Congratulations to Circles South West: “a wonderful review result”
Circles South West achieved a very high score of 95% in the recent ‘Compliance Review’ undertaken by Circles UK in late 2018. This excellent result is thanks to a fantastic team effort including the coordinators, volunteers, core members and partners who met with the assessors in Bristol and Totnes.
“A wonderful review result… Well done on an excellent achievement! Riana Taylor, CEO, Circles UK, December 2018
The Review Report concluded that: “It is clear that CSW pride themselves on delivering a quality service and this was demonstrated not only in the evidence pack provided but also in discussions with staff and stakeholders… Reviewers were impressed with what they saw whilst at the site visit…. There was a wealth of good practice, from the way CSW value and support their volunteers to strong relationships forged with professionals…. CSW produce some impressive materials and have sound policies in place”. Circles UK, December 2018.
Particular Areas of Good Practice identified included:
- “The (Volunteer) Handbook and (Training) Workbook for Volunteers are of high quality and contain impressive resources”
- “Computerised records are well organised and appear to be uniform organisation-wide”
- “The ID orientation event is very comprehensive”
- “Volunteers already engaged in Circles work attend the Induction Training to talk to the prospective volunteers which is a very good idea”
- “[Volunteer Core] Training is delivered over one weekend and is a residential course, this enables participants to fully immerse themselves in the training”
- “There are further resources available for volunteers to use with the CM”
- “The Coordinators for the selected Circles are clearly well respected by professionals and Volunteers alike. They demonstrate a real passion for the work they do and are brilliant advocates for Circles work. Every volunteer spoken to had nothing but praise for they Coordinator they worked with and felt supported”
- “It is evident that given their previous roles and knowledge, the Coordinators have built and manage good working relationships with referrers”
- “CSW are undertaking a research study [independent evaluation] with Research in Practice and their interim report demonstrates promising results.
All Circles Providers are subject, every two years, to a robust ‘Membership Compliance Review’, assessing compliance against the 12 National Standards and 43 Requirements set out in the Ministry of Justice approved ‘Code of Practice for Circles of Support & Accountability’. The Review comprises the submission of a comprehensive evidence file followed by a 2-day site visit.
