The assessor role
An assessor decides whether someone is safe to carry vulnerable passengers. It is a coaching role and a gatekeeping role at the same time, and the two pull in different directions.
A planned role, not a vacancy
Community Ride Hub has no assessors in post and is not an accredited centre. This describes the role as we intend it to work, so that anyone considering the pathway knows what they would be taking on.
What the role involves
- Assessing drivers. Conducting theory and practical assessments against the scheme standard: walkaround checks, manoeuvring, road driving, passenger safety, and where relevant ramp, tail lift and wheelchair restraint operation.
- Making a judgement, and defending it. Deciding pass, further training, or not yet — and being able to explain that decision clearly to the driver and to the organisation.
- Coaching, not just marking. Most drivers who do not meet the standard first time are close. Good assessors leave people better than they found them.
- Delivering training sessions covering driver responsibilities, defect reporting, passenger safety and emergency procedures.
- Records and paperwork. Assessment records, certification, renewal dates and evidence that will be looked at by insurers, commissioners and auditors.
- Keeping current. Staying up to date with scheme requirements, vehicle changes and legislation, and taking part in standardisation activity.
The hard part
The technical content of assessment can be learned. The difficult part is telling a willing volunteer, who has given up their morning and genuinely wants to help, that they are not ready to drive our passengers yet — and doing it in a way that keeps them engaged rather than sending them home humiliated.
The same applies to a long-standing driver whose habits have drifted. An assessor who cannot have that conversation is not doing the job, however good their own driving is. We would rather develop someone with good judgement and steady temperament than the most technically gifted driver on the roster.
Where the role sits
- Reporting into whoever holds responsibility for transport standards, with a direct line to the trustees on matters of safety
- Independent enough to fail an assessment without pressure from operational demand for drivers
- Working with, not instead of, our safeguarding and induction training
- Likely part-time or sessional in the first instance, paid or voluntary depending on funding
Read on
The pathway page sets out the stages between an experienced driver and a working assessor.