ASA Adjudication on g-lec Skills Academy

Ad

A national press ad, for a training course, stated "Join the NEW £7 billion energy market NOW! Train as a DOMESTIC ENERGY ASSESSOR and you could EARN £50K P/A".

Issue

The complainant, a domestic energy assessor, challenged whether the earnings claims were misleading and whether they could be substantiated.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

The g-lec Skills Academy (g-lec) said they were part of the gas-elec group which was launched in 1996, in light of the then new gas and electrical safety regulations, to meet the demand for gas and electrical safety inspections.  They said they had a network of more than 120 franchisees that carried out over 100,000 inspections every year and many of the assessors earned over £60,000 a year.  

g-lec said their expertise as trainers and their experience with the development of gas-elec led them to look at the opportunities emerging in energy conservation.  They said the market for Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) was new and from 14 December 2007 nearly all homes brought to the market required one.  g-lec said it was early days for the EPC market but, based on their proven experience with gas-elec, they believed a proactive, self-employed Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) could achieve earnings of £50,000 per annum as the market matured over the next year.  They said that figure was based on a competent DEA carrying out an average of 11 inspections over a five and a half day week and charging £100 per inspection.  Over a 48-week period (to allow for holidays) that equated to an annual turnover of £52,800.

They admitted that currently the housing market was flat and DEAs operated in a 'buyers' market as far as Home Information Pack (HIP) providers and estate agents were concerned.  However, they believed that would change next year as more markets opened up to qualified DEAs.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted g-lec had estimated the potential earnings for DEAs using their experience of the gas and electrical safety inspections market.  We noted the £50,000 figure was based on a DEA completing 11 inspections over a five and a half day week and charging £100 per inspection.  However, we noted g-lec did not provide any evidence to demonstrate that 11 inspections per five and a half day week and £100 per inspection were realistic or achievable.  

We noted the complainant believed DEAs currently achieved around £50 - £60 per inspection, and that there was insufficient demand for EPCs, because there were already 10,000 qualified, or soon to be qualified, DEAs in the UK.  

We considered that readers were likely to understand from the claim "you could EARN £50K P/A" that a salary of £50,000 was the average earnings that a DEA could realistically achieve.  Because g-lec had not provided evidence to demonstrate that £50,000 was the average earnings and had instead based the earnings claim on their own estimates, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 52.2 (Employment and business opportunities).

Action

We told g-lec to remove the claim "You could earn up to £50K P/A".  We advised them to seek guidance from the CAP Copy Advice team for their future advertising.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)