CompetentRoofer / NFRC Competent Person Scheme UK 2026: complete guide for roofing contractors

If you run a domestic roofing business in the UK and you are not in the NFRC Competent Person Scheme (commonly known as CompetentRoofer), you are leaving work and money on the table. The scheme lets registered roofing contractors self-certify their refurbishment work as compliant with the Building Regulations, which removes a significant friction point from the homeowner's decision and gives them legal protections worth hundreds of pounds. This guide covers what the scheme is, who qualifies, what it costs, how to apply, and how to keep the membership in good standing.

What CompetentRoofer actually is in 2026

The NFRC Competent Person Scheme (CPS), formerly branded "CompetentRoofer", is a UK government-licensed scheme that allows registered roofing contractors in England and Wales to self-certify their refurbishment work as compliant with the Building Regulations. The scheme is operated by the National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (formerly DCLG), and it is accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).

It is currently the only Competent Person Scheme dedicated specifically to the roofing sector. Other CPS schemes exist for trades like electrics (NICEIC, NAPIT, ELECSA) and gas (Gas Safe), but for roofing there is one. NFRC CPS is recognised by the Building Safety Regulator and by every Local Authority Building Control office in England and Wales.

The scheme has been operating since 2006 and currently covers tens of thousands of completed projects per year, with roughly 19,000 to 20,000 self-certified jobs annually across the registered membership.

Why it matters: the 50% rule and Building Regulations

Under Building Regulations Approved Document L, any roof refurbishment that replaces 50% or more of the roof must be notified to Local Authority Building Control (LABC) and signed off as compliant. The 50% threshold catches most full re-roofs and many large repairs.

Without a Competent Person Scheme registration, the homeowner has to:

Pay LABC for an inspection (typically £200 to £400 depending on the local authority).
Wait for the inspector to attend (usually within 2 to 5 working days, but can be longer).
Schedule the work around the inspector's availability for sign-off.
Handle paperwork themselves at the end of the project to receive the Building Regulations Compliance Certificate.

With a CPS-registered roofer, none of that is needed. The contractor self-certifies; NFRC notifies LABC on the homeowner's behalf within 8 weeks of completion; the homeowner receives a Building Regulation Compliance Certificate (BRCC) automatically, plus a 10-year insurance-backed guarantee included at no extra cost.

For a homeowner choosing between two quotes for a re-roof, this is a tangible benefit worth £200 to £400 plus weeks of project simplicity. It is one of the genuine differentiators that allows a CPS-registered roofer to win work without competing on price.

What the scheme covers

The scheme covers refurbishment of existing roofs across all common roof types: pitched roofs (slate, tile, clay), flat roofs (felt, GRP, EPDM, single-ply), green and brown roofs, and metal roofing. The work in scope includes:

Replacement of roof coverings on all roof types.
Re-felting and re-battening of pitched roofs.
Insulation upgrade as part of refurbishment (required under Approved Document L when 50%+ of the roof is replaced).
Associated work on flashings, gutters, fascias, soffits and rooflights where part of the refurbishment.

The scheme does not cover:

New build work on a new property (this requires LABC sign-off through normal Building Regulations channels).
Repair work below the 50% threshold (this does not require Building Regulations notification at all, so CPS does not apply).
Structural work on roof timbers (which requires structural engineer input and separate LABC sign-off).
Roofing on listed buildings or in conservation areas (which requires Listed Building Consent or planning permission separately).

For a typical domestic roofer doing repair, refurbishment and re-roofing, CPS membership covers a substantial portion of the work and adds nothing material in admin overhead per job — the notification is automated through the NFRC member portal.

Who qualifies: the membership requirements

NFRC CPS is open to all UK roofing contractors who can demonstrate competence and meet the audit requirements. The application process has four stages.

Stage 1: NFRC trade body membership. CPS registration sits inside the wider NFRC trade body. You must first be (or simultaneously join as) an NFRC member. NFRC trade body membership requires you to demonstrate financial stability, hold the right insurance, employ properly qualified staff, and pass the NFRC office audit.

Stage 2: Documentation audit. NFRC reviews your business documentation. The required submission includes:

Companies House records (for limited companies) or proof of trading (for sole traders and partnerships).
Public liability insurance certificate to £5 million minimum.
Employers' liability insurance certificate to £10 million minimum if you employ staff.
CSCS card evidence for every operative.
NVQ certificates for every roofer (Level 2 minimum, Level 3 for supervisors).
Asbestos awareness training records (UKATA or IATP).
Working at Height training records.
Sample sales contract that meets the scheme requirements (covered below).
Sample RAMS for typical roofing work.
Sample completed project records with photographs.

