FAQ’s

  • Having a certificate to ISO 9001 (quality management standard) demonstrates to customers and potential customers that you are committed to quality of product and service, and that you are audited against the standard by an external cetification company.

  • Awarding Organisation fees can vary significantly. We recommend you obtain 2 (no obligation) quotes from Certification companies. We can also recommend which Certification Body is the best value for money and service in our experience.

    ISO fees : We invoice monthly as the work progresses. Standard rates are £650 each month, with the work usually taking 6 - 8 months from the initial review to the certification process.

  • Usually 6 - 8 months, although this depends somewhat on the starting point!

    ISO Expertise have worked with clients with no previous set up, and have templates enabling swift turnaround, to those with expired accreditations who only need light touch.

    One client started with no previous experience and, working together and working hard, achieved in eight months.

  • At least 12 hours a month for auditing, producing policies and procedures, updates and meetings.

     The more you commit, the quicker accreditation can be achieved.  If you don’t have the time, ISO Expertise can complete the work and provide updates (as often as requested), but please note:

    1 - Time for formal meetings and being audited is still required

    2 - You will be the main contact during the accreditation audit so you must be able to answer their questions, and not being involved in the Gaining element will make this harder.

    3 - This is more expensive as more of ISO Expertise’s time is needed!

  • ISO Expertise will create a schedule of work to support you achieve accreditation at a pace that suits you.  We hold regular meetings with you, the client, to show how implementation is progressing and produce minutes and action plans for future meetings.

  • In their 2015 revisions of these standards The International Standards Organisation Committee  deliberately set out to make it easier to combine the two standards. The clauses were aligned. Where previously  it was difficult to match up the clauses for the same process, now they have 10 common elements:

    Clause 1 – Scope Clause 2 – Normative references Clause 3 – Terms and definitions Clause 4 – Context of the organisation Clause 5 – Leadership Clause 6 – Planning Clause 7 – Support Clause 8 – Operation Clause 9 – Performance evaluation Clause 10 – Improvement