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Families First Quality Award for Family Information Services
The Families First Quality Award (FFQA) is a national quality assurance process and quality improvement framework designed to help you provide gold standard information to families and keep families at the heart of your work.

The Families First Quality Award recognises organisations that demonstrate excellence in providing information, advice and assistance to local families. local families.
Benefits of FFQA

Provide accurate, high-quality information to families and carers

Meet and exceed your legal obligations

Highlight the importance of Family Information Services to your local authority

Utilise the latest rigorously-tested resources from the Family and Childcare Trust

Get support from experienced FFQA assessors

Reach and display an esteemed national benchmark of quality

Promote excellence in helping families with special educational needs and disabilities

Recipients have gained positive and significant media coverage
Meeting your statutory obligations
FFQA was developed by the Family and Childcare Trust through our National Association of Family Information Services (NAFIS) to help Family Information Services measure their effectiveness in delivering their statutory obligations. Informed by years of research and work with Family Information Services, the Family and Childcare Trust has an acute understanding of the challenges you face to support families in your local community.
FFQA is comprised of a number of standards that track your various statutory obligations and translate them into concrete, achievable goals. By meeting the FFQA standards, your Family Information Service will achieve an excellent standard in meeting your statutory obligations. FFQA now also includes additional standards that recognise excellence in helping families with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Statutory obligations met by FFQA:

Information Duty of Section 12 of the 2006 Childcare Act

Subsequent regulations to the 2006 Childcare Act

Section 27 of the 2006 Childcare Act in Wales

2014 SEND Statutory Guidance

Childcare Act 2016 (coming soon)
How it works
FFQA is designed with your requirements in mind to allow your Family Information Service’s work to be easily integrated into the FFQA framework.
The Families First Quality Award is based on a competence-based assessment similar to that of National Vocational Qualification assessments. The assessment is overseen by our accredited FFQA assessors who will work with you to identify suitable examples of evidence that demonstrate your competence against the individual elements of the standards.
FFQA is valid for three years, after which it can be renewed.
Gain positive media coverage
Recipients of the Families First Quality Award have gained significant media coverage. Receiving an FFQA can help bring a spotlight to your work and align your Family Information Service with a leading rank of FIS in the UK recognised for going above and beyond their duties.
99 Family Information Services have received the Family First Quality Award so far

Let's have a heart to heart.
Submit your expression of interest to be accredited under the Families First Quality Award.
Curious for more details? Get in touch with Will Tucker, our NAFIS Officer.
Let’s talk about starting your scheme