Domestic electricians who need to formally recognise their skills and experience now have a dedicated Experienced Worker Assessment (EWA) route available to them.
The Domestic Electrician EWA is based on the same content as the Domestic Electrician apprenticeship standard, so both new entrants and existing workers are assessed and accredited to the same industry standard.
This presents, for the first time for many, the opportunity for people working solely in the domestic sector to show their skills and knowledge to the same standard as a Level 3 apprenticeship route, and shows the drive of industry in this part of the sector to raise the bar, ensuring people are qualified and competent for their role. Completion of the EWA route and AM2ED (the version of the AM2 for this route) leads to the award of an ECS Gold Card as a Domestic Electrician, and is being recognised by the EAS Management Committee for Qualified Supervisor status.
To be eligible for the assessment, candidates need to be currently working as a domestic electrician with over three years’ experience. They must also hold at least a Level 2 electrical technical qualification listed in the EWA ‘Skills Scan’, a document that has to be completed during the application process for training providers to verify if the candidate has the relevant skills and knowledge to successfully complete the process. Crucially, the EWA is not a training course and there is no need for people with the experience and relevant training, to go back to college. This is an assessment of the existing skills and knowledge to the relevant standard.
Once enrolled on the EWA, learners will have to achieve the Domestic Electrician Experienced Worker Qualification, which comprises five practical performance units, plus the BS 7671:2018 and full Inspection & Testing qualification. A key benefit of the EWA is that existing qualifications can count towards the assessment and do not need to be repeated.
The Domestic Electrician Experienced Worker Assessment follows in the footsteps of the EWA for Installation & Maintenance Electricians that was launched in 2020 and has seen thousands of people already working in the sector achieve recognition to a VQ Level 3 equivalent and award of an ECS Gold card as an Electrician. People working in the domestic sector now have this opportunity to be proud of and show their skills and knowledge have been assessed to this same standard, and the Gold Card should be the minimum expectation for anyone working unsupervised in the industry.
Both EWAs were developed by an industry group comprising The Electrotechnical Skills Partnership (TESP), including the JIB, Certsure, ECA, ECS, NAPIT, City and Guilds, EAL, the IET and Unite. It will be recognised in the Electrotechnical Assessment Specification as equivalent to the Domestic Electrician apprenticeship.
Ruth Devine, TESP Chair, said: “We’d like to thank the whole industry working group for the development of this new EWA. It’s an important step in recognising the work of domestic electricians and providing a robust route for competence which is a recognised benchmark against the Domestic Electrician apprenticeship standard. We hope to see many follow this route and become formally accredited to continue the industry efforts to raise standards by upskilling the workforce.”
Andy Reakes, JIB & ECS Director of Growth and Development, and EAS Management Committee member, explained: “The development of this route provides an opportunity for those who want to be assessed to a Gold card standard to finally achieve that. For many, where apprenticeships were not available, and where their scope of work does not cover the full standard for Installation Electricians, these routes were just not there for them. The Domestic Electrician EWA is a rigorous assessment route which will provide commercial benefit to those needing to certify work, and is also recognised by industry and government regulators, such as the Building Safety Regulator, through the award of an ECS gold card as a Domestic Electrician, meeting the baseline competency requirements for working in dwellings as part of the work to raise the bar on competence.”
The EWA is available in England, Wales and Northern Ireland from accredited EAL training centres this month (July) and later in the year from City & Guilds centres.
To find out more, please visit the TESP website here for a list of FAQs, training providers and assessment information.