GUIDE · FOR UK SOLAR INSTALLERS · 11 MIN READ

MCS Certification for Solar Installers: How to Get It and Keep It

Every rule, fee and date below is sourced at the end.

What MCS is and why it matters

MCS is the UK's quality mark for small-scale renewables. Being certified lets you use the MCS Certification Mark, puts you on the MCS Find an Installer tool, and lets you raise an MCS certificate for each installation.

For solar PV, the commercial weight is the Smart Export Guarantee. Ofgem's guidance says that for PV of 50kW or less, both the installation and the installer must be suitably certified to get SEG payments: an MCS certificate, or an equivalent scheme accredited to EN 45011 or EN ISO/IEC 17065. Without that, the export supplier isn't obliged to pay. Above 50kW and up to 5MW only the installation needs certifying, and the supplier decides how.

That 50kW line matters commercially: MCS covers solar PV and battery storage only up to 50kW, though businesses, landlords and developers count as customers. Bigger roofs fall outside the scheme, and the grid side is a separate job: see G98 notification and limits, the G99 application for commercial solar and which DNO to apply to.

The redeveloped scheme: what changed

MCS's redeveloped installer scheme is live: NICEIC says it has assessed all new applicants under it since 9 March 2026, and MCS says every certified installer must be on it by 31 March 2027. The key changes, per MCS:

• Consumer Code membership is no longer mandatory. You follow the MCS Customer Commitment instead.
• You buy an MCS approved financial protection product for each customer. MCS says approved products give at least six years' cover.
• A new Installer Agreement held directly with MCS (NICEIC says it replaces the sub-licence installers held with it).
• Risk-based assessment: how often you're assessed depends on your record.
• 30 days to create an MCS certificate, instead of 14.
• Centralised complaints handling and a dedicated MCS Account Manager.

If you're still on the current scheme, NICEIC says your Consumer Code membership (RECC and HIES are both approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute) must be kept until you transition. On 18 June 2026 MCS announced that DESNZ had recognised the redeveloped scheme as a Code of Practice for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

The standards you're assessed against

The latest edition of each applies. Versions as listed in the MCS Standards & Tools Library on 7 October 2026:

The performance estimate and pre-sale information go to the customer before they sign. For tools to produce them, see our guide to solar design software for UK installers compares the options.

How to get MCS certified, step by step

From the MCS becoming-certified pages and the Installer Operating Requirements. Your certification body will guide you through its own version.

1. 1

   Check your scope

   MCS covers solar PV and battery storage up to 50kW, on domestic and commercial contracts. Only products listed in the MCS Product Directory can be installed (battery storage excepted), and all must be new.

2. 2

   Name your three core roles

   A Licensee who signs the Installer Agreement and accepts ultimate responsibility; a Main Contact, who must be an employee, for scheme queries; and at least one Technical Supervisor for solar PV. A sole trader can hold all three.

3. 3

   Get the Technical Supervisor qualified

   They need an in-date MCS approved qualification, or a personnel certification to ISO/IEC 17024. MCS publishes the approved list and a training course finder.

4. 4

   Put processes and controls in place

   Scaled to your size: Appendix A of the Installer Operating Requirements sets four scenarios, from a sole trader in one region (A) to 250+ staff or subcontractors across several regions (D).

5. 5

   Apply to a certification body

   Give your trading status, ownership, staff numbers, technologies, Main Contact, insurances and certification history. Its fees apply whether or not you pass.

6. 6

   Pass the MCS scheme checks

   MCS checks your finances, insurance, directors, public footprint, treatment of customers and past complaints, including a 15-minute call.

7. 7

   Pass the assessment

   The certification body checks your processes and controls and visits at least one solar PV installation you were fully responsible for. You need a finished, compliant installation before it can happen.

8. 8

   Close any non-conformities

   For each one, send the root cause and your corrective and preventive actions, within six weeks of the report subject to severity.

9. 9

   Sign the Installer Agreement

   The certification body issues a Certificate of Conformity, MCS does a final review, then you and MCS sign. Only then can you operate as MCS certified.

