TrustMark: What Registration Means and How to Check a Business

TrustMark is the UK government's endorsed quality scheme for firms carrying out work in and around homes, and for most grant-funded energy work it is not optional. A business on the TrustMark register has been vetted for technical competence and customer service, operates under a framework that includes dispute management, and must lodge details of much of its work into a central data warehouse so it can be overseen¹. The scheme is run by TrustMark (2005) Limited, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 05480144³.

For a householder, the practical value is twofold. First, registration is a filter: a firm cannot appear on the register without certification behind it, and for retrofit work that means PAS 2030 certification is a prerequisite⁴. Second, registration is a trail: work done under the main funding schemes is recorded, guaranteed on set minimum terms, and traceable if something goes wrong. Government ministers have advised householders to use builders registered with TrustMark, "which is a trusted scheme, to ensure that work is done properly"¹.

What registration is not is a promise that nothing will go wrong. TrustMark's own routine checks have uncovered substandard solid wall insulation installed by registered firms, and a parliamentary committee has examined both the failures and the scheme's response⁵. This page explains what the scheme is, what vetting actually covers, where registration is compulsory, how to check a firm before signing, and what to do if the relationship breaks down.

Origins of the scheme and those responsible for it

TrustMark is described in official documents as a government-endorsed quality scheme, and its legal identity appears repeatedly in UK legislation: TrustMark (2005) Limited, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 05480144³. The same wording appears in regulations from 2018, 2022 and 2026, which reflects how deeply the scheme is now written into the machinery of home energy policy¹².

The scheme's modern shape dates from the review of the Green Deal. Following that review, the retrofit standards PAS 2035 and PAS 2030 were integrated into the UK-government-endorsed TrustMark quality assurance framework, with Green Deal Approved installers transitioning over⁸. Before that, the Scottish Government's heat in buildings strategy had already signalled its intent, stating: "We will consider using the UK Government endorsed TrustMark quality assurance framework"¹⁵. So the scheme is not a trade body or a marketing badge: it is the quality assurance layer that government chose to build its funded retrofit programmes on top of.

Ministers have been explicit about the message to householders. In a written answer of March 2024 they advised people to use builders registered with TrustMark, "which is a trusted scheme, to ensure that work is done properly"¹. That endorsement matters because it explains why registration keeps appearing as a condition of public funding: government is not simply buying insulation and heat pumps, it is buying them through a framework it can supervise.

The figures: what the register and the data warehouse show

The clearest published figures on TrustMark's operation come from the lodgement of funded measures. There were around 14,700 Warm Homes: Local Grant measures lodged in the TrustMark data warehouse up to the end of July 2026, covering around 6,700 households¹⁰. That figure is worth reading carefully: it counts measures recorded in the warehouse, not every job a registered business has ever done, because privately funded work is not lodged in the same way.

The warehouse is the scheme's memory. Work and financial protection must be lodged into the TrustMark Data Warehouse to allow oversight of retrofit activities, and where work is funded by certain energy efficiency schemes, the installation contractor must register the installation there⁸. This is what turns a one-off installation into a record that can be audited years later, which is the basis for the long guarantees attached to funded insulation.

The scheme's enforcement activity also has published numbers. As of November 2025, 22 installers had been fully reinstated after meeting requirements on TrustMark's "robust six-point plan", including full remediation of the problems identified⁶. Those reinstatements followed the solid wall insulation failures described later on this page, and they show the register being actively policed rather than simply maintained.

Becoming a registered installer: PAS 2030, MCS and scheme providers

A business does not join TrustMark directly in the way it might join a trade association. Registration runs through approved scheme providers, and for energy efficiency work the technical foundation underneath is PAS 2030. The Retrofit Academy describes PAS 2030:2023 as the recognised industry specification for contractors and installers delivering energy efficiency measures in existing dwellings under government-backed initiatives, and states plainly that "To be eligible for TrustMark registration, businesses must achieve PAS 2030 certification"⁴.

