Paternity testing firm proves it is the daddy

May 1 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

A PATERNITY testing firm is looking to take on more staff after becoming the first in the North East to be approved by the Ministry of Justice to carry out parentage tests.

Complement Genomics Limited (CGL) has won the highest level of accreditation for its dadcheck DNA paternity testing service and is now one of just seven providers in the UK to gain approval from the Government department.

The Sunderland-based business won the ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation – the highest agreed laboratory standard – after completing an exacting process which took more than two years.

Once it had achieved that standard, it applied and was accepted on to the Government list, which means it can carry out parentage tests directed by the civil courts in England and Wales under section 20 of the Family Law Reform Act 1969.

CGL chief executive Louise Allcroft said: “It’s a massive thing really. When you are dealing with paternity tests, you are dealing with people’s lives. You have to have credibility. This is a major opportunity for us to consolidate our position as the leading paternity testing company in the North of England and we will continue to build strong, one-to-one relationships with solicitors, GPs and the general public.”

When a court directs that a paternity test is taken, solicitors must use one of the firms on the Ministry of Justice list. Ms Allcroft said being included on the list meant that lawyers would recommend the firm to their clients, which in turn would bolster the work resulting directly from court orders.

Ms Allcroft co-founded the firm in 2000, which now employs four people. The extra work will create an additional two posts, which will be recruited over the summer.

And the company is also working on research to extract DNA from hair which will help police investigate old unsolved crimes.

The research is needed because forensic scientists currently need a sample that is pulled from the scalp and includes the root bulb. They hope to be the first in the world to take high quality DNA from loose hair left at crime scenes.