1. Soft Skills

2. DEA Soft Skills
To effectively operate as an Energy Assessors you will have to acquire and develop a variety of “Soft Skills” that comprise of;
Communication – keep good written and verbal correspondence between you and the client.
Time management – make sure you leave enough time between appointments for travel and assessing.
Continuing professional development – complete the needed amount of CPD to keep up to speed with the latest conventions and products.
Professional image – try to keep a professional yet practical image.
Most of this is covered by the portfolio, contains letters, diary extracts etc.

3. Communication
As a DEA you will work with a variety of people, due to this good communication and correspondence
skills are needed in order to;
To negotiate and accept an EPC instruction
To confirm an appointment with the owner/occupier
To obtain key information about a property to determine whether you are able to carry out the energy assessment.
To give your client completion confirmation along with the EPC
To accurately respond to a client’s queries about any aspects of the EPC or the assessment process.
There are sample letters available to look at layout and content, these will need to be included in the portfolio

4. Time management
As a DEA it is beneficial to accurately time manage your appointments, ensuring you can make all the appointments you book in.
As you carry out more surveys and become more competent you will have a better idea how long it takes to do an EPC on different size properties
Familiarise yourself with the area you cover and travelling times, don’t forget to factor these into your diary.
Don’t forget to also factor in rush hour traffic into your journey times
Diary entry required in portfolio

5. What is CPD?
CPD - Continued Professional Development refers to activities undertaken by scheme members to maintain and build upon their skills and knowledge within the energy assessing environment.
This enables you to keep well informed about the industry and to continuously improve your techniques when carrying out assessments and communicating with clients
Stroma is obligated by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to ensure that all members meet their annual CPD requirements.
To aid assessors with this we have a CPD Channel, which has videos to watch and learn from.

6. How much CPD is required?
As a DEA, you are required to complete 10 hours of CPD a year. If you hold more than one qualification, such as OCDEA you will be required to complete the required ten hours for DEA and a further 5 hours for any additional qualification held. In this case, fifteen hours of CPD would need to be fulfilled. To aid assessors with obtaining the required amount of CPD Stroma have a CPD Channel, the CPD channel is comprised videos on various different aspects of energy assessing .

7. What is Acceptable?
The following are all considered acceptable forms of CPD:
New product ranges
Particular property types in an individual’s area of work (e.g. system build, thatch)
Any certificated lecture/ presentation on products and services
New innovations that are not fundamental to the role they are undertaking
Renewable Technologies
Improvement in the use of IT skills and/ or written records
You will need to supply satisfactory evidence of your CPD such as a certificate of CPD, attendance of events or with dates etc.

8. What isn’t Acceptable? The following are not acceptable forms of CPD:
Training courses (leading to certification)
Software changes
Changes in building regulations
Changes in DCLG guidance
These are all considered fundamental learning in order to practice as a DEA, and therefore do not count as further development

9. Professionalism
Part of your “Soft Skills” require you to work in a professional and ethical manner. As a DEA and a lone worker you can easily be put in compromising positions and it is important you deal with these appropriately.

10. Professionalism
Study the details in the following scenarios and as a group outline how you think an Energy Assessor should deal with the situation.

11. Scenario One
You have been asked to produce an EPC on a recently refurbished
Property. The owner (a property developer) is on site during your
inspection.
He mentions that he needs a high energy rating to help the house sell
quickly.
As you are completing the data form, he offers you a cash ‘bonus’ if
you enter a more efficient heating system than the one that is installed.

12. Scenario One Answer What would you do?
Reject his offer in clear terms and explain your duties and responsibilities as an accredited Energy Assessor
“If the discussion ends, consider completing the survey”
If he persists, politely withdraw from the situation
Make a clear notes in your site notes and/or property file
Contact your accreditation scheme and report the matter

13. Scenario Two
You have been asked to carry out an EPC on a property that has a heating system of a type you have not come across before (see next slide) How would you tackle this situation?

14. Scenario Two

15. Scenario Two Answer How would you proceed?
The heating system is a gas central heating system with a pressurised
hot water tank
Take as much information as possible on site (including photos &
manufacturers details) and use this information to try and identify the system
If you are totally unfamiliar with the system
Research on the internet
Seek advice from your colleagues or Accreditation Scheme
Consider undertaking additional training to fill any gaps in your knowledge (CPD)
Back in the Office.

