Investor in People
At Expanding Horizons we pride ourselves on the quality of the services we provide.  Along with external compliance and regulatory inspections, we have developed a comprehensive in-house Quality Assurance Desktop Audit monitoring system which appraises each service to ensure standards are met and then exceeded; we carry out monthly P.I.C Audits; and support our people by utilising the nationally recognised Investors in People’ model, an organisation with whom we are accredited.

Everyone agrees that people are an organisation's greatest asset, and we all know that for an organisation to succeed everyone has to perform well. To achieve this, people need the right knowledge, skills and motivation to work efficiently. The Investors in People Standard gives Expanding Horizons a framework to ensure that we achieve this. The Investors in People Standard is there to help us improve the way we work. We have to meet the same criteria – or 'indicators' as other organisations. Investors in People recognise that organisations use different means to achieve success through their people. It does not prescribe any one method but provides a framework to help us find the most suitable means for achieving success through our people. We can tell that our investment in people is making a difference because we have processes in place to implement, review and where necessary change working practices. However, the best way of finding out what impact our investment in people has had is to talk to our people to find out what difference it has made to them, their team and the organisation.

Quality Assurance Desktop Audit
At Expanding Horizons we also carry out an annual Quality Assurance Desktop Audit. This is conducted by the Company Directors who focus on reviewing and revising organisational policies and procedures, conduct stakeholder surveys, and formulate strategic and operational plans. The Desktop Audit system includes over 1000 audit points and is a rolling process that takes approximately 40 weeks to complete. Following completion of this process, the Directors utilise the information gathered during the Audit to set goals and objectives for continuous improvement that will be implemented via the subsequent development (action) plan.

P.I.C Audits
A Company Director also completes a PIC Audit for each of the services on an monthly basis. This involves a review of each service they oversee, talking to service users and staff actively observing everyday activities.
As part of this process services are appraised for compliance against a number of nationally recognised indicators. Each indicator is given a score to see how well the service is performing, ranging from ‘0 - not complying’ to ‘5 - excellent practice’.

Following the P.I.C Audit the Operational Manager writes a report summarising the findings and any recommendations that have arisen. This is forwarded to the Service Manager who is required to action any recommendations within one month.