How long does it take for a service to become accredited?

The time it takes for service to gain accreditation varies, and depends on the amount of work required to meeting the standards and the resources available to enable this. Some timeframes which services whould consider are:

> the service must be operational for a minimum of 12 months before it can be eligible for accreditation

> when a service submits for a level 1 assessment there is a minimum of 4 weeks to allow for the assessor to conduct their review

> the time between requesting a level 2 assessment and the site assessment taking place is a minimum of 12 weeks

> for services who have had their accreditation recommended by the assessment team following a site assessment, the time between the site assessment and having accreditation confirmed is typically 6 weeks

> for services who have had their accreditation deferred by the assessment team following a site assessment, the service has up to 6 month to meet the standards and sign off their deferral reassessment. If the service can be accredited, the time to having accreditation confirmed is typically 4 weeks from signing off the deferral assessment.