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Industries · Construction · UK

Subcontractor compliance, before they set foot on site.

Before a subcontractor starts, you need to know they are competent, adequately insured and legally entitled to deploy their people. Supplio collects prequalification evidence, tracks SSIP and insurance, and chases renewals automatically, so nobody works on site out of date.
The reality

Prequalification isn't a one-off gate. It's ongoing document control.

A single project can pull together dozens of subcontractors, each bringing their own workforce, plant and risk onto a site where the health and safety duties are explicit and enforceable. Before a subcontractor starts, a main contractor is expected to have satisfied itself that the firm is competent, adequately insured and legally entitled to deploy the people it sends. Getting this wrong exposes the principal contractor to HSE enforcement, uninsured liability and civil penalties for illegal working.

Most of this evidence expires. An insurance certificate valid at tender can lapse mid-project; an SSIP assessment must be renewed annually. Compliance is therefore not a one-off gate but an ongoing document-control discipline, which is exactly where spreadsheets and email threads fail.

How Supplio helps

Collect, verify, track and chase.

Supplio does not issue SSIP, CHAS or Common Assessment Standard accreditations, and it does not run tenders or e-auctions. It gives you one controlled place to collect, verify, track and chase the compliance evidence those frameworks demand.

Branded supplier portal

A self-service portal your suppliers log into, carrying your logo, accent colour and welcome message.

Supplier onboarding

Invite a supplier, send them onboarding forms, and review submissions in a queue where you approve or request changes.

Document store with expiry tracking

Store the documents suppliers upload, with expiry dates and automatic reminders as they approach.

Insurance & certificate expiry chasing

Track insurance policies and certificates by expiry, and chase suppliers automatically before they lapse.

Certification tracking

Record each supplier certification with its issuing body, issue and expiry dates, and live status.

Risk register with a 5x5 heatmap

Log supplier risks by likelihood and impact and see them on a clickable 5x5 heatmap.

CAPA with a supplier response loop

Raise a corrective action, assign it, let the supplier respond through the portal, then accept it or send it back.

Contract repository

Store supplier contracts with start, end, notice period and renewal, and get alerted before they expire.

Immutable audit log

Every change is recorded in an immutable, filterable audit log you can export to CSV.

What you have to manage

CDM duties, accreditation and insurance.

CDM 2015: appoint competent, resourced contractors

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 are the backbone of UK construction health and safety, enforced by the HSE and applying to every project. A recurring theme is competence: duty holders must only appoint contractors with the skills, knowledge, experience and organisational capability to work safely.

  • Clients must satisfy themselves that appointees are competent before work begins
  • Principal contractors plan, manage, monitor and coordinate site health and safety
  • Projects over 30 working days with 20+ workers, or 500+ person-days, are notifiable (F10)
  • A construction phase plan is required for every project

Sources: HSE CDM 2015, SI 2015/51. Checked 2 July 2026.

SSIP, CHAS and the Common Assessment Standard

Rather than assess every subcontractor from scratch, the industry relies on third-party accreditation. SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) is an umbrella body whose member schemes assess suppliers against a core standard, with mutual recognition. Prequalification increasingly runs through the Common Assessment Standard, which replaced PAS 91.

  • SSIP members include CHAS, SafeContractor, SMAS, Constructionline and Exor
  • PAS 91 was withdrawn by BSI in 2023; the Common Assessment Standard is the successor
  • The Common Assessment Standard covers finance, insurance, H&S, environment, quality and modern slavery
  • Accreditation is frequently a contractual prerequisite to winning work

Sources: SSIP, Common Assessment Standard. Checked 2 July 2026.

Insurance, right to work and modern slavery

Beyond safety accreditation, contractors must verify a stack of legal and contractual documents for every subcontractor, and keep them current. This is where the silent expiries bite.

  • Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement, minimum £5m cover
  • Public liability cover is almost always a contractual condition
  • Right-to-work checks before employment; illegal-working penalties rose in Feb 2024
  • Modern Slavery Act s.54 statement required at £36m+ turnover

Sources: GOV.UK right-to-work checks. Checked 2 July 2026.

Construction compliance, answered.

What is SSIP and how does it relate to CDM 2015?+
SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) is an umbrella body whose member schemes assess a contractor's health and safety management. It helps clients and principal contractors meet their CDM 2015 duty to appoint contractors with adequate skills, knowledge and experience, because an SSIP assessment provides third-party evidence of competence. Supplio tracks each subcontractor's SSIP certificate and its expiry; it does not carry out the assessment.
What replaced PAS 91 for construction prequalification?+
PAS 91 was withdrawn by BSI in 2023. The Common Assessment Standard, developed by Build UK with Constructionline, is now the recognised construction prequalification standard, and public procurement guidance directs buyers towards it. You can run equivalent prequalification questionnaires in Supplio's onboarding forms and approve them in a reviewer workspace.
How do I track subcontractor insurance expiry?+
Record each subcontractor's employers' and public liability certificates with their cover level and expiry date, and let the platform send automatic reminders as renewal approaches. Supplio's insurance and certificate expiry tracking chases the supplier through the portal before cover lapses, so nobody works on site uninsured.
Do I need to keep evidence of right-to-work and modern slavery checks?+
Yes. Right-to-work checks must be completed before employment to establish a statutory excuse against illegal-working penalties, and larger firms must publish an annual modern slavery statement. Storing these documents with expiry tracking and an immutable audit log lets you show what was collected and when.
Can Supplio run our tenders or issue accreditations?+
No. Supplio does not run tenders, e-sourcing or e-auctions, raise purchase orders, or issue SSIP/CHAS accreditations. It tracks and manages the accreditations and documents your subcontractors already hold, with automatic chasing, approval workflows and an audit trail.

See it against your own suppliers. Prices are on the website, in GBP.

Export · Q1 pack

Q1 evidence pack

Suppliers · Compliance · Scope 3

247 suppliers·412 audit events·87% Scope 3
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