Independent assessment of quality of social services: first results

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of the results of experts` interviews with the directors of the social welfare institutions (education, health, culture, social services) related to the independent assessment of the quality of social services; the survey was conducted by the Institute for Social Analysis and Prediction in two pilot regions (Permsky kray and Samara region) in 2014. Since being introduced in January 2015, the institute of independent quality assessment has been formalized in legislation but still remains unappreciated among many directors of social institutions that caused concerns. Nevertheless, the first attempts to introduce the quality assessment revealed a number of weaknesses in rendering social services such as the lack of information needed to introduce innovations, lagging methodology, raw assessment criteria, improper use of various forms of assessment, not paying enough attention to different types of institutions, nominal existence of certain social councils, and lack of capacities to change the service terms and conditions. Most of these risks were eliminated in a new law, however, due to poor methodology and lack of competence shared by social councils a new risk arose; this risk may distort the basic idea making a formality of it and will not bring any positive changes for the recipients of services. At the same time, the heads of public institutions recognize that the existence of an independent assessment body can be beneficial both for the institutions and for the public. It will help the institutions revealing things not seen from inside, and it will have positive social effects given that the system of assessment is objective and its results are used to improve the quality of services.