The journey to accreditation typically takes two years, from introducing staff to an existing Quality Management System to receiving your grant of accreditation. The timescale below (also available as a spreadsheet) breaks the process down into its constituent parts. Some elements may take more, or possibly less, time, but the overall process should take around two years.

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We strongly recommend that your force takes full advantage of the support we can offer, especially at the most challenging points of the process, or if you find yourselves falling behind schedule. The FCN will be able to assist in your preparations, accelerating your readiness for your UKAS assessment and therefore ensuring compliance with the deadlines set by the Forensic Science Regulator. Please contact us if you would like to know more about the support we can offer.

You may have seen this timeline in our regular Quality Matters publication – if you don’t receive this (police only) please get in touch with our Quality team - FCNQualityTeam@dorset.pnn.police.uk