The product rule is worth settling with your supplier early: check that the panels and inverters you plan to fit are listed in the MCS Product Directory. Our list of UK solar wholesalers and distributors is a starting point. NICEIC also lists £2 million public liability and £250,000 professional indemnity insurance as requirements under the Installer Agreement and scheme rules.

MCS certification bodies for solar PV

A certification body is a UKAS-accredited organisation (to ISO/IEC 17065) that assesses you on MCS's behalf. Apply to one that covers the technologies you want. On 7 October 2026 MCS listed five for solar PV, all of which also cover battery storage:

• Amtivo Group (British Assessment Bureau)
• Certsure LLP, trading as NICEIC
• NAPIT Certification Ltd
• Simply Certification
• The IAA (Installation Assurance Authority)

HETAS and OFTEC are also MCS certification bodies but don't list solar PV. APHC's accreditation is currently suspended by UKAS.

MCS certification cost

MCS says certification body fees vary. Published prices for one technology from two of them, plus the MCS charges:

NICEIC's fees are stated as correct for 2026/27, with extra charges for additional assessments, late rescheduling and changing your Technical Supervisor. Add training and insurance, and check current prices before you apply.

Keeping your certification

Under the Installer Agreement and Installer Operating Requirements you must:

• register every in-scope installation by raising an MCS certificate on the MCS Installation Database within 30 calendar days of commissioning, recording its Technical Supervisor and the customer's contact details (MCS contacts every customer);
• give the customer the Customer Commitment before the contract, a written guarantee for design and workmanship, and the approved financial protection;
• keep installation records for at least six years;
• keep Technical Supervisors' qualifications in date, and never self-certify work without one available to sign it off.

Surveillance is risk-based. In your first two years expect at least one site-based assessment per technology each annual cycle. After that NICEIC applies three frequencies: reduced (every three years, after two years and two consecutive passes), standard (annual, at least one site per technology) and enhanced (annual, at least five sites). Go more than a year without registering an installation of a technology and your certification body must examine your processes again.

MCS umbrella schemes

MCS defines an umbrella scheme as a contractual arrangement in which an MCS certified business appoints a network of subcontractors, instead of its own staff, to do some or all of the work. The operator is responsible for all of it, raises the MCS certificates, and is the one the customer contracts with.

MCS says they are particularly associated with heat pumps: in its 2021 consultation, 36% of responding operators ran air source heat pump schemes and 16% solar PV. Under the redeveloped scheme, using subcontractors means contracts that hold them to account and the tougher controls of scenario C or D.

Why applicants fail

• No compliant first installation. Initial certification needs a site assessment of a solar PV installation you were fully responsible for (one done as a subcontractor can count, with the main installer's permission).
• Technical Supervisor not qualified on the day. The qualification or personnel certification must be in date when an installation is certified. NAPIT's checklist asks larger firms for a register with expiry reminders.
• Uncertified products. Panels or inverters without an active MCS Product Directory listing can't be installed under the scheme.
• Failing the scheme checks. MCS may refuse an Installer Agreement if you fail them, or if information you declared turns out to be wrong.
• Thin records. NAPIT's checklist expects a complaints log with root causes, records of all quotations and installations, and access to the standards, including BS 7671 and the IET Code of Practice for PV.
• The usual installation faults. MCS expects root causes to relate to inadequate training or supervision, inappropriate or missing materials, or incorrect design or installation assumptions.

After certification: filling the diary

Certification gets you on the Find an Installer list. It doesn't book surveys. The next job is a steady flow of work, and for commercial jobs that means sitting down on site with the person who signs off the spend. Our guide to how to get commercial solar leads compares nine channels, and how to sell commercial solar covers turning a survey into a contract, with our commercial solar survey checklist for the visit itself.

Solar Surveys UK books qualified commercial solar survey appointments with business owners for UK installers. You pay per booked appointment, with no retainer, from £400+VAT to £1,000+VAT per lead depending on system size (see how much commercial solar leads cost). Read how booked solar leads differ from form fills or see our commercial solar leads.

MCS certification: FAQ