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By the Workplace Safety Group teamQuick answer: SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) is the umbrella body that sets a common health and safety standard, the SSIP Core Criteria, for contractor accreditation schemes. Get approved by any SSIP Registered Member scheme, such as PQS, CHAS, SMAS Worksafe, SafeContractor or Constructionline's Once For All Health & Safety, and your approval shows on the SSIP Portal. You can then use deem to satisfy to join other SSIP schemes without a full reassessment.
Why clients ask for SSIP
Main contractors and clients have a legal duty to check that the firms they hire are competent. Rather than send every subby a long health and safety questionnaire, many simply ask for SSIP accreditation. Hold it and you skip the paperwork battle at pre-qualification, and you can quote for work with confidence.
HSE encourages clients to accept a valid SSIP certificate and not ask for further health and safety evidence at the pre-qualification stage.
What the SSIP assessment looks at
Every SSIP scheme assesses you against the same SSIP Core Criteria. In plain English, the assessor wants to see:
- A health and safety policy that fits your business, signed and dated
- Who's responsible for health and safety, and access to competent advice
- Risk assessments and method statements (RAMS) for the work you do
- Training and qualifications for your team
- How you manage sub-contractors, if you use them
- Accidents and incidents: how you record them and learn from them
- Insurance that's in date
- Consultation with your workers, and how you check standards on site
Firms with fewer than 5 people provide proportionate evidence, scaled to their size and the risks of the work.
Which SSIP scheme should you choose?
Start with the scheme your client names. If they just say "SSIP", any Registered Member scheme will do. Here's how the main schemes we support compare:
| Scheme | Good to know | WSG support (+VAT) |
|---|---|---|
| PQS | UKAS-accredited SSIP Registered Member | Included in SafeGuard Pro and Pro Max, with the membership fee paid |
| CHAS Standard | Widely asked for by main contractors and housing clients | £395 / £595 / £695 (1–4 / 5–14 / 15+ employees) |
| SMAS Worksafe | Asked for by many housebuilders | £395 / £595 / £695 |
| SafeContractor (Health & Safety) | Common with facilities management and retail clients | £395 / £595 / £695 |
| Constructionline Bronze (includes Once For All Health & Safety) | Common with main contractors who use Constructionline | £395 / £595 / £695 |
Each scheme's membership fee is paid directly to the scheme. Not sure? Read Which accreditation do I need?
Deem to satisfy: one assessment, more doors
Deem to satisfy (DtS) lets you use an existing SSIP certificate to meet the requirements of another SSIP Registered Member scheme. The second scheme checks your existing approval rather than reassessing everything. That saves you time when a new client uses a different scheme.
How to check a firm's SSIP accreditation
Search the company on the SSIP Portal (ssipportal.org.uk). Valid approvals from SSIP Registered Member schemes are listed there.
SSIP, PAS 91 and CAS: how they fit together
SSIP covers health and safety. Bigger and public sector clients often want more, such as environmental, quality, equality and financial standing. That's where PAS 91-level and Common Assessment Standard (CAS) levels come in. See PAS 91 and CAS explained.
Get SSIP-accredited with WSG
- Standalone support (from £395 +VAT): we write what's missing, fill in your application, upload everything and submit it. If the scheme comes back with questions, we deal with them. We aim to submit within 2 to 3 working days of receiving what we need.
- SafeGuard Pro (from £1,895 +VAT a year): PQS accreditation at SSIP level with the membership fee paid, support with any other SSIP scheme (that scheme's fee is paid separately), competent advice, and your paperwork produced for you.
FAQs
Safety Schemes in Procurement. It's the umbrella organisation that sets the SSIP Core Criteria and runs the SSIP Portal.
The law requires you to manage health and safety and use competent people. SSIP accreditation is how many clients ask you to prove it, so in practice it's often what gets you through pre-qualification.
It depends on the scheme and your business size. See SSIP accreditation cost for a full breakdown.
With our standalone support, we aim to submit within 2 to 3 working days of receiving your information. The scheme's own assessment time then applies.
Only if your clients insist on specific schemes. Deem to satisfy helps you add a second SSIP scheme using the approval you already hold.
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