Matrix Standard accreditation re-awarded

At the end of 2021, we underwent an assessment of our organisation-wide Information Advice and Guidance Services (IAG) against the matrix Standard, an international quality standard for organisations that deliver information, advice and/or guidance either as their sole purpose or as part of their service offering. We are pleased to confirm that we have retained our matrix Standard accreditation for another three years.

Some key successes that came out of the report included:

• One of the most important elements of the charity’s work is its vociferous and influential campaigning activities. Its views are sought and valued at a national level on a range of related subjects.
• Nacro recognises that for sustainable change to take place, service users have to be supported to develop their personal skills, grow their confidence and develop resilience so that they can make decisions and take steps forward.
• A key indicator in relation to progress (in education) is attendance (reaching 75%), with the organisation adopting a ‘trauma-informed’ approach, recognising that poor attendance regularly links to other barriers.
• Different learners, service users and partner agencies variously describe staff as “caring deeply for young people”, “calm”, “reassuring” and “encouraging”. Learners enjoy their time at Nacro.
• The outdoor programme in Wythenshawe has continued to be successful and is focused on preventing young people from being excluded from school and building confidence and self-esteem.
• The central BASS Hub receives and manages referrals from the Probation Service and Prisons. They use a scoring system to ensure the quality of their process and were aiming to achieve 75% which they have now achieved and are now working to a new target of 85%.
• The use of former service users as volunteers (and in some cases paid employees) is valued by many service users who recognise that “they know exactly what I am going through and how I feel.”

Roger Chapman, Head of the matrix Service, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for Nacro and I would like to congratulate the team on their success. We believe that at the heart of high-quality advice and support services are strong leadership, excellent service and a focus on continuous improvement, all underpinned by effective use of the resources available. The matrix Standard is designed to benchmark organisations against best practice in these areas. With their accreditation success, Nacro is working to provide the best possible support to their clients.”

Campbell Robb, Chief Executive of Nacro, said: “I would like to thank the many staff, service users and external partners who were directly involved in the accreditation process. Because of the passion, hard work and dedication of so many, which is so very clearly evidenced in the attached report, it has enabled us to achieve this important quality standard. Congratulations again to everyone involved and many thanks.”