Am looking for contact details of any Local Authority Welfare Rights/ Advice Services that have the LSC Specialist Quality Mark or are considering applying.

We have the SQM and a (small) LSC general civil contract. I believe we are the only local authority WR/advice service in the North-East that does (although there are a number of others elsewhere in the country, e.g. Tameside, Lancashire). I do think the SQM has a lot of strengths but in the end we only applied for it (as opposed to 1 of the other QMs) because of the funding that followed as a consequence.

I doubt many LAs are looking to apply for a QM anymore. The other QMs haven't been audited for 2+ years & I'm sure no new applications have been accepted. Also the LSC view LAs as funding partners (i.e. for CLANs & CLACs) in general these days - rather than NfP advice providers who they want to fund.

We only just got our contract 2 and a half years ago which was around the time of the policy change following the publication of "Making legal rights a reality".

I not an expert but I'm happy to chat if you want to know more about our experience.

Matthew - WR Manager, Darlington BC
matthew.sigsworth@darlington.gov.uk

We got specialist QM. We have not been audited fotr 4 years.

update from the LSC website ...

'We are reviewing our application and assessment process.

We plan to ... accept Specialist Quality Mark applications from new entrants as part of any forthcoming registration process for bid rounds or new contract awards processes.

If your organisation does not fall into these categories, it is unlikely your application will be accepted or your organisation audited. Please contact your LSC regional office to check the local position.'