Guidance

Building control registration and regulatory oversight: factsheet

Updated 5 April 2022

This guidance was withdrawn on 25 July 2022

This guidance is withdrawn as it is no longer current. Please see the latest guidance on the Building Safety Act.

What are we going to do?

We are improving the professional standards and introducing regulatory oversight of all building control inspectors and organisations.

We are reforming building control in England by introducing a new framework for registration and regulatory oversight of the profession. This new framework will set new requirements and standards that apply across both the public and private sector parts of the profession, levelling the playing field for the first time.

We are:

• Improving professional competence of those working in building control by requiring building inspectors to register with the Building Safety Regulator.

• Giving the Building Safety Regulator powers to set minimum performance standards that building control approvers and local authority building control bodies must meet.

• Ensuring the Building Safety Regulator has the powers and capability to investigate individual inspectors’ conduct and sanction them if they breach a code of conduct.

The Building Safety Regulator will collect and analyse information about the performance of building control work, making recommendations to drive up standards across the sector. The regulator will also have investigatory powers when building control bodies breach minimum performance standards, and a series of escalating sanctions and enforcement measures available to address poor performance.

How are we going to do it?

The Building Safety Bill includes provisions to improve competence levels and accountability in the building control sector by creating a new professional and regulatory structure for building control. The Building Safety Regulator will establish and maintain a register of building inspectors (individuals) and building control approvers (either organisations or individuals).

New roles and titles: The changes introduced by the Bill are substantial, and therefore we are creating new titles for individuals and organisations.

• Individuals and organisations currently known as ‘Approved Inspectors’ who wish to continue undertaking building control work will need to register as ‘building control approvers’.
• The role of a registered building inspector being introduced in this Bill is new. Building control authorities and registered building control approvers will need to obtain and consider the advice of a registered building inspector before carrying out certain functions, and will also have to carry out certain activities through a registered building inspector. These functions and activities will be set out in secondary legislation. Many people currently working in local authority building control teams and Approved Inspectors are expected to become registered building inspectors.

Criteria for registration: The Building Safety Regulator will set the criteria for registration. We expect this to be linked to a common competence framework. The regulator will also set out a common code of conduct for inspectors, and will manage a disciplinary process.

Minimum performance standards: The Building Safety Regulator will be able to set Operational Standards Rules defining the minimum performance standards that building control bodies must meet. The regulator will set reporting requirements to collect information and will continuously assess and analyse the performance of building control bodies, making recommendations to drive up standards across the sector.

Sanctions and enforcement measures: The Building Safety Regulator will have investigatory powers when building control bodies breach the operating standards, and a series of escalating sanctions and enforcement measures to address poor performance issues. Building Control Approvers who fail to meet the standards can be deregistered, and the regulator will be able to advise the Secretary of State to make an order to take over the function of a local authority building control department by appointing senior officers or managers from another authority, to manage the failing building control department until it can be returned to full compliance.

Preventing conflicts of interest: The Bill also removes the ability for a person carrying out building work on [high-rise residential and other in-scope buildings] to choose their own building control body where building control is required.

Additional amendments to existing legislation: We will also:

• Give powers and obligations to the local authority, registered building control approver and person carrying out work to cancel an initial notice when the work covered by the notice becomes higher-risk building work.

• Amend the existing powers and obligations for the local authority, registered building control approver and the person carrying out the work to cancel initial notices for non-higher-risk building work.

• Give powers to the Regulator that enable it to enforce building regulations when non-higher-risk building work becomes higher-risk building work.

• Allow the Secretary of State to make regulations as to how the new regulatory regime for higher-risk buildings will be applied (if at all) to a public body designated under sections 5 or 54 of the Building Act 1984.

• Enable a local authority and the Building Safety Regulator to seek information from a registered building control approver (or from someone who used to be a registered approver) where it has ceased to supervise a project.

• Require the Building Safety Regulator to set up the new national register/portal of information relating to the work of registered building control approvers.

• Amend the existing powers to give the Secretary of State the ability to designate bodies for the purposes of publishing criteria for and/or approving an insurance scheme for registered building control approvers.

• Create a new process to appoint a new registered building control approver where an existing approver ceases to supervise work and the existing work may or may not have been signed off by the previous approver.

Further measures, such as additional detail on how the system will operate and what functions building inspectors will be required to carry out, will be included in secondary legislation. We will be consulting stakeholders on these questions.

Background

In her May 2018 independent review Judith Hackitt recommended the removal of dutyholder choice for high-rise residential and other in-scope buildings, and proposed a new regime to cover these buildings.

The government has pledged not just to implement the review but also to go further where there is a case to do so.

In 2020 the government convened the Future of Building Control Group (consisting of representatives from public and private sector building control, and related professional bodies), to give their views on reform to the sector. We have considered their recommendations, most of which are consistent with government policy, and continue working with the sector to design and implement the new system.

Why are you only ending dutyholder choice of building control for high-rise residential and other in-scope buildings?

We are introducing reforms to drive up standards across the building control profession, making buildings safer and protecting those in them. This is happening through a combination of new performance, conduct and competence standards for professionals, through creating a unified profession and standards across the public and private sector, and through more thorough regulation by, and professional accountability to, the Buiding Safety Regulator.

These are important and far-reaching interventions in the building control sector that will complement the removal of the ability for a person carrying out higher-risk building work to be able to choose their own building control provider.

In light of these new measures, we are not convinced that removing dutyholder choice entirely from the building control system is necessary.

Is this overregulation?

The Bill creates a system of registration and regulatory oversight that will drive up standards across the sector, leading to safer buildings. We have worked with the whole building control sector to draw up these proposals and they have widespread support.

How much will it cost building inspectors and building control approvers to register?

The Regulator will have the power to charge building control approvers and building inspectors a registration fee. This is currently the case for approved inspectors who must register with Construction Industry Council Approved Inspectors Register (CICAIR).

We will work to ensure registration fees are proportionate and more details will be set out later.