Choose the benchmark basis

What the unit asks

The working draft makes the practice statement the core benchmark: the analysis asks whether the service delivered the commitments the provider published. An external benchmark, such as the accuracy table in the same draft, answers a different question, and a peer comparison answers a third. Mixing them produces a ranking that cannot be explained.

What good practice looks like

State the basis in the brief. Where the practice statement is the basis, pin its version. Where a published threshold is the basis, cite the table and say whether it is a draft figure.

Evidence an assessor asks for

What a good answer sounds like

A good answer to P3-03 names The benchmark basis statement, with the source and version of each reference., dates it, and says what it does not cover. A policy or a promise is not an answer. If P3-03 has no artefact, the row is not met and the absence is the finding.

Where comparisons commonly fail

• The comparison is called independent but the basis is the supplier's own claims.
• A draft threshold is presented as a published requirement.
• The practice statement assessed is older than the service tested.

Questions to put to the supplier

1. What is this result compared against?
2. Is that reference a published requirement, a draft figure or a supplier promise?

How this is used in the kit

P3-03 becomes one row of the comparison register, with an owner, a status and the evidence named above. A status of met asks for the artefact and its date, and the free check uses the same row as an evidence question, so the page and the register share one vocabulary.