MCS has started to communicate the most common non-conformities recorded at assessment to raise awareness and to help installers eliminate these issues for good.
Paul Collins | Technical Director
MCS has identified the common non-conformities found at technical assessments. Here are February’s results.
MCS, the body that sets, defines and maintains the standards for low-carbon energy technology products, contractors and their installations, has started to communicate the most common non-conformities recorded at assessment to raise awareness and to help installers eliminate these issues for good.
For clarification, a non-conformity is raised when an installation does not meet a requirement in the MCS standards.
The aim of the game
The aim of this exercise is to gather information on frequently identified non-conformities, which will then be fed back to working groups in the renewables industry and used to improve standards. It is also designed to raise awareness among contractors, focusing their attention on recurring problems and serving as a useful ‘checklist’ to ensure every step is covered before they leave a site.
This list of non-conformities is released monthly by MCS; we’ll be sharing these regularly with businesses certified on our MCS scheme to help your business maintain the very highest standards.
Most common MCS assessment non-conformities for February 2025
MCS completed a total of 86 technical assessments in February 2025. These were undertaken on 37 air source heat pump and 49 solar PV installations registered on the MCS Installation Database.
Top recorded non-conformities for ASHP technical assessments:
Top recorded non-conformities for solar PV technical assessments:
What we can do about it
Let’s be clear. This list is not designed to bash MCS contractors, who are making a vital contribution towards achieving the UK’s net zero targets. It’s a quality control checklist to help your business ensure your work complies with all applicable standards. After all, higher standards will lead to improved assessment outcomes and a better reputation for the industry.
Daniel Yeates, NICEIC’s Energy Efficiency Scheme Manager, adds: “Most of the non-conformities identified by MCS in this report relate to the final completion stage of installations, and can be easily avoided by implementing a robust handover and completion checklist for installations within your business. Handover checklists for a wide variety of MCS installations can be found either within your business’s QMS or on the MCS website.”
So, next time you’re finishing up an installation, make sure you’re using the relevant handover checklist and double checking your work against this list of common non-conformities. Hopefully, over time, we will see these non-conformities vanish from MCS technical assessments and make a real difference to improving industry standards!
MCS, the body that sets, defines and maintains the standards for low-carbon energy technology products, contractors and their installations, has started to communicate the most common non-conformities recorded at assessment to raise awareness and to help installers eliminate these issues for good.
For clarification, a non-conformity is raised when an installation does not meet a requirement in the MCS standards.
The aim of the game
The aim of this exercise is to gather information on frequently identified non-conformities, which will then be fed back to working groups in the renewables industry and used to improve standards. It is also designed to raise awareness among contractors, focusing their attention on recurring problems and serving as a useful ‘checklist’ to ensure every step is covered before they leave a site.
This list of non-conformities is released monthly by MCS; we’ll be sharing these regularly with businesses certified on our MCS scheme to help your business maintain the very highest standards.
Most common MCS assessment non-conformities for February 2025
MCS completed a total of 86 technical assessments in February 2025. These were undertaken on 37 air source heat pump and 49 solar PV installations registered on the MCS Installation Database.
Top recorded non-conformities for ASHP technical assessments:
- External insulation not sealed to prevent water ingress.
- Warning label not completed and left in a visible position (hot water storage system).
- Pipework passing through external building fabric not suitably sleeved and/or sealed.
- D2 termination not compliant.
Top recorded non-conformities for solar PV technical assessments:
- No schematic diagram of the installation fixed at the point of interconnection.
- Warning notices for alternative supplies not in place at the origin, the meter position, the consumer unit and all other places of isolation.
- DC cables not supported and/or routed safely and/or brought through underlay felt as per IET requirements.
- Expansion gaps not maintained around all modules.
What we can do about it
Let’s be clear. This list is not designed to bash MCS contractors, who are making a vital contribution towards achieving the UK’s net zero targets. It’s a quality control checklist to help your business ensure your work complies with all applicable standards. After all, higher standards will lead to improved assessment outcomes and a better reputation for the industry.
Daniel Yeates, NICEIC’s Energy Efficiency Scheme Manager, adds: “Most of the non-conformities identified by MCS in this report relate to the final completion stage of installations, and can be easily avoided by implementing a robust handover and completion checklist for installations within your business. Handover checklists for a wide variety of MCS installations can be found either within your business’s QMS or on the MCS website.”
So, next time you’re finishing up an installation, make sure you’re using the relevant handover checklist and double checking your work against this list of common non-conformities. Hopefully, over time, we will see these non-conformities vanish from MCS technical assessments and make a real difference to improving industry standards!
