Unit One: Introduction to Skills – Delivering Information, Advice or Guidance

Signposting

Organisations offering information, advice or guidance will often need to signpost or refer clients to other agencies as they will not always be able to meet their needs.

SignpostingReferral
Telling the client about information available to them and where they can go to obtain this.   Examples include: a website where information can be founda telephone number, for example a helplinethe name and address of an organisation who can provide the required supportA more formal process where a client is introduced to another organisation that will be able to help them meet their needs.  This can be done by: taking their details and passing these on to another organisation who will then contact themmaking contact with another organisation for them and making an appointmentactually taking the client to the other organisation to meet with an adviser who can help

The following are situations in which a client should be signposted:

  • the service required is not or can’t be provided by the adviser as it is beyond their authorised level of competence
  • specialist legal advice is required that the adviser can’t provide
  • another adviser is able to deal with the case more effectively
  • the adviser cannot deal with the case due to their workload
  • the case needs urgent action that the adviser can’t provide
  • the adviser thinks there might be a conflict of interest if they take the case
  • the adviser decides to withdraw from a case

Examples of signposting and referral – Think about your own organisation and when clients are signposted and/or referred. There are some examples from different settings below to help you.

ScenarioSignpostingReferral
Chelsea is 15 and has been studying a hospitality course at school, she wants to continue with this at college when she leaves school but doesn’t know what she needs to do next.Chelsea is provided with some brochures and contact telephone numbers for three colleges which she would be able to get to easily from home, it is suggested that she telephones the colleges to see what is on offer and what she needs to do next.Each of the three colleges are contacted and an appointment is made at each college for an informal interview to assess which course would be the best for her. She is provided with the name of each person she will be seeing and appointment times.

Gathering Feedback

Obtaining feedback from the clients who engage with our services is essential to IAG. It also helps us as practitioners in progressing and developing our own practice. Gathering feedback both formally and informally can contribute to the evaluation process and helps us improve the services we provide.

There are a number of ways to gather feedback regarding the quality of service provided and the appropriateness of the referral or signposting.

This includes questionnaires, these can be on paper or digitally via survey monkey or similar.

You can facilitate a discussion and ask the client face to face, or plan a follow up phone call.

You can engage client’s by setting up a service user group which will review, evaluate and share their experiences.

You can also use digital ways, such as using a comment box, live chat or ask for reviews online.

Can you think of any other creative ways to gather feedback from clients? Add your suggestion to the comment box.


Reflecting on week 1

Congratulations on completing week 1 of the course!

You should now have a good understanding about the skills required to deliver information, advice and guidance, about questioning techniques, effective communication, making referrals and signposting.

We look forward to welcoming you to week 2, where you will learn about the policies relevant to information, advice and guidance and understand the barriers faced by clients.

Take a moment to reflect on what you have learnt during this first week. Share one thing have you learnt this week and talk to a colleague about this.

Post a comment

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top