Conduct Your Own Literacy Audit

An audit is a study or survey that helps you describe the way things are being done now.

A literacy audit is a tool that you can use to find out if you (or your section, or your department)

• are aware of the issues and difficulties that people with low literacy skills face
• know how to make sure that people with low literacy skills understand the verbal and written information you give them
• treat witnesses and suspects who have low literacy skills with fairness and respect

By answering the questions in this literacy audit, you will learn how you are doing with the processes and documents you use now. It will also point out where you need to do more to make sure that everyone can understand your section’s (or your department’s) written and verbal communications. Here are three possible ways to do the literacy audit:

• Do the audit by yourself. It will take less than 10 minutes.
• Meet with your colleagues and do the audit together (in about 30 minutes).
• Have a lunch meeting and spend an hour doing the audit and creating a plan of action.