ABBE Level 3 Diploma in
Domestic Green Deal Advice
Annex E: Record-Keeping
Presented by [Name]
① Record-Keeping
Domestic GDA Training – Annex E – Record Keeping
Training Material © Stroma Certification 2012 | Version 1.0
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Record-Keeping
You must ensure that all records are kept for 7 years as required by
DCLG. It is a good idea to keep them for 15 years as you do with DEA.
Stroma will also keep a record of any audit documents for 15 years.
Stroma has created an Online Secure Archive (OSA15), whereby
Stroma certified assessors can keep their EPC survey documents in a
secure, remote location for the full 15 years required by DCLG.
This facility is provided free of charge and has been developed to not
only act as a secure store for you to upload your energy assessment
documents, but also to assist you in submitting your documents for
audit.
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Evidence
The minimum level of evidence required:
Site
Notes
Domestic GDA Training – Annex E – Record Keeping
Floor
Plans
Photographs
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Evidence
It is important that your evidence is of good quality.
If it is not clear or misleading it could result in the audit failing
Everything you enter in the software must be covered with good quality
photographic evidence. The QA assessor needs to see evidence of
what you have entered.
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Site Notes
You must provide, within the site notes, anything used in support of
decision making, reflective thought, or amendments to
recommendations which is not provided through other sources of
evidence. Examples of these are:
•
•
•
•
Bills
Appliances
Meter
Assessing the primary heating system etc.
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Site Notes
You must also ensure that the site notes can be interpreted correctly
when producing the EPC and where required, by the Stroma QA
assessor. To ensure this you must ensure that the site notes are:
• Detailed
• Legible
• Accurate
If a scheme member fails to produce site notes as per the above
requirements, the audit may be failed and additional EPCs requested.
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Floor Plans (not sure this is relevant)
You must provide clear floor plans for the property that the certificate
has been produced for, including the following as a minimum:
•
•
•
•
•
Sketch plan covering all storeys
Annotated with measurements
All areas (e.g. conservatories, extensions or room in roof)
Heat loss perimeter (HLP) and
Location of extensions, conservatory and alternative wall
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Floor Plans (not sure this is relevant)
You must also ensure that the floor plans can be interpreted correctly
when producing the EPC and where required, by the Stroma QA
assessor. To ensure this you must ensure the floor plans are:
• Detailed
• Legible
• Accurate
If a scheme member fails to produce floor plans as per the above
requirements, the audit may fail.
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Photographs
You must ensure that clear photographs are taken of the property when
you are producing the EPC. Stroma expects you to provide, as a
minimum requirement, the following photographs in colour:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Front elevation
Rear elevation
Side elevation for detached / semi-detached
Wall insulation – evidence
Roof construction
Openings – windows, chimneys etc (if previous photographs do not provide
sufficient evidence)
Primary heating system (e.g. boiler showing any associated key features
such as a condensate pipe or label indicating the boiler model)
Secondary heating system
Water heating system e.g. cylinder
Electric meter
Heating system controls
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Photographs
You may be required to provide additional colour photographs to
support the site notes, including but not limited to, the following:
•
•
•
•
LPG cylinder
Loft insulation which gives evidence of the depth of insulation
Evidence of wall thickness
Conservatory – photographic evidence of whether it is separated
or not
• Low energy light fittings
• Any other key features of the building
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Photographs
Where you are unable to take the required photograph(s) you must
provide a justification for not doing so, within the site notes.
Any other evidence required to justify the omission or inclusion of
additional recommendations - Examples of this might be a guarantee or
a building control notice for improvements.
Where you believe that photographs are not practically achievable, but
a particular element or energy using device is present, site notes must
explain why the photographic evidence is not available.
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Quality of Photographs
All colour photographs must be clear and dated within the image;
printed photos must have the date stamped on the image, digital
photos can either be a date stamp on the photo itself, or within the
image file. It is therefore imperative that the date on the camera is set
correctly.
Let’s look at the two methods of dating the photographs:
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Method 1
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Method 2
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Photographs
If a scheme member provides photographic evidence, where the
occasional photograph is:
• blurred
• distorted
• or doesn’t provide all of the information necessary for the EPC to
be properly audited
Where these areas are not adequately covered by information in the
site notes, Stroma will alert you that more care is needed in the future,
and that should there be a future instance, the audit check may be
deemed to have failed.
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Photographs
If you provide a number of the photographs that are:
• Blurred;
• Distorted; or
• Don’t provide all the information necessary for the OA to be
properly audited;
Stroma will declare to you that the evidence provided is insufficient to
allow the QA assessor to audit their work
Where this is the case, as a minimum you will be subject to the
further audit of 2 additional EPCs either lodged previously (within
the previous two months), or two of the next 10 EPCs that
you lodge.
