Here's an idea

The murder of volunteer worker Jonathan Newby in 1993 by a man with a history of mental health problems spearheaded the idea of a peer audit scheme for homeless organisations, and got people thinking about good practice and accountability.

In 1999, four homeless agencies – including the one I worked for – decided to work together and form a peer audit scheme, whereby people could be trained to go into other member organisations and assess the quality of the schemes they are running.

I was seconded from London homelessness charity Broadway to work as a project manager for the audit, and alongside me there are a group of senior managers from member agencies.

The scheme enables people to keep up to date with best practice among members and helps agencies to identify support needs for clients. The auditors then compile a report on each of their project visits, with assistance from a manager.

Initially we underestimated the number of people who wanted to take part in this and we had to increase our training courses. Also, we had a few problems because a number of auditors couldn't write reports properly, so we had to make the person specification much tougher. There is a now a self-assessment form that each candidate has to go through with their managers, and that has helped to sort those who are suitable for the role from those who aren't.

The Housing Corporation helped to set up the scheme and this year we have got three years' worth of funding from the Association of London Government.

The number of member organisations has also grown from the original four (Broadway, Thames Reach Bondway, Eve's Housing for Women and the Single Homeless Project) to six (CAYSH and Stopover).

We are conscious of appearing too much like a club, so we always welcome new people. People can find more information about us at www.hsaonline.org/sap.