SSIP Accreditation Explained: What It Is, What It Costs, and What It Doesn't Cover

SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) is a UK umbrella organisation that allows contractors to be assessed once against a common health and safety threshold and recognised by multiple buyer-approved schemes through mutual recognition. You don't apply to SSIP directly — you get a certificate from one of its member schemes (CHAS, SafeContractor, Constructionline, SMAS Worksafe, Acclaim and others), and that certificate is recognised across the network.

If a main contractor or public buyer has asked you for "SSIP", you don't need a certificate called SSIP — you need a certificate from one of the assessment schemes that sit under the SSIP umbrella. This page explains what SSIP actually is, how mutual recognition works in practice, where the system still falls down for small subcontractors, and how to choose the cheapest route through the gate.

TL;DR

SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) is a UK umbrella organisation, founded in 2009 with Health and Safety Executive support, that allows around 90,000+ contractors to be assessed once against a common health and safety threshold and recognised by all member schemes through a "Deem to Satisfy" agreement (SSIP). You get SSIP by passing the assessment of one member scheme — CHAS, SafeContractor, Constructionline/Once For All Health & Safety, SMAS Worksafe, Acclaim and others — not by joining SSIP directly. Pricing varies by scheme and headcount (typically low hundreds of pounds a year for a small subcontractor); all member schemes assess against the same HSE-approved Core Criteria. SSIP only covers the stage-1 health and safety question set: it does not replace Constructionline Gold, the Common Assessment Standard, client-specific PQQs, or project-level competence checks.

What is SSIP accreditation?

SSIP stands for Safety Schemes in Procurement. It is not itself an assessment scheme — it is an umbrella forum that sets a common health and safety threshold and signs its member schemes up to recognise each other's certificates. According to SSIP's own definition, it is "the mutual recognition scheme for occupational health and safety standards" whose purpose is to reduce duplication and cost for buyers and suppliers.

SSIP was founded in May 2009 with the support of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), following a UK Government report on streamlining procurement for SMEs (SSIP history). The HSE's own guidance on conformity assessment schemes confirms that SSIP enables mutual recognition between health and safety pre-qualification schemes, particularly in construction.

In practical terms, when a main contractor or a public-sector buyer asks you for "SSIP", they almost always mean: show us a current certificate from any SSIP member scheme. The SSIP logo on a CHAS or SafeContractor certificate is the bit they're checking for.

SSIP member schemes: the complete list

Below are the main SSIP member schemes small construction subcontractors are most likely to encounter, with one-line summaries and links to dedicated guides where available:

• CHAS — One of the founding SSIP members, widely recognised across construction and facilities management. Entry products include CHAS Foundation and Elementary.
• SafeContractor — Owned by Alcumus; another founding member with strong penetration in FM and utilities.
• Constructionline — Government-owned pre-qualification register. SSIP health and safety (via Once For All Health & Safety) is now bundled across Bronze, Silver and Gold tiers.
• SMAS Worksafe — Common in social housing, housing associations and local-authority frameworks.
• Acclaim — One of the cheaper SSIP entry points, with fast turnaround and competitive pricing for sole traders.
• EXOR — Prominent in rail and utilities; offers a Deem to Satisfy route for holders of other SSIP certificates.
• Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme (CHAS) — see above; included here as it's sometimes listed separately from its sister products.
• ISO 45001 (via SSIP Certification Body Members) — A stand-alone ISO 45001 certificate does not count. To be recognised on the SSIP Portal, your certification body must itself be an SSIP Certification Body Member, UKAS-accredited, and hold the SSIP Sector Scheme approval.

The authoritative, current list of all SSIP member schemes — including Registered Members, Certification Body Members and Supporter Members — is maintained on the SSIP members directory. For a like-for-like cost comparison of the main construction-facing schemes, see the cheapest SSIP scheme and CHAS vs SafeContractor vs Constructionline.

Who actually needs SSIP?

SSIP certification is a stage-1 health and safety pre-qualification. You typically need it if:

• A main contractor has asked you to register on their supply-chain portal and the form asks for an SSIP certificate.
• You're bidding for public-sector or large private-sector construction work where SSIP is listed as a minimum requirement.
• A framework agreement (housing association, local authority, NHS estates, rail, utilities) names SSIP as part of its pre-qualification.

