31 March 2027 deadline
How ready is your business for the redeveloped MCS scheme?
Every MCS certified business has to be operating under the redeveloped scheme by 31 March 2027, and your certification body decides when your move starts. Answer 10 questions on the roles, records and customer obligations it will assess, and get a readiness score with the specific gaps to close.
Redeveloped MCS readiness checker
Every MCS certified business moves to the redeveloped scheme by 31 March 2027. Find your gaps first.
What the redeveloped scheme assesses
The technical requirements in the MCS Installation Standards are not changing. What changes is how your business is assessed: a risk-based model built on delivered quality and how you treat customers, with obligations your operation has to evidence rather than document in a binder.
Three business roles, not one Nominee
A Licensee with authority signs the Installer Agreement. An employee is the Main Contact. Technical Supervisors are tied to individual installations, and their full name is a mandatory field on every certificate you create.
The Customer Commitment replaces Consumer Code membership
Consumer protection obligations sit with your business directly. Your onboarding call asks how pre-sale information, performance estimates and consumer contact are embedded in how you actually run jobs.
Complaints are centralised with MCS
Rather than obligations spread across codes and certification bodies, complaints management runs through MCS. What you need to show is how complaints are logged and resolved per job.
Assessment focuses more on delivered quality
The risk-based model looks at what you delivered on site: which Technical Supervisor signed off a specific install, what test results and photos support it, and how quickly you can produce that record.
A 30-day certificate window
Certificate creation moves from 14 days to 30. The install businesses that benefit are the ones whose close-out already produces the certificate paperwork from the job record on day one, ready to submit to the MCS Installations Database.
Sources: MCS redeveloped installer scheme and MCS guide to the new business roles.
Close every readiness gap inside one system
See how you can keep Technical Supervisor records, site evidence, complaints and certificates against every job in Payaca, so when your certification body calls, the answer is a lookup, not a hunt.
Redeveloped MCS scheme: frequently asked questions
What is the redeveloped MCS installer scheme?
The redeveloped scheme is MCS's replacement for the current certification model. It introduces a risk-based assessment model that MCS says will focus more on delivered quality than on administrative requirements, moves consumer protection obligations into the MCS Customer Commitment, centralises complaints management with MCS, and introduces a direct Installer Agreement between your business and MCS. Every MCS certified business has to be operating under it by 31 March 2027.
When do I have to move to the redeveloped scheme?
Your certification body contacts you when it's your turn, with businesses moving over in phases through 2026 and into 2027. The deadline for every MCS certified business to be operating under the redeveloped scheme is 31 March 2027. You can't choose your timing, but you can control how prepared your operation is when the call comes.
Source: MCS: DESNZ recognises strength of consumer protections offered by redeveloped MCS (18 June 2026)
What are the three new business roles under the redeveloped scheme?
The Licensee signs the Installer Agreement with MCS and accepts ultimate responsibility for scheme requirements, so they need genuine authority in the business. The Main Contact is the day-to-day point of contact between your business, your certification body and MCS, and must be an employee. The Technical Supervisor replaces the Nominated Technical Person and is tied to individual installations, confirming each install complies with the relevant MCS Installation Standard.
Does the Technical Supervisor's name have to go on the certificate?
Yes. When you create an MCS certificate in the MCS Installations Database, entering the Technical Supervisor's full name is a mandatory field. You also need to evidence to your certification body that each Technical Supervisor holds an in-date approved qualification or personnel certification (ISO/IEC 17024) for the technology they sign off.
Is Consumer Code membership still required?
No. Under the redeveloped scheme, Consumer Code membership is no longer mandatory. Consumer protection obligations now sit in the MCS Customer Commitment, which your business signs up to directly. On your scheme-checks onboarding call you are asked to show you understand the Commitment and how its obligations are embedded in your operations.
How long do I have to create an MCS certificate?
Under the redeveloped scheme the certificate creation window extends from 14 days to 30 days. That is breathing room for gathering post-install evidence, but a job that takes 30 days to certify is usually a job that has not been closed out or fully invoiced.
Is this checker official MCS guidance?
No. This is Payaca's self-assessment tool built from published MCS material (mcscertified.com and the MCS standards library). Your certification body and MCS confirm your actual requirements during your transition. Nothing here replaces that.
Read next: The redeveloped MCS scheme: what changes before your certification body calls