PAS 2030 has a longer history than the current edition. Guidance from 2017 records that measures referred to in PAS had to be installed in accordance with PAS 2030:2017 Edition 1 from 1 June 2017, and that certification to either the 2014 or 2017 editions was accepted during the transition¹⁷. A Scottish annual review from 2016 shows the 2014 edition in use in specifications even earlier¹⁸. The current edition, PAS 2030:2023, was published on 28 September 2023 alongside a revised PAS 2035, following a public consultation in early 2023 with input from TrustMark, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Scottish Government⁴. An 18-month transition period ended on 30 March 2025, and from 31 March 2025 PAS 2030:2023 became mandatory, replacing the 2019 edition⁴.

Certification bodies sit between the standard and the register. Benchmark Certification Limited, for example, is identified in legislation as a company formed and registered under the Companies Act with the registration number 07144771, one of the bodies through which installer certification is delivered²⁰. Certification itself involves assessment by a certification body, detailed documentation of installation processes from pre-installation inspections to handovers, and proof that operatives are competent⁴.

For some measures the route runs through MCS rather than PAS 2030. The Scottish Government's quality assurance statement describes suppliers being approved under "the TrustMark scheme and/or MCS", with both routes subject to the same screening⁷. The two frameworks are therefore complementary: a heat pump installer may carry MCS certification, a solid wall insulation installer PAS 2030, and both may end up on the TrustMark register through their respective providers.

What vetting includes and leaves out

The vetting is real, and it is described in official terms. TrustMark registration involves rigorous vetting of technical competence and customer service, and registration is a prerequisite of all government-funded schemes⁴. In a written answer of June 2022, ministers described the scheme as "registered with TrustMark, which has a robust framework of operating requirements, including dispute management"²¹.

The screening process is set out in the Scottish Government's quality assurance statement:

That is a meaningful list: Trading Standards checks catch firms with a history of complaints, and the sanction of suspension or removal gives the scheme teeth, as the insulation failures later on this page demonstrate.

What registration does not do is remove risk. TrustMark covers domestic work only, so a firm's commercial jobs sit outside the framework²². Registration is a snapshot of vetting plus ongoing monitoring, not an inspection of every job. And the scheme's own oversight has limits: a parliamentary committee noted that neither TrustMark nor the department could provide minutes of meetings from 2022 to 2024⁶. A householder who treats the logo as a substitute for checking references, reading a contract and understanding the guarantee paperwork is asking the scheme to do more than it claims to do.

Areas where registration is required by law

For privately funded work, registration is voluntary. The compulsion arrives with public money. The Scottish Government states it directly: "businesses including installers, Retrofit Assessors and Retrofit Coordinators must be registered with TrustMark to access ECO and other taxpayer funded, UK government led energy efficiency schemes"⁸. The GB-wide Energy Company Obligation is described as a key driver for TrustMark registration precisely because it requires suppliers to be TrustMark approved in order to access the funding⁸.

The requirement threads through the funded schemes in detail:

• ECO4 innovation measures: all innovation measures must be lodged with TrustMark (or an equivalent) and delivered by TrustMark (or an equivalent) registered businesses²³.
• District and communal heating: ECO4 guidance requires these measures to be lodged with TrustMark (or an equivalent) and delivered by a TrustMark (or an equivalent) registered business, for measures excluding shared ground loop ground source heat pumps²⁴.
• Green Homes Wales: the Development Bank of Wales loan terms require the borrower to ensure the installer contracted to supply and install the eligible measures is registered with Trustmark and remains registered until the installation work has been completed²⁵.
• Historic schemes: to qualify for government incentive schemes such as the Green Homes Grant, installation contractors had to be TrustMark registered¹⁶.

The pattern is consistent: when a scheme pays for or lends against home energy work, it routes the work through TrustMark so that the measures are lodged, the guarantees exist, and the firms can be policed. The installer requirements for grants page sets out the full picture across the funding schemes.

