Accreditation · the check on the checkers
UKAS accreditation: what it covers, and how to check a certificate
UKAS accreditation is the formal recognition, by the UK’s sole national accreditation body, that a laboratory, certification body, inspection body or verification body is competent to do specified work.
UKAS is appointed under regulation 3 of the Accreditation Regulations 2009, and accredits bodies — never consultants, and never the organisations those bodies certify.
Accreditation is generally voluntary, but it is the only way a UK certificate carries the UKAS symbol, and the check is public.
The body
A statutory appointment, a non-binding memorandum
UKAS is the United Kingdom Accreditation Service, the UK’s sole national accreditation body, and the government calls third-party accreditation “checking the checkers”.
Its authority comes from a statutory instrument: the Department for Business and Trade appointed UKAS under regulation 3 of the Accreditation Regulations 2009.
The regulation exists in two versions: the text for England, Wales and Scotland, as amended in 2019, appoints UKAS as the UK national accreditation body for the retained regime, while the Northern Ireland text still refers to the EC Regulation.
That matches the DBT–UKAS Memorandum of Understanding, which records that Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 continues to apply in Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework.
The memorandum is where the operative detail sits, but it says of itself, at paragraph 11.1, that it “is an operational document and is not legally binding”; it has been effective from 14 September 2023.
The government’s accreditation guidance adds that UKAS is not-for-profit, that its accreditation activities are generally self-financing from fees, and that DBT sets its annual priorities as sponsor.
It also says “Government only recognises UKAS accreditation of organisations operating in the UK”, with an exception where a mutual recognition agreement applies.
| Instrument | What it does |
|---|---|
| SI 2009/3155, reg 3 (England, Wales, Scotland) | Appoints UKAS for the purposes of Article 4(1) of RAMS as the UK national accreditation body |
| SI 2009/3155, reg 3 (Northern Ireland) | Appoints UKAS for the purposes of Article 4(1) of the EC Regulation as the national accreditation body |
| DBT–UKAS MoU (2023) | Sets out the activities UKAS is appointed for; effective 14 September 2023; “not legally binding” |
| DBT guidance (16 March 2026) | UK accreditation policy: one not-for-profit body; government recognises only UKAS for organisations operating in the UK |
Two words
Certification and accreditation are different rungs
ISO defines both on its certification page: certification is “the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements”.
Accreditation is “the formal recognition by an independent body, generally known as an accreditation body, that a certification body operates according to international standards”.
So an organisation is certified — to ISO 14001 or ISO 9001, for example — and the body that certifies it is accredited, in the UK by UKAS.
ISO does neither: it “does not perform certification or issue certificates”, which is why “ISO certified” names no one.
ISO adds that “accreditation is not compulsory, and non-accreditation does not necessarily mean the certification body is not reputable”, and that for some industries certification is a legal or contractual requirement.
The practical rule for a buyer: if accreditation matters to you, the question is about the body that issued the certificate, and it has a public answer.
ISO 14001 is the most common environmental example, and its 2026 transition shows why timing matters: a body must be accredited to a new edition before it can issue accredited certificates to it.
Scope
Sixteen accreditation activities, not five
Appendix 1 of the memorandum lists every activity UKAS is appointed to accredit, and paragraph 3.1 adds that “UKAS will not undertake accreditation outside the scope of the activities in Appendix 1”.
