Which Levels Should I Apply For
General Help
At the General Help level, an organisation will be giving advice but the client retains responsibility for further action on their matter. A General Help service is likely to provide some or all of the following services:
- Interviewing clients, reading documents they show you and providing a diagnosis of their problems;
- giving information and explaining options;
- identifying further action the client can take;
- basic assistance - e.g filling in simple forms;
- referring or actively signposting clients to appropriate suppliers when further action needs to be taken on their behalf
General Help with Casework
General Help with Casework differs slightly from the General Help level in that organistions holding the Casework standard will do some, or all, of the following things with the service provider retaining responsibility for the clients matter:
- negotiation on the clients behalf with a third party, on the telephone, by letter or face to face;
- representation on the clients behalf in order to have a decision or plan of action changes;
- follow up work, with the provider retaining responsibility;
- on going support and contact with the client as appropriate. This includes updating the client on the progress of issues raised and further advice, as and when the situation changes;
- open case files rather than have one off advice sheets
General Help - Telephone Services
When legal information, advice and or services are provided by national, regional or local telephone helplines, the advice providers can apply for the Telephone Quality Mark Standard. They will need to meet the requirements of the General Help (or with Casework) Standard with the additional requirements in relation to telephone services.
