A client's tender says "CHAS required." You go to sign up and find three tiers — Standard, Advanced, Elite — at three different prices, with no obvious explanation of which one satisfies the PQQ sitting in front of you.
This is where a lot of contractors either overpay for a tier they didn't need, or apply for the cheapest option and get told it doesn't meet the client's requirement. Here's what each level actually covers, what's changed recently, and how to tell which one your own clients will accept.
Who actually owns CHAS now
CHAS — the Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme — was set up in 1997 by the Association of London Government and a group of health and safety professionals, to stop contractors filling out a different safety questionnaire for every public sector buyer. It operated for 25 years as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the London Borough of Merton.
That changed in January 2023. Veriforce, a US contractor-management and compliance group backed by Thoma Bravo, completed its acquisition of CHAS. In December 2023 the corporate entity rebranded to Veriforce CHAS — the CHAS name and logo stayed (it's still the badge on the side of the van), but the accounts and membership portal now run through Veriforce's platform, VeriforceOne.
Practically, none of that changes what a UK contractor needs to do. It matters for one reason: if you're renewing or logging in and the portal now says "VeriforceOne" instead of "MyCHAS," that's not a scam email — it's the same scheme under new ownership.
The three membership levels
CHAS currently sells three contractor membership tiers, priced from:
- CHAS Standard — from £429/year. A core health and safety assessment that satisfies SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) membership. This is what most tenders mean when they simply say "CHAS required," and it's the tier most contractors doing private-sector or lower-risk public work will hold.
- CHAS Advanced — from £659/year. Everything in Standard, plus assessment against the former PAS 91 standard — the British Standards Institution's pre-qualification questionnaire, covering ten areas including health and safety, environmental management, quality and equality/diversity practice. PAS 91 has technically been superseded by the Common Assessment Standard, but some buyers still name it directly, so Advanced remains relevant if a client's paperwork specifically asks for PAS 91.
- CHAS Elite — from £909/year. The full assessment against the Common Assessment Standard (CAS) — the current industry benchmark, covering 13 areas of risk management rather than PAS 91's ten. CHAS describes Elite as its most comprehensive tier, and it's the one built to satisfy public sector procurement requirements in full.
All three prices are starting points — CHAS's own site says membership cost scales with the size of your organisation, but it doesn't publish the exact size bands publicly. Get a quote for your actual headcount before assuming the "from" price is what you'll pay.
The Common Assessment Standard — the one public sector buyers now want
The Common Assessment Standard is a single pre-qualification format backed by Build UK and the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA), designed to replace the patchwork of different buyer-specific questionnaires with one consistent 13-area assessment.
In March 2024, the Cabinet Office issued Procurement Policy Note 03/24, requiring public sector contracting authorities to implement the change by the end of June 2024. In plain terms: central government departments and the wider public sector are now expected to specify the Common Assessment Standard in their procurement requirements, rather than accepting a lower-tier SSIP assessment on its own.
That's the single biggest reason the three-tier structure matters. If your work is mostly local authority, NHS, housing association or central government contracts, CHAS Standard on its own may no longer be enough for a PQQ that specifically asks for CAS — you need Elite.
Which tier will your clients' PQQs actually accept
There's no substitute for checking the specific tender document, but as a starting rule:
- Private-sector clients, subcontracting, general trade work — CHAS Standard is usually enough. It satisfies SSIP, which is the baseline most private clients ask for.
- A client's paperwork specifically names PAS 91 — you need Advanced, or the CAS-equivalent Elite tier (CAS was built to supersede PAS 91, so Elite covers this too).
- Local authorities, NHS, housing associations, central government, anything referencing the Common Assessment Standard directly — you need Elite. Since the June 2024 deadline, this is increasingly the tier public sector buyers name explicitly rather than accepting a generic "SSIP-approved" contractor.
If you genuinely don't know which your biggest prospective client needs, ask them. Procurement teams almost always know exactly what's on their approved scheme list and which tier they require — it's a five-minute phone call that saves you paying for the wrong membership.
What it costs, realistically
CHAS's published "from" prices — £429 for Standard, £659 for Advanced, £909 for Elite — are annual membership fees paid to CHAS directly, and they scale up for larger organisations. CHAS doesn't publish the exact size-based bands on its site, so if you're a mid-sized contractor, treat the "from" figure as a floor, not the number you'll actually be quoted, and get a specific price for your headcount before budgeting.
