Quality Awards

Learn more about "Quality in Befriending", including how to apply:

Quality in Befriending Eligibility Criteria

Checking your Project is Eligible to Apply for QiB

In order to prevent projects which do not fall under the scope of this award from wasting time by applying, the form registers projects as “Aiming for QiB” contains an eligibility checklist.

Download the 'Aiming for QiB Project Registration Form'.

Eligibility Criteria

1. This standard is for projects which:

  • work with vulnerable and/or isolated people
  • provide companionship – the aim is to do things with people, not for them
  • have a strong emphasis on the idea that the primary intervention is the relationship – may use this relationship to achieve goals, but achieving the goals is not the primary aim (contrast with mentoring where the focus is the issue at hand and the imparting of knowledge)

To summarise: in befriending, the issue makes you vulnerable and/or isolated – the relationship is how you tackle the resulting vulnerability and isolation (this corresponds to positions 1-4 on the befriending:mentoring spectrum).

2. Both clients and befrienders must be taking part in the relationship on a voluntary (ie not paid) basis.

3. The volunteers must work in a purely befriending role (ie not as advocates / carers / advisers / personal assistants / shoppers / counsellors / DIY helpers etc)

4. >50% of clients within the project must be matched with volunteers on a one to one basis (ie projects which also incorporate some group befriending or other group work are eligible to apply, however the award only assesses the quality of the one to one work) – this could be either face to face or telephone befriending.

5. The project should have completed at least one full cycle of work before applying (ie client referrals and assessments, volunteer recruitment, training and selection, matching, providing support to befrienders, reviewing matches) and all policies, procedures and paperwork should have been written and should be in use.

6. The project must be currently active (ie have undertaken all the tasks listed in 4. above within the last 12 months).

7. There should either be the funding in place for the project to continue for at least the next 12 months, or funding applications to enable this should have been submitted.

8. All required policies, procedures and forms should be in place and being used.

9. The project should meet the BNS Code of Practice Safe & Competent Practice Staff:Befriender ratio recommendation that no more than 30 matches are supported by 1 full-time member of staff (see p19 of the Befriending Code of Practice for examples of part-time equivalents)