First Step Fund: eligibility and pricing
This article covers who qualifies for the Cyber Essentials First Step Fund, what your customer pays, and the year-one Core and Complete prices for First Step customers.
Who is eligible?
A customer qualifies if all of these apply:
They are a micro, small or medium-sized organisation (0–249 employees).
They are registered in the UK.
They have not held Cyber Essentials in the last four years. Check this first: it's the rule most likely to rule a customer out.
They stay within the £315,000 Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA) limit under the Subsidy Control Act 2022, including this award. The customer declares this themselves at checkout. The full rules are on GOV.UK.
IASME's Supplier Assurance Tool confirms eligibility automatically when the customer registers, using their company details and Cyber Essentials history.
Organisations with 250 or more employees are not eligible. The funding covers Cyber Essentials only, not Cyber Essentials Plus.
Standalone Cyber Essentials pricing
Organisation size | IASME CE fee | Customer pays (25%) | Funding (subsidy value) |
Micro (0–9 employees) | £320 + VAT | £80 + VAT | £240 |
Small (10–49 employees) | £440 + VAT | £110 + VAT | £330 |
Medium (50–249 employees) | £500 + VAT | £125 + VAT | £375 |
The customer pays their 25% contribution directly to IASME.
Lead with a Core or Complete package
For First Step customers, CyberSmart removes the Cyber Essentials component from the year-one price of Core or Complete. That's £675 off RRP for your customer and £575 off your partner price. A package protects both your margin and your renewal.
Year-one First Step prices (annual billing)
Employees | Core – partner price | Core – RRP | Complete – partner price | Complete – RRP |
1–9 | £185 | £350 | £1,420 | £2,041 |
10–19 | £440 | £665 | £1,875 | £2,580 |
20–49 | £835 | £1,610 | £2,255 | £3,530 |
50–99 | £1,385 | £2,530 | £3,135 | £4,845 |
100–249 | £2,645 | £4,075 | £5,235 | £7,515 |
Monthly pricing is also available.
Good to know
The discount covers the Cyber Essentials component in year one only. Standard pricing applies from year two.
Cyber Essentials Plus, CSVM and other products are not discounted.
Cyber Essentials, Core and Complete subscriptions run from the order date, not from when your customer completes Cyber Essentials.
How do I make money through the scheme?
The scheme doesn't include a margin on the Cyber Essentials certificate itself, but there are two ways to earn from it:
Charge your customers for helping them complete the Cyber Essentials questionnaire.
Sell CyberSmart Core or Complete. We take the cost of the certificate off the year-one package price, so you earn from year one and build recurring revenue through renewals.
Need help?
If you have any questions about the First Step Fund, get in touch with our support team using the chat on this page.