For the trade
Free listingFor locksmiths: keep the whole job
Your listing is free, with no lead fee, no commission and no contract. The customer rings your own number, and the job is yours from the first call. Below it, plain guides for a UK locksmith. We sell no courses.
What getting work costs a locksmith now
Shared leads on Bark cost about £7 to £40 each, with several locksmiths buying the same customer. A Checkatrade membership is £30 to £59 or more a month on a 12-month term. A national network that passes on jobs keeps a share of each one, put at 30% to 40% by one working locksmith. Google's Local Services Ads are not open to UK locksmiths. (Figures and sources: how locksmiths get work.)
What this costs instead
Nothing to be listed. People find you on the page for the town you work from, and on the pages for the work you take on: car keys, uPVC doors, safes, lockouts. The number on your page is yours and nobody else answers it. Premium, £12 a month plus VAT, adds your own price list, photos of your van and your work, when you are available, and a yearly check by a person on your published details. No lead fees on either.
Why being local is the point
A town page lists a locksmith as based there only on evidence: an address in the town, a place line naming it, or the town's own dialling code. Numbers starting 03, 05, 08 or 09 are never listed. That is what separates you from a call centre that advertises in a hundred towns, and the page says so to the customer.
How to get listed
Send the business name, the town you work from, a phone number, a website if you have one, how far you travel, your hours, and the work you take on. If you are an MLA Approved Company, a Buy With Confidence member, a Which? Trusted Trader, an Auto Locksmiths Association member or UK SERMI approved, say so and a person will check it against that body's own public search.
How we decide the order
How recently we checked the listing's public details, then how complete they are: a listing with a phone number, a website and an address sits above one with a phone number alone. Ties go in alphabetical order. A paid check or plan never changes the date or the order. Nothing about position is for sale.
How to Become a Locksmith in the UK
You need no licence to work as a locksmith in the UK. Most people start with a short course, costing about £1,250 to £2,850 for 5 days at the trainers we checked, including the MLA and CBWA. The one Ofqual-regulated locksmith qualification we found is the ABBE Level 4, which is also the MLA's qualification. MLA membership is voluntary.
How Locksmiths Get Work: Channels and What They Cost
Locksmiths get work from Google, directories, lead marketplaces, national networks and contract panels, and each one charges differently: a monthly subscription, a fee per lead, or a share of every job. Google's Local Services Ads are not open to UK locksmiths. Compare channels on cost per job won, and on whether the customer stays yours.
Working for a National Locksmith Network: What to Check
National locksmith networks offer steady work to self-employed locksmiths in exchange for a share of each job, which one locksmith puts at 30% to 40%. Before you subcontract, find out who sets the customer's price, whose name goes on the invoice, how and when you are paid, and whether you can still serve your own customers.
SERMI for Auto Locksmiths: Requirements and Cost
UK SERMI went live on 1 April 2026 and lets approved independent operators, including auto locksmiths, reach carmakers' key programming and immobiliser data. Approval needs basic DBS checks, no unspent convictions, public liability cover and audits. Core Diagnostics' guide puts the cost at £1,800 for 5 years or £30 a month. It is not a legal requirement for locksmith work.
Pricing Locksmith Work: Publishing Prices Customers Trust
Customers trust a locksmith who publishes fixed daytime prices for common jobs, shows the out-of-hours surcharge separately, and quotes VAT-inclusive totals. Published UK ranges give context: a daytime lockout costs about £90 to £160 and an out-of-hours surcharge about £50 to £100, from the MLA and MyJobQuote. A clear total is the opposite of the overcharging pattern.
Doorstep Contracts and Cancellation Rights for Locksmiths
Work agreed at a customer's home is usually an off-premises contract under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. The customer normally has a 14-day right to cancel, and you must give them written cancellation information. There is an exception where the customer specifically asked you to visit for urgent repairs or maintenance, but extra work you sell on that visit stays cancellable.
How to Get Listed on locksmiths.trade
Listing on locksmiths.trade is free. A locksmith is listed in the town where public evidence shows they are based, with their own landline or mobile number. You can claim, correct or remove a listing at no cost. Premium, at £12 a month plus VAT, adds a price list, photos and availability. There are no lead fees, and badges never change the order.