16. Scenario Three
An Estate Agent has asked you to carry out Energy Assessments at Four properties. He has arranged appointments for 10.30, 11.30, and 2pm. You have been given their addresses and told they are straight forward to do. The first house you arrive at is a 10 bedroom Mansion house The second is 15 miles away

17. Scenario Three Answers
The Mansion house will take longer than an hour to assess. You will need to ring ahead and re arrange times for the survey and confirm that the other houses are of size suitable to be surveyed in such a short length of time. The property owners/agents will need contacting as soon as possible to rearrange inspection times and dates. You should also point out to the estate agent the appropriate time scales
involved.

18. Scenario Three Answers
You should ensure that before accepting an EPC assessment that you have as much information about the property as possible, this can include;
Location
Size
Occupancy
Location of keys etc.
Manage your diary appointments

19. Scenario Four A householder has ordered an EPC on his property.
The morning the inspection is due to take place, the owner rings to say he will have to go out but he will leave his 14 year old daughter in charge to let you in so you can do the survey.
What would your response be to you client?

20. Scenario Four Answer
Under no circumstances should you enter a property where an unaccompanied minor is left in charge. You would have to rearrange the survey, ensuring an appropriate adult will be present and point out there may be a charge for a cancelled appointment.

21. Occupied properties What would you do in the following situation?
You discover a scantily clad lady in one of the bedrooms
apologise for the disturbance, then explain who you are and why you are there, you should then leave and inform your client immediately.
A group of people in the sitting room with a number of syringes and substances in front of them.
Abandon the survey and inform your client, also if they are not authorised to be there inform the police.
A pile of twenty pound notes on a table in the bedroom and the owner is downstairs
Take a photo of the money in situ then ask the owner to remove it, this should also be photographed. For added safety you could ask the owner to write and sign to say it has been moved by them.

22. Documentation
The Domestic Energy Assessor qualification is designed to give individuals a platform to develop an energy assessment business.
Therefore you are required to produce a range of documents and correspondence for before, during and after the survey.
What correspondence and records do you think will be required?

23. Documentation Before the survey During the survey After the survey
Diary
Contract, including Ts & Cs, and costs
Seller questionnaire
Acceptance form
Complaints procedure
During the survey
Site notes
EPC info sheet for client
After the survey
EPC
Completion letter

24. Quality Assurance
All energy assessors are subject to quality assurance checks. These QA checks or audits are carried out by accredited DEA’s within the accreditation schemes. These are minimum checks for all DEA’s of 1% of EPC’s in a quarter or a minimum of 1 audit per quarter, assuming you lodge in that quarter, plus, the schemes must audit 2% of all surveys lodged, on the scheme These audit requirements are imposed by the DCLG and all schemes must adhere to them.

25. Quality Assurance Energy assessors are required to submit all their
site notes
floor plans
photos and any supporting evidence
when an audit is requested. There is a deadline of 15 working days to submit documents from the day the request is made.
There are 3 possible out comes to an audit; Pass, Fail and Re-lodge.
Most audits pass the assessment, but if the audit fails the scheme will carry out 2 additional audits.

26. Quality Assurance

27. Insurance http://rdsap2009.stroma.com/Home.aspx Insurance
Schemes shall ensure DEAs have a minimum professional indemnity insurance cover
£50,000 public indemnity for each claim in relation to any particular EPC,
£1,000,000 public liability insurance per claim.
Supporting documents can be found at

28. Scheme operating Requirements
Overview of requirements
For Schemes to remain compliant with DCLG requirements, they shall be able to demonstrate that the following provisions are in place, and are functioning correctly:
1. Ensure that members of the Scheme are “fit and proper” persons to undertake energy assessments and that they operate within a code of conduct as defined in Appendix 1.2 which is actively enforced by the Scheme.
2. Ensure that members of the Scheme are qualified to undertake energy assessments.
3. Ensure that members of the Scheme have in force suitable indemnity cover.
4. Ensure that members of the Scheme use operational procedures that ensure consistency and accuracy of energy assessments.
5. Maintain active quality assurance procedures that are calculated to ensure so far as is reasonably practical that the other provisions listed here are delivered.
6. Facilitate the resolution of complaints against members of the Scheme.
7. Implement disciplinary procedures in a proportionate and reasonable manner.
8. Establish and maintain a register of members.
9. Ensure financial probity, financial stability and operational resilience of the Scheme.
10. Allow DCLG to monitor the Scheme periodically to ensure that it continues to comply with the terms of its approval and delivers compliance with the legislation.
11. Maintain suitable administrative and operational systems that are applied in a consistent, fair and open way that is compliant with all relevant legislation.
12. Meet other requirements that DCLG has specified from time to time, and in line with the “Approval Letter”.

29. CONTRACT What are the seven elements of a simple Contract?
The Legal Context
CONTRACT What are the seven elements of a simple Contract?

