This page provides guidance on the cost of QPM assessments for advocacy organisations of different sizes and types of advocacy delivery.
The QPM assessment is a 360-degree review of advocacy services against a set of published standards, based on The Advocacy Charter. It encompasses a desktop review of the Assessment Workbook and selected Policies and Procedures, together with a review of case files and reports. The number of case files and reports that a provider needs to prepare and submit is dependent on the size of the organisation and increases proportionally. If successful at desktop review, a site visit or series of site visits are undertaken, where assessors speak with key staff within the organisation, advocates, external stakeholders and people who access advocacy.
For larger organisations, in order to provide a reasonable and structured approach to the assessment, we undertake ‘site’ visits across an organisation’s activity and need to assess advocacy delivery under each advocacy team manager and in each geographical area. We aim to see a minimum of a third of advocates under each manager and in each ‘team’ or area. Where teams are smaller, e.g. under 12 people, we may need to see a higher proportion of the team. We also need to interview key members of the central and Senior Management/Leadership Teams. Where organisations have an Involvement Board or similar, we would also like to speak to representatives from that Board.
Band 1: For organisations of up to 5 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) advocates, working in one local authority or geographical area, the assessment fee is £2,030.00 plus VAT. The assessment entails the standard desktop review of an Assessment Workbook, Policies and Procedures, 5 case files and 5 reports, if they are written. This assessment is for providers of non-statutory and/or statutory advocacy. Organisations of this size will usually have a one day site visit. *If you are working in more than one area, there will be an additional cost.
Band 2: For organisations of up to 15 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) advocates, working in one local authority or geographical area, the assessment fee is £2,390.00 plus VAT. The assessment entails the standard desktop review of an Assessment Workbook, Policies and Procedures, 5 case files and 5 reports, if they are written. This assessment is for providers of non-statutory and/or statutory advocacy. Organisations of this size will usually have a one day site visit. *If you are working in more than one area, there will be an additional cost.
Band 3: For organisations with 16-30 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) advocates, working in one local authority or geographical area, the assessment fee is £3,896.25 plus VAT. The assessment entails the standard desktop review of an Assessment Workbook, Policies and Procedures, 10 case files and 10 reports of each type written. Organisations of this size will usually have a two-day site visit. *If you are working in more than one area there will be an additional cost. This assessment is for providers of non-statutory and/or statutory advocacy.
*For Bands 1,2 and 3, there will be an additional assessment cost for organisations of any size, working in multiple locations/local authority areas in order to ensure there is adequate assessment time. This will be agreed with each organisation, dependent on their scope and scale of delivery.
Band 4: For Organisations with more than 31 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) advocates, we use a standardised approach to assessing larger multi-site, multi-contract providers of independent advocacy and prepare a bespoke assessment plan. QPM assessments are a 360 degree assessment and we speak to people who use advocacy, external stakeholders, advocates, supervisors and managers of each ‘site’ or area of delivery. We also speak with central support staff and the senior teams as a part of the QPM assessment process. This assessment is for providers of non-statutory and/or statutory advocacy.
We design the assessment based on the number of ‘sites’ (areas, locations, projects), the number of managers, supervisors and advocates delivering advocacy within those sites and the makeup of the senior and central team of the organisation. We aim to meet a minimum of 1/3 of the advocates under each manager however in smaller teams we may need to see a higher proportion of the team.
We will confirm the cost of your organisation’s QPM assessment following review of your Pre- Assessment Questionnaire. We will confirm the cost and invoicing arrangements in your organisation’s Working Agreement.
If you would like to discuss QPM costs with a member of the team, please contact us here.
Please note, where organisations do not pass their desktop or site visit assessment and need to submit additional evidence to be reviewed, there will be an additional cost to cover the assessor’s time.