SSIP Schemes Compared: CHAS, SafeContractor, Constructionline & SMAS

A client has asked for SSIP. You search it, and four names come back: CHAS, SafeContractor, Constructionline and SMAS Worksafe. Each one tells you it is the one you need. So which is it?

Here is the part most of them will not lead with.

SSIP is the umbrella, not the badge

SSIP stands for Safety Schemes in Procurement. It is not a single accreditation you go and get. It is an umbrella body that links a set of recognised health and safety assessment schemes, so that a buyer can ask for "SSIP" and accept any member scheme as proof your H&S arrangements stand up.

CHAS, SafeContractor, Constructionline and SMAS are all SSIP members. The assessment behind each one tests the same SSIP core criteria.

Deem to Satisfy: one assessment, many doors

This is the bit that saves you money. SSIP runs on mutual recognition, known as Deem to Satisfy. If you hold a current SSIP-member accreditation and a buyer asks for a different member scheme, that buyer can accept what you already hold instead of making you re-assess from scratch.

So a contractor asking for SafeContractor will often accept your CHAS. The whole point of SSIP was to stop you paying four times to prove the same thing four ways.

It is not automatic and it is not total. Some buyers and frameworks still name a specific scheme, and some bolt extra modules on top. But for the SSIP core, one good accreditation usually clears several gates.

The practical differences

The assessment is broadly common. What actually differs is who favours which scheme, the format, the cost and the bolt-on modules.

• CHAS is one of the most widely recognised names, founded in the public sector and accepted almost everywhere. A safe default when you are not sure who you will be bidding to.
• SafeContractor is strong across facilities, retail and private-sector supply chains, and is well known to a lot of commercial clients.
• Constructionline carries weight on public-sector and Tier 1 work, where its higher Gold tier bundles in more than the SSIP core.
• SMAS Worksafe turns up constantly with main contractors and housebuilders, and is often the one named on construction PQQs.

How to choose

Do not start with the scheme. Start with the contract.

Look at the clients and frameworks you actually want to win, and check which scheme their tenders name. Buy the one that opens those doors, lean on Deem to Satisfy for the rest, and do not pay for a second scheme until a real contract demands it.

That is also why Spectra is scheme-agnostic. We are not tied to any one scheme and earn nothing for steering you to it. Ask a single-scheme reseller which you need and the answer is always the one they sell.

The work matters more than the badge either way. N. Stead, founder of an M&E contractor, was stuck needing CHAS to bid. We built the evidence and got the accreditation through in four weeks, and the contract was back in play. Most delays are missing or weak evidence, not the scheme itself, so we fix the documentation before anything is submitted.

Not sure which scheme your target contracts call for? Use our SSIP Scheme Selector, or book a free SSIP review and we will tell you which one wins the work you are chasing, whether we end up doing it or not.