Hull Community Warden Service is First for Quality

The Hull Community Warden Service is celebrating after being the first to be awarded the Warden Quality Standard with Distinction on successive occasions.

The Warden Quality Standard was developed by the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit in what was then the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and is now the Department for Communities and Local Government. The Quality Standard is designed to enable Warden Schemes to demonstrate to funders and other local stakeholders that they meet a nationally recognised standard. It helps them to demonstrate their effectiveness and value to the local community, local agencies, other organisations and potential funding bodies.

John Marshal MBE, the man behind what has become the most successful and largest Warden Scheme in the country said; We have once again achieved the highest mark in the whole country. We have improved on the score achieved last time and can demonstrate that we are not only the biggest scheme in the country, but also the best. The Warden Scheme in Hull delivers a broader range of services than any other in the country. Our aim is to address the issues faced by the whole community, many of which we see in the press and on the news everyday. We provide services to promote healthy living for all age groups and assistance so that older residents are able to stay in their homes rather than go into residential homes.

We also organise inclusion activities for children and young people, and indeed all age groups to strengthen community ties and ensure that everyone's individual value is recognised. These activities are all in addition to the traditional environmental and crime reduction tasks we conduct on a daily basis. John added, I am extremely proud that the Hull Community Warden Service has received this accolade. Those evaluating the schemes are all experts in their field with many years experience of assessing warden services and are the most stringent in ensuring that what is delivered is of the highest standard.

The performance of the Hull Community Wardens was assessed against a number of key areas. Good performance in each of these key areas has been shown to be crucial to the delivery of an effective warden scheme There are 7 key areas as follows; Results Robustness of the Scheme A plausible, well planned and managed scheme Financial and people management Working with the Community to address diversity, race equality and fair access Working with other organisations or key agencies Learning, improving and forward planning

The schemes are scored on each of the key areas through an assessment programme and those that meet all of the minimum standards and achieve an overall score of at least 55 out of a possible 100 are awarded the Quality Standard. Schemes that achieve an overall score of 75 or more are awarded the Quality Standard with Distinction. The Warden Quality Standard lasts for two years after which another assessment is carried out. Only three warden schemes in the Yorkshire & Humber region have achieved the Quality Standard with Distinction and Hull has now achieved it twice.

Barbara Onley of the Neighbourhood Training & Resource Centre, serving Yorkshire and The Humber and also a member of the National Moderation Panel, National Alliance of Regional Training & Resource Centres who assess the scoring for each of the Quality Standard applications submitted said; Achieving the Warden Quality Standard is a testament of warden schemes' determination and commitment to improve the quality of life of communities in their neighbourhoods. To achieve the Quality Standard with a Distinction displays a tenacity and passion to go that extra mile; to achieve the Quality Standard with Distinction on two concurrent occasions illustrates how a warden scheme can continue going from strength to strength.

Congratulations to the Hull Community Warden Scheme. You are a credit to your City, your Region and the national warden family throughout the Country. The Hull Community Warden scheme has launched two new services recently which are available to Hull residents. These are The Befrienders Project and the Royal British Legion and Hull Community Warden Service Partnership. The first aims to mentor volunteers and provide training to support the elderly and vulnerable and the second provides advice and information on the variety of Poppy Support services available as well as those available through the Hull Community Warden Service.

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