Do Plumbers Need to Be Licensed in the UK?

There is no statutory licence for plumbing in the UK. Anyone can call themselves a plumber and fit a tap, a radiator or a bathroom suite. The government's register of regulated professions lists gas engineers; it does not list plumbers.

Three kinds of plumbing work are regulated, and each has a register you can check:

• Gas work. Boilers, gas hobs, gas fires and gas pipework. Registering with Gas Safe Register is a legal requirement for anyone carrying out gas work in the UK.
• Unvented hot water cylinders. A pressurised cylinder over 15 litres is notifiable building work under Part G3. Either the council's building control is told in advance, or the installer is registered with a competent person scheme and self-certifies the job.
• Work on the mains water supply. The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 in England and Wales, and the Water Byelaws 2014 in Scotland, require advance notice to the water company for certain installations. An approved contractor can do that work without prior notice and issue a certificate of compliance.

Everything else, from a dripping tap to a full bathroom refit, sits outside any licence. That is why the checks below matter more for plumbing than for electrical or gas work, where the register does the first filter for you.

WaterSafe is the water industry's own register of approved plumbing businesses. The four approved contractor schemes (WIAPS, APHC, CIPHE and SNIPEF) and Water UK are the members, and every UK water supplier backs the register.

To get on the register a plumber needs at least an NVQ Level 2 in a plumbing discipline plus a Water Fittings Regulations qualification, and must carry £2 million of public liability insurance. In return, an approved plumber can carry out notifiable water fittings work without giving the water company advance notice, and can issue you a Certificate of Compliance. That certificate is your defence if the water company ever questions the installation.

To search the register, go to watersafe.org.uk, choose the type of work, enter your postcode and the nearest approved businesses are listed. You can also search by an individual's name or a business name to check a plumber who has already quoted you.

Three bodies vet plumbers before admitting them, and each has a public search:

• CIPHE (Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering). Grades run from Trainee and Affiliate through Associate and Member to Fellow, plus the Registered Plumber mark. Member grade needs an NVQ Level 3 or City & Guilds Advanced Craft plus experience. Search at ciphe.org.uk/find-plumbing-heating-engineers, and confirm a specific person at ciphe.org.uk/public/verify-a-member.
• APHC (Association of Plumbing and Heating Contractors). A not-for-profit trade association whose members are vetted before acceptance, and a government-authorised competent person scheme for plumbing and water supply work. Search at aphc.co.uk/find-an-aphc-member.
• SNIPEF covers Scotland and Northern Ireland, with more than 770 member firms. Search at needaplumber.org.

Check the scheme's own website rather than a logo on a van. Membership lapses, and a logo does not.

Because there is no licence, the qualification is the evidence. The names to listen for:

• Level 2 NVQ Diploma in Plumbing and Heating (City & Guilds 6189) or the Level 2 Diploma in Plumbing Studies (6035). This is the working baseline.
• Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Domestic Plumbing and Heating (6189). The full craft qualification.
• Water Regulations certificate (City & Guilds 3345-21). Needed for WaterSafe approval and for anyone touching your mains supply.
• Unvented hot water certificate, often called G3 (City & Guilds 3345-30). Needed to install or service a pressurised cylinder.
• Gas Safe registration for any gas appliance or pipework. A plumber without this cannot legally touch your boiler.

A plumber who cannot name their qualification when asked is telling you something.

WaterSafe's own checklist for homeowners, in order:

1. Ask to see an ID card. A WaterSafe approved plumber carries one with the WaterSafe logo.
2. Ask for a business address and a landline, not only a mobile.
3. Ask how long they have been trading.
4. Ask for proof of insurance. Public liability is the one that pays for damage to your home. Check the certificate has not expired and will not expire mid-job.
5. Ask which scheme they are registered with, then check that scheme's website yourself.
6. For a boiler or any gas appliance, ask for the Gas Safe licence number and check it.
7. Get three quotes. A quote should be a fixed total price, not a day rate, and should say when the price can go up.

When the work is done, ask for the certificate. A WaterSafe plumber issues a Certificate of Compliance for notifiable water work; a competent person scheme member issues a Building Regulations compliance certificate for an unvented cylinder. Keep both with the house papers.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 a plumber must carry out the work with reasonable care and skill. If they do not, you can ask for the work to be redone at no cost, or for a price reduction. Put the complaint in writing with a date for the fix.

If the plumber is a member of CIPHE, APHC or SNIPEF, the scheme has a complaints route. For a water fittings problem, your water company can inspect. For anything that looks like a scam rather than a bad job, call the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on 0808 223 1133, which passes cases to Trading Standards.