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The Guernsey branch of local family support charity Home-Start has received 95% in their performance standards review carried out by the charity’s UK arm.
The quality assurance scheme, endorsed by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, was set up by the charity to assess all of their branches throughout the UK and Channel Islands and is conducted by the charity every four years.
The bespoke review, in collaboration with the Charities Evaluation Service, is based around a programme of self-assessment against Home-Start’s quality standards procedures and focusses on the ongoing development and continuous improvement of all practise areas. The Guernsey branch was set up in 2008 although the national Home-Start charity has been running for approximately 40 years.
Home-Start recruits volunteers who are parents themselves that visit families experiencing stressful times. These volunteers work with families in a variety of situations including isolation, bereavement, multiple births, poverty, illness or disability by simply encouraging parent’s strengths and emotional well-being for the benefit of their children.
Based at the Roseville Community Centre, where its co-ordinators recruit and train volunteers and match them with families who are supported by weekly home visits, the local charity was able to evidence 95% of the performance indicators of Home-Start’s quality standards in the areas of governance and strategic planning, learning and improving, managing resources, staff, volunteers and information, the welfare of children and families and working in partnership.
When collating feedback, volunteers and service users were asked for their comments on the charity. One family said of Home-Start: “A massive help, I don’t know what I would have done without them,” while a referrer of the charity was impressed with the: “Excellent communication and a genuine interest in helping families.”
Margaret Spaargaren, chair of Home-Start Guernsey, could not be more pleased with this result: “We are so proud of our Guernsey team who strive to meet the needs of our service users. This result is evident of all the hard work from both our staff and volunteers who, over the last six years, have made this charity a safe place for young families to turn to in times of need.”
Following the report, Home-Start has a six month development period during which they can address the requirements needed to gain the extra 5% needed to evidence 100%.
