Summary
The Citizens Advice Service very much welcomes any initiative designed to raise standards in advice. In particular we are pleased that the paper proposes the use of the National Occupational Standards as the basis for the quality model as we have been actively involved in the development of the legal advice NOS.
We also recognise the importance of NOS and recognise that this development offers considerable potential in terms of funding opportunities for the advice sector as well as in the area of quality.
While we welcome this and the general principles underlying other aspects of the proposed MAQM we consider that the consultation document lacks detail in some critical areas. We have some concerns, for instance, as to the practicality of introducing a ‘badging’ system for money advice within a multidisciplinary advice setting; the practicalities and cost of introducing and auditing such a scheme and the potential impact of non-badging on less well resourced agencies.
There are a number of external developments, which we have outlined in the response below, which will impact on any QM scheme. We would urge further consideration to the timing of further work on this proposal.
We also have a number of questions in relation to the model, which we have highlighted in our response. We would welcome further opportunities to discuss the detail of any proposals going forward.
We would feel it is important for the role of the Money Advice Trust to be clarified in relation to the activities involved in the development and implementation of the Money Advice Quality Model scheme.
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