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We offer a wide range of certification services, including UKAS-accredited and industry-specific certifications that support businesses in achieving excellence.
The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the sole body appointed by the UK Government (the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) to provide accreditation to certification bodies in the UK. This accreditation is considered to be the leader in the certification of ISO standards and the only way that an organisation can use the coveted Government-endorsed national accreditation symbol – commonly referred to as the “UKAS Crown and Tick”.
UKAS evaluates certification bodies on an annual basis and, in doing so, provides an assurance of the competence, impartiality and integrity of conformity of those certification bodies. In UKAS’ own words they “check the checkers”.
For more information about UKAS, watch the video below.
ISO (derived from the Greek word ‘isos’, which means ‘equal’) is the name for the International Organization for Standardization, which is an independent body with more than 150 members from around the world. Through these members, its experts share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market-relevant Standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges.
In developing these Standards, ISO effectively sets out a formula that describes the best way of doing something, be that making a product, managing a process or delivering a service. For example:
In the UK, UKAS is the sole, government-appointed body, able to issue ISO certificates on its behalf. As a result, it is only UKAS-accredited certification bodies that can issue ISO certification carrying the government-endorsed UKAS-accredited certification badge, containing the ‘crown and tick’ verification that provides confidence and reassurance.
UKAS is able to provide a variety of accreditations, however, our accreditation as a certification body is for ISO 17021-1:2015. In the same way that certification bodies assess organisations against standards, such as those listed above, UKAS assesses certification bodies against ISO 17021-1:2015. This standard ensures that we are competent in the management systems we assess.
Our accreditation through UKAS* means that we are awarded the coveted UKAS ‘crown and tick’ and we are able to display our badge, as we do below.
While UKAS is the sole Government-appointed body able to accredit certification bodies in the UK, anyone is able to set themselves as a ‘certification body’ and offer ISO certification. It is not against the law to do so and whilst the Government has issued a statement confirming its position on these organisations (who offer certification that is not UKAS-accredited) they are able to continue trading; however, as it is not in their interests to highlight the importance and relevance of UKAS-certification you should always check with the certification body before signing a contract.
Over the years we have experienced numerous examples of clients telling us that they lost out on contracts, before coming to us because they did not have UKAS-accredited certification. Many businesses, especially Government-related bodies and larger, more established organisations, insist upon UKAS-accreditation as part of any contracts.
It is for this reason that we always recommend the UKAS-accredited route. Sadly, once you have spent money on accreditation with a certification body that is not UKAS-accredited you cannot get it back if you then discover that it is worthless if a big contract opportunity comes along. This is in addition to the potential embarrassment and wasted resources that could come about from having a perceived lower-quality certification.
Another factor to consider is when you need external support to build your business management systems. UKAS-accredited certification bodies are not allowed to offer consultancy services and therefore are unable to help you to build your management systems. Building a management system and then certifying it would be a case of ‘marking your own work’. As one of our clients described it: “It’s like having your driving instructor also testing you – a scary thought”.
As a UKAS-accredited certification body (Amtivo Group, trading as British Assessment Bureau), we work with dozens of experienced consultants who can provide these services to you, completely independent of us. Upon request, we can provide a list of consultants we believe could do the work for you.
UKAS is an active member and supporter of the regional and international accreditation communities including the International Accreditation Forum (IAF). The aim of these communities and of the regional and international accreditation systems is to harmonise accreditation and conformity assessment activities around the globe through mutual recognition agreements (MLAs) and to help global trade through the removal of Technical Barriers to Trade.
As a UKAS-accredited certification body, British Assessment Bureau provides certification services to the approved management system standards and can promote the fact that our service is covered by the IAF MLA by using the IAF MLA Mark.
UKAS will ensure that the certification body is applying the rules in line with IAF MLA requirements and the international standards themselves. As the certification body, we will ensure clients are applying the rules of the relevant international standards.
We are proud of our UKAS-accredited status and we offer a range of standards and associated support services to help companies whether they are starting from scratch or well-established and looking to add on new standards or transfer from another body. Either way, we would be delighted to help. You can contact us here or click the button below to request a quote. We are ready and waiting to help you.
* British Assessment Bureau is a trading name of Amtivo Group, offering UKAS-accredited certificates, worldwide.
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