The magnetic field standards, facilities and capabilities available at NPL for the calibration of magnetometers and gradiometers and the measurement of the magnetic properties of materials will be introduced. The details of the low magnetic field facility will be explained and the capabilities this facility enables for the characterisation and calibration of ultra-sensitive room temperature magnetic sensors will be presented. Building on core material capabilities that are compliant with the IEC 60404 series of written standards, the example of a standard permeameter that has been modified for the measurement of strips for real world conditions is discussed. This was incorporated into a stress machine to measure the DC properties of the soft magnetic materials used by the partners of a collaborative industry led R&D project at stress levels of up to 700 MPa. The results for three materials are presented and the changes in the properties with applied stress compared to establish which material exhibits favourable properties.