Guidance

Register your business as a building control approver

All private sector businesses that want to do building control work in England and Wales under the Building Act 1984 (as amended) must apply to register with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).

From:
Health and Safety Executive
Published
10 October 2023
Last updated
31 January 2024 — See all updates

Applies to England and Wales

To apply, call us on 0300 790 6787. Your standard call rates will apply.

We’ll ask for your email address and send you an application form, spreadsheet and ShareFile link with instructions on how to complete and upload your application.

When to register

Businesses that carry out building control work must be registered by 6 April 2024 to operate as a registered building control approver (RBCA).

Businesses that have not registered by 6 April 2024 will not be able to do new building control work after this date.

Transitional arrangements allow businesses who do not register to complete work in progress before leaving the profession. All higher-risk building projects must be completed by 6 April 2024. All other building projects must be completed by 1 October 2024.

Any businesses not registered as an RBCA by 6 April 2024, and who attempt to continue working as an approved inspector beyond these dates, may be committing a criminal offence which could result in prosecution.

Registration as an RBCA replaces the approved inspector register run by CICAIR.

Who should register

An RBCA can be a standalone business, part of a wider corporate group, a sole trader or partnership.

A senior employee who can represent the business should submit the application. For example, an owner, director, partner or senior manager. This person will be the main contact for BSR.

What we will ask you for

During your application we’ll ask you to provide:

  • information about your business, such as name, address, email and phone
  • the building control functions your business will do, and whether it offers additional services other than building control
  • information about the person who we should contact to discuss your application, such as name, email and phone, and their role in the business
  • the number of registered building inspectors and building inspectors waiting to be registered which your business employs or contracts with

We’ll ask if your business is, or was, an approved inspector registered with CICAIR, whether it is subject to any ongoing action, such as sanctions, and whether you have any current higher-risk building projects in progress.

We’ll ask you to upload a diagram of the organisational structure of your business, including where it is part of a wider group structure.

We’ll ask you for the names of current owners and directors, and:

  • any other companies they are directors of or hold an interest in that may cause a conflict of interest
  • whether they have any relevant unspent criminal convictions

We’ll ask if the business or any of its managers or building inspectors have been subject to HSE enforcement action in the last 5 years.

We’ll ask you to confirm that your business has written operating procedures covering your planned building control work.

We’ll ask you to confirm that your business has policies for:

  • recruitment and development
  • whistleblowing
  • conflicts of interest
  • money laundering
  • health, safety and wellbeing
  • data protection
  • staff conduct
  • equality, diversity and inclusion
  • managing contractors
  • handling complaints
  • internal audit
  • insurance

We’ll ask you to confirm that you will:

  • comply with the professional conduct rules and operational standards rules for the countries you are registered in
  • update information provided in support of your registration within 28 days of it changing
  • consent to some details of your registration being published

Pay for registration

Whether you register in England, Wales or both, you will have to pay:

  • a registration charge of £4,494
  • a charge of £124 per hour for our staff to review your application
  • an annual maintenance charge of £3,439 (due from the first anniversary after registration)

You can find out more about the:

Registration is for 5 years, unless varied, suspended or cancelled by BSR.

Before you start

If you are unsure about any of these requirements, read the guidance on this page about the regulation of RBCAs under the Building Safety Act 2022, and our professional conduct and operational standards rules.

After you submit the application

We’ll review the application and if required, ask you to provide further information. You may be asked to provide copies of documentation, and you could be invited to an interview.

If all the questions are not answered on the application form, or sufficient information has not been provided, then the application will be rejected.

Getting a decision

We’ll tell you if the application is approved, approved subject to conditions, or rejected.

In cases where the application is subject to conditions or rejected, we’ll tell you why.

You can challenge the decision. The process is different depending on whether you applied to register in England, Wales, or both.

To request a review of an English registration decision, contact BSR within 21 days of receiving your decision. You’ll need to tell us:

  • your application reference
  • the date the decision was made
  • the reasons why you want us to review the decision
  • any further information that may be relevant but was not available at the time of the original decision

If at the end of the review you are subject to conditions or rejected, you can appeal to the First-tier Tribunal.

To appeal a Welsh registration decision, you can lodge an appeal with the Magistrates’ Court within 21 days of receiving the decision. This time limit can be extended with the written agreement of BSR.

Public register

Details of each RBCA appear on the public register. The register allows people to confirm which businesses are registered as RBCAs, and the work they are registered to do.

There is one register for England and one for Wales. Your business will be included on the registers for the countries you tell us you work in.

The register shows:

  • name and address of the RBCA
  • the type of building control work the RBCA is registered to do
  • the start and end date of registration
  • details of any conditions of registration

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Removal from the register

An RBCA can be removed from the register if:

  • the business stops carrying out regulated building control work and asks to be taken off the register
  • the registration is not renewed
  • the RBCA’s registration is suspended or cancelled by us

If an RBCA is removed from the register, we will continue to keep the information in line with our data retention policy.

To ask for your details to be taken off the register, call us on 0300 790 6787.

Making changes to your registration

You must notify us within 28 days of any changes relevant to the RBCA registration, which includes:

  • a change of management structure
  • a change of director or partner
  • a change of ownership
  • a change to the main contact for the RBCA
  • any professional sanctions from other bodies
  • any relevant unspent criminal convictions, as set out in the professional conduct rules, for either the business or senior personnel
  • if the RBCA ceases to trade for any reason, for example insolvency

To make a change to an RBCA’s registration details, call us on 0300 790 6787. Your standard call rates will apply.

We are open Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm, except Wednesdays when we are open from 10am to 5pm, and public holidays when we are closed.

We’ll ask for your email address and send you a form and a ShareFile link with instructions on how to complete and upload your changes.

You do not need to re-register the RBCA after making a change unless its registration is due to expire.

You cannot transfer an RBCA registration to another business.

Read more about the changes you must tell us about in the rules of registration section of the professional conduct rules for England (hse.gov.uk).

Regulation of RBCAs

RBCAs must comply with the:

If an RBCA contravenes the operational standards rules, we can serve notice of improvement and serious contravention. If the RBCA continues to contravene the rules, we can cancel its registration.

If an RBCA contravenes the professional conduct rules, we can issue sanctions.

Registered building inspectors

When carrying out building control work, an RBCA must consider the advice of a registered building inspector.

RBCAs must:

  • employ registered building inspectors of the correct class and category for the type of building control work the RBCA does
  • employ enough registered building inspectors for the building control work the RBCA is doing
  • have arrangements to manage the quality of work done by registered building inspectors under supervision

There are registers of building inspectors for England and for Wales.

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Published 10 October 2023
Last updated 31 January 2024 + show all updates

  1. Updated to include guidance for RBCAs in Wales

  2. Changed the wording around convictions you must tell us about, to include only unspent criminal convictions.

  3. This guidance now incorporates the roles and responsibilities of RBCAs.

  4. First published.

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