Amendment 4 is here: do you really need to re-sit your 18th Edition?

Has my 18th Edition run out?

That is the question our trainers have been asked more than any other this year. Since the IET and BSI published Amendment 4 to BS 7671 in April, the calls and emails have followed a familiar pattern. Some electricians have been told by a main contractor that they must re-sit. Others have heard that nothing has really changed. Neither is quite right.

The previous version of the Regulations was withdrawn on 15 October 2026, so Amendment 4 is now the standard every new installation, alteration and EICR is measured against. That makes this a good moment to separate fact from site rumour, and to look at what is genuinely worth your time.

What Amendment 4 actually changes

BS 7671:2018+A4:2026 was published on 15 April 2026, with a six-month transition before the previous version (BS 7671:2018+A2:2022+A3:2024) was withdrawn on 15 October. From that date, EICRs are carried out to Amendment 4 and new work goes on Amendment 4 certificates. Work designed before the cut-off can still be completed to the earlier version, but it is worth agreeing that with your client in writing.

The headline changes are:

• Chapter 57 (new): stationary secondary batteries used for energy storage and supply.
• Section 545 (new): functional earthing and functional equipotential bonding for ICT equipment and systems.
• Section 716 (new): Power over Ethernet, covered by BS 7671 for the first time.
• Section 710: a major revision of medical locations, with a new schedule for recording supplementary bonding test results.
• Protective neutral bonding (PNB): included in BS 7671 for the first time and selectable as an earthing arrangement on certificates.
• AFDDs: “higher risk residential buildings” becomes “high-rise residential buildings” (over 18 m, or more than six storeys). The requirement itself is unchanged.
• EICR observations: split so that only C1 and C2 affect the overall outcome. C3 and FI do not, and FI no longer carries the words “without delay”.
• Consolidation: Amendment 3 is now built into the main text, so there is one book to work from.

Some of these will touch almost every electrician’s working week, particularly the certification and EICR changes. Others, such as battery storage and PoE, reflect where the work is heading as more homes and businesses add solar, storage and smart building systems.

So, do you need to re-sit?

The short answer is no, not automatically. A City & Guilds 2382-18 or 2382-22 certificate has no expiry date, and the publication of a new amendment does not cancel it. BS 7671 is a non-statutory standard. What the law cares about, through the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, is that the work is safe and the person doing it is competent.

The catch is that competence means knowing the standard you are working to now. If you sign an EIC or EICR today, you are declaring compliance with Amendment 4, so your knowledge needs to match. NICEIC, for example, expects qualified supervisors to hold an 18th Edition qualification and to be conversant with the Amendment 4 changes that affect their work, backed by relevant CPD. Its registered businesses must also show they have access to a copy of Amendment 4.

The other factor is who is asking. Main contractors, employers, frameworks and card schemes set their own entry requirements, and some now ask for a certificate that names Amendment 4. That is their requirement rather than a legal one, but it still decides whether you get on site. If in doubt, ask your scheme provider or client what evidence they accept before you book anything.

One practical point: City & Guilds has replaced the 2382-22 with the 2382-26, which covers BS 7671:2018+A4:2026. Anyone gaining the qualification for the first time will now sit the 2382-26.

At a glance

Why an update is still worth a day of your time

Plenty of good electricians keep up to date by reading the book and attending webinars, and that is a perfectly valid route. But a structured update has some advantages that are easy to overlook.

• It checks the whole book, not just the changes. The 2382-26 exam covers all of BS 7671. Most of us use the same handful of chapters every week, and an update is a useful health check on the parts we rarely open.
• It protects your paperwork. The changes to EICR observations and the overall outcome are exactly the kind of detail that leads to disputes with clients, landlords and letting agents if it is applied wrongly.
• It prepares you for the work that is coming. Battery storage and PoE are already appearing on domestic and commercial jobs. Understanding the new requirements lets you quote and design with confidence rather than guesswork.
• It gives you evidence. A certificate dated 2026 answers the question at a site induction or on a tender form straight away.
• It gives you a room full of people to ask. The grey areas are often where the most useful learning happens, and talking them through with a trainer who has done the work, and with other electricians, tends to stick better than reading alone.

Choosing your training

Whoever you train with, a few quick checks will save you time and money:

1. Check the course code. An Amendment 4 course should lead to the City & Guilds 2382-26. Be wary of anything still advertised as 2382-22.
2. Ask who is teaching. Trainers with real installation and testing experience can answer the “what would you do on site?” questions that the book does not.
3. Check you are eligible for an update. One-day update courses are for existing 18th Edition holders, and you will usually need to bring your certificate.
4. Bring the right book. The exam is open book, so you need the Amendment 4 edition of the Regulations. Knowing your way around it quickly makes a real difference on the day.
5. Think about your team. If several people need updating, on-site training can cost less than sending them individually and saves on travel and downtime.

At Pragmatic Consulting, we run the full 2382-26 course, a one-day 2382-26 update with exam and an exam-only option for experienced electricians. The update day works through the Amendment 4 changes, the new certification and EICR requirements, and how to find your way around the book quickly, before the two-hour 2382-26 exam that afternoon. Courses run at our Stoneleigh Park centre in Warwickshire, with free parking, or on-site for groups. Our trainers come from the industry, and that is the part delegates mention most often in their feedback.

Amendment 4 does not make your existing certificate worthless, but it does change what you are certifying against. A day spent getting to grips with it is a small investment compared with getting an EICR outcome wrong.