Abbreviation UKAS Purpose Accreditation Founded 1995 | Formation 1995 Motto Delivering confidence | |
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Type National accreditation body Legal status Company limited by guarantee Parent organization Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Profiles | ||
The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the sole national accreditation body recognised by the British government to assess the competence of organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services. It evaluates these conformity assessment bodies and then accredits them where they are found to meet the internationally specified standard.
Contents
An organisation accredited by UKAS can demonstrate competence, impartiality and reliability in its ability to deliver results. Accreditation ensures that everyone from specifiers, purchasers, and suppliers to consumers can have confidence in the quality of goods and in the provision of services throughout the supply chain.
Functions
History
It was set up in 1995 under a Memorandum of Understanding with the British Government which is between UKAS and the Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills.
Structure
UKAS is a non-profit-distributing private company, it is operated in the public interest as a company limited by guarantee. It resulted from the merger in 1995 of NAMAS (National Measurement Accreditation Service) and NACCB (National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies). NAMAS was itself the result of a merger in 1985 of NATLAS (National Testing Laboratory Accreditation Scheme) formed in 1981 and BCS (British Calibration Service) formed in 1966. It employs 190 staff and over 250 technical external assessors / experts.
UKAS has Members (instead of shareholders) who represent those who have an interest in accreditation - national and local government, business and industry, purchasers, users and quality managers. The present Members are:
In 2010 UKAS acquired the CPA (Clinical Pathology Accreditation) from the Royal Colleges. It started ISAS (Imaging Services Accreditation Scheme) for the Royal College of Radiologists and the College of Radiographers. The health care industry is expected to be a major growth area for accreditation.
Its office is situated in Feltham, West London but most technical staff work from their homes. The largest number of accredited entities are measurement laboratories (testing or calibration) whereas the accredited entities issuing the most certificates into industry and business are Certification Bodies (ISO 9000 registrars).
Standards covered
Why accreditation is important
Accreditation through Multilateral Recognition Agreements is now established in over 90 economies, with internationally recognised standards helping work towards the ideal of ‘accredited once, accepted everywhere’.