PQASSO is a quality assurance system designed by the Charities Evaluation Services (CES).

PQASSO is a self-assessment tool for use amongst small and medium sized voluntary and community groups. It is a method for groups to measure and improve their performance. This quality assurance system is well known and has a good reputation amongst funders who support the sector. Levels 2 and 3 are now endorsed by the Charity Commission.

How Does it Work?
PQASSO divides organisational development into 12 "quality areas". For each of these, there is a "standard" which has "quality indicators". PQASSO suggests sources of evidence that groups can provide to show they meet the indicators. Groups go through each quality area, one at a time, and identify which areas they are doing well in, and which areas they need to work on to meet the indicators. After that, groups can formulate an action plan to develop these areas. The Organisational Development Team at VAW may well be able to help here.

The twelve quality areas are:

1. Planning
2. Governance
3. Leadership & Management
4. User-Centred Service
5. Managing People
6. Learning and Development
7. Managing Money
8. Managing Resources
9. Communications and Promotion
10. Working with others
11. Monitoring and Evaluation
12. Results

Each quality area is split into three levels. After a group has reached level 1, they might decide to continue improving their performance and progress to the next level. More recently, an externally accredited PQASSO quality mark was introduced and VAW has secured funding from the Big Lottery to fund up to three groups per year to gain the external PQASSO quality mark accreditation.  For more information on this project please contact Athisia Muir at VAW on 020 7535 0490 or amuir@vawcvs.org
 
The success of the process depends upon lots of people being involved (trustees, staff and volunteers) and consistent commitment to changes throughout the organisation. Some of the experiences and comments of organisations that have been through the PQASSO self assessment are given below:

"Despite having the best will in the world, our organisation was floundering in terms of structure before we engaged in PQASSO. We were generally unfocused and lacked a common purpose that we could all agree upon and implement."
"As the PQASSO Co-ordinator, I felt the exercise de-personalised the task and therefore it was easy to bring issues out without anyone feeling pressure or that their work was under scrutiny. We are very proud of the service we offer within our community, but time is of the essence. In the beginning PQASSO was taking up a fair bit of time. However, once we were in gear and given the simple explanations in plain English it was not long before our energy levels rose and enthusiasm took over. We were delighted to achieve Level 1 and this has enabled our organisation to become more organised and structured. We enjoyed the challenge of accountability but realistically know it is only the start". [Betty Muspratt, PQASSO Champion, St Paul's Community Project]

"Doing PQASSO ensures services are up to a certain standard. This is good practice for all voluntary organisations to follow. It has enabled us to run our organisation more professionally. PQASSO provides a good checklist for any manager to follow. It ensures all areas of an organisation operate at an acceptable standard. We intend to continue improving our practice according to PQASSO guidelines" [Kan Inglez, PQASSO Champion, Chinese Information and Advice Centre]

"After completing PQASSO Level 1, the benefit to our organisation is great. We now feel more and more confident in running the organisation's affairs" [Beugre Jacques, PQASSO Champion, Ivorian Advice and Support Group]

To get a PQASSO Pack, visit the CES website.