New Advice Services Alliance project ... your help needed

Advice Services Alliance are doing a new piece of work in London in relation to the Advice Quality Standard, to pilot a new ‘entry level’ accreditation for smaller and community-based organisations who provide advice.

They’re now looking to recruit organisations to the project and we’ve invited Jo Chimes, ASA’s Deputy Director, to post here with more information about the work and how you - or an organisation that you’re aware of in your area - can get involved.

Hope it’s of interest ....

Cheers ... Shawn

Hi everyone, and thanks to Shawn for the kind intro.

What are we doing and how can you get involved?

You may know that the Advice Services Alliance is fiercely proud of the Advice Quality Standard [AQS] and the role it plays in driving the development of access to social justice in this country. It is a standard which is owned and driven by the sector itself, and it is independent of any of the national advice networks or any individual funders or regulators.

The Advice Services Alliance is piloting the introduction of a new Entry Level to the Advice Quality Standard. This is aimed at small community based organisations who give social welfare rights advice in London (who have not previously held the AQS). We are very keen to hear from advice providers who are interested in taking part in the pilot.

The pilot is running until December 2023 and the Advice Services Alliance is now recruiting six organisations to take part in the pilot. 

Those organisations will receive practical support (and a participation fee in recognition of your time in taking part) to help them work towards Advice Quality Standard accreditation. The main activities in the pilot will take place from September 2023 through to end of November 2023. We are hoping that organisations taking part will progress to the full Advice Quality Standard over the next two years. 

The Advice Quality Standard is held by over 600 separate local advice services across England and Wales and who provide advice on social welfare legal problems to a range of client groups; from the general public on a national helpline to specific and often disadvantaged communities within a locality.

The time commitment from each advice organisation may vary between organisations. Support and guidance will be given throughout. A participation fee is intended to help compensate for the time commitment involved. A short self-assessment checklist will help organisations to estimate their preparation time.

The benefits of the pilot are: support with quality assurance: support with strategic and business planning, and governance: improved funding opportunities: external benchmarking: opportunities for referrals: community of AQS practitioners.

The Advice Services Alliance would like to acknowledge the support of City Bridge Trust with this pilot.

If you are interested in taking part, or have any questions, please post here or contact me by email:  .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

We would love to hear from you.

Thanks! Jo

Morning all.

A couple of updates and bits of news that may be of interest to you.

We have had fantastic interest in our new Advice Quality Standard Entry Level pilot- thank you! So much so that we are planning to go back to our funders to see if we can extend the pilot. If you are interested, please drop me a line at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

And to let you know, I will be speaking about the Advice Quality Standard at the NAWRA conference next week, just before the break on Thursday morning. So I will make sure to add in a quiet moment for you all to put your kettles on. Hope to see some of you there.

And lastly for now - we are running a survey for advice organisations that hold the AQS, or are in the process of getting their accreditation. You can find the survey here: https://forms.gle/ESyJc7qdM7dtAiJaA Its really important for us to hear from you with your views, so please do take a look and have your say. Thank you.

Thanks everyone. Have a lovely Thursday.
Jo

Morning everyone.

A short post to let you all know that the Advice Services Alliance will be running some new free online drop in sessions about the Advice Quality Standard.

If you already hold the AQS, or you are seeking it at the moment, or if you are interested in getting it - this is for you. We are happy to answer questions, and also to hear anything you want to share with us.

The sessions will be very informal, and hosted by me (I look after the Advice Quality Standard at the ASA) and Liz Morris who is the brilliant Quality Manager at Recognising Excellence.

The first session will be on Thursday 12th October 11am to 12 noon.

Here is the link to book, if you are interested:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-advice-quality-standard-share-and-learn-tickets-728745757177?aff=oddtdtcreator

Any questions - please do contact me here or by email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Hope to see some of you next week.

Thanks all! Have a lovely Thursday.

Jo