Introduction
The Committee actively solicits feed-back on the accreditation process and in 2018, we noted that our two-year full accreditation cycle seemed to be too frequent for those organisations where there has been little or no change in the way they deliver their services or the outcomes. The Committee raised this with the Board of PASA and was invited to consider how the accreditation cycle of two years could be extended to three without undermining the quality or robustness of the accreditation process.
The Committee considered the matter in detail and proposed an alternative accreditation cycle subject to meeting certain terms and conditions. We are pleased to report that the Board approved a new process in the summer of 2019. The Committee piloted the new process with three organisations which have each now received their new Annual Certification.
What has changed?
Previously, all organisations wishing to retain PASA accreditation (Applicants) had to prove their continuing eligibility by undergoing a full review process every two years. A new process had now been introduced which is in two parts: full accreditation; and annual certification.
Full accreditation will move to a three-year cycle comprising the same stages and work as the previous two-year cycle. However, in order to maintain the accreditation throughout the three-year period, accredited organisations must successfully complete a self-certification questionnaire no later than each intervening anniversary of the award of accreditation. The Independent Accrediting Assessor (our Assessor) will review the questionnaires and recommend the Applicant for continued accreditation to the Committee, as appropriate. Any material changes in the intervening period may require the Applicant to invoke the full accreditation process and this will be discussed with the relevant Applicants on a case by case basis.
The new certification process
Each accredited firm will be invited to complete a certification questionnaire by our Assessor during the month preceding the anniversary of the previous accreditation date. Applicants will submit the completed questionnaires to our Assessor for review.
The Assessor will raise any relevant questions with the Applicant in order to be confident in recommending that the Applicant should retain accredited status for another year and inform the Committee accordingly. The Committee will inform each applicant of the outcome and also notify the PASA Board.
All Applicants will be expected to undergo the full accreditation process on the third anniversary of the last award of full accreditation, as a minimum.
If, for any reason, our Assessor does not feel able to recommend continued accredited status, the Applicant will be asked to undergo the full re-accreditation process.
Guide to Accreditation
We have up-dated the Guide to Accreditation and the Obligations’ document to reflect the new process and these may be found on the PASA web-site. If you have any queries please contact PASA.