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Scottish Government Consults on Trusted Trader Scheme
27th October 2008
Earlier this year, the Scottish Government put out for consultation draft guidance and regulations relating to the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006. The guidance is intended as a practical tool to help Local Authorities work effectively within their new powers and duties. Because of the complexity, the guidance has been split into six volumes, Volume 6 being ‘Proposals for a National Trusted Trader Framework’.
The proposals for such a framework build on the Construction Licensing Executive (CLE) scheme, although they acknowledge that coverage of some trade sectors is patchy, as is geographical coverage. They also acknowledge that the CLE scheme has a high accreditation level which, whilst being positive, may discourage some traders in some industries from joining such a scheme. A two tier structure is therefore proposed.
The proposals acknowledge other existing schemes in Scotland, with a view to joining them up rather than reinventing what is already in place.
Joining the framework would be voluntary for traders. It is envisaged that a trusted trader framework in Scotland would need to offer a credible level of choice to help homeowners to confidently select a trader to carry out work on their home. Initially at least, evaluation and monitoring of traders is seen as being by web-based customer feedback. In the longer term, traders would be audited or inspected by their construction body. Mechanisms to audit those outside a construction body would however need to be put in place.
Intended as a national framework, Scottish Government believes that the Trusted Trader scheme will bring significant benefits for homeowners and the Scottish housing stock. The scheme is expected to have the following broad features:-
- Remove the various barriers homeowners face when trying to access reliable tradesmen
- Be accessible to anyone in Scotland
- Have national level branding and standards to ensure traders and end users know what to expect wherever they are, but operate at a local level with central administrative support
- Have a minimum level of accreditation no matter the delivery vehicle
- Have the buy-in of the construction industry as well as trading standards in local authorities
- Take account of the needs of the owner and the construction industry equally to help towards the sustainability of the framework
- Promote healthy competition and enterprise in the economy such as by building in open and comparative pricing between traders.
The consultation finished on 1 July, but the full consultation paper can still be found at www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/04/07144231/0.
A report on the consultation process is due to be issued in autumn, and final guidance for Local Authorities is expected to be published by the end of the year.
