There is no national register of EICRs to look a report up in. What can be checked online is the person who issued it: the competent person schemes publish searchable registers of their members, and a report signed by somebody who is not on the register they claim is worth a question. The report itself lives with whoever commissioned it and whoever issued it.
What an electrical certificate check online can actually verify
Scheme membership. The registered competent person schemes maintain public registers you can search by name, company or postcode, and they will tell you the scope a member is registered for. That answers the question behind most searches, which is whether the person who signed the report was entitled to.
Why there is no central report register
An EICR is a document produced under contract between a client and an inspector. Nothing in the regulations creates a repository for them, and no scheme holds every report its members have written. Certificates notified to building control under the competent person scheme arrangements are a different thing and cover notifiable work rather than periodic inspections.
How do I find my electrical safety certificate online? Ask the firm for a copy
Ask the firm that carried out the inspection: most keep records for years and will reissue a copy. A landlord in England must retain a copy until the next inspection is due and give it to the next inspector, so the managing agent is the second place to ask. Failing both, a new inspection is the only route to a current report.
What a genuine EICR certificate example looks like
The model forms in BS 7671 carry a schedule of circuits, a schedule of test results with measured values, observations with classification codes and the details and signature of the person who inspected. A single page with a tick and a logo, and no test results, is not a condition report whatever the heading says.
Checking a report you have been handed
Look for the date, the next inspection date, the address and the circuits inspected. Then check that the observations and the overall assessment agree with each other, because a report listing a C2 and declaring the installation satisfactory has been filled in wrongly and is worth challenging before you rely on it.
What an eicr checker can and cannot tell you
There is no eicr checker in the sense people look for: no lookup that takes a certificate number and confirms a report is genuine, because no register holds the reports. What can be checked is the person. The competent person schemes publish searchable registers of their members with the scope each one is registered for, so a name and a company on a report can be verified in a minute. After that the checking is reading: the address, the date, the next inspection date, the circuits listed, and whether the observations and the overall assessment agree with each other. A report marked satisfactory that carries a C2 is the commonest thing that fails that last test.
Questions people ask about EICR certificate check online
Is there a national database of EICRs?
No. There is no central register of condition reports. What is searchable online is the competent person schemes' registers of members.
How do I check my electrician is registered?
Search the register of the scheme they name, by company or postcode, and check the scope they are registered for rather than only that the name appears.
I have lost my EICR. What now?
Ask the firm that carried it out for a copy, then the managing agent or landlord. If neither has it, a new inspection is the only way to a current report.
What should make me doubt a report?
No schedule of test results, no circuit schedule, no next inspection date, or observations that contradict the overall assessment.
What does an EICR electrical test actually check?
The fixed installation: the consumer unit, the circuits, the earthing and bonding, tested and then coded by severity. It is not a test of the appliances plugged into it, which is a separate exercise with its own records.
Is an eicr cert the same document as the full report?
It should be, and where it is not you have been handed a summary. A complete report runs to several pages: the details of the installation, the extent and limitations agreed before the work, the schedule of circuits, the test results, the observations with their codes, and the signature of the person who did the inspection. A single page with a tick and a date is a cover sheet, and on its own it cannot tell you what was tested, what was excluded, or what was found. Ask for the schedules, because that is where the limitations live and the limitations are what a later dispute turns on.