CORGI HomePlan Registered Plumber
The name is the problem: customers hear “gas”
What CORGI HomePlan is
CORGI HomePlan is a voluntary quality scheme for plumbing businesses. It costs around £250 a year, renews annually, and provides an insurance-backed guarantee on plumbing work. It is marketed to consumers as a mark of quality.
The important sentence is the one that tells you what it is not. It is not to be confused with the now-defunct CORGI gas registration, which was the legal register for gas engineers before Gas Safe replaced it.
The name carries a history. For many householders, CORGI means gas safety, and that association has outlived the register by a long way.
Why the name needs handling
A customer who sees “CORGI” on a van or a website may reasonably assume the engineer is registered for gas work. If that is wrong, the confusion is entirely avoidable and entirely yours to prevent.
The risk is a practical one. Gas work by someone not on the Gas Safe Register is illegal, and a customer who believed that a CORGI mark meant otherwise has been misled, however innocently. Whatever the scheme says about itself, the thing the customer takes away is what counts.
So the rule for a plumber using this scheme is clear. State what it covers: a quality scheme for plumbing work with an insurance-backed guarantee. Keep gas separate and say plainly whether you hold Gas Safe registration. If you do not, say you do not do gas work. That honest line protects the customer and also protects you.
What membership requires
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A plumbing qualification.
NVQ Level 2 in Plumbing or an equivalent recognised qualification. Evidence: the certificate.
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Public liability insurance
Of at least £1 million. Evidence: the certificate.
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An identity and background check
, which CORGI HomePlan conducts itself. Evidence: none from you.
The online application.
The entry bar is the lowest of the plumbing schemes on this site: a basic qualification, modest cover and a background check.
What you have to keep doing
Renew annually, maintaining your insurance.
Issue the insurance-backed guarantee to customers on qualifying work.
The guarantee is the thing worth selling
The guarantee is the substance. A customer who is handed a document saying that the work is backed by insurance, so that if the plumber disappears or the firm fails, a remedy still exists, is holding something concrete.
That is a stronger proposition than most plumbing marks offer, because it answers the customer’s worst fear about a trade where jobs are hidden behind walls and floors: what happens when it goes wrong later, and the person who did it is no longer around.
It only works if it is given out. The obligation is to issue the guarantee on qualifying work, so it should be part of every job’s completion, not something remembered when a customer asks. The firms that use it well hand it over on the day, mention it in the quote, and put a line about it in the follow-up message.
The commercial test is the cost against the work it brings. At £250 a year, with a low entry bar and a tangible guarantee, it is easy to justify for a domestic plumber — provided the name is used carefully.
The mistakes we see most
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Letting the CORGI name imply gas.
Say what the scheme covers, and what you do not do.
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Not issuing the guarantee on qualifying work.
It is both an obligation and the main selling point.
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Treating it as equal to Gas Safe or a competence register.
It is a consumer quality scheme.
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Forgetting to mention it in quotes.
It matters most before the customer decides.
Where this lands in Gaffer
The guarantee is issued from the completed job, so it is part of finishing the work and not a separate task somebody remembers or forgets.
Quotes and follow-up messages carry the wording that explains it, so the customer meets the guarantee before they decide and not after.
How the guarantee changes the conversation about price
Price objections in plumbing usually come down to risk. The customer is comparing quotes without being able to judge the work, so they fall back on the number, and the cheapest quote looks safest.
An insurance-backed guarantee changes what is being compared. It shifts attention from the price of the job to what happens if the job fails, and a plumber who can say the work is backed by insurance has an answer to the question the customer is actually asking.
It works best when it is explained early and simply. A line on the quote, a sentence in the first phone call, and the document itself on completion. The customer who has been told about it before accepting is considerably less likely to push for a discount than one who hears about it afterwards.
It will not win every job, and it is not meant to. It makes the firm that offers it easier to choose against one that does not.
Telling the story honestly
Because the scheme’s name has history, how you describe it matters more than for most marks. The aim is to be accurate without being apologetic.
Say what it is: a voluntary quality scheme for plumbing businesses, with an insurance-backed guarantee on qualifying work. Say what it is not, in a short sentence, if there is any risk of confusion, and make your gas position clear alongside it.
Handled that way, the name becomes a modest advantage. People who remember it associate it with trust, and a firm that explains the difference clearly looks careful rather than evasive.
The test is simple: could a customer reading your page come away believing you can work on their boiler when you cannot? If the answer is yes, the wording needs to change. The scheme is worth its fee only if customers trust what they were told about it.
Checking it suits your customers
Before joining, ask a handful of recent customers whether they have heard of the scheme and what the name suggests. Their answers will tell you whether it carries weight locally and, just as usefully, whether the gas confusion is real among the people you serve.
If it is, your wording needs to be clearer. If the name means little, the guarantee itself is the stronger selling point, and you should lead with that.
Either way, the exercise costs an hour and replaces guesses about how the mark lands with evidence.
Questions plumbers ask
Is CORGI HomePlan the same as the old CORGI gas register? No. It is a separate voluntary quality scheme for plumbing.
Does it allow me to do gas work? No. Gas work needs Gas Safe registration.
What does the guarantee cover? The insurance-backed guarantee is issued on qualifying plumbing work.
Is £250 worth it? For domestic plumbing, usually, if you issue the guarantee consistently.
Get your free website review · Issuing the guarantee on every job? See Gaffer