ISO consultant in Maidstone
ISO your Maidstone team can run
Local, proportionate and discerning ISO consultants, ten minutes from Maidstone town centre.
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ISO your Maidstone team can run
Local, proportionate and discerning ISO consultants, ten minutes from Maidstone town centre.
Phone number:
ISO certification in Maidstone that your team can run
Most Maidstone businesses we meet want two things from ISO: a certificate that helps them win work, and a system their own people can keep running between audits.
As your local ISO consultant in Maidstone, we are based in Ditton, ten minutes from the town centre, and spend time on your site to see how your business really works. We shape a proportionate system around it, then bring a lead auditor's discerning eye to every part, so your team can run it with confidence.
Local, proportionate and discerning ISO for Maidstone businesses
Ten minutes away, not a day trip.
The same two people at every visit, close enough to call in when your team gets stuck.
A quick question before an audit can be answered at your premises the same week.
A system your team can keep on top of.
Only the documents and routines your business uses, written in the way your people already work.
If a form is never filled in, we ask whether you need it at all.
Effort where it counts.
A lead auditor's view of what your certification body and your customers will look at most closely.
Your team knows which records matter, and can show them to an auditor with confidence.
Our clients in and around Maidstone
Parkwood Industrial Estate
One of Maidstone's main industrial estates, and home to businesses we support. Our clients range from construction to supplement manufacturers to commercial cleaners.
Quarry Wood Industrial Estate
Just along the road from our base in Ditton, so we are rarely more than a few minutes away when a client there needs us.
Branbridges Industrial Estate
Home to Linton Electrical Contractors, who now hold ISO 9001 with our support. Their story is further down this page.
We also have clients in Lenham, East Peckham and West Malling. Further afield, we cover Sittingbourne and the rest of Kent and the South East.
Does your ISO system depend on one person?
In many small Maidstone businesses, ISO sits with one person, often someone who already has a full-time job. When they are busy, on holiday or move on, the system quietly stops.
ISO works like a helmet. It only protects your business if it fits and you actually wear it. A system that is too big stays in a folder, and one that is too thin will not get you through an audit.
The answer is a system that fits, shared across your team, with someone experienced close by when they need a second opinion. If ISO has landed on top of your day job, see how we help people in your position.
ISO your whole team can run, with a friendly critical eye ten minutes down the road when they need one.
How Maidstone businesses usually keep ISO running
The businesses we meet around Maidstone have usually tried one of these.
Leave it with one person
It works until that person is stretched, off sick or leaves. Then nobody else knows where things are, and the next audit becomes a rush to catch up.
Employ a quality manager
A recent quality manager role near Maidstone was advertised from £47,000 a year, before National Insurance, pension and holiday cover. Even then, the system still sits with one person.
Work with a local ISO consultant
We build a system your whole team understands, check it with a lead auditor's eye, and are ten minutes away whenever your people need help.
Bespoke ISO support, on site in Maidstone
Every business we work with gets a system built around it, so we price each one by proposal once we have seen your site.
Whether you are working towards your first certificate or already hold ISO, the work is sized to your business, your risks and your customers. Nothing goes in just to fill a folder.
What is included
- Visits to your premises, with the same two people each time
- Building your ISO system, or reviewing the one you have
- Internal audits and management reviews
- Support on your certification and surveillance audit days
Case study: Linton Electrical Contractors
Where they started
A small electrical contractor on Branbridges Industrial Estate, near Maidstone. They needed ISO 9001 and CHAS to bid for larger contracts, but had no one in-house to lead it, and an earlier attempt at ISO had left them feeling pressured.
The proportionate answer
We started by listening to how a small electrical contracting firm really runs, then built ISO 9001 around that:
- Only the documents their business needed
- Routines that fit around work on site
- Every part checked against what their certification body would look for
- CHAS support alongside ISO
The result
ISO 9001 certification achieved, with ongoing CHAS support. They now have access to more tender opportunities and have won more work, and in their words, their confidence in the ISO process was restored.
Read the full Linton Electrical case study or see more case studies
When the auditor asks your team a question, they answer it themselves.
