MCS (Microgeneration Certification Scheme), the UK’s quality mark for small-scale renewables like solar panels and heat pumps, will be rolling out its redeveloped installer Scheme throughout 2026.
Following a record-breaking 2025, where 369,000 certified installations were completed on UK homes and small businesses, we’re looking ahead to the rollout of our redeveloped installer Scheme throughout 2026.
The redeveloped Scheme has been designed, through close consultation with industry, to adapt to the accelerating demand for home-grown energy by providing consumers with quality outcomes, robust financial protection, and the confidence they need to invest in low-carbon technologies.
Building stronger relationships with installers
Under the redeveloped Scheme, we’re looking forward to fostering a more direct relationship with all our installers. This will include a centralised complaints management to better support installers in handling and responding to complaints and reducing confusion on the consumer’s side. MCS will be your first point of call if you can’t resolve an issue directly.
Another key aspect of the redeveloped Scheme, informed by installer feedback, is that it makes certification simpler and more rewarding, but also more robust. Assessment frequency will now be determined based on risk (accounting for factors such as size and complexity of the business), with consistently compliant installers being rewarded with fewer assessments.
With our mission to give everyone confidence in home-grown energy, we also recognise that consumers need to feel empowered to make choices in the way they heat and power their homes. The introduction of the MCS Customer Commitment, which will mandate how installers must treat and protect their customers, will go a long way in supporting this. Along with this, we’re raising the bar for consumer protection through new MCS approved financial protection products.
Embedded in government schemes
As the sole certification scheme for government clean heat measures, MCS has a big part to play in the drive towards net-zero. Grants and initiatives have been crucial to the growth of the low-carbon sector, with approximately a third of all certified installations in 2025 being funded, either wholly or in-part, by a government scheme.
The Warm Homes Plan – announced in January – builds on this momentum, with a £15 billion commitment to supporting further growth for the sector. Crucially, it makes explicit reference to the redeveloped installer Scheme and the role MCS will play in building consumer confidence in the ability of low-carbon technologies to heat and power British homes. With this and the soon to be released Future Homes Standard, the government has made clear its level of commitment to achieving net-zero and the extent of the opportunity for years to come.
Getting prepared
To deliver the redeveloped Scheme, MCS has invested in key areas of the business over the last two years to ensure a greater focus on quality outcomes for both installers and consumers, with this team expansion continuing throughout 2026 and beyond.
Our Customer Experience team has expanded by over 50% and now brings together 5 specialist areas: Complaints, Quality, Customer Relations, Outreach, and the Customer Support Helpdesk.
As well as this, MCS welcomed Jim Johnson as Certification Body Partnership Manager this month, created to strengthen how MCS works with and supports its installer certification bodies (CBs).
These expansions will support the MCS Scheme at all levels, across onboarding, certification, compliance, monitoring, and maintaining strong long-lasting partnerships with stakeholders. The company will continue to grow as the industry evolves, ensuring consumer confidence remains at its heart.
Looking ahead
MCS certification bodies will support their installer communities to move over to the redeveloped Scheme. Installers will be contacted by their CB when they are ready to begin the process.
As demand accelerates and installation volumes rise, it is more important than ever that consumers have access to quality installers. This is at the core of the redeveloped Scheme, which comes at a crucial turning point in the industry.
To help installers prepare for their transition to the redeveloped Scheme, we’ve created a ‘readiness checklist’ which you can view on our website
