UKAS & ISO, Accreditation & Certification, What’s the Difference?

We’ve all heard of UKAS and ISO but who are they? And what are the differences? This blog will aim to simply answer those questions to help you better understand the differences between the two organisations and why they complement each other so well. As well as, defining accreditation and certification and the benefits of using UKAS accredited organisations.

Who are UKAS?

The United Kingdom Accreditation Service also known as UKAS is currently the sole national accreditation body that is recognized by the British Government and is given permission to assess the competence of organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection, and calibration services. UKAS will perform visits to certification bodies and ensure that their assessors are performing at the highest level possible.

What is ISO?

International Organization for Standardization or ISO, are the people behind ISO’s 9001, 14001, 45001, 27001 and many others. They ensure that standards are reviewed and kept up to date by creating changes when needed; With over 165 national standard bodies globally, you can assure your ISO is globally recognized.

What’s the difference?

The difference between the two organizations is that ISO writes and creates the standards, whereas UKAS acts as a form of a supervisor, which oversees and monitors each ISO certification body to make sure that it’s performing and complying with ISO rules, up to the highest level in the UK alone.

Certain certification bodies in the UK, are not UKAS accredited which would mean that the certification has not necessarily gone through the same audit process as one from a company that is UKAS accredited. You also risk the chance of your customers viewing it as not having compliance with ISO standards due to it being ‘’Non-UKAS’’.

Luckily, to check if a certification body is accredited you can do so online at the UKAS website which can be found here.

What’s the difference between Accreditation and Certification?

The terms accreditation and certification quite frequently are used together and this can cause some confusion with the definition of each word. The term “Accreditation” refers to the assurance by a third party of the conformity of a product, process, or service to the specified requirement. Whereas “Certification” is the formal recognition by an authoritative body of competence to work to specified standards.  For example, if your certification body is UKAS accredited which means that UKAS has approved that they work in accordance with their standards and comply to the highest level. Simply put by UKAS “Certification bodies are the checkers then UKAS is the check for checkers”. However you as a business would be ‘’Certificated’’ to a standard from the certification body and would hold a certificate to, for example ISO 9001:2015.

What are the benefits of using UKAS accredited certification bodies?

Some benefits to using accredited certification bodies are shown below;

1. Assurance of efficiency and validity of the processes.
2. Proven impartiality
3. Gain commercial advantages
4. Increase international acceptance for import & export
5. Create assurance around innovation
6. Confirm accuracy of measurements.
7. Demonstrate technical competence.

Want to read more? Why not check out our blog on ISO 9001 the crucial QMS…  HERE