No more relying on one person, and no last-minute rush before the surveillance visit.
Local
- Two familiar faces, ten minutes away
- Help at your premises when your team needs it
Proportionate
- A system sized for your business, not a bigger one
- Routines your team keeps up without thinking about it
Discerning
- Your effort goes where your auditor will look
- Findings that improve how your business runs
★★★★★
Pharmaquipe work with Next Step Compliance for our ISO 9001 and HACCP certification and have recently achieved our BRCGS accreditation, Jeanette is very professional and easy to work with and we would have no hesitation in recommending her professional services for any local companies in the Maidstone and Kent area.
Sharon, Pharmaquipe, Maidstone client, Google review
A family-run ISO consultancy, ten minutes from Maidstone
Next Step Compliance is a husband-and-wife team in Ditton. You work with the same two people from your first chat to your audit day.
Jeanette Wessen taught for 13 years, becoming a head of department, before moving into compliance, which is why our systems are written for the people who use them. She is an IRCA registered lead auditor for ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 and NEBOSH qualified, and every client she has taken to certification has passed.
Tim Thompson brings a background in precision manufacturing, and is currently studying for his IRCA qualifications.
ISO services for Maidstone businesses
Whichever you need, your system stays the right size and your team stays in control of it.
ISO 9001 quality management
A quality system that proves you deliver what you promise.
ISO 14001 environmental management
Environmental management your customers and councils can see.
ISO 45001 health and safety
Keeping people safe, with a system your site teams follow.
Internal audits
Carried out on site by an IRCA registered lead auditor.
Getting certified for the first time
From your first conversation to your certificate.
SSIP accreditation
Help with CHAS, Constructionline, SafeContractor and Achilles.
Changing consultant
Move across without starting your system again.
Outsourced compliance manager
Day-to-day compliance support, without adding to your payroll.
Your questions about ISO in Maidstone
Do you visit Maidstone businesses in person?
Yes. We are ISO consultants based in Ditton, Aylesford, about ten minutes from Maidstone town centre. We come to your premises anywhere in Maidstone, including Parkwood and Quarry Wood industrial estates.
Will my team be able to run the ISO system without you?
That is what we build for. Your system is written around how your business already works, kept to the size you need, and each person knows their part, so they can answer an auditor's questions themselves.
How long does ISO 9001 certification take for a small business in Maidstone?
That comes down to the size of your business and what you already have in place. After a free chat and a visit to your site, we give you a realistic timescale and plan only the work your business needs.
How much does ISO support cost?
Every piece of work, including ISO certification for the first time, is priced by proposal once we have seen your site, so the cost matches the size of your business and what it really needs. The first 30 minute chat is free.
Can you help with CHAS, Constructionline or SafeContractor as well as ISO?
Yes. Contractors often need both, as Linton Electrical Contractors did. Much of the evidence overlaps, so we work on them together and avoid doing the same job twice.
Can you help Maidstone food businesses with HACCP and BRCGS as well as ISO 9001?
Yes. Jeanette has a BSc in Human Nutrition and Level 4 HACCP, and we support food and pharmaceutical businesses with HACCP, BRCGS and SALSA alongside ISO 9001. Pharmaquipe, a Maidstone client we support with ISO 9001 and HACCP, recently achieved BRCGS accreditation.
Do you cover areas around Maidstone?
Yes. We have clients in Lenham, East Peckham, West Malling and around Paddock Wood, and we also cover Sittingbourne and the rest of Kent and the South East.
Our ISO system was set up by someone else. Can you take it on?
Yes. We review what you have before changing anything, keep the parts that work, and simplify anything your team does not use.
Book a free chat with an ISO consultant in Maidstone
Thirty minutes, no obligation. Call us on 01732 711674, or book a time that suits you, and we will come out to see you.
Get in contact with Next Step Compliance
Looking for ongoing compliance support for your business in Sittingbourne? Want someone to take the management system off your plate? Need to get your ISO system back on track before your next surveillance visit? ISO Consultant in Sittingbourne.
Fill in the contact form for a conversation.