Prequalification guide
SSIP Accreditation for Small Builders: Documents and Costs
TL;DR
SSIP is an umbrella body, not an assessment scheme. Its member schemes, such as CHAS, SafeContractor and the Once For All scheme in Constructionline's paid memberships, assess you against the same SSIP core criteria and recognise each other's certificates. The law does not require SSIP, but buyers can ask for it. Get your policy, recent RAMS, training records and insurance ready first.
Before a council or principal contractor lets you work for them, they may ask for an SSIP certificate from a scheme such as CHAS, Constructionline, SafeContractor or SMAS (see SSIP's notice about withdrawn SMAS certificates). This guide explains what SSIP is, what the schemes ask to see, what they charge and how to get your paperwork ready. The HSE guidance it quotes applies in Great Britain.
Build the RAMS and site induction records an SSIP assessor asks to see
Set up a free account and generate the RAMS, construction phase plan and site induction for one real job. No card needed.
Start free →In this guide
What SSIP is, and what it is not
SSIP stands for Safety Schemes in Procurement. SSIP does not assess anyone itself. Its member schemes do. Each member scheme carries out either a desktop audit or an audit against ISO 45001, using the SSIP core criteria as the threshold standard. The results of completed assessments show on the SSIP Portal, where buyers can check them.
It is often called SSIP accreditation. SSIP and its member schemes mostly call it certification. In this guide the two words mean the same thing.
It is not a legal requirement. HSE says the law does not require this kind of conformity assessment and that it is only one way of meeting prequalification standards. HSE also says that, for construction work, an assessment against a scheme is not proof that an organisation can properly manage the risks of the work on site, so buyers also need to check that a supplier can meet the requirements of the particular project. Expect questions about the job as well as your certificate.
It covers health and safety only. SSIP says its core criteria do not currently include an assessment against the Building Safety Act, and that additional standards are needed to show competence under the Building Regulations. For those duties, see our guide to Building Regulations dutyholders and competence.
How mutual recognition works
SSIP exists so that you are not assessed over and over again for the same thing. HSE's guidance on assessment schemes says:
- a buyer does not need to ask for evidence of assessment against more than one SSIP member scheme;
- a supplier should only need to be assessed against one member scheme, because valid assessment information is on the SSIP Portal;
- if a buyer insists that you register with a second member scheme, you can apply for a deem to satisfy certificate. It gives full recognition of the health and safety elements of your first assessment, instead of a new full assessment.
SSIP says some member schemes may ask for supplementary information as part of a deem to satisfy application. Before you choose a scheme, SSIP recommends checking whether your client has a preferred one. If your client recognises any scheme and checks certificates on the SSIP Portal, you can pick any member scheme.
If a client asks for the Common Assessment Standard (CAS), SSIP says a valid SSIP assessment that shows on the SSIP Portal exempts you from its health and safety section (Section 4). The SSIP assessment does not cover the other parts of CAS, such as environmental, equality, modern slavery and anti-bribery questions.
What the SSIP core criteria cover
Every member scheme assesses against the same SSIP core criteria. SSIP last updated them on 4 September 2026. In short, the assessor looks at:
- Health and safety policy. A policy with a statement of intent signed by the managing director or equivalent and dated within the previous 12 months. It should set out who is responsible for what and name a health and safety contact, who should be a director.
- Arrangements. How you manage health and safety, in proportion to the size of your business and the work you do, including how you meet your duties under CDM 2015. Assessors also check whether you have a drug and alcohol policy.
- Competent advice. One or more competent people appointed to help you meet your health and safety obligations. For construction work, your adviser must know CDM 2015 and construction risks. A qualification such as NEBOSH is one way to show competence.
- Training and information. A system to make sure employees and labour-only subcontractors get the training they need, with a sample of in-date training records.
- Qualifications and experience. Evidence that your people have the skills, knowledge and experience for the work categories you are assessed for.
- Monitoring, audit and review. How you check, review and improve your health and safety performance.
- Workforce involvement. How you meet your legal duties to consult your workforce on health and safety.
- Accidents and enforcement. Your RIDDOR figures for the previous 3 years, a summary of the last two accidents or incidents and what you did to stop them happening again, and any HSE prosecutions or enforcement in the previous 5 years. Schemes check your answer against HSE's register of convictions and enforcement notices.
- Subcontracting. How you choose and monitor any subcontractors or consultants you use.
- Risk assessment and safe systems of work. Your procedures, plus examples of site or project-specific risk assessments and method statements from the last 12 months, and COSHH assessments for any hazardous substances you use.
- Co-operation. How you co-operate and co-ordinate your work with the other dutyholders on a project.
