NAPIT announces leadership succession as Frank Bertie retires, Stephen Melton to become Managing Director and Brett Forster promoted to Technical and Commercial Director

Leadership changes at a scheme operator rarely make headlines outside the trade press, but for anyone registered with NAPIT — or planning to be — they are worth paying attention to. NAPIT is one of the main government-authorised competent person schemes in the UK, alongside NICEIC and ELECSA, and the people running it have a direct influence on how registration is assessed, how technical guidance is written, and how the sector's voice is represented in consultations on Part P, BS 7671 and wider building safety policy. Frank Bertie has been a prominent figure in that space for years, including through NAPIT's technical publications and its input into industry standards work, so his retirement at the end of June 2026 marks a genuine shift. The long lead-in and the internal appointments of Stephen Melton as Managing Director and Brett Forster as Technical and Commercial Director suggest continuity rather than upheaval, which is reassuring for members who rely on the scheme for notification of notifiable work and for the credibility that registration carries with customers and specifiers. For trainees and newly qualified electricians, the practical relevance is about the pathway ahead. Scheme registration is not a qualification in itself; it is an assessment of your competence, your working practices, your test equipment and calibration records, and your ability to certify work correctly. Assessors will expect to see the underpinning qualifications behind that — typically a Level 3 electrotechnical qualification such as the City and Guilds 2365, progression to the 2357 NVQ or equivalent competence route, current 18th Edition (2382) knowledge, and increasingly the 2391 inspection and testing suite if you intend to carry out EICRs or periodic work. As schemes come under continued pressure to raise standards in the wake of building safety reform, the direction of travel is towards more rigorous evidence of competence, not less. Anyone planning to go self-employed within the next few years should be building that qualification portfolio now rather than at the point of application. There is also a broader point about where technical leadership in this industry sits. Scheme operators do more than police standards; they help shape them, from EV charge point installation guidance to the treatment of battery storage and PV in domestic settings. A new technical director stepping into that role at a time when the 19th Edition of the Wiring Regulations is on the horizon, and when low-carbon technologies are reshaping the domestic sector, means the guidance electricians rely on day to day could evolve noticeably over the next few years. Keeping an eye on scheme technical bulletins and refreshing your qualifications as amendments land is simply part of staying competent — and it is the same discipline that assessors will be looking for whichever scheme you choose to join.