Roofing Firm Fined £50,000 for Hiding a Phone from CMA

Two things worth knowing this week if you are about to hire a roofer. The competition regulator has fined a roofing contractor and two of its staff for hiding evidence during a raid, in an investigation that still has twelve roofing companies in it. And the card scheme that covers 70,000 scaffolders is leaving the system most people use to check a worker’s credentials.

M&J Group and two employees fined £50,000 for concealing evidence

On 24 September the Competition and Markets Authority published penalty notices totalling £50,000 against M&J Group (Construction & Roofing) Ltd and two of its staff. During a CMA inspection, estimating director Barry Pirrie instructed office manager Tracey Woods to remove a work mobile phone and paperwork from the premises so investigators would not find them, and falsely denied having a work mobile. The items came back the same day. Pirrie was fined £20,000, Woods £5,000 and the company £25,000.

The inspection was part of the CMA’s investigation into suspected bid rigging in roofing and other construction services, which opened in December 2024 and was widened in January 2026. The CMA has been explicit that these penalties “concern failures to comply with the CMA’s investigatory requirements and are separate to any findings from the competition investigation, which remains ongoing”. Nobody has been found guilty of bid rigging. The announcement is on GOV.UK.

Twelve roofing companies are under investigation over school roof contracts

The underlying case is worth understanding, because it is about how roofing work gets priced. The CMA is examining whether firms illegally colluded when bidding for contracts, including projects paid for through the Department for Education’s Condition Improvement Fund. As of 30 June 2026 the named parties are AMR Consult Ltd, Blue Cube Contracting Ltd, Central Roofing and Building Services Ltd, Higham Flat Roofing Ltd, ICE Roofing & Cladding Ltd, Inspire Contract Services Ltd, M&J Group (Construction & Roofing) Ltd, Parias Construction and Interiors Ltd, PSARLD Ltd, RAM Building Consultancy Ltd, Russell Trew Ltd and Stoic Roofing and Construction Ltd.

Being named is not a finding of wrongdoing, and these are commercial and public sector contracts rather than domestic re-roofs. But the mechanism it alleges, cover pricing, is exactly what makes quotes worthless on a small job too: one firm you want the work from, two friendly quotes deliberately set high so the first one looks reasonable. It is why we say to source your three quotes independently and never let one contractor recommend the other two. Our guides to finding a good roofer and spotting roofing scams cover the checks that catch it. The case page is on GOV.UK.

The scaffolders’ card scheme is leaving CSCS in June 2027

On 22 September the Scaffolding Association went public with its objections to CISRS, the Construction Industry Scaffolders Record Scheme, withdrawing from the CSCS Alliance. The change takes effect in June 2027 and affects roughly 70,000 cardholders, who will no longer get site access automatically through the CSCS system. Scaffolding will keep an industry card carrying the CSCS logo, but the governance and recognition behind it moves.

The Scaffolding Association’s complaint is about process: it says CISRS “has now taken one of the most significant decisions affecting scaffolding competence recognition without evidence of meaningful consultation across the wider industry”, with no sign that training providers or contractor members were engaged first.

For a homeowner this is a small but real thing to keep an eye on. Most re-roofs need scaffolding, and “show me your card” is the one competence check almost anyone can do at the door. Between now and June 2027 the card a scaffolder hands you may or may not be the one you were expecting, so ask what scheme issued it and check the number against the issuing scheme rather than the logo. Our roof scaffolding cost guide covers what you should be paying and what a proper scaffold on a domestic job looks like. The story is at Roofing Today.