EQUASS Certification

The EQUASS certification programmes are based on nine Principles for Quality: a widely approved set of European Principles for Quality, which include the perspectives of Europe's most important stakeholders in the field of disability.The sector-specific quality framework can be operated at the European level because it starts from universal key values which are translated into criteria and indicators. The EQUASS certification programmes criteria are non-prescriptive in a sense that compliance with them can be achieved in various ways. Moreover, they respect the cultural variety in practice of social services provision, and allow a flexibility which is needed in order to adjust to different national contexts and regulations. The EQUASS Award criteria are used in a trans-national benchmark process to identify outstanding performance in the provision of social services. 

Moreover, the three labels of certification are non-compulsory and sector-driven to overcome the fact that regulating social services is a competence of the European Member States.

The EQUASS certification programmes fully comply with the European requirements for quality in the social sectors expressed in the positioning paper of the High Level group on Disability of the European Commission. The EQUASS Assurance certification also fully complies with the core criteria of the Common Quality Framework (CQAF) of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) Sector.

The three levels of EQUASS certification programme are based on the same framework and they certify three different levels of Quality.

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