National Association of Councils for Voluntary Service
Julie Bristow on the Bexley Voluntary Service Council
Investors in People project, which helped twelve voluntary
organisations in the borough achieve the Standard.
In April 2002, Bexley Voluntary Service
Council (BVSC) submitted a successful
proposal to the Learning and Skills Council
London East (LSC), under the co-financing
initiative, to run the Investors in People
project and received £77,000 to undertake
this work. The project aimed to help develop
the workforce, including volunteers and
management committees, of 12 voluntary
organisations in the borough and to help
them achieve the Investors in People
Standard.
Workforce development
Because of the nature of the voluntary sector
in Bexley, which consists mainly of small
organisations with few staff who are directly
managed by the management committee,
BVSC’s Development Team felt that this
project could provide much needed
resources – money and time – for workforce
development. The intention was to provide
these resources, through training and
consultancy over two years, in a flexible
manner according to the needs and timings
of each individual organisation working
through the IiP process. BVSC felt this was
preferable to putting on a series of
prescribed training because it became
apparent that each organisation had different
needs.
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Assessment costs met in full
The other main element of financial support
from the project was that the costs of the
assessment for all 12 organisations would be
met in full. In addition, organisations were
entitled to £2,500 for any necessary
additional support, such as staff cover while
employees took part in development, venue
hire, childcare etc.
Participating organisations would therefore
benefit by:
 promotion of good practice within the
organisation
 securing a recognised quality standard,
which would in turn enhance their
chances of future funding
 upskilling of staff, volunteers and
management committee
 improved employment practice
 improved staff and volunteer retention.
These factors would also contribute to
improving the service provided to their users.
BVSC’s role
BVSC’s role was to recruit trainers/
consultants who would:
 undertake an assessment of each
prospective organisation
 prepare an action development plan to
which the organisation would sign up
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Innovation
Investing in Bexley
Innovation

support and work through each
organisation’s development plan with
training and advice from either BVSC or
external consultancy.
There was to be a strong emphasis on the
involvement of management committee
members in the development work.
BVSC organised an information seminar and
11 organisations signed up to the project and
underwent a diagnostic session which
established what was already in place and
what areas required further work to achieve
the Standard. These diagnostics were
conducted by the Development Manager at
BVSC and the IiP advisor contracted to the
LSC, together with the Chair and senior
worker in each organisation. A written report,
with recommendations, was then prepared
and sent to them. It was at this point that
organisations had to make the decision
about whether or not to commit to the
process of gaining the Standard by
November 2004.
Why sign up?
Following its diagnostic meeting, BVSC was
the first to sign up as one of the 12
organisations working towards Investors in
People. We wanted to ensure that we were
valuing and developing our staff and
volunteers, setting a good example to the
sector in Bexley and also because IiP is a
widely understood and valued national
standard covering all sectors.
An action plan was then drawn up to help
steer each organisation through the work
identified in the diagnostic, including any
training or consultancy that might be
required. In BVSC’s case, one of the main
factors was the overhaul of its supervision
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and appraisal system which involved writing
a new policy and holding a training day for all
staff, with a consultant, to clarify how this
would work and how to implement the new
procedures.
After completing their action plan,
organisations applied for a first assessment
to be conducted by an external IiP assessor
(wherever possible, the assessor had
experience of the voluntary sector). Each
organisation was to be assessed against 12
indicators and would be able to achieve the
Standard either on the first assessment or, if
any indicators were not passed, on a second
assessment.
Delight and relief
In February, as BVSC was managing this
project and had completed its action plan, it
was the first to undergo an assessment – a
very nerve-racking experience. As we were
advising groups on how to achieve it, we did
not want to fail it ourselves. It was therefore
with delight, and some relief, that BVSC
found it was to be awarded the Standard at
its first attempt. Three more groups face the
assessment process this month and the first
has already received a positive
recommendation from their assessor. The
eight remaining organisations all face
assessment in August and September so the
project is on track to deliver its outputs by
November. We do feel that the project has
achieved what it set out to do by encouraging
the voluntary sector in Bexley to look at
developing its people, whilst also
successfully overcoming any barriers of cost.
Julie Bristow is the Administration Manager
at BVSC. If you would like to discuss any of
the issues raised by this article with her, she
can be contacted at jbristow@bvsc.co.uk.
NACVS Circulation August/September 2004 379.6