Guide
What electrical qualifications mean
Level 3, the AM2, the wiring regulations exam and the inspection and testing qualification are four separate things. Only one of them makes somebody an electrician, and the phrase Part P qualified is not any of them.
The route to being an electrician
The standard route is a Level 3 qualification in electrical installation, taken either as an apprenticeship or through college with on site experience, followed by the AM2. The AM2 is a practical assessment over several days in a test centre: install, inspect, test, fault find, under observation. It is the point at which somebody stops being an apprentice.
Level 2 on its own is a stage on the way and is not a finished qualification. A short course described as making somebody a domestic installer is a route into the trade for people already working in construction, and it is not the same thing as the full route.
The wiring regulations exam
BS 7671 is the wiring regulations, and the exam on the current edition is what people mean by holding the eighteenth edition or whichever edition is current. It is a qualification about the standard rather than about the work, it is taken and retaken as the standard is amended, and it tells you somebody is current.
It does not, on its own, tell you somebody can wire a house. A great many people hold it who are not electricians, including designers, surveyors and estimators, which is exactly why it is worth reading alongside the Level 3 and not instead of it.
Inspection and testing
The inspection and testing qualification, usually referred to by its course number in the 2391 family, is what sits behind an electrical installation condition report. Testing a new circuit you installed is part of installation work. Inspecting and reporting on an existing installation you have never seen is a separate discipline with its own qualification.
For an EICR specifically, this is the one to ask about. For a new socket it is not relevant.
The phrases that are not qualifications
Part P qualified is the commonest. Part P is a section of the building regulations, not a course and not a certificate. What exists is registration with a competent person scheme, which allows a business to self certify against Part P, and that is a business registration rather than a personal qualification.
Registered and approved are similarly loose on their own, and mean something the moment a scheme name and a number are attached. The ECS card, issued by the Electrotechnical Certification Scheme and graded by what its holder has achieved, is a personal card worth asking to see, particularly on a site.
Common questions
What single thing should I ask to see?
For domestic work, the scheme registration number, checked on the scheme's own site. For site work, the ECS card and its grade.
Is a domestic installer the same as an electrician?
Not quite. It is a narrower scope reached by a shorter route, and within that scope it can be entirely appropriate. Ask what the scope covers.
Does an electrician have to requalify?
The wiring regulations exam is retaken as the standard changes, and scheme registration is reassessed on a cycle. Both are how currency is demonstrated.