West Sussex charity wins recognition for effective management and future planning

Sonia Mangan, CEO said “I am delighted our charity has achieved this independent accreditation. This accolade demonstrates how our staff and volunteers operate following the set of behaviours, such as being caring, inclusive and working with integrity, as set out by the charity strategy.

"This message is always more powerful coming from an external and widely respected body. I would like to thank all our staff who worked so hard in providing evidence to the assessors.”

The Trusted Standard is delivered by The Growth Company on behalf of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and is the only UK quality standard designed to help third sector organisations operate more effectively and efficiently. CSWS has been accredited with the Level 2 Trusted Standard meaning they have demonstrated a long-term strategic approach, future planning, and have established practices which are reviewed to ensure continuous improvement.

This was determined by being assessed against the 11 quality areas of the standard from Level 1 and Level 2; governance, planning, leadership and management, user-centred service, managing people, learning & development, managing money, managing resources, external communications, working with others and assessing outcomes and impact.

CSWS works tirelessly to support family and friend carers who reside in West Sussex. Providing emotional and practical support to carers at any stage in their caring journey. Sonia Mangan, CEO, added, “Working towards this standard has meant we have been able to ensure we are working at our optimum whilst being effective in our service delivery.”

One of the Trusted Standard Practitioners said: “There is a clear supportive culture from the Board and senior management. The organisation’s values are an inclusive part of their strategy and were seen to be lived.

"Staff used words like “supportive, inclusive and very positive” to describe the culture and leaders’ behaviour, with one person stating that “I have never felt so able to talk to managers” and another saying, “what more could you want?” about the process, and the positive outcome.”