The initial low cost of securing say ISO 9001 certification from a non-UKAS organisation is attractive to some organisations. However, many organisations that pursue this route often discover that their certification is useless. 

This is because the non-UKAS certification is not recognised as bona fide by many organisations.  As a result, low cost non-UKAS certification can mean a business can lose revenue because of it.

UKAS stands for the UK Accreditation Service.  UKAS is the only accreditation organisation that has official recognition from the UK government. It has a responsibility to ensure that all organisations that offer certification accredited by them conform to stringent standards. All organisations offering UKAS accredited certification must have their processes and systems vetted on a regular basis to ensure that they adhere to ISO standards requirements.

No independent accreditation body exists for non-UKAS certification providers, many of whom design their own processes for certification. This can mean that they can be slow in changing their process in line with changes to ISO standards. Moreover, the absence of a third party body accrediting their operations can also mean that they may also be not properly checking whether their clients are meeting current standards too.

Consequently, organisations seeking ISO certification must understand the significant differences between fully-fledged UKAS and non-UKAS certification. A certification body accredited by UKAS is mandated to allow organisations to move to another certification body. Many non-UKAS certification bodies tie their clients into extended 10-year contractual periods and charge higher daily rates for assessment than UKAS accredited bodies. In practice, this can mean that the lifetime cost of non-UKAS certification is greater than that of a UKAS accredited body.