PHAM NEWS | MARCH 2026 4 News Review Plumber goes to Parliament


Jail time for gas installer who put life at risk


A man who fraudulently claimed to be Gas Safe Registered (GSR) has been jailed after his dangerous work put the life of a 90-year-old homeowner at risk. Israel Jackson, 56, of Sandbach


Plumber turned politician Hannah Spencer hit the headlines in the last week of February when she won the Gorton and Denton by-election on behalf of the Green Party. The 34-year-old candidate has pledged to put the voice of skilled trades at the heart of Westminster. To many plumbers, her back


story will sound familiar. Hannah left school at 16 and went straight into plumbing, completing her NVQ before qualifying as a gas engineer. She built her early career the way many do – on the tools across domestic jobs in and around Manchester. Boiler swaps, central heating upgrades, bathroom refits, emergency call-outs – the full mix of day-to-day residential work. Never one to stand still, she later


added heat pump installation to her skillset before squeezing in a plastering qualification as well – finishing the course just two weeks before polling day. A big turning point came in


2014/15 when she joined the Enterprise programme run by The King’s Trust (formerly The Prince’s Trust). The scheme offers mentoring, business planning advice and access to start-up finance for young entrepreneurs. With that support behind her, Hannah launched Hannah’s Household Plumbing and made the


jump into full self-employment. During the by-election campaign she regularly


drew on her


experience working in local homes, pointing to first-hand knowledge of housing stock, ageing boilers and the real-world challenges around energy bills. Moving from plumbing and heating engineer to MP isn’t a typical career path, but Hannah’s foundations are firmly in the skilled trades, built on qualifications, site work and running a hands-on local firm. In her acceptance speech, the victorious Hannah said: “I didn’t grow up wanting to be a politician. I am a plumber. I am no different to every single person here in this constituency. I work hard. That is what we do.


“Now, to my customers, I’m


sorry, but I think I might have to cancel the work that you have booked in, because I’m heading to Parliament. And when I get there, I will make space for everyone doing jobs like mine. We will finally get a seat at the table.” In winning the vote (with an


impressive 40.7% share), Hannah became the first person to win a by-election for the Greens and became the first MP in almost a century to represent the Gorton and Denton constituency who is not a member of the Labour Party.


Place, London, was sent by a contracted company to install a new boiler at the elderly man’s home in Croydon in May 2022 after he lied about being qualified to carry out the work. The sole trader has now been jailed for 12 months. It is not the first time Jackson has


been in court for illegal gas work. He was also prosecuted by the HSE in 2015. Although he has never been


registered, Jackson installed a new boiler at the man’s home and even issued a fraudulent gas safety certificate with a GSR licence number. The pensioner’s relatives raised concerns when they noticed the hot water wasn’t working and there was a smell of gas. Jackson returned to carry out


repairs on more than one occasion – even after a British Gas engineer had issued an ‘immediately dangerous notice’. This included on the day after that action was taken, with Jackson even demanding his taxi fare be paid to come back to the house. While there, he completely ignored the dangerous notice and put the boiler back into use. It was only in June the following year that another engineer – this time from BT Heating and Property – issued another immediately dangerous notice, before completely replacing the boiler. GSR inspectors attended the


property and found that Jackson was not registered when he installed the boiler and provided the fraudulent certificate. The


matter was investigated by HSE, whose inspectors found that he had continued to carry out gas fitting work since his previous conviction and had never registered with GSR. Jackson pleaded guilty


to


contravening Regulation 3(3) and 3(7) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. He was jailed for 12 months at Croydon Crown Court on 4 February. HSE Inspector Lucy Ellison-Dunn


says: “Israel Jackson did not think that the law applied to him. Despite a previous conviction for the same offence, he continued to carry out gas work and, in this case, putting the life of a vulnerable man at risk. He fraudulently told people he was a registered gas engineer, despite not having the competence to install the boiler and pipework correctly.”


Hot water savings a missed opportunity


A new white paper is urging the government to integrate hot water decarbonisation into its long-term housing and net-zero strategies. ‘Hot Water Down the Drain: Unlocking Hot Water Decarbonisation Through the Warm Homes Plan’ has been published by Triton Showers in response to the recently launched roadmap and argues that hot water use, particularly showering, represents a significant but overlooked opportunity to cut household energy consumption, carbon emissions and water use. Paul Ravnbo-West, market development manager at Triton


Manifesto aims to fix skills shortage


Scotland’s plumbing and heating businesses are being priced out of apprenticeships, putting jobs, public safety and the delivery of the country’s housing and low-carbon heating ambitions at risk, says the Plumbing and Heating Federation (SNIPEF) in its 2026 Scottish election manifesto. ‘Supporting Apprenticeships: Fixing Scotland’s Skills Shortage’, sets out clear evidence


that


employers want to train, but the lack of financial support from the Scottish government is actively preventing them from doing so. Scottish government funding for apprenticeships has been frozen for 10 years, placing a disproportionate share of apprenticeship training costs on employers, says SNIPEF.


It is argued that small and micro businesses, which account for over 85% of the plumbing profession, face rising wages, supervision and college-release costs with little to no financial support, creating a funding imbalance that is no longer


sustainable. As a result, 55% of businesses now say they are very unlikely to recruit an apprentice in the next 12 months, even though over 80% agree


essential to maintaining standards,


Showers, explains: “The current policy


landscape is heavily


weighted towards space heating, but as that decarbonises, hot water will make up a significant share of household energy use. If this isn’t addressed in the Warm Homes Plan, we risk missing a major opportunity to cut emissions and help households manage rising utility costs.” The paper outlines five policy actions needed to unlock hot water decarbonisation: 1. Integrate hot water decar- bonisation into the UK’s net-zero strategy. 2. Incentivise consumers and


safety and workforce capacity. Fiona Hodgson, chief executive of SNIPEF (pictured), says: “Employers are not walking away from apprenticeships; they are being forced out by a system that no longer reflects the real cost of training in a safety-critical profession. For most plumbing and heating businesses, the cost of an apprentice is not recovered until the third year, meaning the first two years are a growing and unsustainable financial burden. “Without reform, small firms will continue to be priced out of training, deepening the profession’s ongoing skills shortage, ultimately impacting households, communities and the wider economy.” The Federation’s Scottish


that apprenticeships are


election manifesto argues that funding policy has failed to keep


housebuilders to invest in efficient shower technologies. 3. Include instantaneous electric


showers and high efficiency models in Warm Homes Plan funding schemes.


4. Update EPC methodologies (RdSAP/SAP) to recognise efficient electric shower technologies. 5. Remove green levies from


electricity, which currently add 9.92% to the unit price, to support switching to low-carbon, electric- based systems. To download the white paper,


please use the online reader link below: ◼ phamnews.co.uk/326/02


pace with rising costs and modern training demands, with 77% of employers rating government support as inadequate to poor, and 93% saying increased funding is the key lever to unlocking new apprenticeship places. SNIPEF has set out some outcome-focused solutions that are designed to unlock employer participation while protecting quality and standards. These include:


• Staged completion-weighted


employer grants that support apprenticeships over their full duration


• Wage offsets for college


attendance • Recognition and support for


the time and cost employers invest in apprenticeship supervision and mentoring. ◼ phamnews.co.uk/326/03


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40