30. Elements of a Contract
Agreement
An Agreement is formed when one party accepts the offer of another and involves a “meeting of the minds”
2. Consideration
Both parties must have provided consideration, i.e, each side must promise to give or do something for each other
3. Intention
The parties must have intended their agreement to have legal consequences. The law will not concern itself with purely domestic or social agreements.

31. Elements of a Contract
Form
In some cases, certain formalities (that is, writing) must be observed
5. Capacity
The parties must be legally capable of entering into a contract
6. Consent
The agreement must have been entered into freely. Consent may be vitiated by duress or undue influence
7. Legality
The purpose of the agreement must not be illegal or contrary to public policy

32. EPC Contract
In a standard contract for an EPC, what is likely to be included in
the Conditions (or Terms) of engagement?

33. Conditions of Engagement
These will vary depending on the nature of the organization or
individual but will usually include:
The description of the EPC service
The level of inspection
What will happen if the EA is unable to complete the service (i.e. no access to premises)
What the EA will charge for the service
What charges will be made where the EPC cannot be completed
Customer services issues (e.g. response times, delivery of the EPC, complaints scheme, etc.)

34. Vicarious responsibility
Vicarious liability: is the principle by which one person can be held liable
for the actions of another. The person held vicariously liable need not
necessarily be a person who carried out the act – she/he may in some
circumstances be completely blameless.
A Typical example would be the employee who carries out a negligent act and the employer is held responsible.
There must usually be some sense in which the employer has authorized the acts of the party who is at fault.
Who would be at fault if you’re a practicing DEA?

35. Conflicts of Interest
Any circumstance that might lead to an actual or perceived conflict of interest must be explored by the EA with the seller and/or the person from whom instructions are received
EA’s must identify and disclose any financial relationships with others involved in the transaction
This is particularly important for organizations like estate agents who must understand the objective role of the EA
A statement about relationships should be made in site notes.
A Related Party Disclosure appears on the printed EPC.

36. Security of Information
Energy Assessors may come across personal or business information about the various parties, in particular the owner, occupier/s or sellers of the property, which has no relevance to the EPC
Such information must not be recorded in the site notes or divulged to third parties save that the EA must not treat this provision as a reason to ignore their common law duties and responsibilities
Energy Assessors must not use any information about the property in any other context without first obtaining the owner and/or seller’s written permission

37. Security of Information
Energy Assessors must keep all information & records safe and secure
You must keep all your information relating to a survey for 15 years, it is therefore important that you:
Protect your premises/offices with alarm systems and don’t keep computers in public view
Restrict computer access to those needing it for business purposes
Ensure you have up-to-date antivirus software
Protect your network from hackers with a firewall
Backup information regularly
Data can be stored electronically and all paper documents shredded or destroyed.

38. Data Protection Act
The Data Protection Act requires all organizations which handle personal information to comply with a number of important principles regarding privacy and disclosure
The Act states that anyone who processes personal information must comply with eight principles.
These state that information must be:-

39. Data Protection Act Fairly and lawfully processed
Processed for limited purpose
Adequate, relevant and not excessive
Accurate and up to date
Not kept for longer than necessary
Processed in line with individuals’ rights
Secure
Not transferred to other countries without adequate protection

40. Fit & Proper http://disclosurescotland.co.uk/what-is-disclosure/
Stroma will ensure that a person is ‘fit and proper’ for membership with the scheme by checking a person’s basic criminal disclosure
This is required by all new members and has to be dated within 1 years
Stroma will notify member’s one month prior to their certificate expiring
On going a new disclosure will be required every 3 Years
Further information can be found at;

41. Fit & Proper
An application for Certification will not be successful if a person has been convicted or cautioned for a serious offence including (but not necessarily restricted to):
Murder
Manslaughter
Death by reckless driving
Rape
Kidnapping
Firearms offences
Hostage taking
Hijacking or torture

42. Fit & Proper
An application for Certification will be rejected or membership revoked if a person has committed an offence as listed below
(which resulted in a prison sentence within the last 5 years)
Offences against a person
Offences against a property
Acts of dishonesty
Acts of corruption
Substantial Financial Gain
Serious Loss to Anyone (including theft, fraud and deception)
All other cases will be assessed on an individual basis

43. Data Gathering
A ‘Data Gatherer’ is somebody who collects the property data on behalf of a qualified DEA who then lodges the report
A domestic EPC can only be produced by a qualified DEA, therefore the use of data gatherers is strictly prohibited
Before lodging the final report, you are required to confirm “I have been to site to gather data for this EPC” (Data Gatherer’s Declaration)
This policy is in place to ensure that the DEA who visits the property is the person who lodges the final report.

44. Any Questions?