About Membership
Membership of the United Kingdom Security Shredding Association (UKSSA) will provide your company with a host of benefits.
Membership benefits
- The only UK based association dedicated to Security Shredding operational standards, making our members stand out from the rest
- Stipulation and enforcement of stringent operational standards in confidential data destruction including compliance with EN15713
- Our organisations’ standards are the highest in the industry and are increasingly recognised in the tendering process
- All members are independently audited every two years ensuring the continuity of operational excellence
- We provide a national network of fully audited and compliant members to ensure piece of mind for national and sub-contracted work
- No need to become ISO accredited – any shredding company that passes our audit requirements can join us
- One fixed fee per company site regardless of the size of the company or the site
- Membership fees are spent on marketing to promote the good standards of the shredding industry, not on high overheads of a Head Office
- We do not have a management hierarchy – each member has the opportunity to vote on how the association is run
- Meetings are held 3-4 times per year with a networking lunch served afterward
Do you qualify for membership?
You must comply with our rigorous standards and vetting procedures.
To qualify, members must be actively involved in the process of security shredding and must meet or exceed the requirements set out in our Code of Practice, see above, which lays down the aims and objectives of UKSSA, the standards of service with which the Association's members should comply. It provides members with clear guidelines for operation and members' customers with the assurance required to select security shredding services with absolute confidence.
In order to ensure compliance with these requirements, and as a condition of membership, new members will need to undergo independent vetting of their security arrangements by the UKSSA appointed auditor, National Security Inspectorate (NSI), for each site at which they carry out security shredding operations.
To help you perform an initial assessment of compliance download our simple checklist to find out if you meet our requirements.
Appeals
Provided your organisation meets the requirements stipulated above, your application for membership should be successful. However, the final decision rests with the UKSSA Executive Committee.
If you wish to appeal against the decision, you should make a submission in writing, detailing your objections, and send this to the UKSSA secretariat within 30 days of notification of rejection. The appeal will be considered at the next meeting of the Executive Committee, following which you will be notified of the outcome. The decision of the Executive Committee is final.
Membership fees
Joining fee:
There is no initial joining fee.
Subscriptions:
Existing members: The subscription amount is levied as a flat fee (currently £750 + VAT per annum), regardless of the size of the organisation or the number of registered operations. We offer new members half price membership of £375 = VAT for the first year.
Subscriptions will be reviewed at the UKSSA Annual General Meeting, which is normally held in autumn. Payment to be made on presentation of invoice and no later than 1 month after the date of the invoice.
Audit fees:
In addition to the initial audit fees that are payable on application, members will be expected to subject each of their security shredding operations to an audit every two years for which an audit fee is payable. Audit fees to be set in consultation with the UKSSA appointed auditing body, NSI.
Promotion
Only fully accredited members are allowed to represent themselves as members of the Association and to use the UKSSA logo and literature in their own communication materials.
ALL fully accredited members’ websites will be listed on the UKSSA website.
Meetings
Meetings are held when required, usually in London, and each fully accredited member has one vote, although a member may send as many representatives as required to attend meetings.
Where votes on any matters are tied, the Chairman of the meeting will have the final decision, which will be binding on all members.
