{ "dataset": "installer.checks", "generated": "2026-08-27T23:22:19.865Z", "licence": { "compilation": "CC BY 4.0", "compilation_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "attribution": "Tariff Tracker, tarifftracker.io, published by PEF Consulting Partners Limited", "underlying": "The figures themselves belong to the bodies named in each dataset's sources. Most are Crown copyright under the Open Government Licence v3. Supplier tariff rates belong to the suppliers who publish them. Check the source terms before you rely on any of it commercially.", "corrections": "If a figure here is wrong, say so and we will correct it and record that we did." }, "docs": "https://tarifftracker.io/api/", "fields": "https://tarifftracker.io/api/v1/dictionary", "as_of": "2026-08-27", "work": [ { "id": "insulation", "label": "Insulation, loft, cavity or solid wall", "must": [], "grant": [ "trustmark" ], "worth": [ "companies-house" ], "note": "No accreditation is required by law to fit insulation. TrustMark registration is required to fit it under a government scheme, and it is the only thing standing between you and the sixty five thousand jobs currently being checked for defects." }, { "id": "spray-foam", "label": "Spray foam insulation", "must": [], "grant": [], "worth": [ "trustmark", "companies-house" ], "note": "Nothing is legally required and no grant scheme funds it, which is part of why it is sold the way it is. It can also make a house hard to mortgage. If somebody rang you about it, or rang you about removing it, treat both as a warning." }, { "id": "heat-pump", "label": "Heat pump", "must": [], "grant": [ "mcs" ], "worth": [ "recc", "hies", "trustmark", "companies-house" ], "note": "MCS certification for heat pumps specifically is what unlocks the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. Certified for solar is not certified for heat pumps." }, { "id": "solar", "label": "Solar panels or battery", "must": [], "grant": [ "mcs" ], "worth": [ "recc", "hies", "companies-house" ], "note": "MCS certification is what unlocks the Smart Export Guarantee, so it matters even without a grant." }, { "id": "gas-boiler", "label": "Gas boiler", "must": [ "gas-safe" ], "grant": [], "worth": [ "companies-house" ], "note": "This is the only one on the list where working without registration is a criminal offence. Check the business and the individual engineer separately, and read the back of the card." }, { "id": "oil-boiler", "label": "Oil boiler", "must": [], "grant": [], "worth": [ "oftec", "companies-house" ], "note": "Not a legal requirement in the way gas is, but an OFTEC registered technician can sign off building regulations, which saves you dealing with building control yourself." }, { "id": "biomass", "label": "Biomass boiler, stove or wood burner", "must": [], "grant": [ "mcs" ], "worth": [ "hetas", "companies-house" ], "note": "MCS for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, HETAS for building regulations sign off on solid fuel." }, { "id": "windows", "label": "Windows and doors", "must": [], "grant": [], "worth": [ "companies-house" ], "note": "No grant scheme on this site funds windows. If somebody has told you a government scheme will pay for your windows, that is not true of any scheme running in 2026." } ], "companies_house_flags": [ { "what": "In liquidation, administration or receivership", "why": "The single most useful thing you can find out before handing over a deposit. A consumer body found one firm holding close to a million pounds of customers' money for work it had not done when it went under.", "where": "The company status at the top of the record." }, { "what": "Active, proposal to strike off", "why": "The company is on its way off the register. It is still trading today and may not be next month.", "where": "The status line reads active and then this in smaller text. It is easy to miss." }, { "what": "Incorporated very recently", "why": "Not damning on its own, plenty of good firms are new. It matters alongside the next one.", "where": "Incorporated on, on the overview." }, { "what": "The directors' other companies, and how many were dissolved", "why": "A new company with the same directors as one that recently went under is the phoenix pattern. This is where you see it.", "where": "Open a director from the people tab, then look at their appointments." }, { "what": "No accounts ever filed, or overdue", "why": "Overdue filings plus a request for a large deposit is the exact combination that has cost people money.", "where": "The filing history, and the overdue flags on the overview." }, { "what": "Previous names", "why": "A firm that has changed names repeatedly is worth a second look, and it also explains why the name on your quotation may not match.", "where": "Previous company names, on the overview." } ], "number_shapes": [ { "pattern": "^[A-Za-z]{2,4}-\\d{4,6}$", "registers": [ "mcs" ], "says": "Three letters, a hyphen and five digits is an MCS certification number. The