Money Advice Service. Debt Advice Peer Assessment Scheme. Summary of Assessment Findings and Recommendations. For NAME OF PARTICIPATING ORGANISATION

Transcription

1 Money Advice Service Debt Advice Peer Assessment Scheme Summary of Assessment Findings and Recommendations For NAME OF PARTICIPATING ORGANISATION Date of Report

2 Contents Page No: Introduction 3 Summary of Assessment Result 4 Assessment Outcome 4 Summary of Case Files in the Sample 4 Individual Case File Scores 4 Comparison of Findings Against Previous Assessment 5 Findings of the Sample of Case Files Assessed 6 Positive Findings Organisational Practice 6 Individual Adviser Good Practice 6 Areas of Concern 7 Areas of Concern: Peer Assessor Recommendations 7 Areas for Improvement 8 Areas of Improvement: Peer Assessor Recommendations 8 Areas for Development 9 Areas for Development: Peer Assessor Recommendations 9 Further Observations relating to Assessment Findings 10 Case Files Ineligible for Assessment 10 Preparation for Assessment (Pre-Assessment Activities) 10 Case Recording and Administration 10 Urgent Remedial Action Requested 11 Assessment Declaration 11 Appendix One: Organisational Action Plan Following Assessment Findings 12 2

3 Introduction: The Money Advice Service has statutory responsibility for enhancing the quality of debt advice across the UK, to secure the best possible outcomes for clients receiving debt advice. MAS developed the Debt Advice Peer Assessment Scheme to enable them in their role as a commissioner of debt advice, to gather insight and drive improvement where required, into the quality of the advice provided by those services receiving funding to provide debt advice to overindebted clients. The Scheme provides a mechanism for specialist debt advisers to assess the quality of advice provided by their peers. The Scheme has evolved from the MAS Peer Review Scheme launched in 2015 which provided a development tool for assessed organisations. The Debt Advice Peer Assessment Scheme sets out the criteria that is considered for both Advice and Casework files and each case file is assessed against these criteria. These criteria identify what is considered to be essential activity in the debt advice process to enable the delivery of high quality debt advice to clients, and also identifies those activities that are considered good practice. The full details of the Debt Advice Peer Assessment Scheme can be found here. (Insert link once Scheme docs finalised) Supporting the Scheme s criteria, the Money Advice Service have produced the Quality Framework for Individuals delivering debt Advice which can be found here, This focuses on both the quality of the organisation delivering a debt advice service and also on the individual adviser providing high quality debt advice. The aim of this report is to collate and summarise the findings of the peer assessment process and should be read in conjunction with the individual case file summary reports. This report will highlight areas of good practice, areas of concern, suggested areas for improvement and development and urgent remedial action required. Recommendations will also be made for further developing the service with a view to assisting the organisation to reach a consistent level of high quality debt advice, evidenced through their case files. 3

4 Summary of Assessment Result: Total Organisation Score: Organisation Score as a Percentage: Xxx out of Xxx Assessment Outcome: 6-month follow up review required: Yes / No (4 or more files scored 0) Annual Review required: Yes / No (Incl. reason why i.e. 20% or more of files scored 1 or x no. scored 0) Three Year Assessment: Yes / No Month and Year of Next Scheduled Peer Assessment: Summary of Case Files in the Sample: Total No. of Case Files Submitted: No. of Files Ineligible for Assessment: No. of Advice Only Files Assessed: No. of Casework Files Assessed: Individual Case File Scores: Case File No. Unique File Reference: File Score: Case File No Unique File Reference: File Score: 4

5 Comparison of Findings Against Previous Assessment: This section will consider the findings of the last assessment (where applicable) and resulting recommendations, and record progress made : 5

6 Findings of the Sample of Case Files Assessed: Positive Findings: (This section will highlight all examples of good practice or good work that has been observed in the peer assessment process, both at Organisational and Individual level) EXAMPLES OF ORGANISATIONAL GOOD PRACTICE: (These will relate to organisational policy and procedure and the approach to delivering debt advice.) EXAMPLES OF INDIVIDUAL ADVISER GOOD PRACTICE: (These will be case specific examples of good practice and good work observed across individual debt advisers which the organisation may wish to incorporate into the practice of the wider team.) 6

