In his regular column, Ian Rippin, CEO at MCS, explains how the redeveloped MCS is designed to do just that, by raising standards and improving processes for installers.
The number of consumers that are turning to renewables is rising. Data from the MCS Data Dashboard shows that 2023 was a record year for certified solar PV installations, while 2024 is on track to see the highest number of certified heat pump installations in a year. It highlights how home-grown energy is becoming more mainstream, as we move from early-adopters towards widescale normalisation of low-carbon technologies.
It puts industry at a critical juncture. We need to make sure we have a skilled and competent workforce to meet this growing demand and deliver high-quality installations at volume.
Why is MCS changing?
This is where MCS has an important role to play. We create and maintain the standards that allow for the certification of low-carbon products, installers and their installations, working closely with industry to continually update and refine our standards to ensure quality.
In summer 2023, we ran a consultation on a series of proposed changes to MCS that are designed to make the Scheme clearer, fairer, and more transparent. We received feedback from a wide range of stakeholders, including consumers, trade bodies and, perhaps most importantly, installers.
Based on this feedback and almost two decades of experience, we are now making the final preparations ahead of the launch of the new and improved MCS in January 2025.
Clearer standards
One of the key changes to the new MCS is clarity – for both installers and consumers.
We want to make it as easy as possible for installers to understand how they can ensure compliance and to continue doing what they do best, which is delivering high-quality installations to their customers. The new Scheme will therefore move away from paperwork-heavy assessments towards an emphasis on ‘delivered quality’.
Compliance assessments will focus on capturing the evidence that an installer’s quality processes and controls are delivering installations that work effectively, are technically sound and are compliant with our Standards.
We also know that consistency goes hand-in- hand with clarity, because as an installer you want to know that your assessments won’t depend on your choice of Certification Body or individual assessor knowledge. So, to reduce potential inconsistencies between individual assessors and make it as straightforward as possible, MCS will deploy a standard set of assessment criteria to standardise the process. A key part of this standardisation will be the requirement of a named Technical Supervisor to ‘sign off’ on the quality of a completed installation. This replaces the current requirement for a Nominated Technical Person and will help to drive up standards by allowing installers to focus on what they do best.
At the same time, we know there are occasions where something does go wrong, and for consumers who are not familiar with renewables or the sector as a whole, the current procedures are overly-complex and can damage confidence in low-carbon technologies. This cannot be allowed to happen, because we need appetite to continue growing for our industry to thrive.
To ensure this is the case, MCS will become a single point of contact for consumers in the rare case they wish to escalate their complaint. There will be a clear route that involves MCS working with the installer to understand the nature of the complaint and how best to resolve it. It’s a change that will improve consumer protections by providing greater transparency across the sector (more on that later) and means that once an installer has moved over to the new Scheme, membership of a Consumer Code will no longer be a mandatory requirement.
A fair Scheme
MCS Standards have always been created by industry, for industry. This is to ensure they are fair and work for those on the tools, and our technical Working Groups have been central to this. Made up of individuals from across the sector, our Working Groups meet regularly to keep Standards up-to-date. We see our Standards very much as the distillation of best practice which evolve over time to meet changing demands – the development of our Battery Storage Installation Standard is testament to this.
The changes to MCS assessments, as outlined above, are about making things fairer for installers, and this also needs to be applied to consumers. We’ve been monitoring the role of Insurance Backed Guarantees in providing peace of mind to those who invest in low-carbon technologies, and feel that these fall short of what consumer’s expect a “guarantee” to cover.
That’s why we are developing a financial protection standard for the market which will deliver a fairer deal for consumers, and ultimately allow installers to provide assurance to their customers that they are protected should anything go wrong.
At the same time, we have created an independent Consumer Protection Panel, chaired by the former Director General of Consumers International, Amanda Long. The Panel, which includes leaders from across the consumer protection and energy industry, will provide regular feedback to MCS on how well it is delivering for consumers.
It comes back to consumer confidence – we want to make sure that everything we do has a positive impact on the quality of installations because this will drive further uptake.
A transparent approach
Finally, we want to make sure we are as transparent as possible in how we work. Whether it’s minimising consumer detriment or certifying installations, we believe that an open approach is the best way to ensure clarity and fairness in the new Scheme.
The best example of this is the introduction of a Quality Risk Model. This will be used to determine the frequency of assessments undertaken by Certification Bodies, using factors that we know can result in poor-quality installations – such as the complexity of a contractor’s operation. We want to reward good work with fewer assessments, while identifying poor workmanship quickly by undertaking more assessments on installers that present an enhanced risk.
Crucially, an installer should always know how MCS views their level of risk, and thanks to a new direct relationship that we’ll have with installers, we will work with them to help drive their level of risk down. It means that the most common compliance issues shouldn’t be the same year-on-year, because we’ll be working with our Installer base to identify frequent issues and address them. This will improve standards, and that is fundamentally the best way to improve consumer confidence.
What now?
We are in the process of finalising the Scheme documents and continue to work closely with Certification Bodies to ensure they are ready to hit the ground running when the changes launch in January.
In the autumn we’ll publish all of the new Scheme documents, alongside guidance and support to help installers get ready. 2025 will be a transition period as we move everyone over to the new Scheme design, so installers should continue with current Scheme requirements until their Certification Body gets in touch to transfer them over.
As more consumers adopt low-carbon technologies in their homes, demand for skilled and competent installers will increase dramatically. The new clearer, fairer and more transparent MCS will play an important role in ensuring industry can deliver.
For more information on what the new Scheme means for installers, visit: https://mcscertified.com/mcs-scheme- redevelopment/
Image credit: MCS
