Free CPD training event: C-TEC opens its Wigan factory for a day on Martyn's Law

C-TEC is planning a free CPD training event at its Wigan factory on 4 November 2026 covering Martyn’s Law lockdown procedures, accessibility legislation and fire alarm upgrades, Electrical Times reported this month.

Lockdown here has nothing to do with the pandemic. Electrical Times identifies Martyn’s Law in the programme as the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, and the programme covers lockdown procedures under that Act.

The report quotes Andy Green, C-TEC’s marketing director, saying the day is for anyone “responsible for the life safety or accessibility systems in your organisation”, and for people working in education, retail or entertainment.

A free place still leaves a day of wages and travel to account for when you’re running the business side of a trades firm, and the latest UK average salary figures give a rough idea of what a day off the tools costs. The useful test is whether the advertised subjects fit the jobs your team already handles.

Free CPD event: Martyn’s Law, accessibility and fire alarm upgrades

Electrical Times lists three seminars. “Lockdown Alert!” gives an overview of Martyn’s Law and the solutions available. “Access All Areas” covers UK equality and accessibility legislation and how to comply with it.

The third session explains how to upgrade an older fire alarm system to an addressable one “capable of lockdown functionality, internet connectivity, powerful false alarm reduction and more”. If one of your installers looks after older alarm systems in schools, shops or venues, that is probably the most useful session. Green says in the report that the day offers cost-effective ways to comply, often using existing equipment “with relatively simple adaptations”. That is the manufacturer’s claim; no independent results are given.

The day ends with an optional question and answer session with Andrew Foster, C-TEC’s managing director and standards expert, according to Electrical Times.

Four CPD hours are advertised, but nobody says who recognises them

Electrical Times gives the hours as 10am to 4pm, with registration from 9.30am. Refreshments and a free lunch are included. It’s a manufacturer’s event, held at its own factory. Manufacturer-backed training is a familiar route in the trades, from this day in Wigan to the heat pump training centre opened in Barnstaple with Vaillant.

Electrical Times describes the event as worth four hours of CPD and the optional afternoon factory tour as “also worth one CPD hour”. It doesn’t say who recognises those hours, what certificate attendees get, or whether the tour’s hour is part of the four. If the day is going into your training records, ask C-TEC what your installer will have to show for it.

Keep in mind who is giving the legal seminars: a company that sells fire alarm systems. One session title, as Electrical Times prints it, promises “We can save you thousands!”. What your customers’ buildings actually need under Martyn’s Law or accessibility law, and what any upgrade really saves, is for you to check elsewhere.

C-TEC expects demand to be high and advises booking early, Green says in the Electrical Times report. The report gives no number of places, so get a confirmed place before you move anyone off a job.