- Welfare. How you make sure all your workers have suitable and sufficient welfare facilities.
If you take on the CDM role of principal contractor or sole contractor, the assessor will also ask for an example construction phase plan from a project in the previous 12 months. If you take on the principal contractor role, you will also be asked how you provide welfare under Schedule 2 of CDM 2015 from the start of the construction phase, and about your arrangements for site inductions, information for the health and safety file, a site-specific emergency plan and making sure the client is aware of their duties. Designers and principal designers have their own extra criteria.
Choose the SSIP category that matches the CDM role you take on, such as contractor or principal contractor. SSIP says your assessment needs to cover the right SSIP category and CDM dutyholder role for your business. Our CDM 2015 guide for small builders explains which role you hold on a job.
What CHAS, Constructionline, SafeContractor and SMAS ask for
All four routes lead to an assessment against the same SSIP core criteria. What differs is how each scheme asks its questions, what else comes with membership and the price. The document lists below come from each scheme's own website, and the prices are the figures they showed on 26 October 2026.
CHAS
SSIP lists CHAS 2013 Ltd as a registered member scheme. CHAS says its assessors review your policies, training, insurance details, maintenance records, construction phase plans and COSHH procedures, and that your risk assessments and method statements play an important role. Its Standard membership includes the health and safety assessment and a self-certified insurance module, where you upload evidence of your insurance. You can do the assessment from your desk, with a visit or remote review, or through deem to satisfy if you already hold a certificate from another SSIP member scheme.
Price: CHAS listed Standard membership, which includes SSIP, from £429 a year. Advanced, from £659 a year, adds the former PAS 91 standard. Elite, from £949 a year, adds the Common Assessment Standard. CHAS says its membership costs scale with the size of your organisation.
Constructionline
SSIP lists Constructionline as a supporter member rather than an assessment scheme. Constructionline's paid memberships include an SSIP assessment from Once For All Health & Safety, which is part of its parent company, Once For All. SSIP lists Once For All Limited as a registered member scheme.
Once For All Health & Safety does an online assessment of your health and safety documents and work activities. Constructionline lists the questions most often rejected: evidence of your safety adviser's competence and services, an example of their advice and how you put it into practice, your accident, incident, near-miss and RIDDOR statistics for the last 3 years, how you consult your workforce, and current training certificates or skills cards.
Price: for the lowest turnover band (up to £74,999), Bronze membership, which includes the SSIP assessment, was £399 a year plus a £99 one-off joining fee, excluding VAT. Prices depend on your turnover band.
SafeContractor
SSIP lists SafeContractor Ltd as a registered member scheme. SafeContractor says the core requirements it checks cover your health and safety policy, risk assessments and method statements, access to competent advice, evidence of training, trade qualifications and any health and safety infringements. Further questions depend on the work categories you choose. Its example document list for a small business also includes liability insurance.
Price: SafeContractor showed its Standard plan starting from £419 a year, with its Assisted, Express and Premier plans starting from £499 to £549 a year. It says these are starting prices for smaller businesses, that your price depends on your number of employees and that a one-off joining fee also applies. Certification lasts 12 months.
SMAS Worksafe
Read this first: on 23 October 2026 SSIP published an update about certificates SMAS issued during the period affected by a UKAS accreditation suspension and SSIP restrictions. SSIP says those certificates were withdrawn, should not be relied on as evidence of SSIP certification, and need a reassessment before a new SSIP certificate can be issued. It says the most recent certificate on the SSIP Portal should be treated as the current record. If you hold, or are shown, an SMAS certificate, check it on the SSIP Portal.
SSIP lists Safety Management Advisory Services Ltd, which runs SMAS Worksafe, as a registered member scheme. SMAS lists the documents to gather as your health and safety policy, risk assessments, method statements, staff training records and safety audits. It says its Worksafe assessment condenses the core criteria into ten questions, and a certificate is valid for 12 months.
Price: SMAS said Worksafe SSIP certificates start from £345, with the price depending on the size of your business and how many employees you have.
Prices change. Check the current price, and whether VAT is included, on the scheme's own page before you apply.
Tips for sole traders and small firms
SSIP says assessments are proportionate to the size of your business and the type of work you do. The core criteria expect organisations with fewer than five personnel to provide proportional documented evidence. Personnel means everyone within the scope of the assessment, including direct employees and labour-only contractors, but not genuine subcontractors who work to their own policies and procedures.
- Fewer than five people. HSE says businesses with fewer than five employees do not need to write down their health and safety policy or the findings of a risk assessment. For SSIP, the core criteria say a supplier with four or fewer personnel and no written arrangements should be able to describe how it identifies hazards and completes risk assessments and safe systems of work. A short written policy still gives you something to show for the policy question.