Vetting a firm before agreeing to work

The check itself is straightforward, because the scheme is designed to be searched. Government guidance on finding an installer points householders towards a competent person register, "such as TrustMark - Government Endorsed Scheme For Work Done Around You", to find an installer who will assess your circumstances and property to identify suitable measures²⁶. A firm claiming registration can be looked up on that register, and the entry should show which scheme provider holds the registration.

Local authority schemes reinforce the same habit. Cornwall Council's private housing assistance pages direct residents to "Find locally trusted contractors" through Buy with Confidence and Trustmark²⁷. The reason councils and government guidance converge on the register is that a logo on a van proves nothing: registration claims can be checked in minutes, and a firm that is genuine will name its provider without hesitation.

What to confirm before signing:

• The firm appears on the TrustMark register, with current registration details²⁶
• Which scheme provider holds the registration, and what certification sits behind it for the work being quoted⁴
• Whether the work is grant or loan funded, in which case registration is compulsory and lodgement should follow⁸
• What guarantee paperwork will be issued, and whether it will be lodged in the data warehouse¹⁶

The fuller pre-contract checks, including quotes, contracts and deposit protection, are covered in checking an installer before you buy.

Differences across the four UK nations

TrustMark's framework is GB-wide in its funding role, but the nations engage with it differently. In Scotland, the government has committed to working with TrustMark to develop a quality assurance scheme for Scotland, enabling domestic consumers including private sector landlords to access approved suppliers in accordance with PAS 2035/30 standards²². The Scottish Government also notes a structural point: "Significantly unlike PAS 2035/30 there is currently no approval mechanism for these standards - TrustMark covers domestic only"²². Scottish households therefore meet TrustMark both through the GB-wide ECO scheme and through the developing Scottish quality assurance arrangements.

In Wales, TrustMark registration is a contractual condition of the Green Homes Wales loan scheme, so a householder borrowing through the Development Bank of Wales is required to use a registered installer who stays registered until the work is finished²⁵. The Welsh Government has also leaned on TrustMark when schemes fail: it has nominated TrustMark to directly support customers of CES, the closed installer business, and directs affected householders to TrustMark's phone line and online form¹¹.

In England, TrustMark is the default quality framework for the funded schemes described above, and ministers have advised its use for building work generally¹. In Northern Ireland, the energy advice landscape is separate: the Northern Ireland Housing Executive's energy advice service is delivered with Energy Saving Trust, which is an independent organisation²⁸. The funded-scheme machinery that makes TrustMark compulsory in Great Britain does not operate in the same way there, so a Northern Ireland householder checking an installer may be relying more on certification bodies and consumer codes than on the TrustMark register itself. The nation-specific pages cover this in detail: installers in England, installers in Scotland, installers in Wales and installers in Northern Ireland.

Certificates, guarantees and the lodgement process

Lodgement is the part of the system a householder actually receives paperwork from. The regulations define the key document: a "certificate of lodgement" means a document entitled "TrustMark Certificate of Lodgement" which sets out the address at which a measure has been installed or repaired and the type of measure¹³. Scheme guidance adds the timing: TrustMark will issue a Certificate of Lodgement once the project Retrofit Co-ordinator has signed off the project and submitted a lodgement²⁹.

The guarantees attached to registered work are set at minimum levels in government guidance: a minimum two-year warranty for work, and a minimum 25-year guarantee for certain measures installed under the ECO⁹. The 25-year figure reflects the fact that insulation funded under ECO is expected to last decades, and the guarantee is the mechanism that makes a long-lived measure enforceable long after the installing firm may have changed or ceased trading.