The law itself does not require it. As the HSE points out in its guidance on accreditation schemes, conformity assessment is only one way of meeting pre-qualification standards, and a scheme certificate is not proof that an organisation can manage the risks of a specific job on a specific site. Buyers are still expected to check skills, track record and project-specific arrangements separately.

If you don't currently have a buyer asking for it, you almost certainly don't need to go and get it speculatively.

How does SSIP mutual recognition (Deem to Satisfy) work?

The mechanic that makes SSIP useful is Deem to Satisfy (DtS), sometimes called mutual recognition. SSIP describes it plainly: "all registered members agree to accept a current, valid approval from any other registered member, as long as the details are correctly displayed on the SSIP Portal" (SSIP).

In practice that means: if you hold a current SafeContractor certificate and a buyer says "we work with CHAS", you can apply to CHAS via the DtS route rather than starting a fresh full assessment. The new scheme accepts the health and safety part of the existing assessment and issues a DtS certificate, usually at a reduced fee.

A few things to know up front:

• DtS covers the health and safety question set only. If the second scheme has extra modules (finance, insurance, environmental, equality, modern slavery), you'll still need to provide that evidence.
• DtS validity is usually tied to your original certificate's expiry date, not extended by 12 months from the day you apply.
• The HSE's own line to buyers is blunt: as a buyer, "you do not need to ask for evidence of assessment against more than one SSIP member scheme" (HSE). Whether buyers follow that in practice is a different question — many still insist on their preferred scheme.

For a deeper walk-through, see our guide to SSIP mutual recognition and Deem to Satisfy.

What are the SSIP Core Criteria?

Every SSIP member scheme assesses against the same threshold standard, called the SSIP Core Criteria, which is approved by the HSE and aligned with the (now-withdrawn but still influential) PAS 91 pre-qualification questionnaire (SSIP).

According to Constructionline's breakdown of the Core Criteria, the assessment covers 12 areas including:

• Health and safety policy and organisation
• Arrangements (the practical procedures behind the policy)
• Competent advice (corporate and construction-related)
• Training and information
• Individual qualifications and experience
• Monitoring, audit and review
• Workforce involvement
• Accident reporting and enforcement action
• Subcontracting and consulting procedures
• Risk assessment and safe systems of work
• Cooperating and coordinating with other contractors
• Welfare provision

For most small subcontractors, the evidence file looks roughly the same regardless of which member scheme you choose: a written H&S policy, a few risk assessments and method statements that reflect your actual trade, training certificates (CSCS, asbestos awareness, first aid, plant tickets as relevant), insurance schedules, and any accident records. The CHAS documents checklist is a reasonable proxy for what any SSIP member scheme will want to see.

What does SSIP cost?

There is no single SSIP fee — each member scheme sets its own pricing. SSIP itself confirms this: "All of our members have different pricing structures based upon services provided and supplementary membership packages" (SSIP FAQs). For a sole trader or small subcontractor, the most relevant comparison is between the main construction-facing member schemes.

Member scheme	Typical entry product	Notes
CHAS	CHAS Foundation / Elementary	Founding member of SSIP. See CHAS cost.
SafeContractor	SafeContractor SSIP	Owned by Alcumus. See SafeContractor cost.
Constructionline	Bronze / Silver / Gold	SSIP H&S now bundled across paid tiers via Once For All Health & Safety. See Constructionline cost.
SMAS Worksafe	SMAS Worksafe	Common in housing, social housing and FM. See SMAS Worksafe explained.
Acclaim	Acclaim Accreditation	One of the cheaper SSIP entry points; see Acclaim once-for-all SSIP.

For a like-for-like comparison of headline pricing, see CHAS vs SafeContractor vs Constructionline and the cheapest SSIP scheme.

Who are the SSIP member schemes?

The SSIP Forum is made up of three tiers of membership: Registered Members (the assessment schemes like CHAS, SafeContractor, SMAS, Acclaim), Certification Body Members (UKAS-accredited certification bodies offering ISO 45001 alongside the UKAS SSIP Sector Scheme audit), and Supporter Members (buyers and trade bodies who specify SSIP, including the HSE itself) (SSIP Forum).

