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Just booked an engineer onto a 3 day refresher course £365.00 +vat followed by a 4 day ccn1 and exam at £545 +vat, and he is only able to get on this scheme because he has previos acops(now expired) experience. On asking how I could also train up an electrical engineer with 16th edition etc I was amazed to find that he has to do a 4 week course of pre instruction before being able to start the process of getting experience. When I explained that my business could not afford to lose 30{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of its engineering/ income for 4 weeks the reply was basically …tough, he can’t do the gas work then.
So, if I sack him…throw him on the dole….he can then train up free of charge to me(your taxes can pay) and then I’ll re-employ him!!!
I should explain that we have a local Gas Training and maintainance company but they only train people who are fortunate enough to not have a job and be claiming benefit.
Its crap….when governments want to fix the world and over look their own doorsteps. Why is there no help for us to raise our skill levels? Why is an experienced engineer with real qualifications treated as a dummy? Why is Corgi able to project GAS as something special, RED TAPE is strangling us all….Kevin
thats my moan for the week……
Re: ACS training and exams
That just about sums up the whole farce that gas training has become for us in this industry of late.
Forgive me for repeating this but when will the realisation come that soon there will be no-one left to repair gas cookers within the white goods industry, there will ne no choice for manufacturers and insurers etc to use the heating industry engineers who have cooker skills, and they sure as hell won’t be doing it for £35-£45 a call.
Dave.
Re: ACS training and exams
There are ways to breed gas engineers without going through all that rigmarole, but it’s not so easy and you already have to be doing gas work. But the point is that, for this industry, with it’s extremely limited scope of gas product, why is it there?
Why have the manufacturers not made representations to CORGI? Is there anyone on the CORGI Council even related to this industry, if not, why not? Do none of the retailers or their associations have anything to say about this as it will affect them too? Why has DASA not taken a more active role in this matter, why are they not working in partnership with other trade organisations to combat this? Does anyone bar us even care?
TBH, I am sadly and quickly reaching the conclusion that nobody bar us repairers do actually care, no-one else in the industry seems to give a fig.
They will though.
Even on the heating side there is deep unrest with CORGI’s new plot that they’ve hatched, so much so that they too are also seeing a decline in the number of trained operatives out there. If they don’t have enough to cover their own core work that is their bread and butter do you really think they’ll want to know about a silly hob? How long will it be before even the kitchen fitters drop CORGI as being not worth the hassles as well, sooner than the heating boys I should think?
Were it not for the installation work we do I’d drop CORGI n a heartbeat, it’s expensive to get, expensive to maintain and a pain when it’s inspection time as well. For the volume of calls recieved to the level of agrivation from it, it’s just not worth the hassle and, that’s now, not when all this new nonsense kicks in!
Up and down the country repairers are already dropping CORGI registration or the number of registered operatives that they have on the books. Many have already dropped LPG altogether as well as the ability to cover anything bar cookers/hobs.
You may think that this is a rather bleak and negative look at the current situation with CORGI but, it’s the stark reality of it sadly.
K.
Re: ACS training and exams
I thought has long has the engineer could prove that he had been working with another gas registered installer for a set period of time and he had been recieving on the job trainning along with his theory work that he could sit his acs in that field ie cookers or fires etc but i was lucky i just got in in time got to say it if i had to do it now would give it a miss and concentrate on something else dont think it is worth the bother unless fitting central heating systems etc were there is more money sad to say it got a nasty feeling the electricall side of things looks like they are thinking about takeing a leaf out of gorgis’s book 😥
Re: ACS training and exams
Re Ken’s earlier remarks – If you were to reflect on the history of DASA, you would remember that membership of DASA started to drop when they weren’t seen to be supporting the needs of the members. If history is to repeat itself perhaps this is the wake-up call for Corgi. I really hope they have got their hearing aids switched on this time. Esmeralda the bells!!
Phil, it depends very much on the training establishment whether or not they accept that as a basis to allow someone on the course. I know as I had somebody rejected from the course on the very first morning he attended it for that very reason despite over two years experience on installations.
The thing is, there’s no (to my knowledge) qualification in the area of repairs to the gas appliances that we encounter. Loads for boilers though. 😉
K.
Re: ACS training and exams
kwatt wrote:
Why have the manufacturers not made representations to CORGI? Is there anyone on the CORGI Council even related to this industry, if not, why not? Do none of the retailers or their associations have anything to say about this as it will affect them too? Why has DASA not taken a more active role in this matter, why are they not working in partnership with other trade organisations to combat this? Does anyone bar us even care
K.I had forgotten about this maybe someone who has access to Dasa forum could ask the question for me ?
Dasa if you want to increase your membership why are you not doing something about this (or are you ?)
Maybe I would be interested in joining you if I could actually see some worth in it ,these are the very issues that are affecting our trade and gradually strangling it . Its all very well trumpeting strong links with manufacturers etc ,But if you can’t provide them with the skills they need then surely theres no point .or am I missing it ( the point)
LawrenceRe: ACS training and exams
To my knowledge DASA have written a letter to CORGI with regard to training, or at least Chris Hayter was supposed to have done so. There is no news on that that I am aware of.
As to the concerns regards DASA and what they are up to, that question is best directed at the Chairman for now.
There has been considerable internal debate on the role of DASA within the industry and since I’ve gotten into trouble already for some of the points and questions I have posed of the organisation so I’m minding what I say here.
I keep asking the same old questions and recieve little in the way of answers, what is DASA? What is its aims and objectives? What is its role in the industry in the present day? Thus far no answers to those questions have been forthcoming. Many seem to see this as an attack on DASA, it is not. It is merely asking for an explanation of the association’s role within the industry and where it sees itself now.
Due to family/UKW/work pressures I feel that I cannot devote the time to DASA that I have and I stated that I will step down as a council member as the other three are of greater import to me on a personal level. If I cannot give the association the attention I think I should do then I think it is only fair that I move aside and allow someone else the opportunity to have a voice on the council.
That said, I would encourage an open debate on DASA, tell them what would make you join, tell them what you want to see and expect from DASA and shout about it as, if you do not, nothing will change. So feel free to open another thread and have a go if you like.
You never know, it may make a difference.
K.
Re: ACS training and exams
I know that this might be a bit late but i have just heard a rumour how to get round the acs entrants criteria.I have done my oftec(oil) which mirrors acs (ventilation,flue requirments etc) not a easy exam credited but i did all 3 101 102 105e which deals with anything from a cooker upto a swimming pool boiler!( i like the punishment) dont think you would have to sit all three exams just probably the one but you do not have to be qualified in oil to sit the exam(it took me 4 days) and then they say that you are cat 3 entrant for the gas because the say that you are an experianced engineer in a related field and has i say it mirrors the gas regs they say the same about heatas (solid fuel) but not done that one yet and it is only meant to take 1/2 days i know its a lot of expense and time to be qualified in something you will probably never use again but its better then sitting at college for three years doing exactly the same! Has i say its a rumour but it might be worth a look if you are struggling to get on the gas!
Thats if you think gas is worth it because it does cost a lot to maintain and keep up with and the rates dont really reflect this!
Another thing do you think that in three to five years time when everybody who has flooded the locall techs with plumming /gas courses has qualified there will be to many gas people for the demand thus the price/wage of a gas engineer will fall? supply and demand! sorry i am moaning again 👿 of to the pub to go and maintain my nickname! no my name is not phil and i am not a fish 😈 😈 😈Re: ACS training and exams
As Phil ? has raised this thread again, has anyone read the “reply” regarding the notification scheme from Corgi in the recent installer mag ?
Some good points there though oh finned one 😉
Dave.
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