MCS standards

MCS now requires installers to buy a financial protection product on every domestic solar job, covering at least six years even if the installer goes out of business

Announced at Solar & Storage Live 2026 in Birmingham, the requirement replaces the old two-year industry-minimum cover with a mandatory six-year guarantee, and MCS is also taking over as the single point of contact for complaints rather than leaving homeowners to chase installers and warranty providers separately.

22 September 2026 · Source: Renewable Energy Installer

This is a genuine tightening of consumer protection, not a paperwork tweak. Under the previous rules, the workmanship warranty a homeowner actually got depended on what the installer chose to offer, with two years as the common industry floor. Under the redeveloped scheme MCS is rolling out through 2026 and 2027, every domestic installer has to purchase an MCS-approved financial protection product for every job, with a minimum of six years' cover built in and, critically, a guarantee that remediation still happens even if the installer itself has gone out of business by the time something needs fixing.

The installer-failure scenario is the one that actually burns homeowners. A solar and battery install that develops a fault five years in is only as good as whoever fitted it, and installer businesses close, get bought out, or simply stop trading more often than anyone selling a system likes to admit. Six years of guaranteed remediation cover, backed by the certification body rather than resting entirely on one small firm's continued existence, is the kind of protection that matters most exactly when it's needed most.

MCS is also changing how complaints get handled: rather than a homeowner bouncing between the installer, the warranty provider and MCS itself trying to work out who owns the problem, MCS becomes the single point of contact, with unresolved cases going to free, binding alternative dispute resolution instead of the homeowner having to fund their own legal route. For a Sandwich household weighing quotes, the practical upshot is straightforward: MCS certification was already the floor worth checking for, and from now on that certification carries a specific, enforceable six-year guarantee behind it, not just a badge on the installer's van.

The context for the timing is worth noting too. MCS reports solar PV passed 2 million cumulative UK installations in the first half of 2026, with battery storage installs nearly matching all of last year's total in six months. That is a lot of new systems going in during exactly the period this protection regime is being phased in, current installers have until 31 March 2027 to transition, with every new applicant since March 2026 already certified under the new rules from day one.

Read the original: Renewable Energy Installer. Commentary is Sandwich Solar's own editorial view; the original reporting is credited to its publisher.

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