The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) director for building safety, Philip White, has written to the building control industry outlining the new transitional arrangements for the registration of building control inspectors in England.
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has listened to the concerns raised by the profession, including the potential impact on the construction industry if there are not enough inspectors registered to practice by the legal deadline.
The HSE said that it is crucial these concerns are balanced with the requirement for the BSR to implement the Building Safety Act 2022 and the need to raise standards in the profession.
A competence assessment extension period of 13 weeks will be introduced from 6 April to 6 July 2024 to enable those who meet specific criteria to continue to operate. This is not an opportunity to delay completing registration as an RBI and there will be no extension to these arrangements.
As of 14 March, 3,261 professionals have started their applications to register.
In line with BSR’s enforcement policy statement and the principles of proportionate regulation, BSR will target its regulatory activity at those who present the greatest risk, particularly those who are not engaging with the new regulatory regime.
Letter from Philip White:
Dear colleagues,
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: cbuilde.com, www.thebscf.org, www.ttd-education.org; and
- 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
