Guide
How much does CHAS accreditation cost?
The honest answer has three parts: the scheme fee, your time, and what you pay for help. Here is how each one works and how to keep the total down.
1. The scheme fee
CHAS sets its own fees and they scale with the size of your business and the package you pick. The pattern has been stable for years: a sole trader or micro business pays the least, fees step up with employee count, and the higher packages that cover the Common Assessment Standard cost more than the core health and safety assessment. Expect a few hundred pounds a year for a small firm, and always check the current fee table on the scheme website before budgeting, because published figures change and anything you read elsewhere goes stale.
2. Your time
This is the cost nobody prices in. A first application means producing a signed health and safety policy, trade-specific risk assessments and method statements, training records, and evidence of how you record accidents. Written from a blank page, that is genuinely days of work, and evenings are when most tradespeople end up doing it. Every referral back from the assessor adds another round.
3. Paying for help
There are three ways to buy your way out of the time cost. Consultants will prepare the whole application for a fixed fee, typically several hundred pounds on top of the scheme fee: thorough, but the expensive route. Generic template shops sell document bundles for less, but generic templates are the most common reason applications get referred, which puts the time cost straight back. The middle route, and the reason this site exists, is a trade-specific pack: the substance already correct for your trade, the personalisation clearly flagged, at a fraction of consultant rates. Our electrician pack is £95, once, with no subscription.
Keeping the total down
- Pick the right package level. Buy the assessment your clients actually ask for, not the biggest one. Ask the buyer which certificate they need before you apply.
- Get it right first time. Referrals cost time, and time is the biggest cost in the whole process. Complete documents, personalised to your business, are what prevent them.
- Reuse everything. The documents you produce for CHAS serve every other SSIP scheme, your next tender PQQs and your actual day-to-day safety management. Treat the cost as building a company asset, not paying a toll.
For electrical contractors
Electrician CHAS pack · £95
Policy, five electrical RAMS, COSHH assessments, training matrix and registers, each mapped to what the assessor checks.
Common questions
How much does CHAS cost?
CHAS fees are set by the scheme and depend on your number of employees and the package level you choose. Small firms typically pay a few hundred pounds a year. Check the current fee table on the scheme website, because fees change.
Are there hidden costs?
The scheme fee is only part of it. Most applicants also spend real time producing documents, and some pay consultants several hundred pounds to prepare the application for them.
Is CHAS an annual cost?
Yes. Certification lasts 12 months, so the fee and a renewal assessment recur each year.