The HSE divides all asbestos work into three categories, each with its own training, notification and documentation requirements. Here's the plain-English version before any decisions get made:
Category | What It Covers | Legal Requirements |
|---|---|---|
Non-Licensed Work | Lower-risk materials in sound condition most textured coatings, cement sheets and garage roofs, floor tiles, soffits, guttering, water tanks and cisterns. | Trained (UKATA) operatives and controlled methods. No
notification needed.
Consignment note mandatory for all waste. |
Notifiable Non-Licensed Work (NNLW) | Non-licensed materials carrying higher disturbance risk, poorer condition, or longer-duration work some degraded cement removal and extended adhesive work sit here. | Trained operatives, notification to the enforcing authority
*before* work starts, operative health records retained for 40 years, consignment note
mandatory. |
Licensed Work | The highest-risk materials, pipe lagging and thermal insulation, sprayed coatings, and most asbestos insulating board (AIB) work. | Full HSE asbestos licence, 14-day notification, sealed enclosures with decontamination facilities, independent four-stage air clearance, medical surveillance for operatives. |
Non-licensed has never meant unregulated. Every non-licensed Croydon job still runs on UKATA-trained operatives, a written risk assessment and method statement, controlled removal methods, and consigned disposal under the Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005.
What it means for you practically: most domestic jobs, the garage roof, the Artex ceiling, the floor tiles, can be done properly without the cost and lead time of the licensed regime, at no discount to safety.
Every HSE-compliant asbestos removal job includes a written risk assessment and method statement. All hazardous waste is transported securely to a licensed facility, and you receive a consignment note confirming legal disposal under the Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005.
NNLW is the middle tier, the same material families as non-licensed work, but where condition, method or duration pushes the risk higher. Where your job lands here, we submit the notification to the enforcing authority before work begins (you do nothing), and we keep operative health records for the legally required 40 years. It's a paperwork tier, handled entirely on our side of the table your experience of the job doesn't change.
1
A surveyor inspects the material, confirms what it is (sampling to a UKAS-accredited lab where identity matters), and states the correct HSE category before any price is written.
2
Every job gets its own written RAMS: the controls, the sequence, the containment and the clean-down, specific to your property rather than photocopied from the last one.
3
NNLW jobs are notified to the enforcing authority before work starts; licensed jobs run on the 14-day HSE notification under the appropriate arrangements. Either way, it's handled for you.
4
Work proceeds exactly per the method statement trained operatives, containment matched to category, waste double-bagged at the point of removal.
5
Waste travels by registered carrier to a licensed facility, and your consignment note is issued as the legal record of that journey. Every job, no exceptions.
6
You receive written confirmation that the work is complete and the site is clear; NNLW records are retained on our side as the law requires, with copies available whenever you need them.
FAQS
For standard non-licensed domestic work, no notification is needed at all. Where a job falls into the NNLW or licensed categories, the notification is our legal task, not yours. We submit it before work starts and confirm it’s done.
At the free survey. The category is stated plainly in your written quotation alongside the price, so you know the legal basis of the work before you’ve committed a penny.
No, the categories reflect the risk of the *material*, not the standard of care. Trained operatives, documented methods and consigned disposal apply across every tier; licensed work simply adds enclosures, clearances and medical surveillance because the materials demand them.
It’s the legal document tracking your asbestos waste from your property to the licensed facility that received it, required under the Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005. It’s issued on every job we complete and it’s the document buyers’ solicitors ask about years later.
If you'd like our RAMS format, a sample consignment note, or the category assessment for your specific material before booking, ask and it's yours.
Questions about a job or a quote? Email the team directly.
[email protected]
[email protected]
Speak to a surveyor, not a call handler.
Sales
07798 984290
Support / Enquiries
07468 437558
2 Park Rd
Guildford GU1 4PH
United Kingdom
CONTACT US
Send us your postcode and a description of the material you’ve found. A surveyor will be with you the same week, and your fixed written price follows within 48 hours.
