How to Check a Gas Engineer Is Gas Safe Registered

Anyone paid to work on a gas appliance in a home must be on the Gas Safe Register and competent in that type of work. That is the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 in Great Britain and the Isle of Man, and the 2004 Regulations in Northern Ireland. Gas Safe Register replaced CORGI on 1 April 2009 and runs under agreement with the Health and Safety Executive, covering Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey.

There is no grey area. A plumber, a builder or a handyman who is not registered cannot legally touch your boiler, hob, gas fire or gas pipework, and having unregistered work checked afterwards by a registered engineer is illegal for both of them. The one exception is a non-gas part inside the boiler's decorative casing, such as a pump or a control valve, which does not disturb any gas-carrying or combustion component.

1. Online. At gassaferegister.co.uk you can find an engineer by postcode or town, or check one by business name, registration number, business phone number, engineer name or ID number. A business registration number is one to six digits; an engineer's licence number is seven digits and changes each year when the card is renewed.
2. By text. Text the word Gas followed by the engineer's seven-digit licence number to 85080. The same works with a business registration number. Reply with the word Photo and the licence number to receive the engineer's photo, if they have opted in.
3. By phone. Call the free helpline on 0800 408 5500.

Do the check before the engineer starts, and do it against the card in front of you rather than a number written on a quote.

Every registered engineer carries a Gas Safe ID card, physical or digital. Gas Safe's own rule is plain: if they cannot show you a valid card, do not let them work at your property.

The front shows the engineer's photo, the business name and Gas Safe registration number, the start and expiry dates, and the engineer's unique seven-digit licence number. A genuine physical card carries a Gas Safe security hologram; the digital card carries a QR code. Licences are renewed every year and the underlying qualifications every five.

The back is the part most people never turn over. It lists the work categories the engineer is legally qualified for. Domestic categories include cookers, boilers, water heaters, warm air units, range cookers and fires or space heaters. The minimum qualification for registration is pipework alone, so an engineer can be fully registered and still not be qualified to work on your boiler. Check the appliance you are paying for is listed, and that the category has not expired.

Building Regulations Compliance Certificate. In England and Wales a new or replacement boiler or other heat-producing appliance must be notified within 30 days. The engineer notifies Gas Safe Register, Gas Safe tells your council, and the certificate is posted to you. Keep it: a buyer's solicitor asks for it. If you have lost one, or never received it for work done since 7 September 2011, a duplicate can be ordered online or on 0800 408 5500, option 1, for £8.40, posted to the installation address.

Landlord Gas Safety Record. If you rent your home out, a registered engineer must check every gas appliance and flue each year. The record, sometimes called a CP12 or gas safety certificate, goes to existing tenants within 28 days of the check and to new tenants before they move in, and you keep copies for at least two years. Gas Safe's own wording is that this record is the only gas document the law requires.

Benchmark commissioning record. A new boiler or unvented cylinder should come with the manufacturer's Benchmark checklist filled in, which most manufacturer warranties depend on.

A heating engineer who works on a gas boiler is a Gas Safe registered engineer. A plumber may be one as well, or may not; the register, not the job title, decides. For an unvented hot water cylinder over 15 litres the installer also needs the G3 qualification and the job is notifiable building work.

Oil boilers are outside Gas Safe. Check an oil technician by trading name or registration number on OFTEC's finder at oftec.org. Wood burners, multi-fuel stoves and biomass boilers are HETAS, the competent person scheme for solid fuel, with an installer search at hetas.co.uk.

If you smell gas, call the National Gas emergency line on 0800 111 999. Free, 24 hours a day. Do that before anything else on this page.

To report someone working on gas without registration, use the report form at gassaferegister.co.uk, email enquiries@gassaferegister.co.uk or call 0800 408 5500. The form needs the business name and address. Gas Safe investigates illegal gas work and passes cases to HSE and the police where needed.