Delivering Sustainable Excellence with our Supply Chain Partners
We are proud to confirm that The Shaw Trust group including Ixion has been assessed as ‘Excellent’ under the Merlin Standard, scoring 88% overall which is the highest score we’ve achieved to date.
In addition to this we were graded as ‘Excellent’ in all eight principles of the Standard, which has only been achieved once before by an organisation being assessed against the Merlin Standard.
“We are very pleased to be recognised against the Merlin Standard for our excellence in working with our supply chain partners across the Ixion contracts, particularly as this was the first groupwide accreditation as part of The Shaw Trust and I would like to thank and recognise the valuable role that our Partners and colleagues have played within the planning and assessment process for the Standard.”
Jo Sears, Head of Service – Contracts and Funding
What is the Merlin Standard?
The purpose of the Merlin Standard is to support the development, recognition and promotion of sustainable excellence, and positive partnership working within supply chains. The Merlin Standard for delivering excellence in supply chain management is built upon eight fundamental and integrated principles:
- Design.
- Procure.
- Contract.
- Funding.
- Develop.
- Performance Manage.
- QA & Compliance.
- Review & Close.
Within each principle, there is a number of criteria which provides a structured approach to achieving excellence in supply chain management.
Organisations are assessed every two years, which includes submitting a self-assessment of our processes and approach to each of the principles and criteria, an online survey completed by our partners and a week of interviews with partners and Shaw Trust staff. Organisations that pass the assessment are awarded a grade for each principle and overall, being assessed to be Satisfactory, Good or Excellent.
We work in partnership with a diverse range of public, private and third sector organisations, to transform our customers lives and the communities we serve. This includes working for national commissioners (ESFA, Big Lottery, MoJ and DWP) and local authorities to deliver high quality learning and skills, employment and targeted interventions.