A north-east charity has been rewarded for the support it offers staff and volunteers.
VSA – made up of 300 paid staff members and 300 volunteers – has been given a gold accreditation from Investors in People (IIP), which promotes best practice among employers in the UK.
The award is all the more prestigious as just 7% of all IIP-accredited organisations achieve gold.
An IIP assessor has visited all of the charity’s services over the past three years to find out how its volunteers and staff feel about the organisation.
It is the latest in a series of awards for VSA, after its Mercat Bookshop and contact centre were given Queen’s Awards for Volunteering last month.
Speaking yesterday, the charity’s deputy chief executive John Booth says the award is testament to the commitment of everyone involved at VSA.
Mr Booth said: “We have been members of IIP since 2002, so we signed up to achieve their standards.
“We achieved silver status in 2012 and have had annual visits the last three years up to getting gold accreditation.
“As a social care organisation, we have got to treat our people well and support them as best we can – that’s what we stand for and the ethos and philosophy behind what we do.
“Most people are here because they want to be here, it’s very much a vociation not just a job and people want to give something back.
“We maybe can’t pay as much as oil and gas firms but what we do offer is support and training and the opportunity for people to progress within the VSA family.”
The next step for VSA is to reach IIP champion accreditation.