The Plumbing and Heating Industry Alliance (PHIA) has pledged to continue its campaign to highlight the increasing number of complaints from people who have paid large sums of money for so called 'Fast Track' training to become plumbers, fitters and now electricians.

Organisations, under the aegis of the PHIA and aligned with City and Guilds of London Institute, have produced a joint letter to highlight this concern in the media.

This letter - which has already been used in reply to a Daily Mail article on 10 July - expresses considerable concern about the credibility given to organisations offering training courses in heating, plumbing, electrical wiring installations and other Allied Engineering Services extending over merely weeks and at a cost which is not representative of value.

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Chris Sneath, Chairman of PHIA, said: “It beggars belief that the media fail to alert the purchasers of this type of training nor the general public who may engage the services of non-qualified persons to carry out unsuitable and possibly illegal work on their property.

Such organisations do irreparable damage to those legitimate and competent tradespeople who have trained over a period of years to achieve accredited qualifications. We are currently working with the Trading Standards Institute to explore additional ways to defeat this problem.”

The recognised industry standard is a National Vocational, or Scottish Vocational Qualification (NVQ/SVQ) at level 3.

These training programmes are the only qualifications recognised by the sector and Government to prove competence as qualified tradespersons.

(CL/SP)