Responsible Sourcing
Approved Assurance Providers: Overview
All Good Delivery refiners and new applicants must engage an independent third-party assurance provider from our Approved Assurance Providers List to conduct annual Responsible Sourcing Assurance.
We manage our Approved Assurance Providers List to ensure assurance providers meet the stringent standards we expect.
Approved Assurance Providers are required to demonstrate fulfilment of the requirements detailed in LBMA’s Responsible Sourcing: Third Party Assurance Guidance. Assurance Providers must carry out third-party audits based on the ISAE 3000 Standard. To become accredited, assurance providers must submit an application form providing details of their relevant experience, skills and quality control and governance processes. To receive an application form, please contact responsible.sourcing@lbma.org.uk.
We engage with assurance providers through training sessions and webinars, but most importantly through robust quality control. Ongoing review and enforcement of Approved Assurance Provider requirements are important elements for the credibility of our Responsible Sourcing Programme. We review assurance providers accreditation and performance annually to ensure they continue to meet our requirements.
Approved Assurance Providers are also required to demonstrate they fulfil the requirements detailed in our third-party guidance.
To view the Third Party Assurance Guidance, the current list of Approved Assurance Providers, the Approved Assurance Provider Toolkit (AAP Toolkit), including the various assurance templates, or to submit an application for Approved Assurance Provider status, click on the relevant file to download.
Third Party Assurance Guidance 2022
Approved Assurance Provider Toolkit (AAP Toolkit)
The AAP Toolkit is comprised of six documents. Frequently asked questions about the AAP Toolkit are also included.
Quality Control Toolkit 1.1 - Pre-Assurance Briefing
Quality Control Toolkit 1.2 - Final Deliverables
Quality Control Toolkit 1.3 - Non-Conformance Form
Compliance Report - Limited Assurance Template
Compliance Report - Reasonable Assurance Template
CoO Form - Limited Assurance Template
Forced Labour Statement - Limited Assurance Template
Approved Assurance Provder Toolkit FAQs
Approved Assurance Provider Application
In order to maintain its status, each firm on the Approved Service Providers list must pay an annual fee to LBMA of £3,000.
The above amount is subject to UK Value Added Tax where applicable.
*Please note that this price is subject to an annual review process that will realise a minimum increase based on the year-end rate inflation. The website will be updated in January of each year.
Approved Assurance Provider Toolkit (AAP Toolkit) FAQs
Yes. LBMA templates are mandatory for all Approved Assurance Providers and for each Responsible Sourcing Programme (RSP) Assurance Engagement.
LBMA recognises the technical input required on Assurance Templates and therefore is open to exempting AAPs from using the Assurance Report Templates included in the AAP Toolkit. A formal exemption application must be made of equivalent templates for LBMA review and confirmation in writing prior to final submissions.
Please note the equivalent templates must be aligned to all the requirements outlined in the Third Party Assurance Guidance version 2 (TPAG2), section 3.3 Assurance Providers’ Conclusion and Reporting. These must also contain the “procedures” outlined in the LBMA templates as a minimum.
No. The AAP Toolkit applies to assurance engagements starting on 1 January 2026. AAPs may voluntarily apply the AAP Toolkit to engagements starting prior to this date.
- Four weeks prior to the site visit: QCT Form 1: Pre-assurance briefing form to be emailed to responsible.sourcing@lbma.org.uk.
- Two weeks prior: a pre-briefing call will be held with LBMA for planning purposes.
- At the end of the engagement: all three finalised QCT forms should be submitted with the Assurance Reports.
Yes. As the scope of COO assurance is limited this may differ to a reasonable assurance scope for Compliance Reports and it is not always clear what procedures have been undertaken on the COO data, for clarity LBMA requests two separate assurance reports.
All deliverables must be submitted via the GBI Platform. The only exception is during the pre-assurance planning stage: the QCT 1.1 Pre-Assurance Briefing document should initially be submitted by email to the RS Team. However, the final fully completed version must be uploaded to the GBI Platform along with all other deliverables.
Yes. LBMA expects AAPs to submit the Excel-based pre-assurance briefing form included in the AAP Toolkit instead of the previous Word-based template. All three QCT Forms must be finalised and submitted with assurance deliverables, including Assurance Reports, via GBI.
LBMA does not require KYC forms or transaction records at this stage. The objective is to identify initial risks in advance of the site visit.
- ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answers are sufficient;
- Any clarifying remarks can be added in Column D of the spreadsheet;
- Key risks identified should also be summarised in the ‘Key Risks Identified’ table.
This should provide an overview rather than a full risk assessment.
LBMA recognises this may occur. Where data cannot be shared in advance, the pre-assurance briefing form should still be completed as fully as possible and submitted at the end of the engagement, together with the other required forms.
[QCT 1.1, Sample Selection tab]
Per Responsible Gold Guidance 9, investment gold should be categorised as Unprocessed recycled gold. If there are any anomalies do ask the RS team.
Overarching guidance on sample selection methodology is included in the current LBMA TPAG2.
LBMA requests information on AAP sample selection methodology in the QCT Forms to assess how best to improve guidance on this in TPAG 3.
This depends on the refiner’s circumstances and the context of the findings. AAPs are expected to use the criteria provided in TPAG 2 Appendix Non-Conformance Risk Levels as well as judgement based on severity versus likelihood of occurrence. LBMA’s Sustainability and Responsible Sourcing Report lists common examples of high-risk non-conformances to assist Assurance Providers in making consistent determinations.
Only High-Risk non-conformance must be clearly indicated in the emphasis of matter section of the Annual Report.
[refers to QCT 1.1, Engagement Scope tab, Conclusion]
To ensure consistency, one of five standardised conclusions must be selected [unmodified; unmodified with emphasis on the matter: modified, limitation of scope; modified, disagreement; modified, material and pervasive misstatement]. These align with ISAE 3000 and TPAC (Third-Party Assurance Committee) terminology. AAPs may edit the language to align with their own internal guidelines, however LBMA RS Team must be notified in advance of final submission or through a formal exemption for the mandatory use of the Assurance Report templates.
Yes. AAPs can share the AAP Toolkit with Refiners if they choose to. It is expected Refiners will see the Assurance Reports in advance, however the QCT Forms may also be shared.
LBMA Mandatory reporting is the submission of the completed AAP Toolkit. Assurance Providers can determine with the refiner if they voluntarily want to submit the Management Report. AAPs should ensure they comply with the independence requirements of the ISAE3000 revised assurance standard when sharing the QCT Forms with Refiners for confirmation.
LBMA will continue to apply ISAE 3000 revised for the upcoming assurance cycle. Once the Responsible Gold Guidance v10 is drafted, LBMA will revise Third-Party Assurance Guidance version 3 (TPAG3) to incorporate ISSA 5000.
Note: The FAQs will be updated periodically as further questions arise during implementation. Please direct additional queries to responsible.sourcing@lbma.org.uk.