The work we undertake covers a wide range of areas across the solid fuel and biomass industry. We are committed to working together for a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable environment – but what does this involve?

HETAS’s role is not isolated. We work closely with a number of important government departments, technical experts, and industry partners, and every HETAS registrant is key to the continued success of our work to promote the highest standards for fuel and appliances, encouraging the safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible use of solid fuels.

This work ranges from continually developing our training and schemes, our involvement in sub-committees and informing policy, and our efforts in educating consumers through the HETAS website. Our recent efforts have meant the HETAS website has seen its third-highest number of sessions, hitting over 100,000 in January. This recent traffic is comparable to our peak sessions during the energy crisis in late 2022 and ensures consumers are signposted to find trusted HETAS registrants and ways they can use their appliance safely.

Who we are

In England and Wales, there is a legal requirement to notify the installation of controlled services (such as heating, lighting, or hot water) under Building Regulations. There is also a requirement for competent and registered installers of controlled services to be given a way to self-certificate their work and for them to be given a route to pass this certificate of compliance to a customer or property owner within the legally permitted timeframe, aligning with the regulated requirement to notify the relevant local authority of work that has been completed.

HETAS operates the only specialist competent person scheme for solid fuel, wood, and biomass. HETAS was one of the original three schemes to become a competent person scheme in 2002 – Schedule 2A to the Building Regulations listed HETAS, FENSA, and OFTEC as suitable registration schemes for their respective sectors. At this time, only specialist schemes existed; there are now those who work over wider areas covering multiple trades, too.

HETAS is a not-for-profit, independent certification organisation. We invest surplus funds into business areas and initiatives that directly contribute to safely reducing emissions and improving air quality across the UK. As an impartial certification organisation – not a trade association – we are uniquely positioned to work with government and industry experts. Through this, we provide industry-leading training, promote and increase the responsible use of cleaner fuels and more efficient appliances, and advise government to develop and improve associated legislation.

What we must do

HETAS is held to the same high standards as all other competent person schemes. The government require all competent person schemes to comply with the ‘Conditions of Authorisation for Competent Person Self-Certification Schemes’.

These Conditions of Authorisation cover a range of requirements that we must follow, such as keeping our registrants informed of technical changes that will affect their work (such as changes to Building Regulations or BS/EN standards), ensuring applicants are assessed against minimum competence requirements, and employing technically adept individuals that have the experience and technical ability to assess the competence of both prospective and existing registrants.

The first Condition requires us to achieve and maintain UKAS accreditation to BS EN ISO/IEC 17065:2012. This standard requires certification bodies, such as HETAS, to ensure they remain independent, impartial, and always operate to a high standard. This involves annual audits by UKAS, wherein rigorous checks take place to ensure we meet the high standards all competent person schemes need to meet. We must pass these annual audits to remain authorised to operate a competent person self-certification scheme, and our continued successes demonstrate our expertise, knowledge, and passion for the solid fuel and biomass industry.

Partnerships

The work we undertake and our position as an industry leader means we maintain strong relationships with local authority departments like Trading Standards, Building Control, and Environmental Health.

When a non-compliant installation is discovered, we are the first port of call to help set things right. We can offer expert inspections and witness statements to help Trading Standards and other enforcement authorities prosecute people and businesses that are not making the same efforts as our registrants to comply and to undertake safe, high-quality work.

Within our organisation we have huge amounts of knowledge, experience, and data; we operate a wide range of certification schemes that link together to promote high standards across our sector. We value a range of cross-sector relationships where we can share and receive knowledge and expertise. Our partnerships with government departments and devolved administrations across the UK are valued by all and support a cleaner, safer, more sustainable future. Most notably, we liaise with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), and the Building Safety Regulator regularly.

Both the schemes we administer and our position as an industry leader mean these partnerships are mutually beneficial and allow us to steer policy, provide external bodies with key facts, and positively represent industry.

Ensuring compliance

Our partnerships are built on trust and knowledge. Whether a complaint regarding non-compliant work arises from a homeowner, Environmental Health, or Building Control, we are trusted to assess non-compliances, provide evidence, and, where necessary, assist with enforcement procedures.

We may not always be able to provide details of enforcement cases, but we treat all complaints seriously. Our complaints procedure ensures individuals or businesses at fault are given time to rectify non-compliant work and we work with homeowners to ensure this work is completed. Individuals and businesses failing to take the necessary actions will be removed from the HETAS competent person scheme and we will cooperate with Trading Standards and the relevant local authority to assist with enforcement, preventing any further non-compliance.

Logo misuse is also taken seriously, and we work hard to signpost and educate consumers to genuine competent and registered service providers. The HETAS certification marks provide customers the assurance that they can trust the person undertaking the work – whether that is chimney sweeping, servicing, or appliance installation. We work hard to prevent logo misuse to protect our brand and our registrants. We understand the importance of these marks and the confidence they instil in your customers, and our Primary Authority partnership with Trading Standards allows us to effectively tackle rare occurrences of logo misuse.

Work with government

From Building Regulations and clean air to emissions reductions and sustainability, our work with government and relevant departments (such as Defra, DESNZ, and MHCLG) focuses on the balance between efficiency and sustainability. Each of these departments are focused on specific remits, and our discussions involve evaluating how suitable policy is for their targets and our industry.

We put a lot of time and effort into maintaining these meaningful, professional relationships with government departments. From sitting on committees and taking part in consultations to giving expert advice, the unique role that HETAS has allows us to ensure government policy is based on scientific research and reliable data, with outcomes being pragmatic and evidence-based.

Technical expertise and a real-world approach

The technical experience and knowledge we hold across HETAS underpins all the work we complete, and our input into a wide range of standards committees is unique. We chair or attend numerous standards committees, utilising our expertise to ensure regulations and standards in the UK surrounding domestic burning are robust and actionable without becoming onerous or out of touch with industry professionals and modern practices.

As a not-for-profit, independent, and impartial certification organisation – not a trade association – we have the data, statistical evidence, experience, and expertise to lead industry and provide realistic, just solutions to problems. Our registrants and wider industry can rely on the fact that we bring a real-world, practical approach to our work. Whether it is to do with your registration, updates to Building Regulations, or legislation changes, we strongly believe that excessive control should be avoided wherever possible and complexity should be avoided where simplicity works better.

Our work spans a wide area and covers all aspects of our sector. Starting with the approval of appliances and fuels through to appliance choices, safe installation, maintenance, sweeping, and fuel quality, we work closely with industry to ensure safety and compliance. This array of work is also built on our expertise and influence across relevant standards and regulations where our well-established position allows us to play an influential role across the whole of our sector – for the benefit of our industry.

Our work involves us in a wide range of committees, groups, and research, and we use our ever-expanding expertise to inform everything we do. From policy and regulations to your everyday processes, we are committed to working towards a cleaner, safer, and more sustainable environment.