Blog Post
keepmesafe • Nov 10, 2020

Fostering Services - Why should you have Cyber Essentials Certification?

More and more Local Authorities are looking for this Certification as part of the commissioning process…Why is that? 

Background

In a procurement policy note first issued in 2014, The Government mandated that Cyber Essentials Certification (CE) was required for any organisation bidding for central government contracts post October 2014. In a further update issued in 2016 they indicated that other ‘government’ contracting authorities (e.g. in local government and the wider public sector) could choose to adopt this policy, should they so wish. 

There is evidence that more Local Authorities are looking for this standard in the commissioning and tender process that Fostering Services will participate in. In several recent tender processes many Fostering Services who could not demonstrate embedded CE practices, faced complications or delay in satisfying the data protection requirements in their contracts.

So, what is Cyber Essentials (CE)?

Cyber Essentials is a straightforward scheme which has been designed to help protect organisations, of any size, against most common Cyber Attacks. Although such attacks can be sophisticated, more often than not they are quite straightforward and carried out by ‘relatively unskilled individuals.’

There are two levels of Certification, these are:
  • Cyber Essentials – this is the ‘self-assessed’ option, which will offer protection against the most prevalent forms of cyber-attack. Vulnerability to such attacks can make organisations a target for more sophisticated attacks with far reaching consequences. Fostering Services process and hold a significant amount of highly sensitive data, the loss or mishandling of this data could have a significant impact and a long term effect to the data subjects.
  • Cyber Essential Plus – although this offers the same simplicity of approach as the basic CE – a ‘hands on’ technical verification process is required to attain certification.


What are the benefits of Certification for Fostering Services?

Cyber Essentials Certification will provide your customers, suppliers and business partners (including Foster Carers and Local Authorities) with confidence, as you will have attained the National Cyber Security Centre’s standard of Cyber Security resilience.

More and more government and local authority departments look for Cyber Essentials certification from their suppliers, so it represents a real competitive advantage. Combining this with the IASME Governance Standard, that includes specific GDPR requirements, demonstrates documented and structured processes are in place. This ensures that Data Protection and Cyber Security are embedded in all organisational processes and remain a key business objective for your organisation.

Why work with Guardian Saints?

Guardian Saints are a certification body for the Cyber Essentials scheme. We also operate as Data Protection Officer for a number of fostering services and we specify that they undertake these certification requirements as a condition of our service provision. Guardian Saints specialise in supporting the fostering sector in the areas of online safety, cyber security and data protection. We have a detailed understanding of the operational process and the particular challenges the fostering sector faces, which puts us in a unique position to support these organisations.

No need to take our word for it – please feel free to read what our customers say about us! 



Share by: