Compliance
PAT testing: the requirement that is not in the law
The short answer
The phrase "PAT testing" appears in no UK legislation, and no statute sets an interval for it. What the law requires is that electrical systems and work equipment are maintained so as to prevent danger. Inspection and testing is one recognised way of demonstrating that, and the intervals everyone quotes come from an IET code of practice which sets them by risk — with HSE stating plainly that in low-risk offices, routine testing of every appliance is rarely necessary.
This is the clearest example in the whole section of habit hardening into assumed law. Annual testing of everything in the building is widely purchased, widely invoiced, and required by no statute. Meanwhile the checks that actually find faults — someone looking at a cable before plugging it in, a formal visual inspection of the plug and flex — cost almost nothing, catch most defects, and are the part most often skipped.
What is required, and where it comes from
- Legal requirement
Maintain electrical systems, so far as is reasonably practicable, so as to prevent danger.
Source: Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, Regulation 4(2)
The entire legal basis for what the industry calls PAT testing. It names no appliance, no test and no interval.
- Legal requirement
Ensure work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.
Source: Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, Regulation 5
- Legal requirement
In Scotland, the private rented sector repairing standard requires landlord-supplied appliances to be tested, with the associated guidance setting a five-yearly interval alongside the electrical installation report.
Source: Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, repairing standard
A genuine statutory difference. There is no equivalent appliance-testing requirement in England and Wales.
- Standard or approved code
Suggested starting intervals for user checks, formal visual inspection, and combined inspection and testing come from the IET Code of Practice for In-Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment.
Source: IET Code of Practice for In-Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment
Explicitly a starting point to be adjusted by risk and by what the results keep showing — not a schedule to be applied unchanged for a decade.
- Risk-based
Frequency should follow the environment and the equipment. A construction site transformer, a hired floor scrubber and a desktop monitor do not belong on the same schedule.
Source: Risk-based approach, HSE guidance INDG236
HSE has stated that in low-risk environments such as offices, routine testing of every item is rarely required and visual inspection finds most faults.
- Typical practice
Annual testing of all portable equipment, with a dated label applied to each item.
Source: Common industry practice
Neither the interval nor the label is a legal requirement. Labels are useful management information and nothing more than that.
What proves it was done
Compliance is demonstrated with records, not intentions. These are the documents an enforcing authority, an insurer or a purchaser’s solicitor will ask for.
- An equipment register, so it is possible to say what was covered and what was not
- A record of the interval chosen for each category of equipment, and the reasoning behind it
- Formal visual inspection records — the part that finds the majority of faults
- Combined inspection and test results showing measured values, not simply pass or fail
- Fault, repair and removal-from-service records
- For hired or contractor-supplied equipment, evidence obtained at the point it arrived on site
Where this usually goes wrong
- A schedule set once and never adjusted, whatever the results kept showing
- Testing carried out diligently while user checks and visual inspection were never established
- Fixed equipment tested as though portable, or genuinely high-risk portable equipment missed entirely
- No equipment register, so coverage cannot be demonstrated and new items never enter the cycle
- Failed items labelled and left in place, because nobody owned removal from service
- Hired-in and contractor equipment sitting outside the system altogether
What happens if it is missed
HSE and local authorities enforce, and an electrical injury traced to unmaintained equipment is investigated against the duty to maintain rather than against a testing schedule. The realistic exposure runs both ways: under-inspecting misses the damaged flexes and poor connections that cause most incidents, while over-testing spends money across a low-risk estate to produce a label that proves less than the visual inspection did.
This page is general information about compliance obligations in commercial property, not legal advice. Legislation cited applies to England and Wales unless stated; Scotland and Northern Ireland differ, particularly on fire safety. Duty holders should confirm their position against current legislation and a competent assessment of their own premises.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common inquiries regarding contract scopes, SLAs, compliance audits, and onboarding.
Not as such. No UK legislation mentions PAT testing and no statute sets an interval for it. The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require electrical systems to be maintained so as to prevent danger, and inspection and testing is one recognised way of showing that duty was met. Scotland’s private rented sector is the notable exception, where testing of landlord-supplied appliances is required.
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