Managing Competence Through CPS: Platform & Onboarding FAQs

Practical answers to help you understand the changes, complete your onboarding and manage the people and businesses carrying out work for you.

Practical answers to help you understand the changes we’re introducing, complete your onboarding and manage the people and businesses carrying out work for you.

About the changes

What is the roofing competency passport?

Our roofing competency passport gives both the Scheme and CPS contractors one central hub to manage the people and businesses carrying out their work, maintaining the qualifications, training, experience and other evidence that demonstrates competence in one place.

Powered by Certchain, it gives you a clearer way to keep these records up to date and share the relevant information with CPS as part of how we assess competence across the Scheme.

For the individual, it provides verified evidence of your skills, knowledge and experience, similar to a CV, that you can maintain throughout your career.

The registered contractor is able to evidence that their employed and subcontracted teams meet the competency requirements of the Building Safety Act, providing their existing and new clients with clear, transparent evidence of their expertise as a professional roofing contractor.

Why is CPS introducing this?

Competent Person Schemes have changed, with the Building Safety Regulator requiring greater focus on how the competence of registered contractors is demonstrated, to ensure that people carrying out relevant building work have the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours (SKEB) needed for the work they do.

For CPS members, that means being able to clearly demonstrate who is carrying out work for your business and the competence they have.

It gives you a central place to manage that information and supporting evidence, making it easier to keep it up to date and demonstrate competence when needed.

Why do I need to use it?

CPS is introducing this technology to support how we manage and assess competence across the Scheme. It also allows the Scheme to link the works being registered for self-certification to the competent workforce carrying out the projects.

This means all CPS registered contractors will need to set up their business on the platform and include the relevant people and subcontractors carrying out work for them. This gives CPS the information we need to assess and monitor competence as part of your membership.

The first step is completing your simple onboarding process.

What happens after onboarding?

Once your business and the individuals carrying out key roles for you are set up on the platform, the next step will be creating their competence records.

Your operatives will be asked to build their own competence records, adding relevant information and evidence about their skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours (SKEB).

You do not need to do this as part of your initial onboarding. We’ll provide further guidance when competence records are introduced, including what you and your operatives need to do.

Further functionality will then be introduced to support the management of registered works through the platform, with guidance and training provided as this is rolled out.

Getting set up

When do I need to complete my onboarding?

The initial onboarding period runs from 1 October to 1 November 2026.

By 1 November, you need to have:

  • set up your business on the platform
  • added the relevant people within your business
  • connected the subcontractors who carry out work for you
  • shared the relevant operatives with CPS

Our Getting Started: Managing Competence Through CPS guide takes you through each step of the process.

Which people in my business need to be added?

You do not need to add everyone in your business. You need to add:

  • roofing operatives carrying out work under your CPS membership
  • your Nominated Competent Person (NCP)
Do I need to include my subcontractors?

Yes. You need to connect the external businesses and independent people who carry out work for your business. This includes:

  • businesses you subcontract work to
  • individual self-employed people you subcontract to
  • individuals brought in by your subcontractors to carry out your work
Who is responsible for what?

You, as a CPS member

You are responsible for:

  • ensuring your subcontracted workforce have the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours to carry out registered work through CPS
  • setting up and maintaining your business on the platform
  • adding your roofing operatives and Nominated Competent Person
  • sharing the relevant people with CPS
  • making sure everyone carrying out work on behalf of your business is connected to your network, whether they work for you directly or through a subcontractor
  • keeping these connections up to date

If one of your subcontractors brings in another person or business to help carry out your work, they need to let you know so you can invite them to your network through Certchain.

This makes sure you have a clear picture of everyone involved in carrying out work for your business, including people working through your subcontractors.

You are not responsible for maintaining another business or independent person’s information. They are responsible for keeping their own information up to date.

Your subcontractors

Your subcontractors are responsible for setting up and maintaining their own business and adding the roofing operatives they directly employ.

If they bring in another person or business to carry out your CPS work, they need to let you know so you can invite them to your network through Certchain.

They remain responsible for maintaining their own business and employee information. You remain responsible for making sure everyone carrying out your CPS work is connected to your network.

Using the platform

Why do I need to share each operative with CPS?

The information you add to the platform is not automatically shared with CPS.

For data protection, you control which people and information you share with us. This means you’ll need to share each relevant operative with CPS as part of your onboarding.

Once shared, we can see the information we need to assess their competence as part of the Scheme.

What happens when I link another business to mine?

If you use a subcontractor or another business to carry out work for you, you should link their organisation to yours on the platform.

Linking simply shows that there is a connection between your businesses. They continue to manage their own business, people and information, and they cannot see the information held within your account.

You can unlink a subcontractor or business at any time if they no longer work for your company.

Why do you need my National Insurance number?

Your National Insurance number is used as a unique identifier to help match competence evidence to the correct person.

This helps prevent duplicate records and makes sure qualifications and other competence information are associated with the right individual.

Your National Insurance number is only used for identification and is not shared outside of the Scheme. The NI number will be deleted after its initial verification use.

What if someone I need to add is already on Certchain?

When adding a new user, if you see the message Nobody was added: This National Insurance number is in use it means that person is already set up on Certchain.

Please contact the CPS helpdesk on 020 7448 3189 and we’ll help you connect their existing record to your business.

What if a subcontractor is already set up?

If a subcontractor already has their organisation set up, you should connect to their existing organisation rather than creating another one.

Ask them for their Certchain ID, which you can use to find their organisation and send a connection request. They will then need to approve the connection.

As you take on new subcontractors or subcontracted businesses, ask whether they are already set up and, if they are, ask for their Certchain ID. This will help you connect to their existing organisation rather than creating a duplicate.

Will CPS be able to see everything in my account?

No. CPS can only see the information you choose to share with us through the platform.

This includes the relevant information about your business and the competence information for the operatives you share with CPS.

This is why connecting your business to CPS and sharing the relevant operatives is an important part of the onboarding process. It gives us access to the information we need to assess competence as part of the Scheme.

Does connecting a subcontractor to my business make them a CPS member?

No. Connecting a subcontractor or another business to your business through the platform does not make them a CPS member.

It simply shows the connection between their business and yours.

CPS membership remains separate from being connected to a CPS member on the platform.

Keeping your information up to date

What happens when things change?

You need to keep your business information up to date as the people and businesses carrying out work for you change. This includes when:

  • a new operative joins or leaves your business
  • you start or stop working with a subcontractor
  • a subcontractor brings another business or person into your work

Keeping this information up to date means your account continues to reflect the people carrying out work for you.

For guidance on adding new people, see our step-by-step onboarding guide. Further guidance on offboarding people when they stop working with you will be available soon.

What are the other features I can see on the platform?

You may see other features in the platform that are not covered in the onboarding guides. You do not need to use these as part of your initial onboarding.

We’ll provide further guidance and training as these features are introduced as part of the rollout.

Need help?

I haven’t received my invitation email. What should I do?

Check your junk or spam folder for an email from [email protected].

If you still can’t find it, please contact us and we can send you a direct invitation link.

Where can I get help?

Our Getting Started: Managing Competence Through CPS guide takes you through the onboarding process step by step.

If you’re unsure what you need to do as a CPS member, contact the CPS helpdesk on 020 7448 3189 and we can help.