Becoming certified

Get to know the standards

To become an MCS certified installer, you will be assessed against the MCS 001-1 Standard, along with the specific technical Standard for each technology you wish to become certified for.

Before applying, you should familiarise yourself with the appropriate Standards and be ready to demonstrate how your business meets these requirements during the assessment.

Visit the Standards & Tools Library here.

Build a competent team / identify business roles

In order to gain MCS certification, your business will be asked to demonstrate how you engage the services of skilled, competent, and experienced individuals to fulfil each activity required to meet and maintain the requirements of the Scheme.

This includes assigning a Nominated Technical Person (NTP) within your business for each technology you are certified for, as outlined in the MCS 025 Standard. Your NTP(s) must be competent in the technical aspects associated with each technology that you are certified for.

Find a Training Course here.

Set up internal processes and controls

You will need to demonstrate the operation of a Quality Management System (QMS). You should ensure that this is developed and in place within your business before you apply. Your QMS will help to demonstrate how you ensure consistent quality of installations.

A common misconception is that a QMS must be a lengthy and complex set of documents. Another is that you need to purchase a software service to manage it. Neither is the case.
What matters is that your QMS is:

• Fit for purpose – tailored to your activity and the type of work your business does
• Process and control focused – clearly outlines how quality is maintained at every stage of delivering the installation
• Proportionate – scaled to the size and complexity of your business.

Once your business is ready, apply to an MCS accredited Certification Body. A Certification Body is an independent, third party organisation that will ensure you install the renewable technology in line with the MCS Standards. They will assess how your business operates and inspect your nominated first installation to ensure compliance with Scheme requirements.

Your choice of Certification Body will depend on your business needs, but will likely be influenced by the services each Certification Body has to offer, whether they can provide MCS certification for the technologies you wish to install, and if you have an existing relationship with them. The Certification Body you choose will guide you through the certification process.

All of the Certification Bodies have different prices for becoming certified, and timescales can also differ for the assessment(s). You should discuss these details with your Certification Body and they can direct you to their MCS application form.

Assessment

Once you have completed an application with your Certification Body and they have reviewed it, they will conduct their assessment activities. The assessments will take place in two stages:

• An office-based assessment to look at your management systems and to determine your compliance with the requirements with MCS 001-1 Standard. 
• A site-based installation assessment, to determine your compliance to the relevant MCS Installation Standards for your chosen technology/technologies. 

To support the site based installation assessment, you’ll need to provide details of recent/current installations with your Certification Body and arrange access for them to conduct the assessment. Your Nominee and Nominated Technical Person will need to be available for the compliance assessments.

Following successful assessment, your Certification Body will then issue you with a certificate – this is a document that confirms you have been successfully assessed against MCS001-1 and the relevant MCS Installation Standard(s).

Responding to non conformities

Following the assessment, there will be a meeting arranged between you and your Certification Body to discuss any non-conformities. 

A non-conformity is a compliance or quality issue found during an assessment. Non-conformities can represent things to improve, or if more significant, issues that need to be addressed urgently. Your Certification Body will explain if they find any non-conformities and what they are. 

If non-conformities are raised, you need to resolve these and return corrective and preventative actions to your CB within 4 weeks of assessment. ​If they are satisfied with your response for each non-conformity, they will be closed.

Achieving certification 

Once you have followed all of the above steps, you will have achieved MCS certification. Your Certification Body will award you a licence to operate as MCS certified and to use the MCS certification mark. 

They will also set you up with access to the MCS Installations Database, give you the ‘MCS Certified’ logo and materials for you to use in your marketing, and list you on the MCS Find an Installer tool.