What are quality standards?
Quality standards are nationally recognised standards for identifying how procedures within organisations should be operating and suggest ways in which they can be improved. There are many quality standards within the voluntary sector including PQASSO (Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations), Investors in People and Community Legal Service.
Why are they important?
Increasingly funders are looking to provide quality services and these can only be delivered through quality organisations. Quality standards help you run your organisation effectively and efficiently. They help you to take a systematic look at what you do and identify any areas that need improvement. They also help you to recognise and celebrate what you are doing well.
How can they be measured?
Quality standards provide systems for continuous improvement of all activities. Regular reviews are built in to the systems for organisations to monitor their effectiveness. Most quality standards also have external assessment to ensure that national standards are met. For more information on quality standards workshops please contact us.
Are there any standards that cover working with volunteers?
The volunteer Bureau at CASES can help with good practice in recruiting and managing volunteers and can provide draft documents to include within your own quality standard.
