apprentice Electrician [AE]

This licence type demonstrates that the person is working towards becoming fully qualified by means of an industry approved framework/standard.  Apprentices will be issued with a standard licence for all year groups.

Supporting Evidence Click Here

Supporting Evidence

• Personal Training Plan [PTP] confirming the person is working towards achieving a Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Installing Electrotechnical Systems.  The PTP must state framework/standard number, framework/standard title, course start and end date and employer.  A letter from college on heading paper can be accepted or an email directly from the college containing the required information will be accepted.
• Photographic ID – Passport, driving licence or electoral card only.
• Digital Photograph – Head shot against a plain white background, must be emailed.
• Employment Verification is only required if the Personal Training Plan does not have your current employer information.

If the applicant does not meet the requirements for an AE licence, an additional payment may be requested before the application can be processed further.