Unlocking Level 3: routes to achieving low-carbon qualifications required by the EAS

Changes to the Electrotechnical Assessment Specification (EAS) mean that from 1 October 2026, qualified supervisors (QSs) responsible for and employed persons carrying out low-carbon installation work must hold a relevant accepted Level 3 qualification for the type of work they’re undertaking.

'Employed persons' refers to individuals engaged by your business to perform electrotechnical work, which may include directly employed staff, temporary or agency workers, and/or subcontracted labour including self-employed individuals and sole traders.

For businesses undertaking EICRs as part of their certification, please also take a look at our article on the updated EAS requirements relating to periodic inspection and testing.

What is the EAS?

The EAS is an industry agreed specification intended for use by certification and registration bodies undertaking the assessment of businesses carrying out electrotechnical work.

It has been drawn up by organisations representing the electrotechnical industry and consumer safety interests to enhance the safety of electrotechnical work. These organisations include competent person scheme providers, trade associations, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), the Welsh Government, ECA, Electrical Safety First, The Electrotechnical Skills Partnership (TESP), UKAS, and the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

EAS requirements are applied industry-wide, so they aren't specific to NICEIC. If your business is certified on an electrotechnical scheme with any certification or registration body, including NICEIC, you must demonstrate compliance with the EAS as part of your assessment.

What are the new low-carbon work categories?

The EAS has introduced new work categories and qualification requirements for the following low-carbon installation work:

• Electric vehicle charging equipment (EVCE) installation.
• Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems installation.
• Electrical energy storage systems (EESS) installation.
• Micro wind turbine installation.

All QSs responsible for and employed persons undertaking installation work in these new categories must hold an acceptable relevant Level 3 qualification.

What are the qualification requirements for the low-carbon work categories?

For each low-carbon work category, there is a list of qualifications that are accepted by the EAS.

EV charging equipment (EVCE)

• NICEIC offers the EAL Level 3 Award in the Installation of Electric Vehicle Charging Points.
• The full list of accepted qualifications can be found here.

Solar Photovoltaic (PV) systems

• NICEIC offers the EAL Level 3 Award in the Installation of Small-Scale Solar Photovoltaic (Solar PV) Panel Systems.
• The full list of accepted qualifications can be found here.

Electrical Energy Storage Systems (EESS)

• NICEIC offers the EAL Level 3 Award in the Design, Installation and Commissioning of Electrical Energy Storage Systems (EESS).
• The full list of accepted qualifications can be found here.

Please note if you undertake work in all four low-carbon work categories, but one of your employed persons only undertakes EV charging equipment installation work, that individual will only need to hold an accepted EV charging qualification. Each QS and employed person within your business only needs to hold a qualification if they are responsible for (QSs) or carrying out installations (employed persons) in that category.

For example, if an employed person is simply putting the supply cable out for an EV charging point and it’s going to be installed by others, the requirements won’t affect them (it will come under core competencies). But if they’re installing or replacing the equipment or systems, then these competence requirements apply.

On the other side of the coin, even if your business only installs a single EV charging point during the year, the QSs responsible for and/or any employed persons undertaking that installation work will need to hold an acceptable relevant qualification. It’s not about quantity, but about ensuring the safety and technical integrity of every low-carbon installation.

Continuing professional development (CPD)

While evidence of CPD is not a requirement for these new EAS work categories, it is a requirement of NICEIC scheme certification. All certified businesses must continue to hold records of training and qualifications (including CPD) for all their employed persons.

What are the entry requirements for the low-carbon Level 3 qualifications?

If your business works in any of the low-carbon categories, you need to identify any additional training and resources necessary to meet the new requirements. If anyone undertaking/responsible for installation work in these areas doesn’t already hold an acceptable relevant Level 3 qualification for that category, they need to obtain the correct qualification to continue doing the work.

The sector’s four main awarding organisations – EAL, City & Guilds, LCL Awards and BPEC – all offer appropriate qualifications in EVCE, PV, and EESS, all of which are aligned with the ‘Electrician Plus’ model.

‘Electrician Plus’ qualifications require learners to meet explicit entry requirements. All training providers approved to offer these qualifications must follow and apply these learner entry requirements and collect evidence that people have met them.

To be eligible to register, learners must hold one of the following:

• a Level 3 electrotechnical apprenticeship incorporating end point assessment of competence, including the Domestic Electrician apprenticeship
• historical industry-approved apprenticeships or recognised equivalent qualifications
• Electrotechnical Experienced Worker Assessment (EWA)
• Installation or Domestic Electrician ECS Gold Card.

If you’re in Scotland or Wales, you can hold any of the above or, for learners in Scotland, a SVQ in Electrical Installation at SCQF level 7, and in Wales the EAL Building Services Engineering (Level 3) Electrotechnical Installation.

Which qualifications are insufficient?

There are some qualifications that applicants present to meet entry requirements but, held alone, are insufficient. These are generally classroom-based, theory-only technical knowledge qualifications studied in college by people who aren’t working in the industry. Some examples of insufficient qualifications include (this list is not exhaustive):

• City & Guilds 2330, 2351, 2365 and 8202
• EAL 9331
• BTEC.

Certificates for short specialist qualifications such as the Level 3 Award in the Requirements for Electrical Installations (BS 7671:2018) and the Level 3 Award in Initial and Periodic Inspection and Testing of Electrical Installations also do not, on their own, meet the entry requirements.

