SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement)

What SSIP is, and what it is not

SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) exists to stop suppliers being assessed for health and safety over and over again by different schemes. It is run by SSIP Ltd and does not assess anyone itself: its member schemes do. They include CHAS, SafeContractor, SMAS Worksafe, Once For All Health & Safety (formerly Acclaim), Avetta, PQS and Safe-T-Cert, and a Constructionline membership includes an SSIP certificate from Once For All.

So you never register with SSIP directly. You join one member scheme, pass its assessment, and that certificate is recognised across the others. SSIP says more than 90,000 suppliers hold a certificate from one of its member schemes.

Do I need SSIP?

Not by law. SSIP's own guidance says the assessments are "not legally required", but they assure clients that a supplier meets basic health and safety competence. What the law does require, for construction work, is that clients check the competence of the contractors they appoint, under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. An SSIP member scheme certificate is the quickest way most buyers and main contractors accept as proof.

So in practice: if you work in construction, maintenance or facilities, and especially for councils, housing associations or main contractors, expect to be asked for it, often as a pass or fail question. If you supply professional services or goods, you may never be asked. Check the tenders you want before paying for one.

What SSIP costs

Checking a supplier on the SSIP Portal is free, and SSIP charges suppliers nothing itself. The cost is the member scheme's assessment, and SSIP says fees vary from scheme to scheme. As one example, CHAS listed its Standard tier, which includes SSIP, from £429 a year when we checked on 7 October 2026, with higher tiers from £659 and £949; prices rise with the number of employees.

Compare two or three schemes on price, how long the assessment takes and how renewal works, and check whether the buyers you want name a particular one.

Which schemes are SSIP members

When we checked on 7 October 2026, SSIP listed 19 registered member schemes that carry out SSIP assessments, including Achilles, the Association for Project Safety, Avetta, CHAS, Once For All (which runs Constructionline's health and safety assessment), PQS, Safe-T-Cert, SafeContractor and SMAS Worksafe. A further group of certification bodies, such as BSI and Bureau Veritas, certify to ISO 45001, and SSIP treats their assessments as equivalent.

SSIP was founded in 2009 with support from the Health and Safety Executive. It does not certify anyone; its members do, against shared core criteria, which is why one member's certificate can be recognised by the others.

The SSIP Portal

The SSIP Portal (ssipportal.org.uk) is the free lookup that makes the system work. A buyer or main contractor searches for a supplier and sees which SSIP member scheme certificates it holds, so it can accept the assessment instead of running its own.

For a supplier, the portal is worth checking before every bid: it is what the buyer will look at. Make sure your company name there matches the name on your bid, and that your certificate has not lapsed.

Deem to Satisfy: when a buyer asks for a different scheme

Buyers often name a specific scheme, such as CHAS or SafeContractor. If you already hold a different SSIP member scheme certificate, Deem to Satisfy lets the second scheme recognise it on the SSIP Portal instead of assessing you from scratch.

It is not free. Each scheme sets its own charge, and the saving against a full assessment varies widely from scheme to scheme, as does what extra it asks for (insurance documents, risk profile questions, sometimes a site audit). Check the second scheme's terms before you pay for a new full assessment.

Which scheme to join

Start from your buyers, not the schemes. Look at the tenders you want to win and the main contractors you work for, and see which scheme they name. If they simply ask for SSIP, any member scheme will do, and price, renewal effort and what else the scheme offers (Constructionline, for example, is also a pre-qualification register) become the deciding factors.