On top of the CHAS membership fee, most contractors also pay for the work of getting the assessment right the first time — writing the health and safety policy, RAMS, training matrix and supporting evidence to the standard an assessor expects. That's either your own time, or a fee to have it done for you.
What the assessment actually asks for
CHAS's own process runs in roughly six steps: register on the VeriforceOne portal, submit your company and Companies House details, choose your membership tier, upload your supporting documents, go through assessor review, then gain member status once you pass.
Regardless of tier, expect to provide: a written health and safety policy appropriate to your trade and company size; risk assessments and method statements (RAMS) for the work you actually do; training and competency records for your workforce; current employer's liability and public liability insurance; and your accident and incident history. Elite adds evidence across the Common Assessment Standard's full 13 risk areas, which typically means more depth on supply chain management and environmental/quality practice on top of the core health and safety evidence.
CHAS states an assessor will review a fast-tracked application within 48 hours, though this is subject to terms and conditions and depends on your documents being submission-ready. If the assessor needs more information, you're typically given a two-week window to respond.
Renewal — and why applications get bounced
CHAS membership runs annually — your membership expiry (the payment date) and your compliance expiry (the assessment renewal date) fall on the same date each year, managed through the MyCHAS/VeriforceOne portal.
The most common reason an application stalls isn't a genuine safety failing — it's paperwork. If an assessor flags a query and you miss the two-week response window, the application closes, and CHAS charges a fee to reopen it. The same pattern shows up at renewal: the notice goes to a general inbox, nobody owns the response, the deadline passes, and the accreditation lapses right before a client runs a routine check.
The fix is unglamorous but reliable: a named person responsible for CHAS renewal, calendar reminders well ahead of the deadline, and documents kept somewhere searchable rather than scattered across old email threads.
So which one do you actually need
For most contractors reading this, the honest answer is CHAS Standard — it's what a tender simply saying "CHAS required" almost always means, and it's the tier that satisfies SSIP without paying for assessment depth you don't need.
The exception is public sector work. If local authorities, the NHS, housing associations or central government make up a meaningful share of your pipeline, budget for Elite — the Common Assessment Standard is what these buyers have been expected to specify since the June 2024 policy change, and turning up with Standard risks a PQQ that simply doesn't accept it.
Advanced sits in between and is the smallest of the three markets: it's worth it only if a specific client's paperwork still names PAS 91 directly rather than CAS or generic SSIP.
If you're not sure which camp you're in, check the actual tender wording or ask the client before you pay for any of them.
FAQ
Can I upgrade from Standard to Elite later if I win public sector work? CHAS memberships are tiered rather than fixed for life, so moving up is the expected path if your client base changes — check with CHAS directly on the exact process and any additional cost for your account. You don't need to guess your future pipeline correctly on day one; start with what your current clients need and upgrade when the work changes.
Does CHAS Standard satisfy SSIP on its own? Yes. Standard is built around the SSIP core criteria, so it satisfies any client asking for "SSIP-approved" without needing Advanced or Elite.
Is PAS 91 dead now that the Common Assessment Standard exists? Superseded, not dead. CAS was built on PAS 91's foundations and is now the industry standard, but PAS 91 is still recognised by some buyers and may still appear by name in tender documents — which is exactly why CHAS kept Advanced as a tier rather than retiring it.
What happens if I hold Standard and a public sector client asks for the Common Assessment Standard? Standard doesn't cover CAS's additional risk areas, so you'd need to upgrade to Elite and go through that extra assessment before the client will accept you. Better to check the requirement before you apply than to find out at PQQ stage.
How is CHAS pricing structured — is it a flat fee? No. The published rates (from £429 for Standard, £659 for Advanced, £909 for Elite) are starting prices, and CHAS states membership cost scales with your organisation's size. Get a specific quote for your headcount rather than budgeting off the "from" figure.
Who do I actually pay — Deplexify or CHAS? Both, and they're separate. CHAS bills you directly for the annual membership fee at whichever tier you choose. Our fee is separate, and covers building the documents (or the whole application, on the higher plan) to the standard CHAS expects.
We build the documents CHAS actually wants to see — H&S policy, RAMS, training records and the rest, written for your trade — from £149, or handle the whole application and assessor liaison for you from £295. See how Deplexify manages CHAS accreditation, or get in touch if you're not sure which tier your clients actually require before you pay for the wrong one.