letters say which body issued it." }, { "pattern": "^(?:[A-Za-z]{2}\\d{6}|\\d{8})$", "registers": [ "companies-house", "recc" ], "says": "Eight characters is either a company number or a RECC member number. If it starts with two letters such as SC, NI or OC it is a company number." }, { "pattern": "^\\d{7}$", "registers": [ "gas-safe" ], "says": "Seven digits is a Gas Safe engineer licence card number. It changes every year, so an old one on a website means nothing." }, { "pattern": "^\\d{5}$", "registers": [ "trustmark" ], "says": "Five digits looks like a TrustMark licence number, though TrustMark does not publish its format so treat that as a hint rather than a fact." }, { "pattern": "^\\d{4}$", "registers": [ "hetas" ], "says": "Four digits is a HETAS company ID." }, { "pattern": "^\\d{1,6}$", "registers": [ "gas-safe" ], "says": "One to six digits could be a Gas Safe business registration number." } ], "sources": [ { "name": "Each register names the operator pages it was read from", "url": null } ], "caveats": [ "We do not hold any of these registers and we cannot check a firm for you. Only two of the eight are even searchable from a link: Companies House, which we can send you straight into with the name filled in, and nothing else. The rest are search boxes you have to type into yourself. Anybody offering to tell you on their own site whether a firm is accredited is showing you a copy, and a copy cannot tell you about a suspension that happened this morning.", "We take nothing from anybody, we recommend no installers, and there is no installer anywhere on this site. This page sends you to the official register and nowhere else.", "searchable_from_a_link is true for exactly one of these, Companies House. The rest build their search in the browser and ignore anything in the address, so a link can only land somebody on an empty form. Anything built on this should send people to the search page and tell them what to type, rather than pretending to prefill it.", "does_not_guarantee is the field worth reading. Every one of these registers is narrower than its logo implies: TrustMark is per service type across a hundred and fifteen of them, MCS is per technology, Gas Safe registration does not mean an engineer may do a particular gas job, and most show current members only so a firm thrown out looks identical to one that was never on.", "number_shape is a format, not a validity check. It can tell you a number belongs to the wrong register. It cannot tell you the number is real, belongs to the firm quoting it, or is still current, and two of these bodies publish no format at all.", "Companies House is not an accreditation register and is included because it is the only one that says whether the firm taking a deposit is solvent." ], "blanks": { "number_name": "This body does not publish a public identifier format.", "number_shape": "Not published. Two of these bodies publish no format, so a number matching nothing is not evidence on its own.", "number_note": "No trap worth recording." }, "count": 8, "rows": [ { "id": "trustmark", "register": "TrustMark", "kind": "Quality scheme, endorsed by government", "what": "The only government endorsed quality scheme for work in and around the home, and the quality body for ECO4 and the Great British Insulation Scheme. TrustMark does not vet anybody itself. It licenses about forty scheme providers who do the vetting, across a hundred and fifteen service types.", "search_url": "https://www.trustmark.org.uk/find-a-tradesman", "searchable_from_a_link": false, "how_to_search": "Search by business name or postcode on the find a business page. Then check the trade, not just that they are on there at all.", "number_name": "licence number", "number_shape": "a short number, five digits on the examples we could see", "number_note": "TrustMark does not publish the format, so do not treat an odd looking number as proof of anything", "guaranteed": [ "Somebody vetted the business before it was registered, and TrustMark audits the ones who do the vetting.", "An inspection at least once every three years by an independent inspector, and annual checks of insurances.", "At least two years of financial protection covering money paid in advance, workmanship after completion and putting right defects or building regulation failures.", "A minimum two year guarantee on workmanship, and a minimum twenty five year guarantee on insulation.", "A complaints route in three stages that ends at the Dispute Resolution Ombudsman." ], "does_not_guarantee": [ "It is not company wide. Registration is per service type, and there are a hundred and fifteen of them. A firm vetted for one trade has not been vetted for the one it is quoting you for.", "It does not mean your job was inspected. Inspections are a sample, on a three year cycle at worst.", "It does not survive the business going under. TrustMark says plainly it cannot help where the business has ceased to trade, which is exactly when you need it.", "It