Neighbourhood Wardens
Neighbourhood Wardens Scheme Implementation Plan Guidance
Although this guidance refers to previous schemes, it remains good practice for reference purposes.
7. MONITORING, ANNUAL REVIEW AND EVALUATION
7.1.1 The aim of monitoring and periodic review is to ensure that approved schemes are making satisfactory progress towards achieving their intended outcomes. Monitoring involves measuring processes, outputs and expenditure against pre-established milestones and targets in order to check that the scheme is operating in the way intended. All schemes will be required to undertake quarterly reviews.
7.1.2 Scheme monitoring should be seen as a management tool and not simply a way of meeting the information needs of funders. It is essential management information since it allows problems to be identified at an early stage and schemes to be altered or re-designed accordingly. Monitoring information can also be used to demonstrate propriety and regularity in the use of funds.
7.1.3 Schemes must decide what measures will be used to monitor performance (performance indicators), how they will be collected and recorded (eg paper-based templates, computer-based spreadsheet or database, etc), the frequency of data collection, and who will have responsibility for carrying out these tasks. This information should be recorded in Section 7 of the SIP. Schemes will be required to prepare quarterly progress reports, annual reports and grant claims to government office. Responsibility for preparing these reports should be allocated in Section 7 of the SIP.
7.1.4 Neighbourhood warden schemes should benefit the whole community, including hard to reach groups. Monitoring arrangements must ensure that information exists to judge that this is the case.
7.1.5 Appropriate arrangements need to be established for reviewing and responding to monitoring data. For example, reviewing monitoring data may be a standing item on the agenda of Steering Group meetings. These arrangements should have the following key elements:
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what constitutes satisfactory performance
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what constitutes unsatisfactory performance
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Response mechanisms if performance is below target.
7.2 Annual Review
Action plans should be reviewed by the end of each financial year to ascertain whether the scheme is operating effectively and achieving the desired impacts. Annual reviews are intended to allow the Steering Group (and scheme managers) to stand back from day-to-day monitoring activities to review progress against the scheme's strategic objectives. A typical review will:
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assess progress to date against objectives and targets
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consider other benefits and ‘spin offs’ from the scheme
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identify areas of concern or difficulty and solutions, and
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Discuss scheme management, delivery and involvement of the local community.
7.3 Evaluation
7.3.1 Evaluation is the process of checking whether a scheme has achieved its intended outcomes. An evaluation should attempt to identify which factors contributed to, or inhibited the success of the scheme. A national evaluation of neighbourhood warden schemes will be undertaken, funded by central Government. Scheme managers are, however, encouraged to undertake their own local evaluation. An important role of the local evaluations will be making sure that local schemes are responsive to local needs.
7.3.2 Staff who are independent from those with responsibility for designing or running the scheme should carry out evaluations. A decision of whom will be given responsibility for evaluating the scheme, and how and when they should evaluate, needs to be taken at an early stage. These decisions form part of an evaluation plan, which should also, detail what information will be required for evaluating the scheme. The evaluation plan should be described in Section 7.
The following table, taken from the Policing and Reducing Crime Unit report on neighbourhood warden schemes, describes a number of ways in which the achievement of a scheme’s objectives can be measured.
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Objective |
Measure |
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Crime and security |
Levels of particular crimes/incidents Overall crime/incident rate Levels of fear of crime Levels of anti-social behaviour (such as noise, littering, graffiti) |
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Lettability |
Requests for transfers on to or off an estate/housing development Void levels Average duration of vacancies |
|
Repair and management performance |
Percentage of rent collected Time taken over repairs and maintenance tasks Residents’ satisfaction with performance Assessment of external appearance of properties and common areas |
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Resident satisfaction |
|
|
Staff satisfaction |
Staff interviews should investigate:
|
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Resident participation |
Extent of resident involvement in management Extent of resident involvement in community affairs Number and activities of community organisations |
Taken from Jacobson, J and Saville, E (1999) “Neighbourhood Warden Schemes: An overview”, Policing and Reducing Crime Unit Crime Reduction Series Paper 2, Home Office.
Last update: 27/08/03