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Regulation 12(6A) requires a building notice or full plans where the work consists of the installation of a new circuit, the replacement of a consumer unit, or any addition or alteration to existing circuits in a special location. The definition of special location is precise. It covers the space around a bath tap or shower head, extending vertically from finished floor level to 2.25 metres - or to the shower head where that is fixed higher - and horizontally 0.6 metres from the edge of a bath tub or shower tray, or, where there is no tub or tray, 1.2 metres from the centre point of a wall or ceiling mounted shower head. It also covers any room containing a swimming pool or a sauna heater.

Approved Document P then states the consequence plainly: all other electrical installation work is not notifiable, namely additions and alterations to existing installations outside special locations, and replacements, repairs and maintenance anywhere. It adds two worked examples that answer most household questions. Installing a built-in cooker is not notifiable unless a new cooker circuit is needed. Connecting an electric gate or garage door to an existing isolator is not notifiable, but installing a new circuit from the consumer unit to that isolator is.

One more note in the same document is worth knowing when planning a bathroom: socket-outlets should not be located within three metres of a bath tub or shower tray.

Wales did not adopt the 2013 narrowing. The Welsh Government's guidance on electrics describes minor, non-notifiable work as replacing any electrical fitting such as socket outlets, light fittings and control switches; adding a fused spur to an existing circuit but not in a kitchen, bathroom or outdoors; repair and maintenance work; installing or upgrading main or supplementary equipotential bonding; and installing extra-low voltage cabling for signalling or communication. In other words, adding a socket in a Welsh kitchen or running a light into a Welsh garden is notifiable where the same job in England would not be. That is the single most useful devolution fact on this page.

Scotland does not use Part P at all. Building standards there are set under the Building (Scotland) Regulations, with standard 4.5 requiring that electrical installations do not threaten the health and safety of people in and around the building or become a source of fire, and the technical handbook pointing at BS 7671. The control mechanism is the building warrant granted by the local authority verifier, and the handbook notes that an approved certifier of construction who has been assessed as having the professional skills and relevant experience can certify compliance of an electrical installation. Whether a particular job needs a warrant depends on the work and the building, so ask your local authority.

Northern Ireland has its own Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 and its own technical booklets. It also has a separate, newer regime for rented homes: the Electrical Safety Standards for Private Tenancies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024 came into operation on 1 April 2025, require inspection and testing by a qualified person at intervals of no more than five years against the eighteenth edition of the Wiring Regulations, and set 1 December 2025 as the deadline for first inspections of existing tenancies.

Approved Document P sets out three procedures, and only three. The first is self-certification by a registered competent person: the installer completes a BS 7671 electrical installation certificate for the job and gives it to whoever ordered the work, and the installer or their registration body must, within 30 days of completion, give a copy of the Building Regulations compliance certificate to the occupier and the certificate or its information to the building control body.

The second was introduced in 2013 for installers who are not registered. Before work begins they may appoint a registered third-party certifier to inspect and test as necessary; within five days of finishing, the installer must notify that certifier, who, if the results are satisfactory, completes an electrical installation condition report for the person who ordered the work, with the registration body issuing the compliance certificate within 30 days.

The third is to notify a building control body before work starts. The building control body then decides how much inspection and testing it needs, may do it itself or contract a specialist, and will take an installer's own BS 7671 certificate and qualifications into account. Local authority charges must take account of how much inspection work the authority expects to carry out, so a well-documented job can cost less to certify this way than a poorly documented one.

Approved Document P says electrical work should be inspected and tested in accordance with the procedures in BS 7671 to verify that the design and installation are adequate and that the installation will be safe to use, maintain and alter, and that the test forms should be given to the person ordering the work. That sentence is the reason to care about certificates on a job as small as a spur: the certificate is the record that someone measured the earth fault loop impedance and proved the protective device will operate, rather than simply making the light come on.

It also matters when the house changes hands or is let. Building Regulations certificates normally go to the occupier, and in rented property may go to the person ordering the work with a copy to the occupier. Landlords in England have a separate duty under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 to have every electrical installation inspected and tested by a qualified person at intervals of no more than five years, or sooner where the report says so, and to obtain a report giving the results and the date of the next inspection.

For a homeowner doing nothing more than adding a socket, the practical test of a good electrician is whether they talk about testing and certification without being asked, and whether they can tell you which of the three certification routes applies if the job turns out to be notifiable.

Small electrical work is priced on access and certification as much as on the fitting. The variables are how far the new point is from a suitable existing circuit, whether cables can be run in a void or must be chased into masonry and made good, what the wall and floor construction allows, whether the existing installation is in a condition to take the addition, whether the job falls inside the notifiable list where you live, and whether making good and decorating are included. Testing and certification are a fixed part of doing it properly and should appear in the quotation rather than as an extra.

LokalMatch is the introduction and nothing more. Set out what you want, where it is in the house and what is already nearby, add your postcode, and electricians covering your area get in touch with you directly. Homeowners are not charged for this; the businesses pay for the requests they receive. LokalMatch does not do electrical work, does not set prices and does not vet, rank or recommend anyone, so checking scheme registration and asking which certificates you will receive is your part of the job.