Cyber Essentials Plus cost: what it will really set you back

If you run a small or mid-sized business in the UK (10–200 staff), you’ve probably been told Cyber Essentials Plus is “worth having”. It is — but not because it’s a shiny badge. It reduces risk, reassures customers and buyers, and can be a requirement for public-sector contracts. The awkward question is: how much does Cyber Essentials Plus cost? Let’s cut through the marketing and look at the real, practical costs and what they buy you.

What Cyber Essentials Plus covers — in plain English

Quick recap: Cyber Essentials Plus is the step up from the basic Cyber Essentials self-assessment. Instead of just answering questions, an accredited assessor tests your systems to confirm key controls are actually in place. It’s focused on practical controls: patching, firewall rules, user accounts, endpoint protection and multi-factor authentication for remote access. It won’t make you bulletproof, but it closes obvious doors attackers use.

Breaking down the costs

There are several cost buckets to think about. The total bill depends on how tidy your IT already is.

1. Certification fee

This is the fee the certification body or assessor charges for the Cyber Essentials Plus assessment and the certificate. For a simple network and straightforward environment, the fee can be modest. For more complex setups—multiple sites, bespoke servers, or lots of legacy kit—it rises. Expect a range rather than a fixed figure; most UK firms I’ve worked with budget in the low hundreds to a couple of thousand pounds for this line item.

2. Remediation and consultancy

Most businesses won’t pass the first time without some fixes. Remediation covers staff time, IT contractor hours and any new kit or licences you need — for example, modern antivirus with management, replacing unsupported routers, rolling out multi-factor authentication or patching servers. This is where costs can climb. In practical terms, smaller businesses often sort it for a few hundred to a few thousand pounds; larger SMEs with dated infrastructure can see a higher bill. I’ve seen projects where a tidy internal IT team could resolve the bulk of issues over a week, and others where external help was the sensible route.

3. Managed services and ongoing controls

Cyber Essentials Plus is a snapshot: it verifies controls on the day of testing. To keep the badge meaningful you’ll need ongoing patching, endpoint monitoring and access control. Many businesses pay a monthly managed service or security subscription for these functions. Budget this as an operational cost — often tens to a few hundreds of pounds per month depending on the scale and the level of service you choose.

4. Internal staff time

Don’t forget the hidden cost: your staff’s time. IT, ops and managers will need to prepare evidence, answer questions and implement changes. For a business with 50–150 staff, plan for several days of internal effort spread across a few weeks.

Typical total cost scenarios

Here are rough example scenarios to help you budget. These are ballpark ranges based on working with UK businesses across retail, professional services and light manufacturing.

• Small tidy setup (10–25 staff, modern cloud-first systems): certification + minor fixes — low hundreds to around £1,000 total.
• Average SME (25–100 staff, mixed cloud and on-prem systems): certification + some remediation + basic managed services — roughly £1,000–£4,000 in year one, then a recurring monthly cost for maintenance.
• Larger or complex SME (100–200 staff, legacy systems, multi-site): expect higher assessment fees and more remediation — often £3,000–£8,000 in year one, depending on the work needed; ongoing costs higher too.

Those ranges sound broad because the biggest driver is the state of your current IT. A well-managed cloud-first business will find the path to certification straightforward; organisations running older servers, unsupported devices, or weak patching practices will have more to do.

How to keep the bill sensible

There are sensible, practical steps to control costs without short-changing security:

• Do a pre-assessment checklist. Address obvious gaps before booking the Plus audit.
• Prioritise fixes that give the most benefit: patching, multi-factor authentication, removing admin rights where not needed.
• Use your existing contracts. If you already have an IT partner, ask them to scope remediation as a fixed-price engagement.
• Consider staged implementation. Tackle essentials first so you can secure the certification, then add defensive depth over time.

If you want a quick primer on what the controls look like and whether your setup is likely to pass, our short Cyber Essentials overview explains the essentials in straightforward terms.

Value: why spend at all?

It’s fair to ask whether the cost is worth it. For many UK businesses the value comes in three ways:

• Commercial access: it’s often a gate for public-sector work and procurement processes.
• Risk reduction: it removes many of the easy ways attackers get in, cutting both the chance of an incident and the likely impact.
• Customer confidence: it’s tangible proof you take security seriously — helpful in tender situations or when dealing with regulated customers.

Seen that way, the cost is an investment in avoiding disruption, fines, and reputational harm — all of which are far more expensive than doing the work properly.

FAQ

How long does Cyber Essentials Plus certification take?

From booking to certificate, a straightforward assessment can take a few weeks. If you need remediation, add time for fixes — often a few weeks to a couple of months, depending on complexity and availability of IT resource.

Is Cyber Essentials Plus the same as ISO 27001?

No. Cyber Essentials Plus is a focused technical test of essential controls. ISO 27001 is a full information security management standard that covers policy, processes and continual improvement. Both have their place; Cyber Essentials Plus is a practical, lower-cost way to address baseline risk.

Will getting Cyber Essentials Plus stop cyber insurance premiums rising?

Insurers view Cyber Essentials Plus positively because it reduces baseline risk, but whether your premium changes depends on your insurer, claims history and the wider security posture. It helps, but it’s not an automatic discount in every case.

Do I need external help to get certified?

Not always. If you have a competent IT team and modern systems, you can prepare internally. Many businesses, however, choose a short consultancy engagement to speed the process and avoid common pitfalls — which can save time and money overall.

Wrapping up

Cyber Essentials Plus cost isn’t a mystery if you break it into its parts: certification, remediation, ongoing services and internal time. Budgeting realistically and focusing on the highest-impact fixes will keep the bill sensible. For most UK businesses the eventual price is small compared with the benefit of reduced disruption, retained contracts and easier sales conversations.

If you’d like a quick, practical steer on likely costs for your specific setup, it’s worth getting an early scoping conversation so you know whether to expect a tidy day or a bigger project. The result is the same either way: less risk, more credibility and fewer sleepless calls at 2am.