Guidance

Technical competence qualifications for consolidated standard rules permits: RPS 326

Published 13 March 2025

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2025

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/technical-competence-qualifications-for-standard-rules-permits-rps-326/technical-competence-qualifications-for-consolidated-standard-rules-permits-rps-326

This regulatory position statement (RPS) does not change your legal requirement to comply with the requirements of an approved competence scheme when your current standard rules set is consolidated into one of the following:

However, the Environment Agency will not normally take enforcement action against you if you do not comply with this legal requirement, provided that:

  • your activity meets the description set out in this RPS
  • you comply with the conditions set out in this RPS

In addition, your activity must not cause (or be likely to cause) pollution of the environment or harm to human health, and must not:

  • cause a risk to water, air, soil, plants or animals
  • cause a nuisance through noise or odours
  • adversely affect the countryside or places of special interest

Activity this RPS applies to

This RPS applies to operators who have one of the following standard rules permits, which have been replaced by new consolidated standard rules permits.

This RPS allows operators 12 months from the date of this RPS to gain any additional qualifications required for the new consolidated permits.

SR2008 No 11 and SR2009 No 6

Which have been replaced by SR2022 No 1: treatment of waste to produce soil, soil substitutes and aggregate.

SR2008 No 3, No 4 and No 8, and SR2015 No 6

Which have been replaced by SR2022 No 4: non-hazardous waste recycling with asbestos, hazardous batteries, cable and WEEE storage.

SR2008 No 1, No 2 and No 6, and SR2015 No 4 and No 5

Which have been replaced by SR2022 No 5: non-hazardous waste transfer with asbestos, hazardous batteries, cable and WEEE storage.

SR2008 No 12 and SR2015 No 19

Which have been replaced by SR2022 No 6: household waste recycling centre.

Conditions you must comply with

You must:

  • have one of the permits listed in the ‘Activities this RPS applies to’ section
  • have the relevant primary competence qualification and have passed the relevant continuing competence assessment required for your current standard rules permit
  • apply for and get the additional qualifications required by 13 March 2026 (within 12 months of the publication of this RPS)
  • keep records for 2 years from when you last used this RPS to show that you have complied with this RPS and make these records available to the Environment Agency on request

You must not use this RPS if your standard rules permit is not listed in ‘Activities this RPS applies to’ section.

Things to note

There’s more information on the extra qualifications or units required in the England risk tier table on Primary Competence - CIWM (WAMITAB).

When you must check back

The Environment Agency intends to withdraw this RPS by 13 March 2026.

The Environment Agency can withdraw or amend this regulatory position before the withdrawal date if they consider it necessary. This includes where the activity that this RPS relates to has not changed.

You will need to check back from time to time, including at and before the withdrawal date, to see if this RPS still applies.

You can subscribe to email updates about this RPS. These will tell you if the RPS has changed and when it has been withdrawn.

This RPS remains in force until it is removed from GOV.UK or is otherwise identified as having been withdrawn.

If you cannot comply with this RPS

If you operate under this RPS but can no longer comply with it, you must:

Contact the Environment Agency

If you have any questions about this RPS, email enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk with ‘RPS 326’ in the subject.

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