Join Us

How to Apply

Please click here to download the UKGSA Membership Application Form

When complete please return to: Fax: 0844 822 5215 or UK Gasket & Sealing Association, 2 Old College Court, 29 Priory Street, Ware, Hertfordshire, SG12 0DE

Please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  to receive a Full Membership Pack

Membership Benefits - New Member Benefits Added for 2017

• Status, esteem and professional credibility offering reassurance to your customers and giving you a market “edge”.
• Membership Certificate to declare your status.
• Protection of a Code of Practice and associated disciplinary procedures.
• Inclusion in a Network of like-minded professionals offering mutual support, sharing business and commercial intelligence and assisting in business developments.
• Corporate membership of the British Standards Institution.
• Representation of your interests to government and other agencies.
• Regular newsletters – ‘Cutting Edge’ – keeping you abreast of association services and activities and offering you a channel of communication with the industry.
• Regular low-cost/high-quality meetings addressing your technical and commercial needs and interests.
• Access to opportunities for training and continuous professional development for all levels of staff.
• Opportunities to serve on the Executive Committee and to play a full part in the development of additional services and to represent the interests of your profession.
• Your company included on the UKGSA website, together with full contact details, company profile and link direct to your site.

New UKGSA Member Benefits

We have added even more benefits to being a UKGSA Member!

We have teamed up with the nice people at Joined Up Thinking and launched our very own ‘Buying Group’ to make available cost savings to all UKGSA members. They have a database of hundreds of suppliers and thousands of products and services and constantly benchmark deals to make sure our members will always receive the very best value for money.

They can help with just about everything you purchase, from fuel cards, stationery, utilities, insurance, pest control and coffee machines – and everything in between!

Most (if not all!) of the deals sourced for you are exclusively available to our association members, and are not available to single stand-alone businesses.　 Also, they will be very soon adding more new products and services just for our members, so please keep checking back!

As a member of UKGSA you can list free of charge on the portal your company should you so wish.　 If so, just drop us an email.

What’s more, they have agreed that you can use their ‘Invoice Watch’ service free of charge as many times as you like.　 All you have to do is send them a copy invoice for a recent product or service you have purchased, and they will check to make sure you received the best value for money.

At the very least, the research they carry out for you will show if you currently buy at the right price, and if you should consider changing suppliers!

They are also happy to help source any products or services for us that may not already be listed -　just drop them a note at any time.

Full details can be found on our new secure portal at ukgsportal.co.uk. It is password protected, but just click the link in the homepage to order yours now.

Their services are 100% free of charge to our members and 100% secure, and you only have to take their recommendations should you wish to do so. Think of the UKGSPortal as your very own company buyer!

Membership Grades

The following grades of membership are offered:

• Member - Any company, the primary business of which is the cutting of gaskets from raw materials or the manufacturing of joint sealants and which can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Executive Committee that it is acting independently and without significant structural or legal links with another company, companies or sections thereof in a way which can call into question its recognition by the Executive Committee as a gasket cutter.
• Associate - Any company or a section of a company which, while being able to demonstrate a significant turnover derived from the cutting of gaskets from raw materials or the manufacturing of joint sealants nevertheless fails to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Executive Committee that it is acting independently and without any significant structural or legal links with another company, companies or sections thereof which are primarily recognised by the Executive Committee for other commercial activities and/or services.
• Affiliate - Any company, or section of a company which is not able to demonstrate a significant turnover derived from the cutting of gaskets from raw materials or the manufacturing of joint sealants but which can, nevertheless, demonstrate to the Executive Committee that it has a commercial or professional interest in gaskets and is in a position to make a positive contribution to the aims and objectives of the Association.

Membership shall be corporate rather than personal. All employees of a company in membership will have access to and may benefit from services provided by the Association.

The Executive Committee will exercise full control over application and admission procedures. Their decision on all matters concerning applications and admissions will be final and they will not be bound to give any reason for any of their decisions on such matters.

Membership Fees

Code of Practice

1. As a Member of the UK Gasket & Sealing Association (UKGSA), this company guarantees as follows:
2. That goods and services supplied by our business conform fully with current UK legislative and regulatory requirements;
3. That customer satisfaction and safety are of prime importance in all our dealings;
4. That our business maintains adequate levels of insurance cover appropriate to the nature, scale and scope of our business activities;
5. That all people employed or engaged by our company are adequately trained and supervised by competent management appropriate to their job functions and that we operate formal internal quality assurance systems covering all aspects of our business activities;
6. Goods and services are provided to client specifications and provide adequate and appropriate customer support and after sales service.
7. That we will accept full responsibility to the customer for the performance of anyone to whom work is sub-contracted;
8. That the member will uphold the good name and reputation of the UKGSA and its members and the industry in general. That members will offer the best advice to our customers on matters of specification with due regard to safety, whole life costs and the environment.
9. That in the event of any dispute between a customer and ourselves, which cannot be satisfactorily resolved through our own internal procedures, we
10. Agree to the appointment by UKGSA, on an equally shared cost basis with the customer, of an independent arbitrator by whose decision we will abide;
11. Client’s confidential information shall not be divulged to a third party and should not be used outside the immediate client - supplier relationship.
12. That we will abide by any decision of the Executive Committee of UKGSA, under the terms of their approved disciplinary procedures, following their consideration of any reported serious breach of this Code including a decision to suspend or terminate membership.

As amended/approved at the AGM 3/10/07

Why you should join the UKGSA

We are an Association of gasket cutters/converters and as such, we meet three times a year to exchange views and information with our colleagues, competitors and suppliers. If you are in the trade and not at these meetings you are not informed and not up to date with the latest news.

The meetings themselves comprise of a golf day, an AGM with a Ladies day at the races and a technical visit to suppliers or a large manufacturing concern. Many a good working relationship has been created at the “19th hole” or over the winner of the 3:30 at Nottingham Race Course. All meetings are open to any of your staff not just managers/owners of companies. Site visits are a great way to let your staff see how other companies cope and deal with production and design.

There is a quarterly magazine; “Cutting Edge” which includes articles on company developments and interesting staff profiles and much more.

What is the cost?

• For Affiliated and Associated - membership costs ₤585
• For Gasket Cutters/Sealant Manufacturers - membership costs ₤485

The UKGSA is a member of the British Standards Institution, so that you don’t have to be. There’s a saving of over £200 per annum and you can have copies of any British Standard at half price. As a new member you will also be entitled to a free ½ page Advertisement in an issue of your choice of the Cutting Edge Newsletter.

For a member, even without the saving from British Standards, the cost equates to 161 pints of Boddingtons (Manchester’s beer, brewed in Luton) – and for a 260 working day year that equates to 5/8th of a pint per day. (That’s just a little more than a litre if you are a lager drinker)

For Affiliated and Associated members we shall use the petrol rate of exchange = 97 gallons of petrol per annum, that’s 0.37 of a gallon a day; about 16 miles worth!

Quite obviously it is an expenditure that can be set off against profits.

So it’s not expensive to belong!

The UKGSA this year is investing heavily in a new web site and will develop it so that its members will be in a prominent position on the main search engines.

(Such promotion in turn improves the position of your own web site)

The site will have a “members only” area for surplus materials and bargain offers with a discussion of information forum. You have to be a member to see this.

The really nice thing about the UKGSA is that it is not a clique club, it is an association of like minded people who can forge relationships and trust with competitors and suppliers.