Fast-Track electrician courses can be a good option for people with an interest in learning a trade. Read on to discover if a fast-track course is right for you!

The UK faces a growing skills shortage in the electrical trade, and with it comes a surge in fast-track electrician courses promising swift entry into this exciting field. But are these accelerated programs any good? Let's explore the world of fast-track courses, how to choose a high-quality option, and who they can benefit most.

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The UK's job market for skilled electricians is on the rise. With a predicted shortage of 104,000 electricians by 2032 and average salaries soaring above £39,000, choosing a career in this field is like flipping the switch on your long-term financial security.

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With energy prices hiking rapidly in 2022, there's no denying that we're all looking to cut our gas and electric bill costs as much as possible. A typical household in Great Britain will, on average, pay around £2500 a year for their energy bill from October 2022.

In light of the Global Energy Crisis, we've spoken to our most trusty electricians, who have passed on their top tips for cutting electric bills especially for you.

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There are a wide number of reasons people seek to become an electrician – it’s pretty well known that electricians earn lucrative salaries (check out our blog on trade salaries here). Beyond earning a lucrative salary, electricians also have a lot more flexibility than most traditional careers can offer.

Once you have trained as an electrician, the career direction options are endless. Whether you’re looking for employment with a business or are hoping to find success in self-employment, training as an electrician gives you the freedom to choose your path.

If you’re interested in training to become an electrician and are looking for additional information on the qualifications required to become a sparky, keep reading!

Do I need GCSEs to become an electrician?

There are different avenues you can take when it comes to training to be an electrician, such as apprenticeships, college, or training centres. Some facilities will require an applicant to have obtained a number of GCSEs, including maths and English.

Here at Access Training, whether you’ve just finished school or are a mature student looking to train, you can train to become an electrician without GCSEs or equivalent qualifications.

What qualifications DO I need?

To become an electrician, there are some qualifications you’ll need to achieve to prove that you’ve trained and have acquired the necessary skills. Depending on the type of work you’re planning to do, there are different levels of training required.

The basic qualification you’ll need to obtain to prove you have the skills required to practice is a level 3 vocational qualification or diploma.

This qualification is the bare essential you need to be able to practice, and depending on what level of work you’d like to engage in past your training period, there are a number of further qualifications you can achieve.

Here at Access Training, we’ve broken it down into three courses– Essential Electrical Course, Professional Electrical Course, and Premier Electrical Course. Each course increases in complexity – the further you train the more qualifications you will achieve, which will enable you to take on a wider range of jobs in the future.

If you’d like to get a more in-depth comparison of the different courses side by side, take a peek at our electrical courses overview page. Here you can find more information about the different courses, the stages of training with Access Training, and course recommendations suited to your unique career goals.

Electrical Courses Overview

Our website has a lot of great information on the different courses we provide and their content. If you’re still not sure which course is right for you, reach out and contact us today. We’ll be more than happy to talk over the different options with you, and help you find the perfect fit for your career goals.

Read More: Electrician Qualifications: A Guide for Beginners

Are you thinking about becoming an electrician and wondering what a typical working day would look like? In this blog post, we look at the day-to-day life of an electrician and what jobs they tend to do!

1. What is an Electrician?
2. What Jobs Do Electricians Do?
3. What Hours Do Electricians Work?
4. Find Out More

But first: what exactly is an electrician? 

An electrician is a qualified professional who specialises in a variety of electrical work, such as planning and installing wiring systems, testing and maintaining electrical equipment, and running power supplies to public events.

If you decide to become an electrician, you will have to choose between entering the field as a generalised electrician or working in a specialist niche. This choice will determine what the day-to-day functions of the job are; not all electricians tackle exactly the same tasks.

However, in most areas of this field, the general daily tasks remain the same. 

What jobs do electricians do?

Throughout the majority of the working week, general electricians will have to conduct a set of common tasks required by businesses and homeowners. These often involve...

• Planning, writing and understanding diagrams and floor plans
  
  
• Repairing damaged wiring and equipment using a range of power and hand tools
  
  
• Diagnosing wiring issues, failing components, poor connections and overloaded circuits using specialised tools such as thermal imaging
  
  
• Testing electrical systems and circuits using devices such as oscilloscopes and voltmeters
  
  
• Assessing electrical systems, components and equipment to spot any potential hazards and defects
  
  
• Planning and installing electrical wiring and fixtures based on job specs and local codes

READ MORE: What Qualifications Do I Need to Be an Electrician?

Working hours of an electrician 

The majority of electricians work a standard eight-hour shift, five days a week and sometimes even on weekends. However, as an electrician, you should be prepared to work during off-hours too, dealing with the wiring and voltage issues that can occur at any hour of the day. This is common throughout the electrical industry, with many general electricians available for on-call emergency service. 

