Impartiality
A certificate is only worth the independence behind it
Anyone can inspect a management system. What makes a certificate mean something is that the people who judged it had nothing invested in the answer. This page sets out exactly how that separation is maintained — and what you can do if you think it has slipped.
The line we do not cross
We assess management systems. We do not build them.
This is the single most common question we are asked, so it gets the plainest possible answer: no, CORE cannot help you implement the system it is going to certify. Not as a favour, not for a fee, not through a related company.
ISO/IEC 17021-1 — the standard that certification bodies are themselves assessed against — prohibits a body from providing management-system consultancy to an organization it certifies. The logic is uncomplicated: an auditor cannot objectively assess work they produced. If we wrote your procedures, every subsequent audit would be us marking our own homework, and the certificate would be evidence of nothing.
So we do not design systems, write documentation, build risk registers, prepare statements of applicability or run internal audits for the organizations we certify. We also do not offer to sit alongside your team during an audit, or to close out findings on your behalf. If a certification body offers you those things, that is worth asking them about.
What we can do is tell you precisely what the standard requires, what an auditor will look for, and — through an optional pre-assessment — where your system does not yet meet the requirement. A pre-assessment reports the gap. It does not prescribe the fix, because prescribing the fix is the consultancy we are not allowed to provide.
If you need implementation help
Most organizations coming to certification for the first time do. We keep a directory of independent consultants so you have somewhere to start.
- They are independent — not CORE staff, not a CORE subsidiary
- We take no fee, commission or referral payment
- Using one gives you no advantage in the certification decision
- You are free to use anyone, or no one at all
Structural safeguards
What keeps the judgment independent
These are separations built into how the work is organised, not promises about how hard we will try.
01
We do not consult on the systems we certify
CORE does not design, document or implement management systems, and does not run internal audits for the organizations it certifies. An auditor cannot objectively assess work they produced.
02
The decision is separated from the audit
Certification decisions are taken by a reviewer independent of the audit team. Your auditor recommends; someone else decides.
03
Auditors are rotated
Audit teams are rotated across the certification cycle so that familiarity does not soften scrutiny.
04
Referrals carry no advantage
We keep a directory of independent consultants because organizations ask for one. We take no fee for a referral, and engaging any consultant has no bearing on the certification decision.
05
Findings are not negotiable
Commercial relationships do not influence findings. Any attempt to influence an audit outcome is treated as a threat to impartiality and recorded as such.
06
Threats to impartiality are reviewed
Risks to impartiality are identified, recorded and reviewed, with oversight from a body that includes interests outside CORE.
Accreditation
How to check a certification body, including this one
Accreditation is a certification body being audited by someone else. It is the only external check on whether a certificate is worth anything, so it should be verified rather than taken on trust.
An accreditation body assesses certification bodies against ISO/IEC 17021-1 for competence, consistency and impartiality, then publishes a schedule listing exactly which standards and scopes that body is accredited for. A body can be entirely legitimate for one standard and not accredited for another, so the schedule matters more than the logo.
When you assess any certification body — ours included — ask for the accreditation body, the schedule number, and the scope it covers. Then check it on the accreditation body's own public register rather than on the certification body's website.
CORE's accreditation status
Accreditation details are pending verification. Until the schedule is confirmed, this site describes CORE's certification process without claiming accredited status.
We would rather state this plainly than display a mark we cannot evidence. Once the schedule is confirmed, the accreditation body, certificate number and covered scope will be published here and linked to the public register.
If you disagree with us
Complaints, appeals and threats to impartiality
A certification body that cannot be challenged is not independent. Every route below is reviewed by people who were not involved in what you are challenging.
Raise a complaint
Any aspect of the service — an auditor, a report, an invoice, a delay. Complaints are recorded, investigated by someone not responsible for what you are complaining about, and answered in writing.
Appeal a decision
You can appeal a finding, a suspension, a withdrawal or a certification decision. The appeal is reviewed by people who took no part in the original decision, and their reasoning is given to you in writing.
Report a threat to impartiality
If you believe a commercial relationship, a familiarity or a prior engagement has influenced an audit, tell us. It is recorded as a threat to impartiality and reviewed independently of the account.
Raising a complaint or an appeal has no effect on your certification status, your audit programme or your price. If it ever appeared to, that would itself be a threat to impartiality and would be recorded as one.
Get a quotation, or transfer the certificate you already hold.
Tell us your standards, the scope you want covered, your effective headcount and your sites. You will get a scope statement and a fixed quotation, with audit duration calculated from the accreditation body's mandatory formula.