SSIP Accreditation: What It Is & Why It Matters for Contractors Guide

What is SSIP? Everything construction businesses need to know about the pre-qualification and winning more work.

What Is SSIP?

SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) is the UK’s national umbrella organisation for health & safety assessment schemes.
Instead of completing multiple safety accreditations, SSIP allows businesses to gain recognition once and have it accepted by many different buyers.

SSIP includes well-known schemes such as:

• CHAS

• SafeContractor

• SMAS Worksafe

• Constructionline (Health & Safety section)

• Alcumus

• BM Trada

If a contractor holds a CHAS, Constructionline, or PQS-approved accreditation, clients can trust that their health & safety systems meet core standards.

Why The Accreditation Matters

SSIP is now one of the most important benchmarks for contractors, subcontractors, and trades in the UK. Here’s why:

1. Win More Work With Recognised Safety Standards

Major contractors, councils, FM companies, and developers increasingly require CHAS, Constructionline, and PQS as part of PQQ or onboarding.

2. Saves Time on Repetitive Safety Pre-Qualification

SSIP prevents businesses from having to complete multiple health & safety assessments for different clients—saving hours of admin every month.

3. Reduces Cost of Compliance

Instead of paying for several accreditations, one SSIP certificate is accepted by many buyers.

4. Demonstrates Legal Compliance

SSIP assessments align with UK safety laws including:

• Health and Safety at Work Act

• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations

• CDM Regulations

This reassures clients that your company operates safely and competently.

5. Strengthens Your Brand & Credibility

Displaying an SSIP badge shows customers, inspectors, and project managers that you take safety seriously.

Get Accredited and Win More Work!

What Do The Assessors Check?

To gain accreditation through any approved scheme, your company must provide evidence of:

Health & Safety Management

• Up-to-date H&S policy

• Competent person support

• Safety arrangements

• Toolbox talks & site inductions

Risk Management

• Recent RAMS

• COSHH assessments

• Site-specific risk controls

Training & Competence

• CSCS/CPCS evidence

• Certificates of training

• Induction process

Incident & Reporting Systems

• Accident records

• RIDDOR procedures

• Near-miss processes

Insurance

• Employer’s liability

• Public liability

• Professional indemnity (if relevant)

If applying for enhanced schemes (e.g., SafePQQ), additional checks cover environmental, quality, and social value standards.

How to Get SSIP Accreditation (Step-by-Step)

Step 1: Choose a Scheme

Decide whether CHAS, SafeContractor, SMAS, or Constructionline best matches your business needs.

Step 2: Complete the Online Assessment

Provide your company details, trade activities, and scope of works.

Step 3: Upload Documentation

Submit your health & safety policy, RAMS, training records, and insurance certificates.

Step 4: Assessment Review

An SSIP auditor reviews everything and may request additional evidence.

Step 5: Receive Your Certificate

Once approved, your business is added to the national database and can display the SSIP badge.

Accreditation lasts 12 months and must be renewed annually.

Most Common Reasons SSIP Applications Fail

Avoid these issues to secure fast approval:

❌ Outdated or missing H&S policy
❌ No recent or adequate RAMS
❌ Missing staff training certificates
❌ Incomplete accident records
❌ Insurance out of date or incorrect
❌ Competent person details missing

Fixing these in advance boosts your first-time pass rate.

SSIP vs Non-SSIP Schemes

SSIP is designed to simplify compliance across the entire supply chain.

Get Accredited and Win More Work!

Is it Worth It for Contractors?

Absolutely. The Accreditation helps you:

✔ Win more work
✔ Reduce tendering admin
✔ Get recognised by major contractors
✔ Demonstrate health & safety competence
✔ Strengthen your professional image

If you want to grow in construction, FM, engineering, or local authority supply chains, SSIP is now an essential requirement—not just a “nice to have.”

PQS accreditation

Find out what PQS accreditation is and how it can save you money and streamline health and safety assessments.

A PQS accreditation is an approved SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) accreditation.

SSIP is an umbrella organisation formed in 2009 to reduce the duplication of health and safety assessments.

SSIP does not carry out the assessments; 30 companies, including PQS, do that.

Why PQS

PQS has designed the most efficient and affordable SSIP accreditation certification process.

PQS was set up to be the most affordable and straightforward SSIP member scheme in the UK market while retaining great value and simple processes.

The deem to satisfy scheme developed by SSIP means a PQS certificate is equal to all other suppliers, for example, CHAS, Constructionline, and Safe Contractor.

While SSIP schemes save money on processes and simplify health and safety procurement for suppliers, they are priced quite differently in the UK market.

SSIP approval is recognised UK-wide, and its purpose is to save contractors time tendering for work.