The work you are assigned will very much depend on the terms of your employment. Whether you're an independent contractor or working for an established company, you will either set your own schedule of work or be assigned jobs to complete across a variety of different sites. 

One thing's for sure, though: all electricians should be prepared to work for longer than planned. Once you begin working, you can quickly discover that the one job you were assigned to do is just a small part of a much bigger problem that will take more time to fix.

More on the jobs electricians do

As you can see from the information above, working as a successful electrician requires a wide range of specialised skills, as well as good reading comprehension and analysing in order to determine the best route to success for each individual job.

Because of the danger and complexity of electrical work, it is essential that you study and learn from qualified and experienced professionals. 

Our Electrical Training Courses >

Additional Resources:

• Electrician in a League of His Own
• Essential Tools for Electricians
• Earnings for Electricians at an All-Time High
• How to Become an Electrician in the UK

An electrical engineer is someone who designs electrical systems. This can mean anything from assisting with the construction of new homes to planning nationwide energy networks.

As you can probably imagine, this line of work demands a lot of expertise, but if you've got the right qualifications, a career in electrical engineering can be very lucrative indeed. According to payscale.com, the average salary for an electrical engineer in the UK is just over £32,000 per year - and some earn significantly more than that.

Electrical engineers are employed by all sorts of different industries, including:

• Construction
• Energy
• Transport
• Manufacturing
• Defence

What's the Difference Between an Electrician and an Electrical Engineer?

While 'electrician' and 'electrical engineer' are often used interchangeably, they are - strictly speaking - two different professions. You wouldn't hire an electrical engineer to come and fix your oven, and most jobbing electricians aren't qualified to design large-scale electrical systems.

So what exactly is the difference? Well, this is something of an oversimplification (and there is a certain amount of overlap between the two roles) but broadly speaking, electrical engineers DESIGN the jobs that electricians then CARRY OUT. Think of the electrical engineer as a composer, and the electrician as a concert pianist; one writes the music, the other performs it.

How to Become an Electrical Engineer

If you simply want to work as a domestic electrician, you will need the following qualifications (which make up our Essential Electrical Course):

• Part P Domestic Installer
• 18th Edition Wiring Regulations
• Building Regulations for Electrical Installations in Dwellings

If you want to pursue a career in electrical engineering, you will need to know how to design electrical systems. Our Electrical Design Course (which includes a Level 4 design and verification qualification) is recommended for candidates who already have some professional electrical experience under their belts.

Beginners who wish to forge a career in electrical engineering may be interested in our Premier Electrical Course - this comprehensive training package consists of eight different qualifications, covering everything from basic electrical theory all the way through to the design and verification of new installations. No prior knowledge or experience is required to enrol on this course.

View All Electrical Courses >

If you want to become an electrical engineer but you're not sure where to start, please contact Access Training Academies today - our course advisors will start you down the path to your new career.

Electrical engineer FAQs

Electrical engineering qualifications UK

In order to become an electrical engineer in the UK, you’ll need a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering or an equivalent subject, this could include physic, computing or other area of engineering.

Many experienced electrical engineers also tend to pursue further qualifications such as a master’s degree.

Electrician vs electrical engineer

Electricians and electrical engineers have much in common but there are a few key differences…

• Electrician – This is generally a more practical role than that of an electrical engineer. Electricians will install, maintain and repair electrical systems in various structure including homes and larger buildings.
  
  
• Electrical engineer – This tends to be a more theory-based position. Electrical engineers use their knowledge to design electrical systems, devices, etc. with factors like efficiency and safety in mind.

Essentially, electrical engineers come up with the electrical systems that electricians work on.

How much do electrical engineers earn?

The average base salary of an electrical engineer in the UK is around £40,000. Entry level positions can start from £27,000 and very experienced engineers can earn up to £58,000.

Recent research has once again highlighted the overwhelming lack of female electricians currently in the UK electrical industry.

According to TradeSparky, out of over 250k British electricians, only around 2000 are female. This figure equates to a shocking 1% of the entire contingent of electricians in the UK.

A Man’s World?

The figures highlight the fact that the tradesperson industry is a male-dominated field and one that is severely lacking in female participation. Worse still, the pattern of a predominantly male workforce does nothing to spark female involvement and continues this trend further, as female uptake remains minimal.

However, the shocking stats don’t stop there. In addition to the inequality in gender employment, the imbalance also extends to the pay scale as well. Further to the incredible disparity between male and female participation figures, there is also a gender pay gap of just over £3.5k. Also according to TradeSparky, men receive an average annual wage of approximately £34.5 while women walk away with just under £31k.

Crossed Wires

Despite these male-skewed statistics, the tide is turning with each passing year with regards to equality in the workplace and the electrical trade does actually pose a great deal of opportunity for women looking to get into the manual trades profession.

