- Each reference should be reviewed by three people (1. the CVM or SCVM, 2. the Programme Director (PD) or Programme Manager (PM) and 3. the SFSM through peer review) before Approval Panel. The process is subjective and so the group review procedure is important, as is the process at panel of discussing the volunteer based on those reviews.
- Each reviewer should then mark their response on the database, selecting one of the options ‘Approved’, ‘Query’ or ‘Concern’.
- Where a reference has been marked as a concern or query, an explanatory note needs to be made in the approval notes stating the issue. If there is a query, the CVM must follow up on this before panel, so the issue is resolved. The resolution must also be noted by the approval panel chair written up in the approval notes.
- One of the three referees has to be verified as per the process above and have been marked as such on the database.