| Activity | Who is accredited |
|---|---|
| ISO/IEC 17025 | Testing and calibration laboratories |
| ISO/IEC 17025 + ISO 15195 | Medical and healthcare scheme |
| ISO 15189 | Medical and healthcare scheme |
| ISO 15189 + ISO 22870 | Medical and healthcare scheme |
| ISO/IEC 17020 | Inspection bodies |
| ISO/IEC 17021-1 | Management system certification bodies (ISO 14001, ISO 9001, ISO 50001…) |
| ISO/IEC 17024 | Bodies certifying persons |
| ISO/IEC 17065 | Product, process and service certification bodies |
| ISO/IEC 17029 | Validation and verification bodies |
| ISO 14065 | Greenhouse gas validation and verification bodies |
| ISO 17034 | Reference material producers |
| ISO/IEC 17043 | Proficiency testing providers |
| ISO 20387 | Biobanks |
| QSI | Medical and healthcare scheme |
| IQIPS | Medical and healthcare scheme |
| BS 70000 | Medical and healthcare scheme |
Sixteen activities carry eighteen standard designations, because two rows pair standards; ISO/IEC 17011, the standard UKAS itself operates to, is not one of them.
The appendix bounds the activities, not every standard certifiable beneath them: its own note says a complete list of management system certification standards is kept on UKAS’s website.
“UKAS testing” and “UKAS laboratories” searches are about the ISO/IEC 17025 row: UKAS accredits a laboratory’s competence for defined tests, and the scope lists which.
For environmental management systems, UKAS accredits certification bodies against ISO/IEC 17021-1 together with ISO/IEC 17021-2, the competence requirements for auditing ISO 14001.
ISO 14065 is the activity behind greenhouse gas verifiers; it sits as a sector application of ISO/IEC 17029, and GHG verification standards covers ISO 14064 and the verification duties.
What UKAS does not do
There is no UKAS-accredited consultant
UKAS’s public directory filters by laboratories, certification bodies and inspection bodies, and none of the sixteen activities is consultancy.
With paragraph 3.1’s rule that UKAS will not accredit outside Appendix 1, the point is provable positively: UKAS does not accredit consultants.
UKAS can accredit a body that certifies persons under ISO/IEC 17024, but that accredits the certifying body, not the individual, and it is not a consultancy accreditation.
The separation runs the other way too: ISO/IEC 17021-1, clauses 5.2.5 to 5.2.8, bars a certification body from offering management system consultancy, with two-year bars where it or a related entity provided consultancy or internal audits, and from outsourcing audits to a consultancy.
Those clauses are behind ISO’s paywall and their text has not been re-read for this page; the catalogue record says the 2015 version was confirmed in 2020 and “remains current”.
They bind the certification body: a consultancy may help an organisation implement a standard, but may not be the accredited body that certifies the result.
ESOS uses a different kind of oversight for its lead assessors — approved professional registers, not UKAS accreditation — as the ESOS lead assessor guide explains.
Checking a certificate
Four questions, answered from public records
Accredited certification can be checked without taking anyone’s word for it.
Start with the body named on the certificate, and look it up in the UKAS directory, which shows whether it is accredited and for what scope.
UKAS says “Only UKAS accredited certificates include the UKAS accreditation symbol”, so a certificate without it is not presenting itself as accredited.
The certificate itself can be searched in UKAS CertCheck, which UKAS launched in June 2022 as a free, public tool to verify claims of accredited management system certification.
The government’s guidance warns that an organisation suggesting it is accredited when it is not may commit an offence under the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008, and points such cases to trading standards.
UKAS notes that public and private organisations increasingly specify accredited certification in contracts, which is where the check usually matters.
The tool beside this text runs the four questions in order and stops at the first answer that settles it.
Is this certificate accredited?
Answer in order.
The check stops at the first answer that settles it.
Sources: ISO, Certification; UKAS, Certification Body Accreditation and CertCheck; DBT, Accreditation guidance.
Nothing you choose is saved.
Is it mandatory?
Generally voluntary — and a certificate discharges no UK duty
UKAS accreditation is not compulsory in general, and the government describes it as its “recommended means of demonstrating an organisation’s competence”.
Specific laws can require it: a UK ETS operator’s emissions report must be verified by a verifier “accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to ISO 14065 and the Verification Regulation”, with a scope covering the activity reported.
For regulated products, the government’s UK Market Conformity Assessment Bodies database lists the appointed, accredited bodies that can certify goods for the GB and Northern Ireland markets.
