How Much Does CHAS Accreditation Cost? UK Guide

Short answer: for a small contractor, CHAS accreditation is a guide price of roughly £349–£909 + VAT a year depending on the tier you choose, and it is an annual fee you pay every year to keep the certificate live. The exact figure scales with how many people you employ, and CHAS reviews its pricing periodically — so treat the numbers below as a budgeting guide and confirm the current fee for your business on the CHAS website before you commit.

CHAS cost by tier (2026 guide prices)

CHAS sells its contractor membership in packages. The health-and-safety assessment that most clients ask for sits in the paid tiers; the higher tiers bundle in extra checks for firms bidding for larger or public-sector work. These are entry-band guide prices for the smallest businesses, quoted excluding VAT:

Guide prices for the smallest headcount band, excluding VAT, as advertised by third-party accreditation guides in 2026. CHAS updates its fees and package structure from time to time, so always check the live figure for your company size on chas.co.uk. Earlier tier prices were lower — for example, one 2024 source listed Standard at £349, Advanced at £539 and Elite at £749 — which shows how much the annual fee can move, and why you should price it fresh rather than trusting an old quote.

What actually drives the price

Three things decide what you pay:

• The tier. A pure health-and-safety assessment (Standard) is the cheapest paid option. Each step up adds more checks and more cost. Buying a higher tier does not make you “more accredited” in the eyes of a client who only asked for the health-and-safety assessment — it just costs more.
• Your headcount. CHAS bands its fee by the number of people in your business, so a sole trader pays the entry-band price and a firm of fifty pays more for the same tier. The figures above are the entry band.
• VAT. Prices are quoted ex VAT, so add 20% when you budget. A “from £429” Standard membership is closer to £515 once VAT is on.

Is it a one-off fee or annual?

It is annual. CHAS accreditation lasts twelve months, and you pay the banded fee again each year to keep your certificate valid. There is no separate lifetime option — budget for it as a recurring cost, the same way you budget for insurance renewal. If your certificate lapses, you drop off buyers’ approved lists until you reinstate it, which is why the renewal date matters as much as the first application.

“How much is CHAS Elite?” and “what about Premium Plus?”

Elite is the top standard package, at a guide price from around £909 + VAT for the smallest band, and the reason to pay for it is specific: it includes the Common Assessment Standard, which certain main contractors and public frameworks require by name. If none of your clients has asked for the Common Assessment Standard, you almost certainly do not need Elite. CHAS has also used names like Premium Plus for higher or bundled memberships in the past; package names and contents change, so if a client asks for a specific CHAS product, get the exact name in writing and price that product directly with CHAS rather than guessing from a tier table.

The costs people forget

The membership fee is rarely the whole story. Two other costs catch firms out:

• Consultant fees. Plenty of health-and-safety consultants offer to prepare and submit your CHAS application for you, typically for a few hundred pounds on top of the CHAS fee. That can be money well spent if your paperwork is a mess — but it is an avoidable cost if your documents are already in order.
• Your own time. The real expense for most small firms is the hours spent digging out an up-to-date health-and-safety policy, insurance certificates, training records and risk assessments at submission time. That is unpaid time off the tools, and it repeats every year at renewal.

Is CHAS worth it — or is there a cheaper route?

CHAS is worth it when a real, named client asks for it, because without it your bid gets rejected at prequalification. It is not worth paying for “just in case”. And because CHAS is one of several SSIP schemes that recognise each other under the Deem to Satisfy arrangement, you usually only need one SSIP scheme — if a buyer asks for “SSIP” generally, a cheaper equivalent scheme may satisfy them just as well. Before you pay for CHAS specifically, it is worth reading our comparison of CHAS, SMAS and Constructionline and our CHAS vs SafeContractor vs SMAS guide to check you are buying the scheme your clients actually require, at the tier they actually require.

How to keep the cost down

You cannot negotiate the CHAS fee, but you can control everything around it. Pick the lowest tier your clients actually ask for. Hold one SSIP scheme, not three. And keep your compliance documents current year-round so renewal is a quick review rather than a paid consultant job. Firms that fail or delay their assessment almost always do so for avoidable reasons — an out-of-date policy, expired insurance, generic risk assessments — and each of those adds cost and time. Our guide on how to get CHAS approved walks through the assessment step by step so you pass first time.

Official guidance and sources

Fees and package structure are set by CHAS and change over time. Always confirm the current price for your company size before budgeting:

• CHAS — official membership packages and current pricing.
• SSIP — the mutual-recognition (Deem to Satisfy) arrangement between CHAS and other health-and-safety schemes.