A few important nuances:

• A stand-alone ISO 45001 certificate does not meet SSIP requirements. To count, the certification body issuing your ISO 45001 must also hold the SSIP Sector Scheme approval (SSIP FAQs).
• Deem to Satisfy works both ways between Registered Members, but only one-way from Certification Body Members to Registered Members (SSIP Forum).
• The full, current list of members and their certified categories is on the SSIP members directory — worth checking before you choose, especially if you operate in a niche duty-holder role.

How long does SSIP certification take?

SSIP's own guidance says member schemes "typically try to complete their initial assessment within ten working days" once you've provided everything they need (SSIP FAQs). In reality, the slow bit is almost always your evidence — chasing training certificates, finalising risk assessments, or rewriting an out-of-date health and safety policy.

Certificates are valid for 12 months with all the main member schemes and need annual renewal. If you hold accreditations with more than one scheme, the renewal dates won't align by default, which is part of the residual paperwork pain we cover in accreditation renewal deadlines.

What SSIP does NOT cover

This is the bit buyers and contractors most often get wrong. SSIP is a stage-1 health and safety check. It does not, on its own:

• Cover finance, insurance, environmental management, quality, equality or modern slavery questions. Those sit in stage-2 modules (Constructionline Silver/Gold, the Common Assessment Standard, or client-specific PQQs).
• Replace Constructionline Gold or the Common Assessment Standard, which are not mutually recognised under SSIP DtS. If a buyer specifies one of those, an SSIP certificate alone won't get you through. See Constructionline Gold vs Silver vs Bronze.
• Replace project-specific competence checks. As the HSE puts it, scheme assessment "is not proof that an organisation can properly manage the risks presented by the work on site" (HSE).
• Eliminate duplicate evidence uploads. Even with DtS, each scheme has its own portal, its own renewal cycle, and its own document-formatting quirks.

That last point is the honest reason small subcontractors often end up paying for, and re-papering, more than one scheme. If you regularly get asked for different accreditations by different buyers, do you need more than one accreditation? walks through when it's genuinely worth it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is SSIP a legal requirement in UK construction?

No. There is no statute requiring SSIP. The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 require clients to appoint competent contractors, but the HSE explicitly states that conformity assessment schemes are only one way of demonstrating that competence (HSE guidance). SSIP is effectively required by the market — main contractors and public buyers ask for it — but not by law.

What is the difference between SSIP and CHAS?

CHAS is one of the assessment schemes that sits under the SSIP umbrella, and was one of SSIP's founding members in 2009. SSIP itself is not a scheme you can apply to — it's the body that defines the common standard and runs the mutual recognition agreement. When someone says "I'm CHAS-accredited" they usually also mean their CHAS certificate carries the SSIP mark and is recognised by other SSIP member schemes via Deem to Satisfy.

How many SSIP member schemes are there?

The number changes year to year as schemes join or leave, but SSIP has historically described its forum as more than 30 member schemes across Registered Members and Certification Body Members. The authoritative current list is the SSIP members directory, which also shows which duty-holder roles each scheme is certified to assess.

Does ISO 45001 count as SSIP?

Not on its own. A stand-alone ISO 45001 certificate falls outside the SSIP scheme. To be recognised on the SSIP Portal, your certification body must itself be an SSIP Certification Body Member, UKAS-accredited, and hold the SSIP Sector Scheme approval — and you have to ask them to issue the SSIP element alongside the ISO 45001 audit (SSIP FAQs).

Can a buyer insist on a specific SSIP scheme?

They can ask, but SSIP and the HSE both push back on it. SSIP provides a Model Letter to Buyers that suppliers can use to request recognition of an existing SSIP certificate. If the buyer still insists, the Deem to Satisfy route lets you join their preferred scheme at a reduced fee and without a full re-assessment.

How long is an SSIP certificate valid?

With the major construction-facing member schemes, SSIP certificates are valid for 12 months and require annual re-assessment. A Deem to Satisfy certificate issued by a second scheme is typically valid only until your original certificate expires, so it doesn't reset your renewal clock.

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Last reviewed: 17/06/2026. SSIP figures and member-scheme arrangements change — always confirm current details with the scheme directly before paying.