Let’s Not QiB-ble

Two years ago, we qualified for Quality in Befriending (QiB) awards. The year-long application process involved demonstrating beyond doubt that the organisation undertakes best practice at all stages of befriending, from volunteer recruitment and client referral to managing the ending of matches. Our team worked tirelessly to secure our place and, when we received the award, it was a time for celebration in the depths of January 2019.

QiB has 100 criteria relating to staff members, volunteers and service users, and makes sure that all three groups have the best possible experience and feel supported. Many of these processes were already ingrained within the organisation before the application but others, such as post-training interviews, were carefully integrated in our recruitment process at that time and are now standard practice for everyone involved.

Our colleague, Lea, was instrumental in this development and says “I am so proud that the No.1 Befriending Agency achieved this quality standard. It was a really thorough and lengthy process but it allowed us to have many discussions as an organisation about how we could prevent any situations arising where we were not fulfilling our mission. I hope that, when our partners see the QiB logo on our website, they are reassured that we are prepared to go the extra mile for the welfare of people we are working with.”

Now the story continues. When the QiB assessor read through all the hundreds of pieces of evidence we provided, they gave us many helpful comments and suggestions for the future. Next year, we are going to apply for the QiB Excellence Award, which is an even higher step and comes with 28 more criteria that we must evidence in order to qualify!

For more information on the Quality in Befriending (QiB) Award and the variety of organisations that are eligible to apply, please visit https://www.befriending.co.uk/quality-award/.