Portable Appliance Testing Service

The Consortium offers a Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) service which is available to all members at a significantly discounted rate. The Consortium now has four testing machines plus microwave testers, which are used by a team of qualified volunteers to carry out the required testing of portable appliances in those halls that have requested it.

Who can use the service? The Scheme was primarily arranged for the benefit of paid-up members of the Consortium.  In some cases however, the Consortium may allow other charity-based community buildings that are not members of the Consortium to have their portable appliances tested, for an agreed fee (detailed below) and provided that a volunteer tester is available to do the work.

How do we register to join the service? If your hall or community building wishes to join this scheme, you should contact our Testing Co-ordinator (see below) stating “PAT Testing Request” in the subject line of the email.  WNCBC will then contact you to let you know when the next testing period starts and answer any queries you might have.

When will our appliances be tested? Community Buildings have been grouped together geographically and each group is linked to one or two volunteer testers to reduce travel time and costs.  The volunteers will arrange to carry out testing for all buildings in that group within a specific time frame (usually one or two months).

How much does the service cost? The charges to WNCBC members for testing up to 50 appliances will be £32 (which is payable in addition to your annual WNCBC membership fee) and 50p for each appliance in excess of 50. For non-member community buildings, the charge for testing will be £52 (£32 plus an additional non-member surcharge of £20) for the first 50 appliances and 50p for each appliance in excess of 50. The service is therefore cost-neutral and members of the service who are currently not members of the consortium will become members of WNCBC automatically when they sign up for the PAT service.

How is the service managed? There is a Testing Co-ordinator, Austin Iliffe, who can be contacted by email via austin_iliffe@btinternet.com.  Austin currently organises the volunteers and schedules all testing. The Consortium has a comprehensive insurance policy for the scheme and its volunteer testers, which covers Public Liability and Professional Indemnity.