Two different trades answer to the word asbestos, and confusing them is the commonest mistake a duty holder makes. Surveying and analysis are done by organisations accredited by UKAS; licensable removal is done by contractors licensed by HSE. This site publishes the second of those, county by county, because it is a public register that nobody had made easy to read by place.
Surveyors and analysts
A surveying organisation is expected to hold UKAS accreditation for inspection, and a laboratory for testing. Both are published by UKAS with the exact scope each one holds, so both are checkable in a few minutes without asking the firm for anything. Ask which individual is attending and what certificate of competence they hold, because accreditation belongs to the organisation and competence belongs to the person.
Licensed contractors
Licensable work may only be done by a contractor holding a licence from HSE's Asbestos Licensing Unit. The list of licence holders is published through CONIAC and is the register behind every county page on this site, with the company, its registered county, its licence number, its licence type and its expiry exactly as published. A firm not on that list does not hold a licence, whatever a website says.
Near me, and what near means here
An asbestos licence covers the whole of England, Scotland and Wales, so a holder registered in one county may work anywhere in Great Britain. The county on this site is where the company is registered rather than a limit on where it goes, which is why a duty holder in a thin county should look at the neighbouring ones too.
Keeping the two apart
A firm that surveys a building and then quotes to remove what it found has an interest in what it finds. That is not a reason to refuse them and it is a reason to know about it. Many duty holders keep survey and removal with different firms deliberately, and almost everybody keeps the clearance analyst independent of the removal contractor.
Questions people ask about asbestos surveyors
Is an asbestos surveyor licensed by HSE?
No. HSE licenses contractors for licensable removal work. Surveying competence runs through UKAS accreditation of the organisation and certification of the individual, which is a different system.
How do I check a licence?
Take the licence number from the listing and check it against HSE's own disclosable list of licence holders, which is what these pages reproduce. The Asbestos Licensing Unit is the authority.
Does the nearest firm quote cheapest?
Not reliably. Travel is a small part of most jobs next to access, enclosure and waste, so it is usually worth asking two or three firms across a wider area.