The Volunteer Centre Quality Accreditation (VCQA), awarded by the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) is the quality mark for organisations delivering the five local Volunteer Centre functions:

• Strategic Development of Volunteering
• Good Practice Development
• Brokerage
• Developing Volunteering Opportunities
• Voice of Volunteering

‘Volunteering is an essential component of Sefton Council for Voluntary Service and going through the VCQA process ensures Volunteer Centre Sefton’s ability to provide a free, effective and reliable service’, said Lauren Jones, Volunteer Centre Coordinator

The VCQA enabled us to review our current practices, reflect on what we do well and what we can improve.

‘Providing a quality service is of utmost priority for Volunteer Centre Sefton. Having the VCQA gives confidence to volunteer involving organisations, partners, stakeholders, funders and individuals that they are receiving high quality and effective support locally.

The VCQA application process was an excellent way of identifying gaps in the services provided by Volunteer Centre Sefton and enabling us to look at the best way to address these.

It was insightful to look at our portfolio of work through the five functions of volunteering to ensure we have an even coverage of all aspects of Volunteer Centre activity’.

As part of the application process, Volunteer Centre Sefton gathered evidence and case studies covering the above five functions of volunteering and asked volunteers, partners, stake holders and staff to attend interviews by the assessor.

Lauren added: ‘Identifying case studies to use for the application gave a great overview of the work we have done over the past few years and we were able to return to examine the positive impact of this on the sector’.

Accreditation takes place via a peer assessment and is valid for three years.