Holding a UKAS-accredited certificate does not, on its own, satisfy a UK reporting duty: SECR carries no verification requirement, and ESOS allows ISO 50001 as a route but still requires the notification, as ISO 50001 and ESOS sets out.
The panel beside this text takes each UK duty in turn, with the provision behind each answer.
Does a UKAS-accredited certificate satisfy a UK legal duty?
No. A UKAS-accredited certificate is voluntary, and it discharges none of the duties below.
Choose a duty to see why, and the provision behind the answer.
SECR is a disclosure a qualifying company makes in its own directors’ report. A UKAS-accredited certificate is not that disclosure and does not change whether a company is in scope; the guidance adds that there is no statutory requirement to have the environmental information audited.
SI 2018/1155, amending Schedule 7 to SI 2008/410 · SI 2018/1155; Environmental Reporting Guidelines (March 2019) Ch.1 Action iv
Answers rest on the provisions named in each row.
Nothing you choose is saved.
Greenhouse gas verification
The ISO 14065 to ISO/IEC 17029 move, closed 30 June 2024
UKAS describes accreditation and certification as “two closely related but distinct steps on the quality assurance ladder”.
For greenhouse gas work the regime moved recently: UKAS required validation and verification bodies accredited to ISO 14065 for greenhouse gas assertions to transition to ISO/IEC 17029 by 30 June 2024.
Accreditation programmes under ISO 14065:2013 ran only to that date, so “accredited to ISO 14065:2013” is not a current UK credential.
ISO 14065:2020 broadened the standard from greenhouse gases to environmental information generally, and ISO records it as reviewed and confirmed in 2026.
Verification of a greenhouse gas statement is not the same engagement as assurance of a sustainability report; sustainability assurance covers that, and the GHG Protocol guide covers the accounting a verifier checks against.
Getting accredited
What applying involves, and how fees are set
A body seeking accreditation applies to UKAS with key policy and procedure documents and proof of legal status, and UKAS offers readiness self-assessment tools for ISO/IEC 17021-1 and ISO/IEC 17065.
On cost, UKAS says its assessment fees are effort-related, depending on the complexity of the scope sought, and cover office time as well as time on site.
The current fees are in the UKAS Standard Terms of Business, and UKAS publishes indicative examples for scenarios from a small testing laboratory to a certification body with overseas offices.
Those are UKAS’s own published fees; read them on its pages, dated, before budgeting.
Once accredited, a body can sub-license the national accreditation symbols, which DBT owns and licenses to UKAS.
UKAS accredits the body; the body certifies, tests, inspects or verifies; and a buyer checks the body in the UKAS directory and the certificate in CertCheck.
Frequently asked
UKAS accreditation, answered
What is UKAS accreditation?
UKAS, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service, is the UK’s sole national accreditation body, appointed under regulation 3 of the Accreditation Regulations 2009.
Accreditation is UKAS’s formal recognition that a conformity assessment body — a laboratory, certification body, inspection body or verification body — is competent and impartial to do specified work.
The government describes it as checking the checkers.
What is the difference between certification and accreditation?
Certification is written assurance by an independent body that a product, service or system meets specified requirements.
Accreditation is formal recognition by an accreditation body that the certification body operates to international standards.
An organisation is certified; the body that certifies it is accredited.
ISO itself does neither.
Is UKAS accreditation mandatory?
Not in general.
ISO says accreditation is not compulsory, and the government calls it its recommended means of demonstrating competence.
Particular laws and contracts can require it — for example, a UK ETS operator’s emissions report must be verified by a verifier accredited by UKAS to ISO 14065.
Is UKAS the same as ISO 17025?
No. ISO/IEC 17025 is the international standard for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories; UKAS is the body that assesses laboratories against it and accredits them.
ISO/IEC 17025 is one of the sixteen accreditation activities in UKAS’s appointment.