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Poor Resolution Photographs
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OSA15
The easiest way to
access OSA15 is
through the WinRdSAP
software. Selecting
‘Online Datastore’ from
the ‘Tools’ menu will
give you direct access
to OSA15
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OSA15
This will open up a
separate window that
will display folders for
the surveys you have
done by year. In this
example, surveys on
this account have only
been lodged in 2011,
and therefore it is the
only folder on display.
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OSA15
After selecting the
appropriate year, the
months in which you
have lodged reports will
be displayed.
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OSA15
You will then see the individual reports lodged in that particular month.
The folders will initially be empty. Simply drag and drop your
assessment files into the relevant folder to save them on OSA15.
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OSA15
It can also be accessed via the OSA15 web page:
http://www.osa15.co.uk/. Contact Stroma for login details.
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OSA15
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Audit
4.2.2 Green Deal Advice Report (GDAR) Audit
15. The Certification Body shall ensure that two per cent of domestic
and two per cent of nondomestic Green Deal Advice Reports lodged by
GDAs employed by their certified Organisations are audited per year.
As a minimum, the Certification Body shall audit the items at (a) and (c)
in this clause:
a) One domestic GDAR quarterly for each domestic Green Deal
Advisor (if any are lodged); and
b) One non-domestic GDAR for each non-domestic Green Deal
Advisor every six months (if any are lodged).
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Audit
16. In determining the two per cent sample, the Certification Body shall
seek first to sample from those EPCs linked to a GDAR which have
already been subjected to quality assurance audit by EPBD
Accreditation Schemes/Approved Organisations (as applicable to
country). Only where this process does not yield a two per cent sample
of GDARs, they shall sample from the remaining GDARs on record and
request that the EPBD accreditation scheme that lodged the relevant
EPCs carries out an audit.
17. During a GDAR audit the Certification Body shall verify the things at
(a) to d) in this clause:
a) The Green Deal assessment work assigned to a Green Deal
Advisor is in accordance with the qualification and competence
requirements outlined in the Specification for organisations
providing the Green Deal Advice Services;
Continued
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Audit
b) The EPC that is used is valid and suitable for the Green Deal
assessment as per the requirements outlined in paragraph 64 (a)
and (b) of the Specification for organisations providing the Green
Deal Advice Service;
c) That an EPC quality assurance audit has been carried out on the
relevant EPC as per the EPBD requirements in England and Wales
or Scotland as applicable (see paragraph 15 above); and
d) Compliance with the operational procedures for Green Deal
Advisors for customer sign-off and lodgement of the GDAR for
domestic/non-domestic properties in England and Wales or
Scotland as applicable and as outlined in the Specification for
organisations providing the Green Deal Advice Service.
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Audit
The Body shall assess and verify that the necessary activities have
been carried out in accordance with the separate Specification for
organisations providing the Green Deal Advice Service, that
documentary evidence has been collected and stored and that the
evidence and outputs of the assessment are consistent with each other.
This shall include verification of the evidence at (a) to (f) in this clause,
as appropriate to sector:
a) Data collection methods and accuracy of data input;
b) Breakdown of customer’s energy use compared to typical energy
use;
c) Any revised savings for the recommended package;
d) Data collection for, and relevance of, alternative packages included
in the GDAR;
e) Any behavioural advice provided to the customer in writing; and
f) Communication in writing of any subsidies to the
customer where appropriate.
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Witnessed Assessments
4.2.3 Witnessed Assessments
19. The Certification Body shall conduct Witnessed Assessments of the
Green Deal Advice Service carried out by authorised Green Deal
Advisors to establish compliance with the conditions at (a) and (b) in
this clause:
a) Instructions provided by the Organisation in relation to customer
interaction as outlined in paragraph 46 of the Specification for
organisations providing the Green Deal Advice Service; and
b) Operational procedures as outlined in section 6 of the Specification
for organisations providing the Green Deal Advice Service.
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Numbers of Witnessed Assessments
20. A sample of Green Deal Advisors shall be evaluated through
witnessed assessments within the first six months of initial certification
being granted. This sample size shall be calculated as a square root of
an Organisation’s Green Deal Advisors rounded up to the next whole
number. Please see Annex C at the end of this Specification for details
of the sample sizes.
21. Following the first set of witnessed assessments, a sample (as
described in paragraph 20) of authorised Green Deal Advisors shall be
evaluated though ongoing witnessed assessments at least every 12
months. A risk-based approach shall reduce the period by three months
each time any of the following risk triggers are identified.