Stage 3: Office audit. An NFRC auditor visits your office (or remote-audits for very small businesses). The auditor checks that your record-keeping systems are robust enough to support the self-certification responsibilities. They review your CSCS records, training records, RAMS files, complaint procedures, and sales process.

Stage 4: Site inspection. An NFRC technical inspector visits an in-progress or recently completed job. They check the work against current British Standards (BS 5534 for slating and tiling, BS 6229 for flat roofs, BS 8000-6 for workmanship) and against the manufacturer's installation requirements. They check that scaffolding is appropriate, that access is safe, that the work meets specification, and that the operatives are demonstrably competent.

The audit is not a rubber stamp. NFRC turns down applicants who cannot demonstrate competence at any stage, and re-audits members annually with two site inspections per year. The scheme's reputation depends on this rigour, which is why CPS membership genuinely differentiates a roofer from an unaudited competitor.

Sales contract requirements

The scheme requires that your customer-facing sales contract meets specific minimum standards. This is one of the most overlooked parts of the application — many small roofers operate on hand-written quotes or one-page proposals that do not include the required terms.

The CPS sales contract must include:

14-day cooling-off period. The customer's right to cancel without penalty within 14 days of contract signature.
10-year workmanship guarantee. The contractor's commitment to remedy defects in workmanship for 10 years from completion.
Insurance-backed guarantee reference. The IBG that comes with each CPS-notified job covers defects and contractor insolvency for 10 years and is automatically activated by the notification.
Clear scope of works. The work to be carried out, the materials, and the price.
Payment schedule. Typically deposit, interim, and final payment milestones.
Variation procedure. How changes to the scope are handled and priced.
Complaints procedure. How the customer raises issues and the contractor's response timescale.
Reference to NFRC CPS membership and the Code of Practice.

For a small roofer who has been operating on informal quotes, this is a substantial uplift in admin discipline. Tools like Complys generate compliant sales contracts and customer T&Cs as part of a quote, and store them with the customer record so the audit evidence is available without rummaging through email folders.

What it costs in 2026

The cost of NFRC CPS membership is a combination of:

NFRC trade body membership. Annual fee in the range of £600 to £2,500 depending on company turnover. The lowest band typically applies to one-person sole traders.
CPS registration fee. Included in the NFRC fee for some bands; an additional £300 to £600 a year for larger contractors.
Initial audit fee. One-off, typically £300 to £500 for the office audit and site inspection during application.
Per-notification fee. A small fee per self-certified job (typically £25 to £50) which covers NFRC's notification to LABC and the IBG underwriter. This is usually passed on transparently in the quote, or absorbed by the roofer as a cost of doing business.

For a small domestic roofing contractor doing 30 to 60 self-certified jobs a year, the all-in annual cost is roughly £1,000 to £2,500. Set against the ability to win jobs from non-CPS competitors and the saved time on LABC arrangements, the return is comfortably positive for any roofer above hobbyist scale.

Applying: the practical steps

The application process from first enquiry to active membership typically takes 8 to 16 weeks. The stages are:

Enquiry and pre-qualification. Visit the NFRC CPS website, download the application pack, and review the requirements against your business. If you are missing any of the underlying credentials (NVQs, asbestos training, insurance), address those first.
Submit the application. Complete the application forms, submit the documentation pack, and pay the application fee.
Documentation review. NFRC reviews your submission and identifies any gaps. Typical issues at this stage are missing NVQ certificates, sales contracts that do not meet the requirements, or insurance certificates that have expired or that do not cover your trade properly.
Office audit. Scheduled within 4 to 8 weeks of documentation acceptance. Usually 2 to 4 hours.
Site inspection. Scheduled at an in-progress job (or recently completed if no current work is in scope). The inspector usually gives 2 to 5 working days notice.
Decision. NFRC decides on registration within 4 to 8 weeks of the site inspection. Successful applicants receive their registration certificate, are added to the public CPS registered contractor list, and gain access to the member portal for notifications.

If the application is unsuccessful, NFRC provides a written report identifying the gaps. Most rejections are for documentation completeness or for site work that did not meet the British Standards on the day of inspection. Most rejected applicants are accepted on a second attempt after addressing the issues, typically 6 to 12 months later.

