How to check a plumber on the Gas Safe register

What the register is

Gas Safe Register is the official list of businesses and engineers legally permitted to carry out gas work in the United Kingdom. It replaced CORGI in 2009. Working on a gas appliance or gas pipework without being on it is a criminal offence, not a technicality, and it is the one credential in this trade that carries legal weight rather than being a membership scheme.

How to check somebody, in a minute

Ask to see the card. Every registered engineer carries one with a photograph, a licence number, a start and expiry date, and a list of categories on the back. Then check the number on the public register at gassaferegister.co.uk, or by phone. The register will confirm the business, the engineer and which categories are current.

Do this before the work, not after. An expired registration and a card that looks convincing are the same object to a householder standing in a kitchen.

Categories are the part people miss

Registration is not one qualification, it is a set of them. An engineer signed off for domestic boilers is not automatically qualified for gas cookers, gas fires, warm air units, commercial boilers or catering appliances. The categories are printed on the back of the card in shorthand, and the register spells them out in plain words.

So the check is two questions rather than one: are they registered, and are they registered for this appliance.

What to do if something is wrong

If you smell gas, call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999, turn the gas off at the meter, open the windows and leave the building. The attendance is free and they make the installation safe.

If you believe unregistered work has been done, or work has been done badly, Gas Safe Register investigates reports and can inspect the installation at no charge. That is worth knowing, because a bad gas installation is not a consumer dispute in the ordinary sense.