There appears to be some confusion here.
During the pandemic BRCGS recommended that sites had announced audits rather than unannounced audits, effectively suspending the voluntary unannounced audit programme. This advice was updated in September and the current position states:
'Therefore, BRCGS089 Position Statement on Unannounced Audits will be rescinded and will not be applicable for audits from 1st January 2022.'
In other words from January sites can elect to receive an unannounced audit. The full position can be downloaded from Procedural Documents | BRCGS
In addition to the voluntary unannounced audits in the BRCGS Standard, it is important to also consider the GFSI benchmark. All GFSI benchmarked Standards (of which the BRCGS Food Standard is one), are required to introduce a mandatory unannounced audit. For food processing the GFSI benchmark stipulates that this mandatory unannounced audit must be completed at least once in every 3 year period. That means that all sites certificated to the Food Standard must have an unannounced audit in the period 2022 - 2024. The certification body completing your audit is responsible for notifying the site if the next audit will be a mandatory unannounced audit, and this communication should take place within 3 months of the previous audit. Information on the mandatory unannounced audit can be located on the BRCGS website using the link provided above.
John Figgins
Senior Technical Manager BRCGS
