CAB accreditation

Citizens Advice Bureaux follow the same accreditation process as other advice agencies offering Type II/Type III advice. The only difference is the number of Organisational Standards CABx are required to self assess against.

Following peer review of your casework your bureau is expected to demonstrate compliance with the ten Organisational Standards relating to casework and referral in your Self Assessment and Application Form. The most recent audit report from Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) must also be submitted as part of your application to demonstrate compliance with all the Organisational Standards in the SNSIAP Framework.

Following agreement with CAS, all CABx will now be peer reviewed via direct access to their case-files on CASTLE.  Further information about this is available below.

CABx are audited via a desktop review.

When self assessing and applying for accreditation CABx must use the CABx Self Assessment and Application Form along with the CABx Self Assessment Summary Form and the Self Assessment Guidance for CABx, as well as view the presentation and organisational guidance slides.

CAS has produced guidance (in a Word document) on Client Consent and Data Protection for CABx.

Our peer reviewers are able to review your case-files via access to CASTLE. This will be done remotely, which means the reviewers can access your case-files from where they are and do not need to come to your office.

This also means bureau will no longer have to scan and upload case-files via our file-sharing platform.

How does my bureau provide access to CASTLE?

You will be supplied with a template DSA agreed by CAS and SLAB which you can adapt if required.  You will be asked to complete the data sharing agreement. The peer reviewers will then be asked to sign the DSA and the completed agreement will be sent to CAS.  CAS will then provide access for the peer reviewers to your bureau’s case-files via CASTLE for the duration of the peer review.

This agreement is similar to the data sharing agreement bureau previously had to complete prior to peer review.

How will the peer reviewers access your case-files on CASTLE?

The peer reviewers will access CASTLE via a secure remote connection to CAS and will only access the case-files required for peer review. The peer reviewers will use a secure encrypted laptop supplied by SLAB.

IT support for the reviewers laptops will be provided by SLAB and CAS will provide support for CASTLE related system issues.

If a peer reviewer requires to see additional information or cases in order to complete a review, you will be contacted to request access to this information.

Further information about how data protection is managed during the peer review process has been supplied by Citizens Advice Scotland. If you have not received this or require further information please contact CAS directly.

For your reference, please see the Data Sharing Agreement that the peer reviewers must sign prior to being granted access to CASTLE.

Please go to the Type II/Type III step-by-step guide to find out more about the accreditation process.

If you have any questions about the peer review process please email SNSIAP@slab.org.uk.

If you have any questions about the CABx audit please email AdviceAudit@slab.org.uk.