UK Electrician Qualifications Examined

The fact is that a career within the electrical sphere is a frequent alternative for many people. For simplicity’s sake we will use the phrase Electrical Industry to cover off the more accurate term of ”Electro-Mechanical Engineering”. Also, for ease we will concentrate on those principles that sit within the domestic and commercial markets for the UK. By starting on the main subjects and checking the ’add-ons’ later on we can review the centre of the electrical industry.

Essentially, we see two distinct forms of entry into the electrical market. Initially there’s the more traditional apprenticeship approach, but equally there is now an alternative, suited to those who are keen to enter later in their life. For the sake of clarity throughout, the first will be known as ’Junior Entrants’ and the second simply known as ’Mature Entrants.’

Mature students, or entrants, often train so that they can become self-employed and work on their own projects without having to pay wages to external electricians. By contrast, Junior entrants would seek to work with an established electrical firm and build their skill-sets as they train. Upon leaving school many apprenticeships provide a fast learning curve for young adults looking to boost their auxiliary skills.

The two different ways into the industry have two separate methods of preparation. Junior entrants go through NVQ training in England and Wales, and SVQ training in Scotland. Whilst the core syllabus is relatively similar to non-NVQ commercial training, there is a particular requirement to attain the actual NVQ qualifications as part of the overall training program. This means that work programs or apprenticeships have to be sought in order to arrange the necessary course work and testing phases of work.

By opting to work on a freelance basis, many Mature Entrants appear to focus on those areas that provide profitable and practical solutions other than NVQ’s. In the main the person will aim to gain the best from their investment costs against the return for that training. Whilst this may seem to reduce the overall qualification set, this meets the trade requirements for the areas involved, and thus provides a quicker and more direct commercial route to the market.

So we have two defined routes laid out – one being for general employment and the other centred on self-employment. Whilst self-employed people can choose the hours that they work, we assume that they are working full time for the purpose of this review. It is recognised that competence and qualifications add to income levels as well as experience and information gained.

The basic salary for Junior Entrants tends to start around the 12-15k mark, but rises regularly to around 30k with the right level of experience. That said, due to the UK press telling people that electricians can get salaries in excess of 70k p.a., it is more difficult to gauge incomes for ’Mature Entrants’. It should be remembered however that a self employed person must often bear additional costs for items such as vehicles, tools and clothing. Furthermore, professional items such as accountancy, tax and insurance need to be considered to make the business work properly. That aside, whilst the work is open to market-forces to some degree, the current skills shortage in the UK means that there’s a high work-load available. If a student wanted to work every day of the week this would be possible in some areas. It should be understood that the 70-100k figures that we see thrown around in newspapers are not easily achieved, and would either require working long hours or having assistants (or both.)

In light of the above, it is often understood that there is wild variance between the working expectations of Junior and Mature Entrants. For a ’Junior Entrant’, most work is on a simple working week basis. To be fair, if the Mature electrician is focused on the domestic market then they often find themselves working out of hours, especially to support their clients when they get home. Again, this varies considerably, and many self-employed electricians make the mainstay of their income from office and small business installation, testing and inspection, which is Mon-Fri 9-5pm.

A Junior Entrant that has chosen to adopt a career within the electrical trade is more than likely to gain follow up expertise within the particular field they fall into, often dictated by the main business activities of their employer. Then again, the mature entrant can even go outside of the electrical field to gas work or plumbing work for example. Certainly if they are employed within the domestic sector this makes it easier to take on work without having to rely upon other people.

’Green Engineering’ is another area to consider. This requires new skills and working knowledge and is one of the fastest growing areas today. Looking together to the UK and the EEC this activity could be of benefit to both Junior and Mature Entrants, providing new growth and opportunities to both disciplines.

(C) 2009 Scott Edwards. Go to Part P Courses or Electrical Qualifications.