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Is your service ready to become Quality Award accredited?

As the only award in the UK specifically tailored to the befriending service, the Quality Award is valued by referrers, befrienders, commissioners, and funders. Whether taking on the Quality Award for the first time, planning for reaccreditation, or aiming for Excellence, your dedicated Befriending Networks assessor will be with you every step of the way.

Who is eligible for the Quality Award?

You’re eligible to apply for the Quality Award if your service:

• Has befrienders who work in a primarily befriending role, as opposed to mainly acting as a carer, personal assistant, shopper, counsellor, etc.
• Works with vulnerable or isolated people.
• Has completed at least one full cycle of work before registering, for example, has completed a full befriender/befriendee journey, referrals and assessments, recruitment, training and matching of volunteer befrienders, providing support to both parties, reviewing matches and considering how to manage endings.
• Has funding in place to continue for at least the next 12 months or has submitted funding applications to enable this to happen.
• Reflects Befriending Networks guidelines on service capacity recommendations. These can be found in Running a Befriending Service: The Good Practice Guide.
• Is a member of Befriending Networks and will remain so throughout the three-year award period.

Any services that don’t meet these requirements but would still like to work on developing the quality of their delivery should contact our team.

Take the first step towards Quality Award accreditation and apply today!

Local Age UK or Age Cymru partners eligible for the Quality Award passport scheme should complete this application form.

Is your award about to expire? Find out more about reaccreditation and stay Quality accredited!

Questions about the Quality Award? Contact our team.