CHAS

What CHAS is and who runs it

CHAS is a health and safety assessment scheme for contractors and suppliers, and one of the member schemes of SSIP. It was founded by Merton Council and has been owned by the US company Veriforce since January 2023, which is why the business now calls itself Veriforce CHAS; the certificates are still called CHAS.

Buyers use it to check, before work starts, that a contractor has suitable health and safety policies, insurance and training. CHAS says it has more than 32,500 certified contractors and over 2,500 clients.

The three levels

CHAS Standard is a health and safety assessment that meets SSIP requirements, with a social value assessment. CHAS Advanced adds the ten risk areas of the former PAS 91 pre-qualification standard, from health and safety to equality, diversity and inclusion. CHAS Elite adds public sector requirements and meets the Common Assessment Standard backed by Build UK and CECA.

Choose the level your buyers ask for, not the cheapest. If a tender or main contractor names the Common Assessment Standard, Standard and Advanced will not do.

What it costs

CHAS publishes starting prices of £429 a year for Standard, £659 for Advanced and £949 for Elite (October 2026). The price for your business depends on its size, counted by employees, including labour-only subcontractors, and membership is an annual subscription, so budget for it every year.

Getting through first time

You register on CHAS's VeriforceOne portal, choose a level and upload evidence such as your health and safety policy, insurance, risk assessments and training records. An assessor reviews it within 10 working days, or 2 with Fast Track, and if more is needed you get two weeks to provide it.

CHAS's own list of common reasons for delay: expired insurance certificates, unsigned policies, generic templates with nothing specific to your company, risk assessments that do not match the work you actually do, and no evidence of training. Check each document before you submit.