approved workshop scheme

The Approved Workshop Scheme (AWS) is operated by the National Caravan Council, the Caravan Club and the Camping and Caravanning Club and is designed to secure the highest levels of service standards are delivered by participating workshops and mobile engineers.

A focus of the AWS scheme is to ensure that engineers are able to demonstrate their competence to service caravans and motorhomes to the desired standard. These standards of service have been established to promote the caravan industries professionalism towards caravan owners and protect engineer’s health and safety.

To be in the AWS scheme, participating workshops and mobile engineers have to meet the minimum competence requirements set by the AWS scheme. SkillsActive Caravan Industry Training support members and applicants of the Approved Workshop Scheme (AWS) by providing the necessary training and certification in the following criteria.

• ACoPs Gas Competence Certificate
• CITO Electrical Inspection & Test Competence Certificate
• City & Guilds in Caravan Service Engineering
• CITO Electrical Extra Low Voltage, Circuits & Circuit Tracing Competence Certificate

At present, the AWS scheme require a minimum percentage of an individual workshop to have these qualifications prior to joining the scheme. With the exception of the busy summer periods, Electrical and Gas courses are delivered throughout the year. The City and Guilds practical assessments are now conducted on a rolling basis throughout the year, with two written assessment periods in March and November in order to help workshops and mobile engineers through the entry requirements as quickly as possible.

Practical assessments for the City & Guilds must be taken in a suitable workshop. We are therefore reliant upon the goodwill of workshops to host the assessments for their own engineers and external engineers who are unable to take their exam in their own workshop. Workshops who are able to host the assessments will significantly aid the speed in which we are able to process their candidate’s assessments. We do ask those workshops and mobile engineers unable to host to be patient in finding host workshops and to be as flexible as possible when a date and venue are found for them.