Action In Rural Sussex

Quality Assurance

Action in rural Sussex has achieved level 2 of The ACRE Good Practice Quality Standard which contains requirements that define good practice for Rural Community Councils (RCCs). The Standard covers 9 areas of good practice in the organisation of an RCC, called Organisational Standards.

ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) is a national charity whose purpose is to support sustainable rural community development. Its members are the Rural Community Councils in England. It has produced this Good Practice Quality Standard as part of a national improvement strategy for the ACRE Network. The strategy and the Standard are supported by DEFRA.

Link to ACRE Good Practice Quality Standards which will read as below:

ACRE Good Practice Quality Standards

ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) is a national charity whose purpose is to support sustainable rural community development. Its members are the Rural Community Councils in England. It has produced this Good Practice Quality Standard as part of a national improvement strategy for the ACRE Network. The strategy and the Standard are supported by DEFRA.

The ACRE Good Practice Quality Standard contains requirements that define good practice for Rural Community Councils (RCCs).

The Standard covers 9 areas of good practice in the organisation of an RCC, called Organisational Standards.
  • Business planning
  • User-centred service
  • Trustees and the board
  • Managing activities
  • Financial management
  • Monitoring and evaluation
  • Managing and supporting staff
  • Training and skills development
  • Networks and partnerships

Each of these contains a number of requirements and is defined at 3 levels. These are:

  • Level 1 – basic requirements that all RCCs should be meeting as a matter of priority
  • Level 2 – more advanced requirements that all RCCs will be expected to meet
  • Level 3 – an ongoing requirement to ensure that everything in levels 1 and 2 is actually happening, and to review and improve the way that you are carrying out the above requirements.

The Standard is designed so that it can be used for self-assessment by an RCC to work out where it complies with the requirements and what needs to be done to fully meet all the individual quality areas.

A process of peer review has been developed that provides external validation of whether you meet the requirements of the Standard at a pre-defined level.

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