How to Fill In a Minor Works Certificate

The Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate is one of the three model forms published in Appendix 6 of BS 7671:2018+A4:2026, alongside the Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) and the Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR). It is the shortest of the three and covers one existing circuit.

Regulation 644.1 requires an EIC on completion of a new installation or an addition or alteration to an existing one, including the replacement of a distribution board or consumer unit — except where Regulation 644.4.201 applies. That regulation is the one that permits the Minor Works Certificate:

“Where electrical installation work does not include the provision of a new circuit or replacement of a distribution board or consumer unit, a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate, based on the model given in Appendix 6, may be provided for each circuit that has been added to or altered as an alternative to an Electrical Installation Certificate.”

BS 7671:2018+A4:2026, Regulation 644.4.201

Two things follow from that wording. The certificate is issued per circuit, not per visit. And the header printed across the top of the model form — “To be used only for minor electrical work which does not include the provision of a new circuit” — is a limit on scope, not a suggestion.

Under Regulation 644.5 the certificate must be compiled and signed, or otherwise authenticated, by a skilled person competent to verify that the requirements of BS 7671 have been met. Regulation 644.4.202 confirms it may be produced in any written or electronic form, provided its authenticity and integrity can be verified.

The notes printed with the model form give the test directly: additions and alterations that do not extend to the provision of a new circuit, and replacement of equipment such as accessories or luminaires — but not the replacement of consumer units, distribution boards or similar items. That exclusion is part of BS 7671 and applies across the UK, whatever the local building control notification rules.

Guidance Note 3 adds the practical rule for a job that touches more than one circuit: several minor works on a single existing circuit may share one certificate, but where two circuits are modified, a separate certificate is issued for each. The EIC notes offer the alternative — where there are multiple additions or alterations that do not extend to new circuits, an EIC may be issued instead of several Minor Works Certificates.

For a full comparison, see the Minor Works vs EIC guide.

Section A is where most audit failures start, because it is the only part of the form that is free text. It has to be specific enough that another electrician can understand exactly what was done and where, without seeing the job.

On the permitted exceptions line, note what Regulation 411.3.3 actually allows. A documented risk assessment can excuse RCD protection for socket-outlets in other locations — item (b) — but never for socket-outlets liable to be used by ordinary persons or children, or for mobile equipment for use outdoors. If you are relying on it, the assessment must be attached to the certificate.

In the app

Auto-Fill Site and Client Details

Elec-Mate remembers the installation address, client and supply details for a property, so the second visit starts with Section A already populated.

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Section B records the presence and adequacy of the installation earthing and bonding arrangements, and the form cites Regulation 132.16 against it. That regulation is the reason the section exists:

“No addition or alteration, temporary or permanent, shall be made to an existing installation, unless it has been ascertained that the rating and the condition of any existing equipment, including that of the distributor, will be adequate for the altered circumstances. Furthermore, the earthing and bonding arrangements, if necessary for the protective measure applied for the safety of the addition or alteration, shall be adequate.”

BS 7671:2018+A4:2026, Regulation 132.16

This section is not optional detail. Adding a socket to a circuit in a property with no main protective bonding to an extraneous-conductive-part is exactly the situation Regulation 132.16 is aimed at, and Section A is where the resulting defect gets recorded under Regulation 644.1.2.

Section C identifies the circuit you worked on and the devices protecting it. It is also where the two fields people most often skip live — the conductor sizes and the reference method.

The SPD and AFDD fields are new. The Amendment 4 change note for Appendix 6 records that the model forms gained “fields for recording the details of SPDs and AFDDs”. If you are working from a pre-A4 pad of forms, those lines will be missing and your certificate will be out of date.

Record the protective device accurately, because Section D’s Zs figure cannot be assessed without it. A measured Zs of 1.2 Ω passes on a 32 A Type B device and fails on a 32 A Type C.

Section D is headed “Test results for the altered or extended circuit (where relevant and practicable)”. Everything relevant must be filled in — a blank where a test applied reads, to a scheme assessor, as a test that was not done.

In the app

Test Result Validation Against BS 7671

Enter your results and Elec-Mate checks each one against the BS 7671 limit for the device and system you recorded in Section C.

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Section E carries a single declaration and a single signature. The printed wording is worth reading before you sign it, because it certifies two separate things:

“I certify that the work covered by this certificate does not impair the safety of the existing installation and the work has been designed, constructed, inspected and tested in accordance with BS 7671:2018 amended to … (date) and that to the best of my knowledge and belief, at the time of my inspection, complied with BS 7671 except as detailed in Section A.”

BS 7671:2018+A4:2026, Appendix 6 model form

Those are two distinct certifications. First, that your work has not made the existing installation less safe — which is why Section B exists. Second, that the work itself was designed, constructed, inspected and tested to BS 7671. Anything you could not certify goes in Section A, not left unsaid.

Fill in the amendment date. “BS 7671:2018 amended to” is a blank on the form, and the current answer is Amendment 4:2026. Leaving it empty, or writing an earlier amendment out of habit, is a straightforward audit finding.

Unlike the EIC, which separates design, construction, and inspection and testing, the Minor Works Certificate has one combined declaration — Appendix 6 describes it as indicating responsibility for design, construction, inspection and testing of the work described. Your competent person scheme may also want a registration number on the form; that is a scheme requirement rather than a BS 7671 field.

One more thing belongs with the certificate. The model form’s guidance for recipients is marked “to be appended to the Certificate”. It is what tells the client to test RCDs and AFDDs six-monthly using the test button, to check the SPD status indicator, and to keep the certificate safe for whoever works on the installation next.

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Digital Signatures — Sign on Your Phone

Capture the signature on screen and export the certificate with the guidance for recipients already attached. No paper, no scanning.

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There is no next inspection field on the Appendix 6 Minor Works Certificate. That recommendation belongs elsewhere:

Some scheme and software forms add a next inspection line of their own. If yours does, fill it in — but do not invent a new interval for the whole installation off the back of adding a socket. Where the installation already has an EICR with a recommended date, reference that date. Minor works does not reset the periodic inspection clock.

Two things are worth knowing when a client asks you for a number. Guidance Note 3 is explicit that industry guidance on frequency “can only be general” and does not replace the inspector’s judgement — the interval is assessed from the condition and use of the installation, and the reasoning should be recorded. And in England, the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 require an EICR at an interval of not more than five years for relevant private rented properties, unless the inspector considers a shorter period necessary.

Where an installation includes a next inspection recommendation label, that is Regulation 514.12.1 — a durable notice fixed at or near the distribution board recording the date of the last inspection and the recommended date of the next.

Minor Works Certificates are shorter than EICs, and that is exactly why they get filled in carelessly. These are the findings that come back from scheme assessments.