Our Licences & Certifications

Anyone can put “fully qualified” on a website. What matters is whether it’s true, and whether you can check it. This page sets out exactly what Catalyst Home Services holds — Gas Safe registration, Water Regulations training, and full insurance cover — and how to verify each one yourself before you book us.

Ready to book a qualified engineer? Book a plumber online → or call our 24/7 emergency line: +44 7400 265421

Why This Page Exists

Plumbing in the UK is a strange trade from a regulatory standpoint. Some parts of it — gas work, specifically — are tightly controlled by law. Other parts have no formal licensing requirement at all, which means the word “plumber” tells you almost nothing about whether the person using it actually knows what they’re doing.

We think that gap is a problem, and not just for customers. It’s a problem for plumbers like us who do hold proper qualifications, because there’s no easy way to stand out from someone who’s printed the same claims on a van with nothing behind them.

So this page does something simple: it lists what we actually hold, links to where you can check it, and explains why each one matters. If you’re choosing between us and another company, we’d genuinely encourage you to ask them the same questions.

This page covers:

  • Gas Safe registration — what it is, why it’s a legal requirement, and how to check ours
  • Water Regulations compliance — less well-known, but relevant to almost every job we do
  • Public liability and employer’s liability insurance — what it protects you against
  • How our credentials apply across our different service areas, from repair work to installations and commercial plumbing

Gas Safe Registration

What it is

Gas Safe Register is the official, government-backed register of gas engineers in the UK and Isle of Man. It replaced CORGI in 2009. By law, anyone who works on gas appliances — boilers, gas fires, cookers, gas pipework — must be on this register. It isn’t optional, and it isn’t a “nice extra.”

Who needs to know this

If you’re booking any work involving a boiler, gas central heating, or a gas appliance, this is the credential that matters most. That includes our boiler and water heater service, and any job where gas pipework needs to be disconnected or altered — which can come up unexpectedly during bathroom refits or kitchen installations.

What’s included in our registration

  • Our gas engineers are registered for the specific categories of work they carry out (for example, boilers, or gas pipework)
  • Each registered engineer carries a Gas Safe ID card with their registration number and a photo
  • Gas Safe certificates are issued on completion of relevant work — for example, a CP12 / Landlord Gas Safety Record, or a boiler installation certificate

How to check it

You can search the Gas Safe Register website using a registration number from an engineer’s ID card, or by company name. We’d encourage you to do this — it takes a couple of minutes, and any registered engineer should have no issue with you doing it before they start work.

Find out more about our boiler and water heater service →

Water Regulations Compliance

What it is

The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 (and the equivalent Scottish Byelaws) govern how plumbing systems connect to the public water supply. They cover things like preventing contaminated water from flowing back into the mains (backflow prevention), the types of fittings and materials that can be used, and how pipework is installed near drinking water.

Unlike Gas Safe, there isn’t a single public register you can check an individual against in the same way — but the standards still apply to the work, by law, regardless of who’s carrying it out.

Who needs to know this

This is relevant to almost every job involving the water supply — not just obvious ones like new bathroom installations, but also repairs that involve replacing fittings, pipe replacement and relining, and new build plumbing, where compliance is checked as part of building control sign-off.

What’s included

  • Our engineers are trained to current Water Regulations standards as part of their ongoing development
  • We use fittings and materials that meet the required approvals for use on the mains-connected water supply
  • For new installations and significant alterations, work is carried out in a way that supports building control notification where required

Find out more about our installation services →

Insurance Cover

What it is

Two types of insurance matter for a trade business working in people’s homes and on commercial premises: public liability insurance (covering damage to property or injury to third parties as a result of our work) and employer’s liability insurance (covering our team if something goes wrong on the job).

Who needs to know this

Honestly — everyone who’s having work done. If something goes wrong (a pipe is nicked during installation and causes water damage to a floor, for example), insurance is what stands between “this gets sorted properly” and “this becomes a dispute.” For landlords and commercial clients in particular, many contracts and managing agent agreements require contractors to hold and evidence appropriate insurance before work begins.

What’s included

  • Public liability cover for work carried out across our repair, drainage, installation, and specialist services
  • Employer’s liability cover for our team
  • Insurance details and certificates of currency available on request — particularly relevant for commercial plumbing clients and managing agents

Find out more about our commercial plumbing services →

Why This Matters More Than It Might Seem

There’s a reason we’ve put this much detail into a page about paperwork. In the UK, the plumbing trade has a genuine credibility problem — not because most plumbers are bad, but because there’s so little to distinguish a properly qualified, insured tradesperson from someone who isn’t, until something goes wrong.

Gas work is the clearest example. Gas Safe registration exists because unqualified gas work has, historically, killed people — carbon monoxide poisoning from poorly fitted or maintained appliances is not a hypothetical risk. The law treats this seriously, and so do we. Every one of our engineers working on gas appliances is registered for that work specifically, not just “registered” in a general sense.

Water Regulations compliance gets less attention, but it matters too — backflow contamination incidents, while rare, are a genuine public health issue, and the regulations exist to prevent them. It’s also one of those things that’s invisible when done correctly and expensive when it isn’t (a failed building control inspection on a new bathroom, for example, can mean ripping out finished work).

And insurance is the safety net underneath all of it. We’d rather you ask about it before booking than discover the gap afterwards.