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Non-Compliances
4.3 Non-Compliance and Suspension
23. In relation to the seriousness of the non-compliances, the following
guidance shall be used:
a) Minor non-compliance: No significant impact on the customer or
other stakeholders associated with the non-compliance. The
Certification Body shall inform the Organisation of the nature of the
shortcoming and require evidence of action taken to rectify the noncompliance;
Continued
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Non-Compliances
b) Significant non-compliance: Significant impact on a customer or
other stakeholder. Depending on the nature of the non-compliance
the Organisation may be allowed to continue or may be subject to
suspension until the non-compliance is rectified. Significant noncompliance shall be counted as a risk trigger against the
Organisation; and
c) Major non-compliance: Compelling evidence that the
Organisation or authorised GDA has failed to meet the
Specification or Green Deal Code of Practice, in a way that has had
a major impact on the customer or other stakeholders. The
Organisation shall be suspended until the non-compliance is
rectified. Major non-compliance shall be counted as a risk trigger
against the Organisation.
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Non-Compliances
24. The Certification Body shall take into account the following factors
when considering the impact of the non-compliance:
a) the level of harm which flowed from the non-compliance;
b) whether the non-compliance has occurred in a number of other
cases;
c) whether other bodies have imposed sanctions in relation to the
non-compliance;
d) whether the Organisation has accepted responsibility for the noncompliance; and
e) whether the Organisation made a financial benefit from the noncompliance, or intended to make such a gain for themselves or a
commercial partner
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Non-Compliances
25. Any minor and significant non-compliances must be rectified within
12 weeks and the Certification Body shall check on, and record, the
effectiveness of remedial action. The Certification Body shall have an
escalation process in place if remedial action does not substantively
remedy the shortcoming:
a) In the event of failure to rectify the minor or significant noncompliance within 12 weeks the noncompliance shall be treated as
a major non-compliance;
b) In the event of failure to rectify the major non-compliance within 12
weeks the certification shall be withdrawn.
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Audit CPD
6.4 Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
41. The Certification Body shall review the Organisation's procedure for
identifying and organising CPD to ensure all elements of the
Specification for organisations providing the Green Deal Advice Service
are captured. (Certification audit)
42. The Certification Body shall verify that the Organisation has made
provision for Green Deal Advisors to undertake the required CPD by
reviewing a sample of 5 per cent (or at least one) of the appraisals and
training records or any other relevant personnel records as noted in the
procedure.
(Surveillance audit)
43. The Certification Body shall request information from the
Organisation regarding any changes to the procedures for identifying
and organising CPD. (Surveillance audit)
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Insurance
24. Organisations shall ensure for Green Deal assessments on
domestic buildings that they have professional indemnity cover of
£100,000 for each claim in relation to any Green Deal assessment, and
public liability insurance of £1,000,000 per claim.
25. Organisations shall ensure that for Green Deal assessments on
non-domestic buildings that they have procedures in place to ensure a
minimum level of indemnity cover is in place that is proportionate to the
risks associated with the provision of the Green Deal assessment, and
is in any case no less than £250,000 per Green Deal assessment.
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Record-Keeping
5.5 Green Deal Assessment Control – Documents, Record
Keeping and Information Management
38. Organisations shall validate that the Green Deal assessments
undertaken conform to the operational procedures in section 6 of this
Specification.
39. Organisations shall establish and maintain records containing at
least the information identified in (a) to (j) of this clause, in relation to
each Green Deal assessment undertaken.
a) Location of the assessment;
b) Type of assessment i.e. domestic/ non-domestic;
c) Dates of assessment commissioning, delivery and completion;
Continued
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Record-Keeping
d) Reference number for the lodged elements of the Green Deal
Advice Report;
e) Details of any problems encountered and corrections agreed;
f) Name of GDA who carried out the assessment;
g) Signed customer sign-off sheet – providing confirmation that the
consumer has understood the information provided during the
assessment;
h) Customer complaints (if any);
i) Insurance claims (if any); and
j) Site notes, photographs and other supporting information relating to
the domestic occupancy assessment for Green Deal, and the nondomestic Green Deal assessment.
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Interaction with Customers
5.7 Interaction with Customers
46. Organisations shall instruct all GDAs on how to act in response to
an approach from customers especially, but not exclusively, in respect
of the subjects at (a) to (h) of this clause:
a) The collection of pre-visit information;
b) Pre-notified customer requirements and expectations particularly
issues of work timing and access;
c) Organisation-stipulated customer service requirements;
d) Customer questions or requests for information;
e) Customer request for other services outside the scope of the GDA
role and this specification;
Continued
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Interaction with Customers
f)
Customer complaint or other customer feedback in respect of the
assessment or assessment process – including how to record and
who to inform;
g) cost of assessment; and
h) Meeting the GDA’s general responsibility for observing the
customer service principles and requirements set out in the Green
Deal Code of Practice.
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Questions?
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Web Links
www.stroma.com/certification
Contacts
Stroma Certification Ltd.
4 Pioneer Way, Castleford, WF10 5QU
0845 621 11 11
training@stroma.com
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