How notifications actually work

Once registered, the day-to-day operation of CPS notifications is straightforward.

Before work starts. You log into the NFRC member portal and create a new project record. You enter the customer details, the property address, the scope of works, and the planned start date. The portal generates the project reference.

During work. You retain photographic evidence of key stages (substrate condition before re-roof, insulation in place, breather membrane laid, fixings, ventilation provisions, and the completed roof) per the CPS technical requirements. NFRC may select your project for an inspection at this stage; in practice, perhaps 2% to 5% of projects are selected for inspection and the inspector calls a few hours in advance.

At completion. You log back into the portal, mark the project as complete, upload the completion photographs, and submit. NFRC validates the submission and notifies LABC within 8 weeks. The homeowner receives the Building Regulation Compliance Certificate and the IBG documentation by post or email.

The total admin overhead per job is 10 to 20 minutes — much less than the alternative of arranging an LABC inspection and waiting for it.

Maintaining membership

NFRC CPS membership is annual and requires ongoing maintenance. The key obligations are:

Annual renewal. Pay the annual NFRC and CPS fees. Submit updated insurance certificates, training records, and any changes to staff or company structure.
Two site inspections per year. NFRC inspectors visit at least two of your in-progress or completed jobs each year. The inspections are unannounced or with short notice.
Complaint handling. All customer complaints must be handled per the published procedure and reported to NFRC where they cannot be resolved.
Continuing competence. Operatives' CSCS cards, NVQs, and training records must be kept current. Lapsed cards are an immediate audit failure.
Manufacturer training. If you self-certify single-ply membrane work, you must hold current manufacturer accreditation for the systems you install.

The most common reason members lose their CPS registration is letting an underlying credential lapse — particularly insurance certificates and CSCS cards. NFRC will give a member a chance to remedy a lapse, but repeated or serious failures lead to suspension or removal from the register. Removed members cannot reapply for a defined period (typically 12 to 24 months) and the removal is published.

Why CPS membership is one of the highest-leverage decisions a roofer makes

For a working domestic roofing business, the return on the cost of CPS membership is unusually strong. The per-job benefit to the customer (saved LABC fee, faster sign-off, automatic IBG) is tangible and easy to communicate at the quote stage. The differentiation against non-CPS competitors is meaningful and durable. The audit discipline forces underlying business practices (RAMS, contracts, training records, insurance) up to a standard that pays dividends elsewhere — for SSIP accreditation, for commercial work, and for any future scaling of the business.

A roofer who is not CPS-registered competes on price with every other unregistered local roofer for refurbishment work. A roofer who is CPS-registered competes on professionalism with a much smaller pool. The competitive landscape changes meaningfully on the day of registration.

For most growing UK domestic roofers, the practical sequence is:

Year 1 of trading: get the underlying credentials in place — CSCS Blue card, NVQ Level 2, insurance, asbestos awareness, working at height training. Run jobs and build a portfolio.
End of year 1: apply for NFRC trade body membership. Use the audit feedback to tighten up sales contracts, RAMS, and record-keeping.
Year 2: progress to NFRC CPS registration once you have enough completed jobs to pass the site inspection.
From year 2 onwards: use the CPS registration as a marketing differentiator. Display the logo on your website, vans, and quote documents. Mention the IBG and BRCC at every domestic quote.

The administrative burden and how to manage it

The rate-limiting step on CPS membership for most small roofers is administrative. Tracking every CSCS card's expiry, every insurance renewal, every training certificate's date, every signed sales contract, every project's photographic evidence, every notification's status — by hand, on paper, or in a spreadsheet — is the friction that stops most roofers from progressing through the audit.

This is exactly the problem that Complys was built for. Upload every document once, get expiry alerts before they lapse, generate audit-ready evidence packs in seconds, produce CPS-compliant sales contracts and customer T&Cs as part of every quote, and keep the photographic project records linked to the right customer and project. The audit that takes a paper-tracked roofer two days of preparation takes a Complys-tracked roofer 30 minutes.

NFRC CPS membership is not a bureaucratic exercise; it is a genuine quality kitemark that the UK roofing industry has built over nearly two decades. Holding it changes which jobs you can bid for, which homeowners choose you, and what your business is actually worth when you come to sell it. For most domestic roofers, it is the single most leveraged credential decision you make in the early years of trading.