The warehouse behind the certificate is what gives the paperwork weight. Work and financial protection must be lodged into the TrustMark Data Warehouse to allow oversight of retrofit activities, and where a TrustMark registered contractor does work funded by certain energy efficiency schemes, the installation must be registered there⁸. The scale figures quoted earlier, around 14,700 Warm Homes: Local Grant measures covering around 6,700 households up to the end of July 2026, show the warehouse in operation¹⁰. A householder's certificate is the visible end of that record. The full handover set is set out on the certificates for a completed installation page.

Complaints: a route with a defined remit

TrustMark's framework includes dispute management as a core operating requirement, which is one of the reasons funded schemes route work through it²¹. The practical routes for a householder with a problem are published: call Trustmark on 0333 555 1234, email disputes@trustmark.org.uk, or fill in the online form on TrustMark's website¹¹. The full escalation path, including what the scheme can and cannot force a firm to do, is set out on the TrustMark complaint page.

Where an installer has failed, TrustMark has been given a direct support role. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has confirmed that it nominated TrustMark to directly support customers of CES, with the Welsh Government directing affected householders to the same phone number, email address and online form¹¹. That arrangement shows the scheme functioning as more than a register: it is the recognised point of contact when a registered firm's customers are left stranded.

The remit has limits worth stating. TrustMark's dispute process covers work carried out by its registered businesses; a complaint about an energy supplier's billing or service is a different system, handled by the Energy Ombudsman, which is independent of the energy company and free of charge³⁰. The energy ombudsman waiting time page explains that route. A householder with a faulty installation should also read the general escalation guidance in complaining about an installer, because the TrustMark route sits alongside, not instead of, ordinary consumer rights.

Lessons from the solid wall insulation failures

The strongest evidence about what TrustMark oversight does in practice comes from what it caught. Routine checks carried out by TrustMark, described by government as the independent body which oversees tradespeople working in homes, uncovered substandard solid wall insulation⁵. The government announced action to protect households with poor-quality insulation as a result, and the episode is the clearest public demonstration that the scheme's monitoring is not ceremonial⁵.

The aftermath is documented in a parliamentary report. As of November 2025, 22 installers had been fully reinstated after meeting requirements on TrustMark's "robust six-point plan", including full remediation of the problems identified⁶. Reinstatement was conditional on fixing the work, which is the point of a quality framework: a firm that fails is suspended, remediation is required, and only then does the firm return to the register.

The same report records a weakness: neither TrustMark nor the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero have been able to provide minutes of meetings which took place between 2022 and 2024⁶. For a householder, the lesson from the episode is balanced. Registration and routine checks caught real failures and forced remediation, which is more than an unregistered firm's customers would have had. But the failures happened on the register in the first place, and the scheme's accountability to Parliament has been questioned. The poor quality installations page covers the defects themselves.

Registration and its effect on household energy self reliance

TrustMark sits at the point where household energy independence meets public money. The measures that make a home more self-sustaining, insulation, heat pumps, solar, are the very measures government funds, and the funding schemes insist on TrustMark registration because they need work they pay for to be done once, done properly and traceable⁸. A householder using a registered firm for funded work is, whether or not they chose to be, inside a supervised system of certification, lodgement and guarantee.

The independence gained is real but partial. A TrustMark-registered installation comes with vetted competence, a lodged record, minimum warranty terms and a dispute route⁴. Those protections reduce dependence on the individual firm: if it fails, the certificate and the warehouse record survive, and the guarantee on funded measures is designed to outlast the installer. The CES arrangement, with TrustMark nominated to directly support stranded customers, shows the system catching households when a firm collapses¹¹.

The dependence that remains is on the framework itself. The householder depends on TrustMark (2005) Limited remaining in operation, on its scheme providers and certification bodies staying active, and on the data warehouse being maintained³. The solid wall insulation episode shows both sides of that dependence: the oversight worked, but its internal accountability was questioned by Parliament⁵. Registration is best understood as one strong layer in a stack that also includes the certification behind the firm, the contract in front of it, and the payment protections around it, covered across the installers and retailers guide.