PQS is approved for all SSIP Categories and/or CDM Duty holders across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

For organisations in the United Kingdom, we can provide all the following categories:

– SSIP Approved
– SSIP Approved: Contractor
– SSIP Approved: Principal Contractor
– SSIP Approved: Designer
– SSIP Approved: Principal Designer
– SSIP Approved: IE Contractor
– SSIP Approved: IE Project Supervisor Construction Stage (PSCS)
– SSIP Approved: IE Project Supervisor Design Process (PSDP)
– SSIP Approved: IE Designer

PQS assessment criteria

The PQS assessment criteria are the same as those of all SSIP suppliers. SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) is an umbrella organisation formed in 2009 to reduce the duplication of health and safety assessments.

The PQS assessment standards and requirements are listed below.

• Policy
• Arrangements
• Occupational Health
• Behavioural Management
• Enforcement Actions
• Accident Reporting and Investigation
• Fleet Operations / Management Scheme
• Competent Advice – Corporate and Construction
• Drug and Alcohol Policy
• Training and Information
• Individual Qualifications and Experience
• Monitoring, Audit and Review
• Risk Assessment Leading to a Safe System of Work
• Workforce Involvement
• Co-operation and Co-ordination
• Welfare Provision
• Subcontractors and Sub-consultants
• Contractor
• Principal Contractor
• Designer

Do I need to be a CHAS accredited contractor?

If you are self-employed or a small contractor do you need to be a CHAS accredited contractor. You may be asked to get CHAS or other SSIP certificate. Let us explain the situation to you.

Domestic Market

If you work in the domestic market and want to sail close to the wind, the answer is no, as homeowners will not insist that you work safely.

However, you have a duty of care for yourself and others under UK health and safety legislation. Even working in the domestic market, you will be in trouble if you have a terrible accident or cause harm to others.

Construction Market

The answer is yes if you work in the construction market or want to work there. You will need to have a recognised standard of health and safety.

Main contractors and clients such as local authorities insist that everyone who works for them has a standard of health and safety. They insist as it is part of their health and safety systems.

The most well-known standard is CHAS, but there are other providers of the same standard under the SSIP umbrella. SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) is a organisation that manages accreditation suppliers, to ensure they work to the same standards.

The size of your business matters

If you are self-employed or a small contractor with less than 5 employees, you need CHAS or similar, SSIP but you will not be required to employ a competent person safety advisor.

You must employ a competent person safety advisor if you employ 5 or more people, including sub-contractors or other self-employed people. The easiest way to do this is to use a remote competent person safety advisor. We offer this service.

What is CHAS

The Core Criteria and the threshold standard of CHAS and all the other SSIP accreditations  is as follows:

• Health & safety policy
• Competent Advice
• Training arrangements
• Monitoring, audit and review
• Workforce involvement
• Accident reporting and enforcement action
• Subcontracting/consulting
• Risk Assessments and Safe Systems of Work
• Cooperations with others
• Welfare provision
• Hazard elimination

The Good News

We are here to support you through the process; we can prepare all the documents, complete the registration forms, and simplify the process. CHAS is expensive, but other providers are very economical. The best thing to do is chat with us and learn more; we can tell you about the costs and the time frame. Our number is 0800 031 5404, or you can complete the form below.

What is Builders Profile?

Find out how Builders Profile streamlines subcontractor procurement. Get all the details you need in one convenient location.

Builder’s Profile provides a service enabling clients and contractors to procure the services of subcontractors who have demonstrated compliance and provided the necessary PQQ (pre-qualification questionnaire) information.

The accessible database allows companies to submit their information and keep it up to date easily for clients and contractors to review. If you are a client or a contractor, it gives you one location to view all the details you need to manage a supply chain, no matter how large or small.

The idea is that subcontractors are able to fill in one PQQ instead of having to fill in different ones for each contractor they want to work with.

The benefit for contractors of Builder’s Profile is that all the information you need to select a subcontractor is in one place.  This can help reduce the cost of procurement as well as administration.

There are various levels of membership available

• Main Contractor Membership
• Subcontractor Premium Membership
• Subcontractor Basic Membership
• Members of our Partner Trade Associations, Premium Membership
• Members of Supporting Trade Associations share a discounted Premium Membership

The Key Benefits

• You do not need to manage multiple profiles and documents over several platforms.
• A secure system that allows you to keep your PQQ files and documents all in one place.
• Access to Marketplace allows you to see and tender for thousands of private and public construction market projects.
• Access to Acclaim. Acclaim is one of the founding members of SSIP to obtain SSIP accreditation.

What does a Builder’s Profile cost?

For a sub-contractor, the membership fee depends on your turnover; the price range is between £149 to £349 + VAT per annum. (January 2025)

If you hold a constructionline membership, a combined membership is possible.

SEGURO Support

The world of PQQ’s SSIP accreditation suppliers, such as CHAS, Constructionline, PQS, and Builders Profile, is complex.

If you would like FREE support to help you work out the best option, please call us on 0800 031 5404, or we can contact you. Complete the form below, and we will get in touch.