The Shetland Befriending Scheme had in place the Approved Provider Standards (APS).

The APS was developed by the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation with support from the Home Office. It is a benchmark for organisations providing one-to-one, volunteer mentoring or befriending and it seeks to provide projects with a badge of competence and safe practice in mentoring or befriending.

The scheme was approved in July 2006 and re-accredited in July 2009, and was valid until July 2012.

Befriending Networks (previously named Befriending Network Scotland) then launched a new quality award for befriending projects called: 'Quality in Befriending' (QiB). The standards outlined in the new award linked closely to the BNS Befriending Code of Practice and and to the credit-rated Vital Skills in Befriending training course.

QiB assesses the core work of befriending projects and does not aim to assess the wider organisation. The Practice Areas covered by QiB are:

  1. Client referrals, assessments and waiting lists
  2. Volunteer recruitment, assessment and selection
  3. Volunteer training
  4. Matching
  5. Reviews and ongoing support for clients and befrienders
  6. Endings
  7. Risk management and safety
  8. Project resources
  9. Monitoring & evaluation, and implementing change

In 2012 the scheme worked towards the Quality in Befriending (QiB) Quality in Befriending Award via Befriending Networks and they submitted their portfolio in November 2012 for formal assessment.

The scheme was delighted to achieve the QiB award for Quality in Befriending in September 2014 and was valid until July 2016 for 3 sections of the service: Children and Young People, Children and Young People ASN and the Young Adults section.

The scheme is delighted that they have been again re-accredited the (QiB) Quality in Befriending Award for 2 sections of the service, the Children and Young People and Children and Young People ASN section of the befriending scheme. This is valid until 31st July 2022.

Further information about this can be found at: http://www.befriending.co.uk/quality-awards.php