S30099 NHSS Review Implementation Phase 3

2026-11-03

National Highway Sector Schemes (NHSS) are a collaborative venture between HighwayAuthorities, the National Accreditation Body (United Kingdom Accreditation Service(UKAS)), UKAS accredited Certification Bodies, relevant Trade Associations, AwardingOrganisations and Training Providers in the United Kingdom. They were established inthe mid1990s as bespoke schemes within an ISO 9001 quality management systemframework. They were designed to replace existing Certification Body's schedules for theinstallation of highway products and where appropriate product conformity schemes.(Most of the product conformity schemes have been replaced by requirements includedin relevant harmonised European Standards, as and when they became available.)National Highways' requirements relating to Quality Management Schemes (such as theNHSS) are contained in the Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works (MHCW)within GC 101- General Requirements for the Specification for Highway Works. Therequirement for a Quality Management Scheme, and the relevant scope of its application,is embedded within the individual specification documents where applicable. At present,NHSS is the only quality management scheme that meets National Highwaysrequirements, but in future there may be other accepted schemes if they satisfy ourrequirements.National Highways has undertaken a two-phase review of the National Highway SectorSchemes (NHSS) and the wider use of Quality Management Schemes for site-basedactivities. Phase 1 (2023-2024) concluded that National Highways should continue tomandate Quality Management Schemes for relevant activities but reduce reliance onspecifying NHSS by name, thereby enabling appropriate equivalent schemes, supportedby enhanced National Highways involvement.Phase 2 (2024) validated Phase 1's direction and identified several implementationneeds, including: (i) the lack of a clear, documented rationale for why some activitiesrequire schemes and others do not; (ii) procurement checks that are typically light-touch(certificate-based), which increases the importance of downstream assurance; and (iii)limited evidence of consistent assurance activity "on the ground" beyond checkingcertification remains in place. The Phase 2 report sets out implementation workstreamscovering internal awareness, risk-based scheme specification by activity, procurementcriteria, and strengthened assurance.

United Kingdom (UK)

2026-06-19