If you’d like to know more about how we operate day to day, our Why Choose Us page covers that in more detail, and our reviews and testimonials page reflects how this plays out in practice.

Why Different Customers Care About This Differently

Homeowners generally encounter this page when they’re about to have gas or significant plumbing work done and want reassurance before letting someone into their home — which is exactly the right instinct.

Landlords often need this information formally. Landlord Gas Safety Records (CP12s) are a legal requirement for rented properties with gas appliances, and need renewing annually. Our residential AMC plans build this into a regular schedule, so it doesn’t become an annual scramble.

Commercial clients typically need evidence of insurance and compliance as part of their own contractor vetting processes before work can even be scheduled. We can provide certificates of currency and registration details in advance — get in touch via our contact page if this is needed for a tender or vetting process.

Developers and contractors working on new builds need plumbing work that will pass building control inspection first time. Compliance with Water Regulations isn’t a bonus here — it’s the baseline for new build plumbing to be signed off.

How to Check Our Credentials Before You Book

We’d rather make this easy than ask you to take our word for it.

1. Ask before you book. Call us on +44 7400 265421 and ask which engineer is assigned and what registration they hold for the work you need.

2. Check the Gas Safe Register. If your job involves gas, search the engineer’s registration number (from their ID card) on the official Gas Safe Register website. This confirms both that they’re registered and what categories of work they’re registered for.

3. Ask to see ID on arrival. Any genuine Gas Safe registered engineer carries an ID card and should show it without hesitation. If in doubt, don’t let work proceed until you’ve seen it.

4. Request insurance evidence if you need it. For larger jobs, commercial work, or anything where your own contracts require it, we can provide certificates of currency for our public and employer’s liability insurance — just ask via our contact page.

5. Keep your paperwork. For gas work, you’ll receive a certificate (such as a CP12 for rented properties) the same day. Keep this — you may need it for tenancy compliance, insurance claims, or when selling the property.

6. Ask again at any point. If you’re not sure about anything — registration categories, insurance limits, what a certificate actually covers — ask. We’d rather explain it than have you wonder.

What This Adds Up To

Credentials on their own don’t make a good plumber — experience and judgement matter just as much, and you can read more about our team on our Our Team page. But credentials are the floor, not the ceiling. They’re the minimum you should expect, and the minimum we’d want anyone working in our own homes to have.

What we’d ask, if you’re comparing us to another company, is simple: ask them the same questions we’ve answered here. If the answers are vague, or the registration doesn’t check out, that tells you something useful before any work starts — not after.

For more on how we work day to day, visit our Why Choose Us page, or see what existing customers say on our reviews and testimonials page.

Looking for Something Specific?

FAQs

Is Catalyst Home Services Gas Safe registered? Yes. Any of our engineers carrying out gas work — boiler servicing, repairs, or installations — is Gas Safe registered for that category of work, as required by UK law. Their registration number is on their ID card, which they’ll show you on arrival, and you can verify it on the official Gas Safe Register website.

What’s the difference between Gas Safe registration and being “fully qualified”?

“Fully qualified” isn’t a defined legal term in plumbing — it can mean almost anything. Gas Safe registration, by contrast, is a specific, legally required, government-backed credential for gas work, checkable by anyone via the Gas Safe Register. If a company can’t point you to a specific, verifiable credential, “fully qualified” doesn’t tell you much.

Do you need a CP12 (Landlord Gas Safety Record) if you’re a landlord?

Yes — it’s a legal requirement for any rented property with gas appliances, and it needs renewing every 12 months. We carry these out as part of standard gas servicing, and our residential AMC plans can schedule this automatically so it doesn’t get missed.

What are the Water Regulations and why do they matter for plumbing work?

The Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 set legal standards for how plumbing systems connect to the mains water supply, covering things like preventing contamination via backflow and the types of fittings that can be used. They apply to most plumbing work involving the water supply, including installations and pipe replacement, even though there’s no single public register to check compliance against the way there is for gas.

Are you insured for work in my home?

Yes — we hold public liability insurance covering work carried out on residential and commercial premises, and employer’s liability insurance for our team. If you’d like to see a certificate of currency, particularly for larger jobs, just ask via our contact page.

How can I check a plumber’s credentials before booking, not just yours?

For gas work, ask for their Gas Safe registration number and check it on the Gas Safe Register website — this is the single most useful check you can do. For everything else, ask directly about insurance, ask how long they’ve been trading, and check independent reviews rather than testimonials on their own site alone.

Do you provide certificates after the work is done?

Yes. For gas work, you’ll receive the relevant certificate (such as a CP12 for landlords, or a boiler installation/commissioning certificate) on the day. For larger non-gas jobs, we provide a written summary of the work carried out, which is useful for records, warranties, or when selling a property.

What happens if work doesn’t pass a building control inspection?

This is one of the reasons compliance with Water Regulations and building standards matters from the outset — getting it right the first time avoids the cost and disruption of redoing finished work. Our new build plumbing and installation work is carried out with this in mind from the start, not as an afterthought.

Have a Question About Our Credentials?

Ask us anything — registration numbers, insurance details, what a particular certificate covers. We’d rather you knew before booking than wondered afterwards.

📞 Call us any time: +44 7400 265421 (24/7 for emergencies)