is not a guarantee the work meets standard. TrustMark's own checks found substandard solid wall insulation fitted under government schemes, and thirty nine businesses were suspended." ], "how_people_get_caught": [ "TrustMark says it is seeing an increasing number of firms advertising themselves as registered when they are not.", "Check the register, not the logo on the van, the website, the flyer or the quotation.", "A firm can be genuinely registered through one scheme provider for one trade and be quoting you for something completely outside it. Check the trade.", "Report misuse to info@trustmark.org.uk with a screenshot or a copy of the quotation." ], "sources": [ { "name": "TrustMark, find a business", "url": "https://www.trustmark.org.uk/find-a-tradesman" } ], "page": "https://tarifftracker.io/check-an-installer/" }, { "id": "mcs", "register": "MCS", "kind": "Technical certification, per technology", "what": "The certification scheme for small scale renewables. It is certified technology by technology, and it is the gateway to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and the Smart Export Guarantee. Without an MCS certified installer there is no heat pump grant.", "search_url": "https://mcscertified.com/find-an-installer/", "searchable_from_a_link": false, "how_to_search": "Search the directory by name or area, then open the firm and read the list of technologies it is certified for. That list is the whole point.", "number_name": "certification number", "number_shape": "three letters, a hyphen, then five digits, for example NAP-11766", "number_note": "the three letters identify which certification body issued it, so the prefix varies", "guaranteed": [ "The firm is certified for the specific technologies listed against it, and only those.", "At least one compliance assessment a year, with an office assessment and a site assessment at the start.", "The firm has to belong to a consumer code approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute.", "An MCS certificate raised for your installation is what unlocks the grant and the export tariff." ], "does_not_guarantee": [ "It is explicitly not company wide. A firm certified for solar is not certified for heat pumps. This is the single most useful thing on this page: check the technology, not the badge.", "It does not mean your job was inspected. The annual assessment is a sample.", "A certificate only exists for your installation if the installer actually raised it. Ask to see it.", "The directory shows current certification only. It is not a history, so a firm that was thrown out simply disappears rather than showing as removed.", "MCS is not a legal requirement to install renewables. It is a grant gateway, not a licence to trade." ], "how_people_get_caught": [ "A number with a plausible looking prefix but no matching entry in the directory is a red flag.", "A firm quoting for a heat pump while certified only for solar is misrepresenting itself even if its number is real.", "MCS will confirm by phone whether a certificate genuinely exists for an address, but only with proof you live there. Which means a certificate waved at you on a doorstep proves nothing." ], "sources": [ { "name": "MCS, find an installer", "url": "https://mcscertified.com/find-an-installer/" } ], "page": "https://tarifftracker.io/check-an-installer/" }, { "id": "gas-safe", "register": "Gas Safe Register", "kind": "Legal requirement", "what": "The official gas register for the whole UK. This one is not a quality badge, it is the law. Nobody may work on gas fittings unless they are a member of a class of persons approved by the Health and Safety Executive.", "search_url": "https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/find-an-engineer-or-check-the-register/", "searchable_from_a_link": false, "how_to_search": "Check the business and the engineer separately. They have different numbers and one does not prove the other.", "number_name": "two different numbers", "number_shape": "a business registration number of one to six digits, and an engineer licence card number of exactly seven digits", "number_note": "the engineer number changes every year when a new card is issued, so a number on an old invoice or a website can be stale even when the firm is genuine", "guaranteed": [ "It is a legal requirement. Gas work by an unregistered person is an offence, not a matter of preference.", "The register shows what an individual engineer is actually qualified to work on, the same as the back of the card.", "Gas Safe inspects registered businesses and investigates safety complaints, with sanctions." ], "does_not_guarantee": [ "Being registered does not mean they can legally do your job. Gas Safe says in terms that not all engineers are qualified for all types of gas work. Read the back of the card.", "It is a safety register, not consumer protection. No deposit protection, no workmanship warranty, no ombudsman.", "It shows current registration only, and card numbers are