8. Assessment visit and feedback
APS can only be awarded once a project has received an assessment visit and
demonstrated that it can meet the requirements of the standard. The assessment process will vary depending upon whether you operate from a single site or more than one site. Single site projects are assessed by a single visit.
However, if a project operates in more than one site, then it will be required to
achieve APS for all the sites. This option is intended to maintain the rigour of the assessment process whilst minimising the amount of duplication and resources required for organisations to achieve the standard. For further details please read the ‘Guidance notes for multi-site applications’
The assessment day itself will comprise of interviews with key staff members,
volunteer mentors/befrienders and, where possible, service users. For most projects, your assessor will interview a representative sample of the project’s participants.
During the assessment visit it is important that you can provide the supporting
documents to evidence APS. This evidence must be ‘live’ where possible (i.e.
completed rather than blank documentation), providing confirmation that the
processes or procedures meet the requirements of APS. All of the information and evidence provided during the visit will be treated in confidence.
When we receive the Application for assessment form, we will write to you and inform you of the name of the assessor and their contact details. The assessor will then contact you to agree a date for the assessment visit. In most circumstances the visit would take between half a day to a day, but this could vary depending on the size of your project.
The assessor will send an assessment visit plan which will detail the on-site
interviews and when these will take place. This will help you to co-ordinate the onsite interviews and helps the assessor prepare for the visit. It is important that you can provide the assessor with the most up to date APS action plan that resulted from the APS diagnostic process. Your assessor will provide immediate feedback at the end of the assessment. This is intended to highlight the assessor’s initial findings. In most cases, your assessor will indicate whether or not they will be recommending approval.
Following the assessment visit the assessor will compile a final assessment
report. The report will then be sent to a senior assessor for verification.
They will review the report and the recommendation and make a decision to
accept those recommendations or request further clarification from the assessor or the project if needed.
You will be notified within four weeks of the assessment visit date of the decision.
