do you mean it hold the correct time but does not fire the boiler? does it work when set to constant? if so then it may well be a faulty timer.
this is a simple job, and you do not need to touch anything to do with the gas, but unless qualiifed to do so you should not do this by yourself. you need to remove the combsustion cover to do the job, and if you don't put it back on correctly the you could end up with fumes leaking into the room. a performance test shold also be carried out after removing the combustion cover.
Ian, January 2010