How We Check
Every claim on this site should be one you can check yourself. This page sets out where the information comes from, how often it is refreshed, and what it does and does not mean.
Where the data comes from
There is one source for the contractor listings: the register of licensed asbestos removal contractors published by the Health and Safety Executive. The HSE is the regulator. It grants the licences, it sets the conditions, and it is the only body that can say whether a company holds one.
That register is public. Anybody can read it, including you, and I would rather you did. What this site does is take it in full, sort it by area, and put it in front of the person who needs it at the moment they need it.
- Nothing is added. If a company is not on the HSE register, it does not appear on an area page.
- Nothing is left out. Every licensed contractor with an address in an area appears on that area page, whether it has ever heard of this site or not.
- Nothing is reordered for money. If that ever changes on any part of a page, the page will say so plainly at the point where it happens.
At the last check there were 367 licensed contractors in the whole of the United Kingdom.
How often it is checked
Weekly, and the whole register rather than a sample.
This matters more than it sounds. Licences expire. A company that held one last year may not hold one now, and a directory that copied the register once in 2024 is still showing that company as licensed today. The check date is printed at the top of every area page, so you can see how old the information is rather than trusting a vague promise that it is current.
Where a licence is close to expiry, the area page says so next to that company. Not as an accusation, because licences are renewed all the time, but because it is a fair thing to ask about before you book work.
What the licence types mean
- Standard licence. The full licence, covering higher risk removal work.
- Maintenance licence. Narrower, covering short duration maintenance work rather than full removal. A company holding one is properly licensed, but not for everything.
Both types are shown on the area pages, because a firm with the wrong licence for your job is a problem even though its licence is perfectly real.
What a licence does not tell you
Being straight about the limits of this matters as much as the data itself.
- It is not a quality rating. It means the HSE is satisfied the company can do the work safely and lawfully. It says nothing about whether they turn up on time or clean up after themselves.
- It is not a price guide. Licensed firms charge what they charge.
- It is not a recommendation from me. I have not worked with these companies and I am not going to pretend I have. The list is the register.
- It does not tell you what your material is. That takes a laboratory test, and no photograph or phone call can substitute for one.
How the guidance on this site is sourced
Anything on this site that describes the law, or what you should and should not do, is taken from the Health and Safety Executive and the regulations themselves, and linked so you can read the original. Where something is my opinion rather than a rule, it is written as an opinion.
There is no do it yourself section on this site and there will not be one. Explaining how to disturb asbestos is not something a website should be doing, however much traffic it might bring.
Mistakes
If something here is wrong, tell me and I will fix it and say what changed. If the HSE register itself is wrong, the correction has to come from them, and I will tell you that rather than quietly editing the data to suit a complaint.
Email info@theasbestospeople.co.uk.