March has brought much of the UK some much-needed sunshine, offering us some respite and time to reflect on the last financial year. We’ve seen another great month for the HETAS website, reaching sessions almost 60% higher in comparison to March 2024 – with the registered business search retaining its spot as one of our most popular pages.

The team at HETAS have been hard at work to keep you well-informed and supported in your daily work. Our technical and regulations support is targeted to answer the sort of things that come up through inspections, at complaints visits, and on the installer helpline.

With the entire business being subject to our annual UKAS audit earlier this month and in February, I am pleased to announce that we have passed our audit. I would like to extend my thanks to everyone across the business for their continued hard work – it is due to business-wide efforts that we are continually able to pass these audits and receive such positive feedback.

As the industry-leading body offering registration schemes for the solid fuel and biomass sector, HETAS is always striving to provide the highest level of service to the schemes that we provide. HETAS offers schemes for installers, retailers, sweep and service technicians, and product approval. For the competent person scheme and microgeneration certification schemes (MCS) for installers and products, HETAS is required to be subject to annual audits from UKAS (The United Kingdom Accreditation Service). These independent, impartial audits ensure we comply with standards and specific scheme requirements, according to the first requirement outlined in the conditions of authorisation for competent person schemes. More details on the conditions of authorisation can be found on the HETAS Technical Hub – HTBG128.

This year we were subject to a more in-depth audit (called reaccreditation) as it was the end of the four-year audit cycle. Over the course of four days (two days in February and two days in March), three different UKAS auditors undertook the audit, and I am pleased to announce that we have passed again in 2025, receiving compliments on our passion, comprehensiveness, and attention to detail.

These audits and our continued success as an organisation reflects not only on the staff here at HETAS, but on our registrants like you, too. The government (specifically the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government) sets the conditions of authorisation, covering twenty-one key requirements. We must meet these requirements to continue to operate our schemes, and our commitment to being an industry-leading body in the solid fuel and biomass industry requires us to ensure you are able to complete your work to the highest standards.

HETAS recognises the importance of ensuring the procedures and systems we have in place are robust and remain impartial, and the recent successful audits confirms that we are continuing to do so – something that is as important as ever as the building sector comes under more scrutiny.

An expert-led review was recently published by Defra, following three years of research. The publication provides a comprehensive review on how we communicate air quality information to the public, highlighting whilst we have a strong foundation due to our world-leading atmospheric emissions inventory, efforts to educate the public on air quality and its ramifications need to be improved. The document provides recommendations to government, formulated by a number of air quality experts. Find out more in our deep dive article, including how we will continue the work we do to help improve air quality and communicate best practices through accessible, understandable education.

Action was taken against a non-compliant installer in recent months after a HETAS inspector responded to a complaint, finding an installation to be immediately dangerous. Non-compliant work represents a small minority of notified work, and we take all reports very seriously. After the serious faults were identified in this installation, the individual responsible was given the opportunity to revisit the household and rectify their work, but failed to do so. This led to the removal of the individual and business from the HETAS competent person scheme and a fine following an investigation by Trading Standards, with the full support of HETAS. Our article outlines our stance on such rare instances, and the role we play in upholding the highest standards to ensure registrants like you are enabled to complete work to the highest quality.

Earlier this March we celebrated International Women’s Day, this time speaking with women from across the solid fuel industry to find out what this year’s theme of ‘Accelerating Action’ means to them. Our sister company, Woodsure, also spoke to some incredible women from the wood fuel industry to learn more. It’s excellent that women across our industry feel empowered, and the HETAS team celebrated again using the brilliant resources from the IWD website.

Your inbox will soon receive the latest HETAS Technical Bulletin, which has undergone a slight revamp to align with our wider design efforts. I hope these articles, and our comprehensive list of past bulletin articles, are of assistance. Please get in touch with the HETAS Technical Helpline should you need any support or advice – your conversations help us ensure we provide the advice registrants like you are looking for.

Please stay vigilant for any phishing emails as the end of the financial year is upon us. Get in touch with us via 01684 278170 or through [email protected] if you receive a suspicious email requesting your details or payment and the team will be happy to help. Make sure you mark any phishing emails as spam to prevent them from further appearing in your inbox and keep you safe.