A Simple Review Could Save Time, Cost, and Headaches.
For many construction and engineering businesses, SSIP accreditations are treated as a necessary cost of doing business. They unlock tenders, satisfy PQQ requirements, and provide reassurance to clients that health and safety is being managed competently.
But here’s a reality we see time and time again: many organisations are holding more SSIP accreditations than they actually need.
Not because they’re careless or disorganized, but because SSIPs tend to grow quietly over the years, driven by misunderstandings, historic client requests, staff turnover, or a “better safe than sorry” mindset.
This blog explores why it’s worth reviewing your SSIPs, where duplication commonly creeps in, and how a simple sanity check can lead to meaningful savings in cost, time, and internal effort.
What SSIP Was Designed to Do
SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) exists to reduce duplication in health and safety pre-qualification. The core principle is mutual recognition, often referred to as “deemed to satisfy”.
In simple terms, if a contractor holds a recognised SSIP through one member scheme, that assessment should be accepted by other SSIP member schemes and by most clients, without the need to repeat the same health and safety evaluation multiple times.
In theory, this should streamline procurement and reduce unnecessary admin.
In practice, that’s not always how things play out.
How SSIPs Quietly Multiply
Most companies don’t wake up one day and decide to buy multiple SSIPs. What usually happens is more subtle.
A new client requests a specific scheme. A tender document names a particular badge. Someone internally thinks, “Let’s just get it to be safe.” That decision is rarely revisited.
Over time, this leads to:
– Multiple SSIPs covering broadly the same ground
– Annual renewals becoming automatic
– Different staff assuming each scheme is essential
– Costs increasing incrementally without scrutiny
It’s also common for long-standing accreditations to remain in place even after the original commercial driver has disappeared.
The result is an SSIP portfolio that has grown organically — but not necessarily logically.
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One SSIP Is Often Enough
A key point that many businesses aren’t told clearly enough is this: in many cases, holding one recognised SSIP is sufficient.
Because of SSIP’s mutual recognition framework, one valid assessment can often be used to demonstrate compliance across multiple procurement platforms and client checks.
That doesn’t mean additional schemes are never justified — sometimes a specific client mandate genuinely exists — but in our experience, duplication is far more common than necessity.
The challenge is that without stepping back and reviewing the full picture, it’s hard to tell the difference.
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The Hidden Cost Isn’t Just the Fee
When people think about SSIP costs, they usually think about the annual subscription or assessment fee.
But the real cost often runs deeper:
– Staff time uploading the same evidence repeatedly
– Management reviews and policies rewritten to fit different portals
– Chasing renewals, reminders, and logins
– Disruption every year when something changes slightly between schemes
Individually, these things feel manageable. Collectively, they add up to a significant drain on internal resources — especially for small and medium-sized businesses.
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Why Reviews Rarely Happen
SSIP reviews tend to fall into the “important but not urgent” category.
As long as tenders are being accepted and certificates are valid, there’s little incentive to question the status quo. Procurement rarely flags over-compliance, and no one is rewarded for having fewer accreditations.
This is exactly why SSIP portfolios are rarely optimised without an external, independent review.
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A Simple Sanity Check Can Change a Lot
A structured SSIP review doesn’t need to be complicated or disruptive.
The most effective reviews focus on three simple questions:
– Which SSIPs do we currently hold, and why?
– Which are genuinely required by current clients or frameworks?
– Which provide no additional value beyond what we already have?
Answering those questions clearly is often enough to identify duplication and unnecessary renewals.
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How Accendo Consultants Can Help
At Accendo Consultants, we provide a fast, pragmatic SSIP sanity check designed to do one thing: make sure you’re only paying for what you actually need.
As part of our consultancy support, we routinely help clients:
– Reduce annual SSIP costs by 20–30%
– Remove duplicated accreditations
– Cut internal admin time and staff workload
– Simplify procurement responses and PQQ submissions
This isn’t about selling more schemes or pushing one badge over another. It’s about clarity, proportionality, and commercial common sense.
For many businesses, a short review delivers immediate savings — and ongoing reductions in effort year after year.
If you haven’t reviewed your SSIPs recently, it’s probably worth asking a simple question: are all of these still earning their keep?