In fact, when compared to average annual salary figures published by the Office of National Statistics, the average female electrician earns more than many other professions, such as legal associates (£29k), graphic designers (£27k), police community support officers (£27k), ambulance staff (£23k) and dental nurses (£18k).

What’s more, Direct Line for Business also revealed that 29% of UK adults would prefer to hire a woman to work on their home plumbing, if given the choice.

Become a Female Electrician with Access Training UK

If you’re interested in starting your career as a female electrician, Access Training UK can help get you where you want to be. We offer a variety of courses for all skill levels, and our courses are flexible and adaptable, allowing you to achieve your goals at your own pace.

Whether you’re a beginner that’s completely new to the sparky business, or are an existing professional looking to add a few extra strings to your bow, we have a course designed to suit you. Checkout the list down below for a full rundown of exactly what electrician courses we have available at Access Training UK.

New Career Courses

Perfect for those with little to no experience, our beginner courses include the following:

Essential Electrical Course

Professional Electrician Course

Premier Electrical Course

Trade Professional Courses

For the more seasoned professional, we offer the following courses, designed to expand your existing knowledge:

Part P Domestic Electrical Installer

18^th Edition

Part P & 18^th Edition

PAT Testing

Initial Verification

Periodic Inspection & Testing

Fundamental Inspection Testing

Combined Inspection & Testing

Electrical Design Course

If you’d like to find out more information about how you can train to come a female electrician, or more detail about the different courses we offer, reach out and contact us today. A member of our first-class customer service team will be more than happy to run through the different courses we offer and help you find the right option for you.

Contact Us

Last updated 5th July 2022

Read More: Women in Plumbing: What Problems Do Female Plumbers Face?

So you want to change careers and become a professional electrician? Great! You'll love the electrical trade, and the UK's current skills shortage means that you should have no trouble finding plenty of work, especially with our C&G electrical courses and qualifications. 

But you can't start working as an electrician without the proper training and qualifications. Electrical work is very dangerous if you don't know exactly what you're doing, so it's very important to learn all the relevant theory, develop your skills under the supervision of an experienced electrician, and get certified before you begin your new career.

Here at Access Training, we offer a range of accredited City and Guilds electrical courses that are specifically designed for inexperienced electricians who want to train up, get qualified, and go professional. Even if you've never so much as changed a plug before, our City and Guilds electrical courses will mould you into a skilled electrician in no time - we'll teach you everything you need to know and help you to earn the industry qualifications that domestic electricians are expected to hold.

Browse our C&G Electrical Courses

Established in 1878, City & Guilds - or the City and Guilds of London Institute, to use its full name - is one of several trusted awarding organisations with whom we work to deliver high-quality electrical courses. If you're interested in earning City & Guilds electrical qualifications through our C&G electrical courses, Access Training can help.

What Electrical Qualifications can I earn with Access Training C&G Courses?

Depending on which training programme you choose, you can earn some or all of the following certifications on our City & Guilds electrical courses:

Domestic Electrical Installer

This is one of the basic industry qualifications that all electricians must hold. Part P qualifies you to install and repair lights, electrical sockets, cooker circuits, and other consumer units in domestic properties.

Included in the following electrical courses:
Essential // Professional // Premier

Level 3 Building Regulations

This is another must-have qualification that's included in all of our career change electrical courses. Earning this certification will show that you have a good working knowledge of the latest electrical regulations.

Included in the following electrical courses:
Essential // Professional // Premier

Level 3 Portable Appliance Testing (PAT)

Many self-employed electricians find that they can boost their income by performing PAT tests in addition to domestic installations and maintenance. This course component will teach you how to test electrical devices and prevent potentially dangerous accidents.

Included in the following electrical courses:
Essential // Professional // Premier

Level 2 Fundamental Inspection & Testing

Inspection and testing is an important skill for professional electricians to hold. This qualification - also known as City & Guilds 2392 - will allow you to inspect and test new installations (as well as new circuits on existing installations).

Included in the following electrical courses:
Essential // Professional // Premier

Level 3 Periodic Inspection & Testing

This qualification goes further than the City & Guilds 2392 certification, enabling you to issue safety reports and recommend any additional works that may be necessary. Sometimes known as City & Guilds 2391-51, the periodic inspection and testing qualification is ideal for budding electricians who wish to carry out commercial and industrial (as well as domestic) work.

Included in the following electrical courses:
Essential // Professional // Premier

Our electrician courses combine online learning with intensive hands-on training to give you a comprehensive understanding of your new trade in a relatively short timeframe. If you'd like to enrol on one of our C&G accredited electrical courses, please click on one of the course options listed above or contact Access Training today!

 C&G Electrical Courses

Last updated 17 December 2021.