No. There is no licence to carry out portable appliance testing, no register of testers and no qualification that the law names. What the law asks for is competence, which is a harder thing to buy and an easier thing to check than a certificate on a wall, and the difference between the two is where most of the bad work in this trade sits.
What competence means here, and the pat testing legislation that asks for it
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 say that nobody may be engaged in work where technical knowledge or experience is necessary to prevent danger unless they have it, or are supervised by somebody who does. That is the whole of the qualification question in law. It is deliberately written about the person and the job rather than about a course, because the knowledge a tester needs is specific: how to tell a class I appliance from a class II one, what each test is measuring and why, when a reading that passes is still wrong, and when to stop and refer something to an electrician. A course is a reasonable way to acquire that. It is not a substitute for it, and it is not what an inspector will ask about.
Can somebody on the staff do it?
For a lot of equipment in a low risk environment, yes, and the regulator says so in its own guidance: a sensible member of staff who has been trained can carry out the user checks and the formal visual inspections, which is where the majority of faults are actually found. The combined inspection and test needs more, because it needs somebody who can interpret a reading rather than watch a light go green. The practical shape for a small office is therefore a trained person doing visual inspections often, and a competent tester doing the instrument work less often.
What is a PAT certificate, and who is entitled to sign one?
There is no statutory certificate, no official form, and nobody is licensed to issue one. What the work produces is a register listing every item with its location, what was done to it, the result and the date, plus a label on each item recording the same for that one appliance. The person who signs is the person who did the work, and their name on it is the whole of its authority. That is worth saying plainly because insurers and clients ask for a PAT certificate as if it were a document with legal standing, and what they will actually be sent, and should accept, is the register.
Where cheap pat testing stops being a test
Price per item falls until the only way to make the round pay is to stop looking. The visual inspection is the part that goes first, because it is the slow part and nothing on the paperwork shows it was skipped, and it is also the part that finds most of the faults: a cut in a lead, a bent pin, a plug with the wrong fuse, a case somebody has opened. An item tested by instrument and never looked at can pass while carrying exactly the defect that was going to hurt somebody. When you compare quotes, compare the minute per item that the total implies, not only the rate.
What to ask a contractor about the person who will attend
Three questions get further than asking for qualifications. What training the attending tester has had, and when. Whether the instrument has a current calibration record, and whether you will be shown it. And what happens to a failed item: repaired, re-fused, labelled and withdrawn, or quietly passed. A firm that answers all three without hesitating is telling you about its competence more reliably than a certificate number would.
Other questions people ask
Is there a legal qualification for PAT testing?
No. The law asks for technical knowledge or experience appropriate to the work, or supervision by somebody who has it. No course confers a licence and no register of testers exists.
Is a City and Guilds course needed?
It is not required, and it is a reasonable way to gain the knowledge the regulations ask for. Treat it as evidence of training rather than as permission to work.
Can I PAT test my own office equipment?
You can do the user checks and the formal visual inspections after training, which is where most faults are found. The combined inspection and test needs somebody who can interpret the readings and act on them.
Who signs the record?
The person who carried out the work. There is no counter-signature, no scheme approval and no official form, so the name on the register is what it rests on.
Does a landlord need a qualified tester?
The duty is to supply appliances in a safe condition, and the evidence is the record of maintenance. Who produced it matters only to the extent that a court or an insurer would accept that person as competent to have done it.