There are quite a few small jobs that a DIY ers should be able to tackle however this is limited more these days with new law which came into effect in Jan 2005.

The law was introduced both to weed out cowboy electricians and also try to prevent incompetent DIY ers from carrying out potentially dangerous electrical work.

Now most electrical jobs like putting an extra socket in a kitchen come under part P of the building regulations. It is the homeowners legal responsibility to ensure that any work carried out is done by a suitably competent person and certified by someone registered with a government approved body.

For more information contact your local council, or, checkout:

www.niceic.org.uk NICEIC(national inspection council for electrical installation contractors) is one of the government approved bodies who ensure any work done is up to approved standards. Their website has loads of other useful information.

In summary, all "Electrical installations" for example, like putting in an extra circuit, installing a new consumer unit (fuse box) need to be certified.

Some "Minor works", where you are simply adding to an existing circuit like adding an extra light to a lighting circuit or putting in an extra socket on an existing socket circuit need not be certified. HOWEVER there are exceptions to this rule in certain more potentially dangerous locations where you cannot add lights or sockets. These include, bathrooms, kitchens, gardens. Obviously these are the sorts of areas where one is quite likely to want install some additional lights/sockets, but unfortunately you can't!!

You also cannot add Extra low voltage(12v) down lighters in any location.

Repairs and maintenance do NOT require certification so you can, for instance, replace old fittings with new, lights, sockets, switches etc. in any location. Remember to follow all the instructions carefully.

For a NICEIC guide of what is or isn't certifiable checkout:

http://www.niceic.org.uk/consumers/earthbond.html