What happened
To mark Gas Safety Week (14 to 20 September 2026), the Health and Safety Executive has revealed a sharp rise in prosecutions for illegal gas work. According to the HSE Media Centre, seventeen people have been convicted for carrying out gas work illegally since the beginning of 2025 — compared with three convictions in 2022/23 and four in 2023/24.
The cases published make grim reading. Alexander Robson advertised his services on social media and with flyers faking the Gas Safe logo, despite not being on the Gas Safe Register. He carried out sub-standard work on boilers and gas fires at five homes and was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment, suspended for two years. One of his victims, first-time homeowner Megan Oliver, told HSE: "It looked it was such a legitimate company – but it clearly wasn't."
In another case, Israel Jackson was jailed for 12 months after installing a boiler at a 90-year-old man's home having lied about being qualified. HSE reports he issued a fraudulent gas safety certificate, and when a British Gas engineer later issued an 'immediately dangerous' notice, Jackson returned and put the boiler back into use. A third trader, Lee Lancaster, received a community order after his boiler installation caused three separate gas leaks, leaving a family of four without heating or hot water for six weeks.
HSE's Principal Inspector of Gas Safety, Steve Critchlow, put it plainly: "If they're not on the register, don't let them through the door."
Why it matters to contractors
If you're a legitimate operator, the rise in prosecutions is good news — it clears out the cowboys undercutting you and dragging the trade's reputation down. But there's a sharper lesson here for anyone running a site or subbing out mechanical work.
The Robson and Jackson cases both involved traders who looked the part: fake logos, fraudulent certificates, a confident manner. If a homeowner can be fooled, so can a busy principal contractor who takes a subbie's word on their credentials. When you engage someone to touch gas appliances — on a refurb, a fit-out, a void, or a domestic extension — you carry a duty to check they're genuinely competent and registered. A slick-looking certificate is not proof.
The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 make it illegal for anyone to carry out gas work unless they are registered with Gas Safe Register or working under appropriate supervision. That's the legal line — but the practical line is about verification, records and never assuming.
What to check on your site
- Verify the engineer's Gas Safe registration before they touch an appliance — check online at gassaferegister.co.uk or by calling 0800 408 5500, and ask to see the Gas Safe ID card.
- Match the ID card to the person and the work. Cards list what an engineer is qualified to do; a boiler ticket isn't a commercial catering ticket.
- Keep a record of the check — date, registration number, who verified it — in your competency file for that project.
- Don't accept certificates at face value. Cross-reference the registration number, not just the paperwork handed over.
- Never override an 'immediately dangerous' notice. If an appliance is condemned, it stays off until a registered engineer makes it safe.
- Log the appliance and installation in your plant and equipment records so there's a clear trail.
Documents that back up safe working
SafetyPod templates won't verify anyone's Gas Safe status — only the register does that — but they help you record competence, plan mechanical work properly and keep an inspection-ready trail. For plumbing and heating firms, the Plumber & Heating Risk Assessment Pack covers pipework, boilers, pressure testing and hot works in one purchase. Recording who's cleared to work on site starts with a proper induction and competency record, and if hot works are involved you'll want a hot work permit to control the fire risk. Not sure what you need? The free H&S Document Checker gives you a list in a couple of clicks.
The bottom line
Winter's coming, boilers are getting fired up, and the pressure to get jobs done cheap and fast is real. But the HSE figures show where cutting corners on gas leads. Check the register, keep your records straight, and don't let anyone near a gas appliance who can't prove they belong there.
Browse the Plumber & Heating pack or explore the full document library.