The Associates Collective is an affiliation of professionals who subscribe to a charter of excellence. Further information can be found on the TAC web site.
Until now there has been an absence of formalised quality assurance and cohesion among private contractors who specialise in public service consultancy. Moreover there are increasing numbers of consultants, lone practitioners and small enterprises coming into the market and these numbers will grow. The lack of any kind of organising principle for private contractors means that tendering for work and assuring commissioners and clients of competence and quality become increasingly difficult and arbitrary.
The Associates Collective (TAC) was founded by Cernis to introduce common standards through the Charter for Excellence, as well as promoting cohesion through collegiality and joint working, facilitated on the members’ site www.theassociatescollective.co.uk .
Membership of TAC require candidates to sign up to the Charter and thereby agree to abide by its code of conduct. Subsequently members are invited to become Registered Associates, submitting evidence against each of the Charter standards for approval by the Board.
The vision for TAC is that it will provide commissioners and procurers with a mark of quality assurance whilst at the same time creating a collaborative network for the continuing professional development of those who deliver improvement to public services as independent consultants.
