Aycliffe based organisation Developing Initiatives Supporting Communities (DISC) has been accredited with the nationally recognised quality mark for organisations which provide support to individuals to make informed choices about their learning, work and life goals – the Matrix Standard.
A charitable organisation, DISC, which employs 450 people, has been working for over thirty years to help people realise their potential. DISC helped over 12,000 people in 2014/5 and it wanted to ensure that these clients were receiving the best information, advice and guidance possible. The organisation decided that the Matrix Standard would help it to ensure that everyone has the support to realise its potential.
Liane Taylor, Assistant Director of Service Employment & Social Enterprise at DISC, said: “It is essential that impartial and high quality information, advice and guidance is embedded within everything we do. The Matrix Standard supports us to continually improve our services by benchmarking against best practice and ensuring we measure the impact of the services we provide, which supports us drive up standards. It’s fantastic that the assessment recognises the strong culture within the organisation, and the dedication of our staff who always go the extra mile to meet the needs of our service users”.
DISC gained accreditation to the Matrix Standard in 2006 and receive visits from assessors every three years to review progress. Matrix assessors praised the work carried out by DISC since their last visit, commenting: “There is a genuine desire to provide the highest standards of support to help service users and to provide them with a positive experience.”
Ruth Regan, MD at Assessment Services Ltd said of the achievement: “This matrix Accreditation is another example of how the matrix Standard is proving effective for all types of organisations, helping them to provide a more professional service offering and to strive to be the best in their sector.”