ISO Small Business Service

Achieve ISO certification for just £1,799

If you need certification to ISO 9001 (Quality Management) and/or ISO 14001 (Environmental Management), then we have the perfect solution for you!

Our ISO Small Business Service is specially designed for firms with up to 10 employees. It has been tailored for the specific needs of owner-managed businesses, featuring a guaranteed Fixed Fee payable over three easy to manage interest free stage payments.

What You Get

We provide an individual, complete service which is relevant to your business. Our aim is to make implementation of your chosen ISO standard as straightforward and stress-free as possible, allowing you to get on and run your business.

Once we receive your order, we can provide you with a 'Letter of Commitment.' We appreciate that many small businesses require ISO certification to apply for a tender or join a supply chain and our Letter of Commitment reassures your client that you are committed to becoming certified.

The process starts with what's known as a 'Stage 1 Audit' This is where your Lead Assessor reviews your existing systems and provides you with a gap analysis report which will identify the actions required to meet the standard. This can be used as a helpful action plan, so don’t worry if you think you're under prepared. Many businesses find they already have a number of required processes in place. They just need better documentation and communication of what processes are mandatory and who has responsibility for what.

Once the organisation is ready and has filled the gaps highlighted in the Stage 1 report, an Auditor will visit you again to carry out what's known as the 'Stage 2 Audit'. This will reveal the effectiveness of your management system and whether it meets all the requirements of the specific ISO standard you wish to be certified to (e.g. ISO 9001 and/or ISO 14001). If you are fully compliant, you will be recommended for certification. The Auditor's report will then be checked via an approvals process and if no anomalies are identified, certification is officially awarded.

Be assured, we are experienced in working with small businesses and recognise the commitment made in terms of time and cost. This is why we provide you with more than just an auditor once a year. As well as keeping you updated, we provide the following:

Starter Pack

We aim for the implementation of ISO certification to be as straight-forward as possible, but at the same time, we appreciate it can be a lot to take in! That's why we've developed a Starter Pack, so after your first meeting with your Lead Assessor, you'll have a summary on what's involved and what you need to do.

The Starter Pack includes:

Your 'Route to Certification' - a timeline, indicating important stages of the process and highlighting your role

Client Case Study - learn from a fellow small business that's been through the ISO certification process

Marketing Assistance

Many organisations make the effort to implement a certified Management System and then tell no one about it! To assist you to 'strut your stuff' we have various tools to help your marketing once certification is achieved. These include:

A dedicated Client Area

A free press release template and advice article

A free presentation on ISO 9001 and/or ISO 14001 to show to your clients

Exclusive articles on business improvement

Certified logos and vehicle stickers

Get a Quote

Get started today! You too can achieve ISO certification for just £1,799 (+ VAT), with cash-flow friendly interest free terms. To receive your Fixed Fee quotation, simply use our Online Quotation Form or call our award winning Customer Support Team for free on 0800 404 7007 and quote 'Small Business Service'.

FAQs

Below are some typical questions asked about ISO certification. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact our award winning Customer Support Team for free on 0800 404 7007.

How much will it cost?

Our Small Business Service is tailored specifically to businesses with 10 employees or less. We guarantee the cost at £1,799 (+ VAT) as a Fixed Fee, with no hidden extras. This means the fee we quote will be what it costs to become certified, no matter how many audits are required. Better yet, to aid your cash-flow, you pay three interest free instalments to spread the cost.

What will I have to do and what is involved?

What will we look at when we visit you?

Whatever ISO management standard you choose to get certified to, they are all designed to act as best practice guides.

As an example, the Quality Management standard (ISO 9001) looks at the five main areas that are vital to any business, namely:

Management

Resources

Operational Processes

Evaluation of business performance

Managing problems/complaints

Therefore, ISO 9001 acts as an effective business improvement tool, providing a framework for designing a management system to ensure that each of these five areas are being effective.

To achieve certification, organisations must demonstrate that they have effective procedures which are consistently applied, for activities such as:

Management planning and review

Internal communication

Control of documents

Managing human resources and the work environment

Determining product/service requirements

Product/service design

Monitoring customer satisfaction

Measurement, analysis and improvement

How long will it take to become certified?

You should plan for the process to take 3-6 months but some organisations have achieved it faster. In order to get the most from the process, a designated representative should take responsibility from within your organisation. However, this doesn't mean you have to appoint a 'Quality Manager' just someone who is the main coordinator. In most cases the principals of ISO will soon become integrated within your business and before you know it, it'll just be the way you do things!

Are we UKAS accredited?

Yes, we are a UKAS accredited body. This is your assurance that we are competent, objective and impartial, so you'll get the most out of your certification. You can be certain that your industry scope is covered by our UKAS accreditation by getting in touch with our award winning Customer Support Team.

To read more about UKAS accreditation, visit the What is UKAS? page.

What standard(s) do I need?

The most popular standard is ISO 9001, which concerns Quality Management. It is popular because it helps an organisation to improve its business as a whole. ISO 14001, another popular standard, concerns your Environmental Management. This is often not an immediate priority for businesses but it may be necessary to qualify for a public sector tender, as the Government is promoting sustainable procurement.

