Our position · standards and regulation, Reading
Two activities have been part of the statutory Code of the Forensic Science Regulator since the Code came into force on 2 October 2023: device forensics and CCTV recovery. As of 2 October 2025, version 2 of that Code is in force. The standard it sets is ISO/IEC 17025. This lab does not hold it, nor will you find our name on a UKAS schedule. Few laboratories explain just how far the boundaries of that Code really extend. The legislation behind the Code limits it to criminal investigation within England and Wales, and to evidence used in criminal court proceedings. Most of what comes through this room falls outside that scope: insurance claims, employment disputes, civil claims and family cases. The first phone call will determine which side your case is on, and that call is free. Instructions here start at £800 + VAT, fixed in writing before anything begins.
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| The question to put | Why it counts | How we answer |
|---|---|---|
| Accredited — and for exactly what? | Accreditation always attaches to a specific, named scope, so it is the scope that matters, not the word | No. There is no UKAS schedule in this laboratory's name for any activity |
| Is it criminal or civil? | Within the statutory Code is the criminal side, and nothing else | We will tell you which, and let you know when you should instruct another expert |
| Who does the work, and who signs the report? | The civil rules require the report to name whoever performed the examination | One named examiner, and the same person signs |
| Will the limits be in writing? | Any limit left out of the report is one the other side will find for you | They go within the body of the report, not in a covering email |
| What method was used, and can it be repeated? | If there is no written record of an examination, then nobody can check it | The method in writing, the hash values, and notes taken during the bench work |
The first scoping call costs nothing. There will be no chargeable work on your case until you have a price in writing. The purpose of this call is to define the scope of the work. Specifically, we identify all relevant events, the accounts and machines involved and, most importantly, what the evidence needs to prove. Forensic instructions begin at £800 + VAT, and the scope decides where yours lands.
A hardware blocker sits in line before anything is opened, and the sector-by-sector image is created behind it, so none of the original data moves. This is the first point a court looks at, and it is the one point that can be demonstrated rather than asserted.
MD5 and SHA-256 are generated during creation of the image and once again from the finished file. Each item has its own exhibit reference. The notes go down at the bench during the work, rather than being reconstructed a fortnight afterwards.
Each step is set out in order, with each tool identified along with its version number, so that a second examiner can perform the entire process again. Where the material gives no answer, or the answer is conditional, this is also documented.
Give the other side a finding they cannot check or test, and you are giving them an argument. So it all goes in the bundle: exhibit numbers, the image each conclusion came from, dated handovers, the hashes, and the working notes typed while the job was running. The examiners on the other side will be able to re-run everything and come to the same answer.
How small the regulated field really is: in the Regulator's 2024–25 count, the activity that covers recovering footage from CCTV and video systems (DIG 300) came to 33 organisations. Twenty-nine of those are police forces, one is a government body, and three commercial providers make up the remainder. Indicative compliance across the whole group was 59%. DIG 301 is the specialist analysis: speed, distance, identification. There the count was 43 organisations, with compliance at 19%, and no organisation at all is accredited for the specialist analysis sub-activities. Three companies in England and Wales, then. When a competitor tells you it is accredited, ask which schedule, and for what.
An employment matter. The report started by setting out the accreditation position, above the method rather than tucked away in a footnote. The other side's solicitor reviewed the report, brought up two points about the imaging, and then dropped it. By the time of the hearing there were no arguments over when the files had moved.
No. There is no ISO/IEC 17025 here, and no UKAS schedule against this laboratory's name for any type of activity at all. The first page of every report we produce carries that information. It does not bar us from the work, and what we write is still read by a court. But the other side has the right to be informed, which is why the statement is placed on the first page instead of waiting to be asked for.
Not on that ground by itself. Under the Forensic Science Regulator Act 2021, non-compliance with the Code does not by itself create liability in proceedings of either sort. The Act does, however, state that the Code may be put in evidence, and it is then up to the court to consider what weight the failure should carry. This is therefore an issue of weight, and to establish weight you have to demonstrate your method, which is why ours has been published.
Section 11 of the 2021 Act on the Forensic Science Regulator provides the anchor for the regime, with two points of reference: crime detected or investigated here in England and Wales, and evidence for criminal proceedings. Employment tribunals, family cases, civil claims and insurance matters fall outside its scope. Most of what arrives at this bench falls outside it. Which side yours is on will become clear during the first call.
No. Within the policing framework for video evidence there is a clear line: on one side, footage viewed as part of an investigation; on the other, images subjected to analysis (speed, distance, height, one face or vehicle compared with another), and that second side is for specialists working under ISO/IEC 17025. Our part is to recover the footage, convert it, and hand it over with a continuity record attached. We do not give opinions on what a measurement would show.
If the case is criminal and needs accredited work, we will say so during the first call and name an accredited laboratory. Everything else is set out in writing before anything starts, and the first look costs nothing.