We're excited and proud to announce that in November 2025, Your Students' Union Advice Service officially achieved Advice Quality Standard (AQS) accreditation for casework - students. 

The AQS accreditation is an established and widely respected quality mark for the advice sector in England and Wales. The accreditation, achieved following a rigorous assessment process carried out by an independent assessor, recognises that the Advice Service offers a quality, consistent and professional service. Holding the standard shows that:

• The organisation is well governed and managed.
• Advice given is accurate and useful, and based on relevant and up to date legal reference materials.
• Staff are well-trained, and supervised effectively.
• Records of advice are kept, and cases are well-managed.
• Information about the advice service is clear and accurate, and services are accessible.
• Service users are made aware of their rights, and their information kept secure and confidential.

For our students, this means that:

• They can be assured our advice is independent and to a high quality delivered with accuracy and by well-trained staff.
• The service they access meets national standards recognised both for student and non-student advice.
• The service has robust policies and processes that puts students first with the aim of achieving positive outcomes for anyone accessing the service.

Over the past 18 months, the Advice Service has completed extensive pieces of work to review and improve their policies and processes, whilst maintaining the highest level of service for students accessing the service whilst the accreditation process was ongoing. As well as recognising the current level of quality within the service, another motivation for completing the AQS accreditation process was to help shape future service improvement and delivery using the AQS framwork as our framework for continued improvement.

We'll continue to engage students in this ongoing process to ensure the Students' Union Advice Service is meeting the needs of our students. 

If you would like to understand more about Your Advice Service and what they offer, visit our Advice webpages.