7 Areas of Concern: (Areas of Concern could be case file specific or relate to a theme which appears to be organisation wide and impacting on advice delivery. Specific case file examples are likely to relate to those files which have scored 0 or 1, where an issue has been identified with the quality of the advice given, and where action is required to rectify the issue. Themes could be identified where an issue is common to a number of files, and where case files do not evidence the Scheme s Essential criteria. Note: Participant organisations should capture the actions they will take to address findings in this section in the action plan template in Appendix One. - Areas of Concern: Peer Assessor Recommendations for Consideration: 7

8 Areas for Improvement: (This section identifies issues which are very likely to relate to organisational and adviser practice e.g. Case Management, Case Recording and which may have had no immediate impact on the client s situation. These could be case specific, but are more likely to relate to issues arising from a number of the cases within the file sample assessed. Where appropriate, recommendations will be made to improve the quality of service delivery to further the client s situation and/or the case record. Note: Participant organisations should capture the actions they will take to address findings in this section in the action plan template in Appendix One. Areas for Improvement: Peer Assessor Recommendations for Consideration: 8

9 Areas for Development: (This section identifies areas for development in those cases which would have benefited from Good Practice and should focus in the main on making recommendations with a view to increasing a score of 2 (competent) to a score of 3.. Cases scoring 0 and 1 may also feature here but Good Practice issues will not be the reason a file scored 0 or 1 (those reasons will be featured in the Areas of Concern and Areas for Improvement). Areas for development are optional for the participating organisation. Good Practice is not confined to those activities listed in the Assessment Criteria and wider areas may be included. These additional areas may be the subject of recommendations where a file has scored 3 but will have no effect on the file score. Note. This section is provided to enable participant organisations to consider the areas that would be identified as good practice within a peer assessment, and where there would be an increased benefit to the client. Areas for Development: Peer Assessor Recommendations for Consideration: 9

10 Further Observations relating to Assessment Findings: This section provides feedback and suggestions to the Participating Organisation to help improve their experience with the Peer Assessment Scheme in future interactions. This section is only to be used to detail processes which could help the participant engage with the Peer Assessment Scheme better and will include consideration to Administration efficiencies. Cases Ineligible for Assessment: (This section will identify the no. of cases that could not be assessed, along with the reasons why this decision was taken.) Preparation for Assessment (Pre-Assessment Activities): (This section will consider the file sampling and submission process and identify any issues that arose during this phase. Consideration will extend to client consent, structure and content of case files submitted, file contents and missing information.) Case Recording and Administration: (This section will identify those case files where incomplete case recording has impacted on the assessment of the case file.) 10

11 Urgent Remedial Action Requested: Urgent remedial actions are likely to arise due to the perceived risk of detriment/potential detriment, as well as the significance of a missed issue to the client s situation. They will relate therefore to the files that have scored either 0 or 1. The assessment process will only require the participating organisation to reengage with the client in those examples where it is felt that the client s circumstances could be improved through further advice from the service. Urgent remedial action will require the participating organisation to act and supply further evidence to the Debt Advice Peer Assessment Administrator within a period of 28 days. Cases Files Identified for Urgent Action: Remedial Action Requested: Action Taken by Participating Organisation: Deadline for Completing Urgent Remedial Actions: 00/00/0000 There are no further urgent remedial actions. However, please look through the recommendations made throughout this document, especially regarding Areas of Concern and Areas for improvement and refer to the table enclosed to use for any action plan going forward. Peer Assessor Declaration: I confirm that this report reflects the assessment I have undertaken and is a fair and accurate reflection of the assessment findings. Signed: Name: (Name of Peer Assessor) Date: Participating Organisation Declaration: We confirm the findings of this assessment report have been received and understood. We will engage with our Lead Organisation as appropriate to consider the recommendations that have been made. 11

12 Signed: Name of Representative: Date: Position: Name of Participating Organisation: For Internal Use Only: Assessment Findings Moderated: Assessment Findings Released: Findings Shared with MAS and Lead Organisation: Deadline for Sign and Return of Reports: Deadline for submission of any Representations: 12

13 Appendix One: Organisational Action Plan- There is a requirement to share this with your Lead Organisation. The following table provides the structure for participating organisations to capture the actions they intend to take as a result of the assessment findings. It is expected that both the Areas of Concern and Areas for Improvement identified within the report summary will form the basis of this action plan. You may wish to also include actions relating to Areas of Development, but this is not mandatory. Assessment Recommendation Summary of Action Taken Person Responsible Anticipated Completion Date Completed