In order to maintain certification it is necessary for all organisations that hold the Charter Mark to have a Continuous Compliance monitoring visit 12 months after their certification.

What the Continuous Compliance monitoring visit entails

The aim of the monitoring visit is to reassure EMQC that your organisation is still meeting the requirements of the Charter Mark Standard, whilst also encouraging continuous improvement. During this visit your appointed assessor will check: Frontline service delivery, levels of complaints and satisfaction with the service, progress made in respect of partial compliances or areas for improvement and any other issues which may affect certification, such as a change of structure or key staff members.

The requirement for any additional monitoring visits or the date for your Certification Review will be determined by your assessor’s recommendation; the number of partial compliances and the progress made since the last assessment will be taken into account.

Certification Review

In the main, a Certification Review will be due at the end of the three year anniversary. It is a review against the current version of the Charter Mark Standard and will take a similar format as the initial assessment. It does not however, require a written application to be submitted.

During the assessment your assessor will need to see evidence of how you meet all the elements of the current version of the Standard, as with the initial assessment this can be through, documentation, discussion and observation.

Organisations are able to opt for an early Certification Review if they wish; there are many benefits to this. As it would be a more frequent review the total number of days for the assessment and overall cost is likely to be reduced. It also helps to keep up the momentum with the Standard and drives continuous improvement throughout the service. 

If you are a current holder and feel your organisation would benefit from a more frequent review please complete our Assessment Request form indicating your preferred dates and we will arrange this for you.