- Sign and date the policy. The core criteria ask for a statement of intent dated within the previous 12 months, so review and re-sign it every year. Our guide to company health and safety policies explains the three parts of a policy.
- Name your adviser. Keep your competent adviser's details, their qualifications and an example of advice you acted on. Constructionline lists both among the questions most often rejected.
- Use real jobs. Assessors want site or project-specific risk assessments and method statements from the last 12 months, not a blank template. If you are just starting out, SSIP says schemes will take a sensible approach, which may mean example documents that show how you would identify hazards and manage risk. Our guide on how to write RAMS shows what a site-specific RAMS looks like.
- Keep your accident figures. You will be asked for RIDDOR statistics for the last 3 years, even if every figure is zero. See our RIDDOR guide.
- Include labour-only workers. The core criteria expect the same training evidence for labour-only subcontractors as for your employees.
- Renew on time. SafeContractor and SMAS certificates last 12 months. Put the renewal date in your diary when you get the certificate.
Your SSIP document checklist
The table follows the SSIP core criteria, plus the insurance evidence the schemes ask for. Each scheme words its questions differently, so check its own question set as well. The right column shows what The Site Book can produce or store, and on which plan.
| Area | What to have ready | What The Site Book does |
|---|---|---|
| Health and safety policy | A policy with a statement of intent signed by the managing director or equivalent, dated within the last 12 months, saying who is responsible for what. | Stores your signed policy in Company documents with an expiry date (Starter). It does not write the policy. |
| Competent advice | The name of the competent person who advises you, and evidence of their competence. For construction work they need CDM 2015 knowledge. | Not provided. You need your own competent person or adviser. |
| Training and qualifications | In-date training records and cards for employees and labour-only workers, relevant to the work you do. | Tracks worker cards and certificates with expiry alerts, and records toolbox talks with signatures (Pro). |
| Risk assessment and safe systems of work | Site-specific risk assessments and method statements from the last 12 months, and COSHH assessments for hazardous substances you use. | Generates site-specific RAMS (Starter) and COSHH assessments (Pro) for you to review. |
| Construction phase plan | An example from the last 12 months if you are the principal contractor or the only contractor on a job. | Generates a full or lightweight construction phase plan (Starter). |
| Accidents and enforcement | RIDDOR figures for the last 3 years, a summary of the last two incidents and what you changed, and any enforcement in the last 5 years. | Logs incidents and near misses with RIDDOR flagging (Pro). |
| Workforce involvement | How you consult your workers on health and safety. | Records signed inductions and RAMS briefings (Starter) and toolbox talks (Pro). Consultation also needs a way for workers to raise concerns. |
| Subcontracting | How you choose and monitor any subcontractors you use. | Tracks subcontractor insurance and RAMS with expiry dates (Pro). |
| Welfare | How your workers get suitable toilets, washing, drinking water and rest facilities. | Records welfare arrangements in the construction phase plan (Starter). |
| Monitoring and review | How you check and improve your health and safety performance. | Records site inspections and corrective actions (Business), and builds an Audit-Ready Pack of project records (Pro). |
| Insurance | Current employers' liability and public liability certificates. | Stores certificates with expiry dates in Company documents (Starter). |
Where The Site Book fits
The Site Book is not an SSIP member scheme. It cannot assess you or issue an SSIP certificate, and using it does not mean you will pass an assessment. What it can do is produce and organise several of the documents assessors ask to see, from your real jobs:
- site-specific RAMS, full or lightweight construction phase plans, site inductions with worker sign-off and emergency plans, on the Starter plan and above;
- COSHH assessments, toolbox talks with signed attendance, worker certificate tracking with expiry alerts, an incident log with RIDDOR flagging, subcontractor tracking and the Audit-Ready Pack, on Pro and above;
- site inspections with corrective actions, and a Health and Safety File workspace, on Business and above.
You can also store your insurance certificates and your signed health and safety policy in Company documents, with expiry dates. The Site Book does not write your health and safety policy or act as your competent adviser. Every generated document is a draft for you and your competent person to check against the real job. See also what documents subcontractors need and principal contractor vs contractor.
Common questions
Is SSIP accreditation a legal requirement?
No. HSE says the law does not require this kind of third-party assessment and that it is only one way of meeting prequalification standards. A client or principal contractor can still ask for it before they give you work. HSE also says that, for construction work, a scheme assessment is not proof that a firm can manage the risks of the work on site, so expect questions about the job itself as well.
Which SSIP scheme should a small builder choose?