What if I don’t meet the entry requirements?

If you don’t meet the entry prerequisites, there are routes available to you.

Not all of these routes will be appropriate for you; it depends where you are in your qualification journey and your career. But there should be a route that fits your profile if you don’t already meet the requirements outlined above.

There are essentially four recognised routes to qualified electrician status. The best single source of information is TESP (The Electrotechnical Skills Partnership) which provides clear, authoritative guidance on the correct paths to becoming a qualified electrician in all four UK nations and the Isle of Man.

1. Experienced Worker Assessment (EWA)

The EWA provides a structured route for experienced electricians to achieve the industry Level 3 benchmark. There are two routes: Installation/Maintenance Electrician and Domestic Electrician. Both follow the same content and standards as industry apprenticeships, ensuring consistency across new entrants and experienced workers.

This is not an apprenticeship and it’s not training. Instead, it’s an assessment process for people who are already electricians, allowing them to evidence their existing competence. If this route is right for you, you will be working day to day as an electrician, so the appropriate evidence will be readily available in your daily activities. In terms of completion, you may be able to complete the EWA in as little as three months but there is a maximum allowance of 18 months.

To be eligible, you must have, as a minimum:

• at least a Level 2 electrical qualification
• for the Domestic Electrician EWA route, a minimum of three years’ experience working as a domestic electrician (excluding any time spent training)
• for the Installation Electrician EWA route, a minimum of five years’ experience working as an installation electrician (excluding any time spent training).

Note: if you don’t hold a Level 2 electrical qualification, you may be eligible to complete the new Electrical Underpinning Knowledge and Understanding Test, which is designed to help experienced electricians without a Level 2 qualification to meet baseline criteria.

It’s also worth highlighting that there may be people who have existing qualifications and have started their journey to core competence but simply didn’t complete an endpoint assessment. On the National Electrotechnical Training (NET) website, there’s a full list of qualifications that mean you could go straight to the AM2 assessment.

2. Apprenticeships

This is the industry’s preferred route for becoming a qualified electrician. Employers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland can get funding for apprentices of any age. In Scotland, the Scottish Electrical Charitable Training Trust (SECTT) runs apprenticeship and adult training with government funding.

3. Full-time education (diplomas, T-Levels etc)

These provide technical knowledge and some practical skills delivered at a college or training centre. They may include work experience or employer engagement, but you won’t get sufficient workplace experience to become fully qualified solely by studying on those programmes. However, if you become employed in the industry after your course you can transfer to an apprenticeship, and your previous learning is recognised, reducing the time to complete training.

If you do not become employed, progression is ultimately limited because you still need on-site practical experience in the industry before you can qualify as an electrician.

There is a very new qualification in this area, the Level 3 Technical Occupational Entry in Electrical Installation & Maintenance (Diploma). This is specifically funded for adults aged 19+ in England and acts as an occupational entry route, supporting progression into industry employment and onward to a full Installation/Maintenance Electrician apprenticeship.

4. Self-funded or NVQ route – for career changers and others who have to fund their own training

There is an updated pathway being launched in 2026 to replace Level 3 NVQ (current iterations C&G 2357/EAL 1605). This is for non-apprentice/self-funded learners and will be introduced within the existing Level 3 Electrotechnical and Electrotechnical in Dwellings Qualifications.

Designed to help ensure all learners are being assessed to the same standard, it delivers parity and up-to-date content across the three recognised industry routes, so will make it easier to map and credit achievement where learners change training routes.

It does not affect apprentices or those on the Experienced Worker Assessment. It also doesn’t render the predecessor qualifications obsolete. Existing NVQ predecessors will continue to be recognised.

What support is available?

NICEIC has produced a suite of support resources to help its certified businesses understand and navigate the EAS changes. Access these at niceic.com/eas-changes.

The resources include:

• Two on-demand episodes of The Wire. The first provides an overview of the changes, and the second covers the new competence requirements and routes to entry in more detail.
• A dedicated telephone number 03333 218 225 for EAS queries and a webpage, which includes frequently asked questions and signposts you to suitable qualifications. You can also email [email protected].
• To support you in meeting the EAS qualification requirements, our training team is also here to help. Visit our webpage, contact us on 0333 015 6627, or email [email protected].

NICEIC-certified businesses benefit from 10% off all our training courses (code available via portal). We also offer a discounted ‘Electrician Plus’ bundle for those who need to train in multiple technologies. If you’re in Wales, certified businesses can access up to 50% funded low-carbon training via the Welsh Government's Flexible Skills Programme.

JIB member businesses can also access the existing JIB Skills Development Fund, which covers up to 75% of course fees. Funding is available for the employees and registered apprentices of JIB member companies, as well as their unemployed operatives (discretionary). Courses covered include low-carbon technologies, design and verification, and the EWA.

What next?

If your business undertakes low-carbon installations under your certification, and you want to continue with this work, you need to check training records for your QSs and employed persons, and decide whether there are any gaps in qualifications you need to fill.

For assessments carried out from 1 October 2026, if your business doesn’t meet the requirements, we’ll require evidence that you’ve taken appropriate action. This may include proof of qualification or confirmation from a training provider that you’re booked on a suitable course.