Following the publication of AS 5391:2024 OPAN and DANA have been working with the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JASANZ) to develop a scheme to enable advocacy services to be certified against the requirements of the Standard.

The scheme has now been drafted and is ready to be pilot-tested. Three Advocacy Services, from South Australia, the ACT and Victoria, have volunteered to trial the Scheme over the course of the next six months. The three Advocacy Services are:

• Aged Rights Advocacy Service (ARAS) – aged care Advocacy in Adelaide and regional South Australia
• ACT Disability and Aged Care Advocacy Service (ADACAS) – disability and aged care Advocacy in Canberra ACT and regional NSW
• Rights Information and Advocacy Centre (RIAC) – disability Advocacy in Regional Victoria

A Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) will undertake three separate Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits of the volunteer Advocacy Services to make sure the Scheme is fit for purpose. The Institute for Healthy Community Australia (IHCA) is undertaking the certification process and has many years of experience working in this sector with the National Standards for Disability Services (NSDS) amongst other standards. The audits will involve looking at the three Advocacy Services’ existing certifications against different standards, and making sure that any gaps between the requirements of these and of AS 5391:2024 are met and complied with. The trials will be conducted remotely wherever possible and will include conversations with Persons who have received Advocacy in the previous three months.

In April 2026 the Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) and Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA) signed a legal agreement (correct term?) to establish an entity as scheme owner of AS 5391. A joint management committee is being established to oversee the pilot-testing and the overall management of the scheme when it is ready to be rolled out in full when it is ready, with the beginning of 2027 being the expected date for commencement.

Capacity Services has been contracted to coordinate the various parties involved in the trial and to evaluate the effectiveness of the new Scheme. Michael Bleasdale will provide a point of contact for all those involved and interested in the Scheme between now and November 2026, while his colleague at Capacity Services Murray Coates will be the Independent Chair of the management committee as it establishes the processes and protocols necessary to undertake its role as a scheme owner.

For more information on this phase of the Scheme development project please contact Michael Bleasdale on michael@capacityservices.com.au.