reissued annually." ], "how_people_get_caught": [ "Ask for the card and check both sides. The front is who they are. The back is what they are allowed to touch.", "Verify the seven digit number on the register rather than accepting the card. A card is an object and can be out of date, borrowed or forged.", "If you cannot find a business on the register, Gas Safe asks you to email them rather than assume the search is wrong." ], "sources": [ { "name": "Gas Safe Register, check the register", "url": "https://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/find-an-engineer-or-check-the-register/" } ], "page": "https://tarifftracker.io/check-an-installer/" }, { "id": "companies-house", "register": "Companies House", "kind": "Not accreditation at all, but the one that catches the worst", "what": "Not a quality register. It records whether the company legally exists, whether it is solvent, how long it has been going and whether it has filed anything. It is the only register here that will tell you whether the firm about to take your deposit is on its way under, and it is the only one we can send you straight to with the name already in the box.", "search_url": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/search?q=", "searchable_from_a_link": true, "how_to_search": "Type the company name. Then match the company number on your quotation to the one on the record, because the name on the van is often not the registered name.", "number_name": "company number", "number_shape": "eight characters. Usually eight digits with leading zeros, for example 08811254. Scottish, Northern Irish and limited liability partnerships use two letters then six digits, such as SC, NI or OC", "number_note": "do not strip the leading zeros, the lookup will fail", "guaranteed": [ "That a company of that exact name and number legally exists, its status, when it was incorporated, its registered office, its directors, its filing record, and any insolvency case with the named practitioner.", "Free, no account needed, and it works from a plain link." ], "does_not_guarantee": [ "Companies House says on every page that it does not check the accuracy of what is filed. It is a filing cabinet, not a regulator.", "It says nothing at all about competence or workmanship.", "Active means not yet dissolved. It does not mean solvent and it does not mean trading.", "Sole traders and ordinary partnerships are not on it at all, so absence proves nothing." ], "how_people_get_caught": [ "A brand new company with the same directors as one that recently dissolved is the classic phoenix pattern. Look at the directors' other appointments, not just this company.", "Check the company number on the quotation against the name on it. A fraudster quoting a real firm's number is a common trick.", "Active, proposal to strike off means the company is on its way off the register.", "No accounts ever filed, or overdue accounts, plus a request for a large deposit, is the exact pattern that has left householders out of pocket." ], "sources": [ { "name": "Companies House, search the register", "url": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/" } ], "page": "https://tarifftracker.io/check-an-installer/" }, { "id": "recc", "register": "RECC", "kind": "Sales conduct code", "what": "The Renewable Energy Consumer Code, approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute. It governs how renewables are sold to you, not whether they are installed properly.", "search_url": "https://www.recc.org.uk/scheme/members", "searchable_from_a_link": false, "how_to_search": "Search the member database. Only firms on it are members.", "number_name": "member number", "number_shape": "eight digits with leading zeros, for example 00074821", "number_note": null, "guaranteed": [ "Sales conduct rules: no high pressure selling, no sign today discounts, no invented scarcity.", "A deposit cap. You should not be asked for more than 25 per cent of the contract price up front.", "Any member selling and installing a generator must itself be MCS certified for that technology.", "A non compliance panel, an appeals process and access to dispute resolution." ], "does_not_guarantee": [ "It is a sales code, not a technical check. RECC does not inspect your installation.", "RECC is not an insurer and says so. You are only covered if your installer registered your installation with an insurance provider.", "The public list is updated weekly, so it can lag a suspension by up to a week." ], "how_people_get_caught": [ "Any demand for more than a 25 per cent deposit breaches the code, whether or not the firm is a real member.", "Being told you are covered by RECC insurance is a warning sign. Cover only exists if your specific installation was registered.", "A RECC member selling you a generator must also be MCS certified for it. One without the other is a mismatch." ], "sources": [ { "name": "RECC, the member