Scottish National Standards for Information and Advice Providers: a quality assurance framework

Acknowledgements

These Standards and Adviser Competences build on previous publications in 1995, 2000 and 2003 which were principally for housing advice services. The additional topic specific competences for money related and welfare benefits advice were compiled for the Scottish Government Social Inclusion Division by Michael Bell Associates in consultation with an extensive range of agencies in the advice sector. The Standards were piloted in money related and welfare rights services between 2004 and 2006. The composite manual which incorporated topic specific competences for money and welfare related rights was published in 2006. This version of the manual was published in December 2008 to reflect legislative changes to the housing, money and welfare rights related competences.

We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of the working groups which supported the pilot processes and who piloted the implementation of the Standards in practice and over two hundred advisers and agencies who assisted in the compilation and competences for advisers.