What does UKAS accredit?
The DBT–UKAS Memorandum of Understanding lists sixteen accreditation activities, including testing and calibration laboratories (ISO/IEC 17025), inspection bodies (ISO/IEC 17020), management system certification bodies (ISO/IEC 17021-1), persons certification bodies (ISO/IEC 17024), product certification bodies (ISO/IEC 17065), validation and verification bodies (ISO/IEC 17029) and greenhouse gas verification bodies (ISO 14065).
Does UKAS accredit consultants?
No. Consultancy is not among the sixteen activities, and the memorandum says UKAS will not undertake accreditation outside them.
UKAS can accredit a body that certifies persons under ISO/IEC 17024, which accredits the certifying body, not the individual.
How do I check a certificate is UKAS-accredited?
Find the body that issued it in the UKAS directory, confirm its accreditation scope covers the standard and activity, check the certificate carries the UKAS accreditation symbol, and search the certificate in UKAS CertCheck, a free public tool UKAS launched in June 2022.
How much does UKAS accreditation cost?
UKAS says its assessment fees are effort-related, depending on the scope of accreditation sought, and include office time as well as time on site.
Current fees are in the UKAS Standard Terms of Business, and UKAS publishes indicative examples for typical applicants.
Can a certification body also be my consultant?
ISO/IEC 17021-1 bars a certification body from offering management system consultancy, with two-year bars where it or a related entity provided consultancy or internal audits.
Those clauses bind the certification body; a consultancy may help implement a system but may not certify it.
Is it an offence to claim accreditation falsely?
The government’s accreditation guidance says an organisation that suggests it is accredited in the sense of the accreditation regulation when it is not may be guilty of an offence under the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008.
Are accredited certificates from other countries recognised?
The government recognises only UKAS accreditation of organisations operating in the UK.
Where a mutual recognition agreement exists, DBT may consider recognising certificates from accreditation bodies with which UKAS has a multilateral agreement.
Does a UKAS-accredited certificate satisfy SECR or ESOS?
No. SECR is a disclosure in a company’s own report and requires no assurance or certification.
ESOS has two routes, an ESOS energy audit or ISO 50001 certification, and the ISO 50001 route does not remove the notification.
Sources
Primary sources
Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner.
Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.
- legislation.gov.ukThe Accreditation Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/3155), regulation 3
The appointment of UKAS as the national accreditation body, in its two extents.
- GOV.UK (DBT)Memorandum of Understanding between DBT and UKAS (2023)
The scope of UKAS’s appointment (Appendix 1), effective 14 September 2023, and its non-binding status.
- GOV.UK (DBT)Accreditation — guidance for business and government departments (updated 16 March 2026)
UK accreditation policy, recognition of UKAS only, and misleading accreditation claims.
- ISOCertification — certification and accreditation defined
ISO does not perform certification; accreditation is not compulsory.
- UKASCertification Body Accreditation
The standards certification bodies are accredited against, and the UKAS symbol rule.
- UKASCertCheck — the database of accredited management system certifications
The free public tool, launched June 2022, for checking a certificate.
- UKASFind an accredited organisation
The directory of UKAS-accredited bodies and their scopes.
- UKASHow much does it cost to get UKAS accredited?
Effort-related assessment fees and the Standard Terms of Business.
- UKASValidation and verification body accreditation
The transition of GHG verification bodies to ISO/IEC 17029 by 30 June 2024.
- ISOISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 — bodies providing audit and certification of management systems
Impartiality and the certification cycle.
- ISOISO 14065:2020 — bodies validating and verifying environmental information
The accreditation activity behind GHG verifiers; confirmed in 2026.
- GOV.UK (DESNZ)UK ETS for installations: how to comply — appointing a verifier
Where UK law requires a UKAS-accredited verifier.
- legislation.gov.ukBusiness Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/1276)
The offence DBT says a false claim of accreditation may commit.