Building-safety regulators have announced a three-month extension to the deadline for building inspectors to prove their competence – in a bid to avoid the system grinding to a halt.
Building-control professionals in England who are registered with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) at class one and enrolled in one of three approved competency schemes to obtain class two, three or four registrations can now continue to carry out their roles until 6 July.
BSR head Philip White wrote to the sector this afternoon (14 march) to announce the transitional period. In his letter, published in full below, White wrote: “This must not be seen as an opportunity to delay – there will be no extension to these arrangements.”
After 6 July, inspectors who are registered at class one will only be able to carry out building-control work under supervision.
No external competence assessment is required to register at class one, with government guidance saying the class is designed to be “suitable for anyone new to the profession who is undergoing training”.
Under the transitional arrangements, building inspectors who have been failed twice by an approved competency assessor in their attempt to qualify for class two or above are not allowed to carry out building-control work without supervision.
The Welsh Government has announced a similar transitional period.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “There is a requirement that building inspectors are registered as a minimum of class one by 6 April 2024 and that they have to be undergoing, or have completed, a competence assessment at their required level in order to continue practising.
“We have introduced provisions allowing building inspectors more time to complete their verification of competence at the level appropriate to the work that they intend to carry out.
“The window for registration for building inspectors in Wales was only opened at the end of January, [and] after listening to industry concerns about the limited time to complete competence verification it was decided that a transitional period would be a pragmatic approach to facilitate a smooth transition into the new regime.”
The requirement for building-control inspectors to register with the BSR was introduced by the Building Safety Act 2022 in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy. From October 2023, inspectors were given six months to register with the BSR at one of four classes, with the new regime taking force on 6 April.
The BSR’s announcement comes after industry bodies raised urgent concerns about there being a lack of qualified building inspectors after 6 April. As revealed by Construction News, Local Authority Building Control (LABC) warned a “significant number” of councils would be unable to carry out building control.
The BSR said last year that it expected 4,500 professionals to become registered building inspectors, but at the end of January it revealed that only 1,547 people has started their applications. That figure has now risen to 3,261, the regulator said today.
Industry bodies have responded with relief to the transitionary arrangements announced today.
LABC chief executive Lorna Stimpson said: “We very much welcome the decision from the BSR to introduce an extension until 6 July 2024.
“This will allow the profession to operate as normal as they complete their competence assessments. It will also minimise the impact on local authority building-control teams and the wider construction industry.
“However, while building-control professionals now have until 6 July to validate their competence, they must still be registered with the BSR by 6 April and going through the validation process with one of the three independent assessment bodies. The BSR has made it very clear that there will be no further extensions.”
Richard Harral, chief executive of CABE, said: “This is good news and provides vital additional time to ensure that building control professionals can complete their competence assessments.
“There is significant momentum across the building control sector with more than 3,000 inspectors already registered at Class 1 or above, and all three competence assessment schemes operating at capacity.
“The BSR is to be applauded for recognising the ongoing commitment shown by building control professionals and for taking pragmatic steps to reward all those who are doing the right thing by providing this additional time.”
Gary Strong, head of professional practice at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said: “[We] welcome the updates from both the UK and Welsh governments announcing transitional arrangements or extensions for registration of building-control inspectors.
“While we have concerns that 13 weeks within England is a tight timeline, it’s important that we can work with UK governments to keep our industries functioning and support our professionals. We are glad that they listen to ours and the industry’s concerns.”
White’s letter in full
Dear colleague,
As you will be aware, a number of concerns have been expressed by the building control profession about whether enough building control professionals will be registered as RBIs by 6 April.
I understand those concerns and have been working with colleagues in BSR and across government to consider what we can do to support the profession.
To that end, the decision has been taken to implement a competence assessment extension period for those meeting set criteria.
Professionals who are not registered by 6 April will not benefit from the extension period and will not be able to continue to work on regulated building control activities.
Experienced building control professionals who are not trainees but have not yet completed a competence assessment will have the scope of their registration temporarily extended provided they meet the following criteria:
- Temporary Class 1 Registration Extension Criteria
- They are an existing building control professional;
- They are registered as a Class 1 RBI by 6 April 2024;
- They are enrolled in, and in the process of having their competency assessed through, one of the BSR approved competency assessment schemes by 6 April 2024. These are: www.cbuilde.com, www.thebscf.org, www.ttd-education.org;
- A scheme provider has not told them that they have not passed their competency assessment for a second time
Those who meet the above criteria will be allowed a period of 13 weeks from 6 April 2024 to 6 July 2024 to complete their competency assessment and upgrade their registration to Class 2 or 3 (and 4, if applicable). During this period, the scope of their registration will be temporarily extended, and they can continue to undertake building control work for the class of RBI for which they are undertaking a competency assessment.
Those who meet the criteria but do not successfully complete a competency assessment and upgrade their registration class by 6 July will not be able to continue to undertake regulated building control activities.
More detail on the transitional arrangements can be found here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/building-safety/building-control/codes-standards.htm
This must not be seen as an opportunity to delay – there will be no extension to these arrangements. From 6 July 2024 any professionals who have not completed a competency assessment and upgraded their registration class will only be able to undertake work under supervision.
We expect employers to support staff going through the assessment process by ensuring they have time to complete the assessment process and providing assistance and support to help them to succeed.
I encourage everyone who has not yet done so to register with BSR and enrol with one of the competency assessment schemes as soon as possible.
Philip White
Director of Building Safety, HSE
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