Choosing the right standard therefore, may depend upon the stage of development your business is currently at or it could be influenced by a client requirement. We are happy to talk through the benefits of either standard with you, so for reassurance, simply call our award winning Customer Support Team on 0800 404 7007.

Will you complete our paperwork for us?

The short answer is no. We cannot provide any form of consultancy for you. This is a strict rule enforced by our regulator, UKAS. However, we can signpost you to recognised best practice and the Stage 1 Audit process is designed to provide you with an effective gap-analysis and action plan report. This will provide you with everything you need in order to achieve certification. If required, separate training can also be provided.

Do all my staff have to be involved in the process?

Clearly, it is essential that your management is behind the implementation of the project. It will also require key staff to be committed and active in communicating the plans; which will usually include changes for improvement. However, organisations usually find that the requirements of the standard are largely common-sense, with implementation and integration soon taking place. Organisations also get far more benefit from being directly involved in the implementation, after all, who knows your business better than you?

Do we have to be audited every year?

Yes, to maintain your certification, it is mandatory to have at least one audit visit per year to ensure you are still meeting requirements. Such 'surveillance' audits sample the ongoing effectiveness of your management system and you will receive a written report outlining the results. These can include major or minor non-conformities and observations. Should a major non-conformity be identified, you would be given a set period of time to rectify the situation.

Every third-year a full re-audit is undertaken and this is aimed at identifying key trends of strength and weakness and your certification body would work with you to identify opportunities for improvement. Such third year audits are more extensive than annual surveillance audits and some certification bodies may charge extra to undertake them.

It is our philosophy to work with our clients 'without fear or favour'. However, to maintain our objectivity and impartiality we cannot undertake improvements for you but we can and will point you to recognised best practice and answer questions with sensitivity and understanding. Ultimately, we want to help you gain the most from certification and reap the benefits that a commitment to continuous improvement can offer.

Lastly, we give all of our clients ample notice to arrange their annual audits before the end of their certification period. We also offer ISO Health Checks for those clients that value a refresher (to iron out any 'wrinkles') prior to the formal audit. In addition we can also provide ISO Training Courses.

Get a Quote

Costs

In the current climate best value is essential. The fact that we are UKAS accredited and provide a Price Match Promise, means you can be sure you are getting a quality service at the best value rate.

Our fee under our Small Business Service is just £1,799 (+VAT) to become certified to either ISO 9001 or ISO 14001. Better yet, if you undertake both standard together the combined cost is reduced to only £2,799 (+VAT), saving you nearly £600!

No Hidden Fees

What you are quoted is what you pay. There are no 'application fees', additional days (at your expense) or travel costs in the small print. We simply give you a price for certification and that's it. We can even quote you for the following year's surveillance visit, so you can plan ahead.

Fixed Price Package

Crucially, we won't change our mind on costs either. That's because you get our guaranteed Fixed Fee Package. Even if you were to fail your first audit, we will inform you of the correction needed and re-audit you for FREE.

Manageable Payments

We understand that cash flow is king for small businesses. So at a time when cash-flow is tight, it's comforting to know that we split your fees into three manageable interest free payments.

Letter of Commitment

If you require ISO certification for a tender or as a supply chain requirement, we can provide you with a 'Letter of Commitment'. You can show this to your clients to demonstrate your commitment to achieving ISO certification.

Price Match Promise

We also make you a Price Match Promise guarantee. If you find a cheaper comparable quotation within 14-days, we will match the price and give you 10% off your first annual surveillance visit .

> View Price Match Plus terms

Get a Quote

Our Credentials

Our reputation was established in 1969, starting as a specialist in certification scheme management. In 1997, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry approved the use of the word 'British' in our new corporate title in recognition of our pre-eminent status. Today, we certify organisations to recognised standards like ISO 9001 (quality management) and ISO 14001 (environmental management) and provide associated training.

We are active in the area of setting national standards and are expert contributors to influential British Standards committees. We are also accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), who are the sole national body able to accredit certification bodies who provide ISO certification in the UK. It's important to know that UKAS accredited certification is preferred for public sector contracts.

We pride ourselves on providing a professional and hassle free service, endeavouring to make the process as straightforward as possible. We're also pleased to say that for the second year running, our independent Client Satisfaction Survey confirmed that 99% of our clients would recommend us. We are also proud winners of the 2011 KEiBA award, having won in the category 'Customer Service and Commitment' .

"A very professional service. I would have no hesitation in recommending the British Assessment Bureau to other organisations."

Ron Pearce

Reliance Security Services Ltd

To reassure our clients that we are a trusted partner, our UKAS accreditation means that our competence, objectivity and impartially are proven and our performance is overseen by an independent Impartiality Committee. We have also been a recognised Investor in People since 1999.

To ensure a consistent, high level of service, we directly employ all of our field-based auditors, located across the UK. They have proven experience and receive comprehensive training and their performance is monitored by our regulator, UKAS.