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People We Help
Service users and beneficiaries
Tough questions

In the voluntary sector it is less straightforward. The people we help don't usually pay the full cost of the service (if they pay anything at all). In some cases people may have little choice over which organisation or service they use. In these circumstances we have to try harder to ensure that we are meeting the needs of the people we help in an acceptable way.

This involves:
● recognising and valuing the
views of people we help

● developing mechanisms for collecting
feedback

● acting on that feedback
wherever possible

Some organisations go further and find ways of involving users in decision making about the design, delivery, review and assessment of services. This is not always easy, but it does ensure that our service is accountable, not only to our funders, but also to those for whom  the organisation exists in the first place.

 ●

 How do you know what the people you help think of your organisation?   
 ● Are there any groups of people who could use your organisation, but are not benefiting from your services?   
 ● What kinds of services do people want and how do they want them to be delivered?   
 ● How do you take these views into account?   
 ● How could you involve people in making decisions about your services and activities?  
Voluntary organisations exist primarily to benefit others. Those who benefit from the work of the organisation may be called service users, clients, participants, members or even customers. 

Voluntary organisations may have a number of different purposes:

 
     
     
     

● to provide direct services (eg running adult education classes)

● to encourage mutual or self help, or sharing of common experiences or concerns (eg offering support to people with a particular condition or issue) 

● who benefits from its existence

No matter the purpose of the
organisation there will always be
groups of people that we specifically
set out to help.
In the private sector there is a very clear
relationship between user and provider.
In a shop we buy the goods that best
meet our requirements within our given
budget. If we don't like what is on
sale, or how it is being sold, we can
usually go elsewhere.

 We need to think about the people we are not helping as well as thosewe are. We may be unknowingly excluding a group of people from using
our services because they are not accessible or not delivered in a way that
meets their specific needs.
If we want to be serious about equal opportunities we have to collect views from those who are not using the
service as well as those who are.

  

 

How are you doing?
Score the Strand
Please tick, give mark out of 6
1 = disaster  
2 = not good  
3 = ok  
4 = good  
5 = very good  
6 = excellent  

 

Practical ideas for quality improvement  
  ●

Survey some of the people that you help. This
could include people who use a particular service; all people you come into contact with over a short time period or a percentage of people all of the time. 

 ● Try to talk to people who don't use your service
and find out why.		  
  ●

Encourage complaints and suggestions. See these as an opportunity to improve what you do.

 ● Ask some people to anonymously test your service.
Ask them to feed back their views on how they were treated and on the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of the help you gave.		  
  ●

Monitor who is using the service and how they found out about you. See how many people willingly return to use your service. See if other 'users' are recommending your service.

 ● Ask staff and volunteers 'when have you been most
responsive to the people we help? How can we do
more of that?'		  
  ●

Invite people you help to a focus or discussion group. Ask them what they most and least appreciate about your service and activities.

 ● See the Help Boxes on www.thebigpic.org.uk for
ideas on how to involve the people we help.		  
  ●

Compare the profile of your users against
information that you know about the user group. Check to see if there are any differences in percentages across gender, age, ethnic origin, disability, geographical areas or income.

 ● Visit a similar organisation to yours to see how they
work with the people they help.		  
       

 

Moving back to The Big Picture
   

Remember, when you make changes in one part of your organisation, this will have an effect on other parts.

For example, the needs of the people we help may change over time. This may have an impact on the outcomes that we can expect. In turn this may affect the purpose or the strategy of the organisation.  

Think about the changes you have made or intend to make. How will these affect other areas?

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