Policy review and updating – stepping out

The days of 2-3 year cycles for policy review and updating for health, social services, education-related services seem long gone.

Regulatory change is all too frequent.

So how can you stay on top of the fast-paced regulatory changes in your sector or industry with your policies? It’s important if you want to comply with law and regulations and provide a quality service or product.

Bad news – there are a few sizeable tasks involved. We look at 3 of them below.

But the Good news is that when you join the Policy Place online policy service, you not only get set up with policies. You get the core content of your policies regularly reviewed and updated for regulatory changes. You get the chance to input to reviews but you don’t have to.

3 key jobs with policy review and updating

Prepare for policy change

First task – stay alert for changes to law and other regulations eg Public Health orders.

During the pandemic, we’ve been able to rely on media and the Covid-19 government website for early warnings about pandemic-related changes.

But what about less obvious changes? If you think a change might be coming you could:

• try a google query to see what comes up and follow up on sources like Taskforce reports, white papers
• go to the relevant government website
• check out NZ legislation for law changes.

Review and assess the scope of policy change

The second job is to review the likely changes and assess whether they warrant a change to your policies and procedures. Some questions to consider here are:

• how different are the changes from what was before
• what group of policies might be affected? Sometimes regulatory change may require updating just one policy. More often, though, change may be needed across a few policies
• what do your policy users think is necessary.

Review and updating

The third job is to make the changes.

While doing this, it’s a good idea to review other aspects of the policy. Get it fully up-to-date, ready for a new review date to be set and the policy changes signed off.

You can schedule the next review date in accordance with the industry/sector standard (eg 2 years for the social sector) but expect that review is likely to be needed far earlier.

You’ve made the changes. Job well done.😊

But no you can’t rest. 🙄

You must remain on alert for further regulatory/legal changes and be ready to repeat the cycle – jobs 1-3. Again. And again.

Breaking the policy review and updating 

When you join the Policy Place online policy service, you no longer have to worry about the policy review and update cycle. You get the opportunity to participate in reviews and updates of your policies but you’re not required to stay alert and execute changes to your core policy content.

We review and update it for you.

Want in?

Contact us now to discuss how we can support you with your policies and procedures.