database", "url": "https://www.recc.org.uk/scheme/members" } ], "page": "https://tarifftracker.io/check-an-installer/" }, { "id": "hies", "register": "HIES", "kind": "Sales conduct code, with financial protection", "what": "A consumer code and accreditation body for home improvement and renewables, and a TrustMark scheme provider.", "search_url": "https://hies.org.uk/find-an-installer/", "searchable_from_a_link": false, "how_to_search": "Search the directory by product category and area.", "number_name": null, "number_shape": null, "number_note": "HIES does not publish a public number format.", "guaranteed": [ "Deposit and stage payment protection.", "Insurance backed guarantees.", "Dispute resolution.", "Its accredited installers can also carry TrustMark registration." ], "does_not_guarantee": [ "A code governs how you are sold to, not whether the installer is technically competent.", "The protections only apply if the installer actually registered your job for them. Ask for proof that they did.", "The product categories in the directory are what the firm says it does, not a certified scope." ], "how_people_get_caught": [ "Check the directory rather than the logo.", "The old address hiesscheme.org.uk now redirects to hies.org.uk. A site using a similar looking domain that is neither is worth suspicion." ], "sources": [ { "name": "HIES, find an installer", "url": "https://hies.org.uk/find-an-installer/" } ], "page": "https://tarifftracker.io/check-an-installer/" }, { "id": "oftec", "register": "OFTEC", "kind": "Competent person scheme, oil", "what": "A government authorised competent person scheme for oil fired appliances and oil supply pipework, and also registering technicians for solid fuel, heat pumps and solar thermal. A registered technician can sign off building regulations themselves and tell building control for you.", "search_url": "https://www.oftec.org/find-technician", "searchable_from_a_link": false, "how_to_search": "The search asks you to choose installation or servicing before it will show anybody. Choose the one that matches your job, and check the business separately from the technician.", "number_name": "business registration number", "number_shape": null, "number_note": "OFTEC does not publish the format.", "guaranteed": [ "One of the authorised competent person schemes for oil fired appliances under the building regulations.", "A registered technician can self certify compliance and issues a certificate within eight weeks, which shows up in searches when you sell the house.", "New registrations serve a probationary period of up to three months." ], "does_not_guarantee": [ "Registration is per work category. Registered to service an oil boiler is not registered to install one, and OFTEC's own search separates the two.", "There is no fixed inspection cycle. OFTEC says frequency depends on the scheme and on risk, so registered carries no stated inspection interval you can rely on.", "The certificate is the installer's own declaration, not an independent inspection." ], "how_people_get_caught": [ "OFTEC says its search shows only currently registered businesses, so a firm that was struck off is simply absent and looks the same as one that was never on it. We are OFTEC registered plus an empty search result means not registered now, whatever was true before." ], "sources": [ { "name": "OFTEC, find a technician", "url": "https://www.oftec.org/find-technician" } ], "page": "https://tarifftracker.io/check-an-installer/" }, { "id": "hetas", "register": "HETAS", "kind": "Competent person scheme, solid fuel", "what": "A government authorised competent person scheme for solid fuel appliances, stoves, wood burners and biomass, and also authorised for solar thermal and solar photovoltaic work.", "search_url": "https://www.hetas.co.uk/find-installer/", "searchable_from_a_link": false, "how_to_search": "Use the check business tab on the find a supplier map, by name or by the four digit company number.", "number_name": "HETAS company ID", "number_shape": "four digits", "number_note": null, "guaranteed": [ "An authorised competent person scheme for solid fuel under the building regulations.", "A registered installer can self certify and issues a certificate within eight weeks.", "HETAS consumer support will confirm a registrant's details directly if you ring them." ], "does_not_guarantee": [ "It is category specific. Solid fuel registration is not authorisation for gas work, and gas can only be done by a Gas Safe registered business.", "The certificate is the installer's self certification, not an inspection.", "HETAS does not publish its audit frequency, so registered carries no stated inspection cycle." ], "how_people_get_caught": [ "Ask to see the card while you are still getting quotes, not after the work.", "Cross check the four digit company number or the business name on the register rather than accepting the card." ], "sources": [ { "name": "HETAS, find an installer", "url": "https://www.hetas.co.uk/find-installer/" } ], "page": "https://tarifftracker.io/check-an-installer/" } ] }