Updated against the HSE register on 1 October 2026
Find an HSE licensed asbestos contractor near you
362 companies in the United Kingdom hold a licence to remove asbestos. We list every one of them, with the licence number and the expiry date, so you can check before you hire one.
Found something you think is asbestos?
If the asbestos is intact and nobody has disturbed it, leave it where it is for now. Asbestos in good condition is generally not releasing fibres. Disturbing it is what causes the problem.
Millions of British homes contain some, sitting quietly in a garage roof or under a floor, and most of it stays where it is for the life of the building.
What not to do, starting now
- Do not touch it, drill it, break it or sand it. That is the moment fibres are released.
- Do not sweep or hoover the dust. A household vacuum spreads it around the room and back out of the exhaust.
- Do not put it in your bin or a skip. It is hazardous waste with its own disposal route.
- Do not take a sample yourself. Taking the sample is what releases the fibres.
- Shut the door and keep people out if the material is already damaged or crumbling.
Then have it identified properly. Nobody can tell you whether a material contains asbestos from a photograph. Only a laboratory test can confirm it, so be wary of anyone who claims to know for certain just by looking.
Find a licensed asbestos contractor near you
Every company in the tables on this site appears because the Health and Safety Executive licensed it. Nobody can pay to be added to those tables, and nobody can pay to be taken off. Where a firm has bought the single promoted position at the top of an area page, it is marked as a paid listing and says so. Each area page shows the licence number, the licence type and the expiry date, taken straight from the HSE register.
Find your area
Tap your region to see the licensed contractors near you.
See every area, and how to look up your own
More areas are being added one at a time. Each one gets checked properly before it goes up rather than generated in bulk, which is why there are not fifty of them yet.
If it is the price you are worried about, start here: what asbestos removal costs in the UK, with every published price range compared.
Why the licence is the only thing that matters
Anyone can print asbestos removal on the side of a van. The licence is the part that cannot be faked, because it is a public record and it takes about thirty seconds to check.
- An HSE licence is hard to get and hard to keep. There are 362 licensed contractors in the United Kingdom. Licensed removal is a small, tightly controlled trade.
- Licences expire. A company that held one two years ago may not hold one today, and the certificate on the office wall does not update itself.
- There are two types. A standard licence covers removal work. A maintenance licence is narrower. A firm with the wrong one for your job is a problem even though the licence itself is real.
- Not every job needs a licensed firm. Lower risk materials in good condition can legally be handled without one. But you cannot know which category your material falls into until it has been identified.
How we check
The Health and Safety Executive publishes the register of licensed contractors. We take it in full, we do not edit it, and we update it every day so that an expired licence gets caught rather than sitting on a page for a year looking respectable.
You can check any company yourself against the published list of licence holders, which is the same spreadsheet we build these pages from. We would rather you did.
Why this site exists
Checking whether an asbestos contractor actually holds a licence takes about thirty seconds. Almost nobody knows the register is public, and the people who most need to check are usually the ones least equipped to go looking for it. So we do the checking and publish what we find.
How we do it, and what we will not do, is set out on the how we check page. If something here is wrong, out of date or unclear, tell us and we will fix it.
Questions people ask
Is it safe to live in a house with asbestos in it?
Undisturbed asbestos in good condition is normally managed in place rather than removed. That is the standard approach across the country, not a shortcut. It is disturbance that creates the risk.
When was asbestos banned in the UK?
Blue and brown asbestos were banned in 1985. White asbestos followed in 1999. Any building worked on before 2000 may contain it, so the age of the property is the first thing to think about.
How do I know if a contractor is really licensed?
Ask for the licence number before you agree to anything, then check it against the area page here or the HSE register directly. A licensed firm hands the number over without hesitating, because holding it is what wins them the work.
What if there is no licensed contractor listed near me?
There are 362 in the country, so some areas have very few. Contractors travel, and a firm in the next county will usually cover you without any difficulty.
Do contractors pay to be listed?
The lists are the HSE register in full, and every licensed company appears whether it has ever heard of us or not. Where anything on a page is paid for, that page will say so in plain words.
If you think asbestos has been disturbed and people have been exposed to it, stop work and speak to the Health and Safety Executive.
Get quotes from licensed contractors
Please describe the job
HSE licensed contractors covering your area will get this and can come back to you.