Straightforward Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus, with clear pricing and hands-on help from senior UK testers. We prepare you, fix the gaps and pre-validate; your certificate is then assessed and issued by an IASME-appointed Certification Body.
Veteran-owned · senior UK testers · up to £25k cyber insurance included · from £320 excl. VAT
Already certified? Verify any certificate on the NCSC register →
The self-assessed foundation, and the independently-tested upgrade. Most organisations do both - we get you ready for either.
| Cyber Essentials | Cyber Essentials Plus | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | UK Government-backed baseline certification | Independently tested certification |
| How it’s assessed | Self-assessment questionnaire | Hands-on technical audit of a device sample |
| Who it’s for | Organisations needing a baseline of assurance | Organisations needing stronger, verified assurance |
| Hands-on technical testing | Not part of the CE assessment | Yes - verified on your devices |
| Often required by contracts/tenders | Sometimes | Increasingly |
| Certificate validity | 12 months | 12 months |
A quick walkthrough of what happens, when it happens, and what to have ready - so your assessment goes smoothly.
Define the estate in scope and establish where you stand today.
Test against the five controls and the CE+ spec; document every gap.
Fix the gaps with hands-on guidance, not just a report to action.
A full CE+ dry run on sampled devices to confirm you are ready.
Your certificate is assessed and issued by an IASME-appointed Certification Body.
Fixed starting prices by organisation size. The exact figure depends on your estate - see the full price table or ask for an exact quote.
All prices exclude VAT. Your certificate is assessed and issued by an IASME-appointed Certification Body; final quote depends on estate size and the remediation needed.
We test the way an assessor will, so failures surface in a dry run - not on the day the clock and the invoice are running.
We hand you remediation you can act on and help you close it - a shorter route to a genuine pass, not a longer list of problems.
The same senior team prepares you, pre-validates and sees your submission through - one smooth process from first call to certificate, not a scramble between a ‘prep’ firm and a separate assessor.
Most certifiers run CE+ over weeks of long email threads and chased attachments. We run yours through the Forefront AETOS portal - our own platform - so it stays organised, visible and genuinely light-touch for your people.
Every document, device sample and piece of guidance lives in one secure portal - not scattered across inbox threads.
A lightweight scanning agent runs the technical checks, so your team barely notices and nobody waits around on test day.
Live progress through every stage from scope to certificate, with each folder telling you exactly what to gather.
AETOS is Forefront’s own platform - the same tooling our testers use - purpose-built for certification.
Tell us your organisation size and which certification you need. We’ll map the fastest honest route to Cyber Essentials or CE+ and send you an exact quote.
Forefront Compliance is the certification arm of Forefront IT Security Services - a veteran-owned UK penetration-testing consultancy. Beyond Cyber Essentials, our senior testers run the full range of offensive assessments.