Start with your client. SSIP recommends checking first whether your client has a preferred scheme. If the client recognises any scheme and checks certificates on the SSIP Portal, you can choose any member scheme, because they all assess to the same standard: the SSIP core criteria. Then compare what each scheme includes and what it charges.
What is deem to satisfy?
It is how mutual recognition works in practice. If a buyer insists that you register with a second SSIP member scheme, you can apply to that scheme for a deem to satisfy certificate instead of a new full assessment. HSE says this gives full recognition of the health and safety elements of your first assessment. SSIP says some schemes may ask for supplementary information.
How much does SSIP accreditation cost?
Each scheme sets its own fees, and most scale with the size of your business. On 26 October 2026 the schemes' own websites showed: CHAS Standard membership from £429 a year; SafeContractor's Standard plan from £419 a year plus a one-off joining fee; SMAS Worksafe certificates from £345 (SSIP withdrew some SMAS certificates on 23 October 2026, so check any SMAS certificate on the SSIP Portal); and Constructionline Bronze membership, which includes the Once For All Health & Safety SSIP assessment, at £399 a year plus a £99 joining fee, excluding VAT, for turnover up to £74,999. Check the current price and VAT on the scheme's own page before you apply.
How long does an SSIP assessment take?
It varies from scheme to scheme and depends on how quickly you send everything the assessor needs. SSIP says schemes typically try to complete the initial assessment within ten working days. SafeContractor and SMAS certificates are valid for 12 months, so plan to renew every year. If you hold an SMAS certificate, check it on the SSIP Portal: SSIP withdrew some SMAS certificates on 23 October 2026.
Do I need a written health and safety policy if I employ fewer than five people?
Not by law. HSE says businesses with fewer than five employees do not need to write down their health and safety policy or the findings of a risk assessment. An SSIP assessment is a different matter. The SSIP core criteria ask for a health and safety policy with a statement of intent signed by the managing director or equivalent and dated within the previous 12 months, and they expect organisations with fewer than five personnel to provide proportional documented evidence.
Is Constructionline an SSIP member scheme?
SSIP lists Constructionline as a supporter member. The SSIP assessment in Constructionline's paid memberships is carried out by Once For All Health & Safety, which is part of Constructionline's parent company, Once For All. SSIP lists Once For All Limited as a registered member scheme.
Does SSIP show competence under the Building Regulations?
No. SSIP says its core criteria confirm organisational capability against health and safety legislation and do not currently include an assessment against the Building Safety Act. It says additional standards are needed to show competence under the Building Safety Act and the Building Regulations. Our guide to Building Regulations dutyholders and competence covers those duties.
What SSIP certification does, and what it does not
Pros
- One assessment against the SSIP core criteria can be recognised by other member schemes through deem to satisfy.
- Your current certificate shows on the SSIP Portal, where buyers can check it.
- The assessment is proportionate to the size of your business and the work you do.
- Preparing for it gets your policy, RAMS, training and insurance records into one place.
Cons
- The law does not require it, and a buyer can still ask project-specific questions.
- It covers health and safety only, not Building Regulations competence or the rest of the Common Assessment Standard.
- Each scheme sets its own fees, and the four schemes in this guide charge them every year.
- A certificate does not prove you can manage the risks of a particular job.
“The law does not require conformity assessment, and it's only one way of meeting prequalification standards, whether you are supplying or buying goods and services.”
“as a supplier, you should only need to be assessed against one of the SSIP member schemes”
Build your SSIP evidence from real jobs.
Create the RAMS, construction phase plan and site induction for one real job, then keep them with your policy and insurance ready for the assessor.
Sources
- Do you need a certificate? — SSIP · Accessed 26 October 2026
- SSIP Core Criteria for the Demonstration of Organisational Capability Assessment — SSIP · Accessed 26 October 2026
- SSIP Forum Members — SSIP · Accessed 26 October 2026
- Important Update Regarding Withdrawn SMAS Certificates — SSIP · Accessed 26 October 2026
- Health and safety conformity assessment schemes — HSE · Accessed 26 October 2026
- CHAS products and packages — CHAS · Accessed 26 October 2026
- CHAS Standard: health and safety assessment — CHAS · Accessed 26 October 2026
- Sub-contractor memberships — Constructionline · Accessed 26 October 2026
- About SSIP with Constructionline — Constructionline · Accessed 26 October 2026
- Contractor certification plans — SafeContractor · Accessed 26 October 2026
- What documents do I need to gain SSIP certification? — SafeContractor · Accessed 26 October 2026
- Worksafe (SSIP certification) — SMAS · Accessed 26 October 2026