All , 

Recently when reviewer our approved suppilers i have come across quite a few ISO 9001/IS014001/OHSAS 18001 certificates from a body named ASCB would your recommend using this body or keep with UKAS 

What i would like to know is how creditable is ASCB Accredited Service Body (Europe ) ?

I look forward to your comments 

Mike 

There are any number of reputable companies registered with ASCB(E). UKAS does not have a monopoly. 

From ASCBE home page:

"Certification is a fantastic business asset but there is sometimes a misunderstanding about certification that governments deem it to be mandatory and, secondly, that all certification bodies have to be accredited by a National Accreditation Body which is the only accreditation body permitted to operate. This is simply not true. The UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills' (BIS) official policy principles on Conformity Assessment and Accreditation in the UK clearly states

"Accreditation is applicable to both the regulated and non-regulated sectors but should remain voluntary unless required by specific legislation."

In 1995, ASCB, the Accreditation Service for Certifying Bodies (Europe) Ltd. was formed to accredit a range of non-governmental certifying bodies that assess products, personnel and management systems."

More on their website. I have no affiliation with ASCBE or UKAS.

As for out-of-date references in publications: My employer, HSE, .gov.uk = all guilty as charged.

This looks to be current and authoritative:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/278807/bis-14-596-memorandum-of-understanding-bis-ukas.pdf

There is a difference between conformity assessment and certification of management systems

UKAS will assess providers such as SGS, BSI, Intertek, DNV (and all the others too numerous to list) to provide certification assessment services for the various management systems.

Unless you are a large corporate or involved with actual product conformity assessment I doubt your certification has been directly issued by UKAS - you are probably miss-reading the placement of the UKAS mark adjacent to your providers logo 

Personally there are certain certificate issuers and their associated approval bodies I am very wary of especially for product conformity (when you check the EU list of New Approach Notified and Designated Organisations these firms are very conspicuous by their absence)

Remember some companies have certified management systems to operate their business others have a certificate to keep customers and potential clients happy

Personally never seen ASCB(E) on a UK calibration (national traceable standards) providers paperwork

You could also dig beyond the web site https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-a-company