1.5.2 Protocol for Allocation of Cases |
Contents
1. Background:
Children’s Social Care aims to achieve 100% allocation of children to appropriately qualified staff. The establishment of the service has increased over the past 2 years to reflect the activity of the department and reduce the need to have children and young people unallocated or allocated to unqualified workers.
At any one time vacancies and the appointment of workers returning to the department waiting for confirmation of their social work degree and General Social Care Council (GSCC) registration puts pressure on this performance target and so the following protocol has been devised to assist team managers.
2. Principles of the Protocol
- All children and young people who are looked after should have an allocated qualified social worker (QSW) suitably experienced to care manage the circumstances for that individual.
- All children and young people who are the subject of a Child Protection Plan should have an allocated QSW suitably experienced to care manage the circumstances for that individual.
- All young people over 18 who receive leaving care services should have an allocated Personal Adviser. The Personal Adviser’s job description post JES reflects this responsibility.
- Trainees and secondees returning to the department at the end of their social work degree, who have to wait for up to 5 months for confirmation of qualification and GSCC registration as a QSW, will be known as “student” social workers as it is illegal for them to operate as a QSW until they have the confirmations. They can be the allocated worker for children or young people with the requirement that the case is commensurate to their experience, and provided that there is a secondary allocated worker who is the manager or a QSW who can have either an overview of the case, supervisory responsibility or a mentoring role.
- Students placed within the authority to complete a formal placement as part of their qualification will be treated as above.
- Team Support Workers will not carry case responsibility or be the identified allocated worker. The job description for this group of workers following JES reflects this principle. Team Support Workers should always be identified as the secondary worker on RAISE with a QSW as the allocated worker.
- Trainees and secondees who are undertaking the social work degree and are work based between student placements should be treated as Team Support Workers, until they return at the end of their final year.
3. Performance Management Information
The information and research officers will collate the figures on allocation to reflect the protocol so that cases allocated to students with a secondary QSW will be counted as allocated to a QSW. If this is not recorded on RAISE appropriately, then it will not be counted as such.
In accordance with the Service Remit and Transfer Protocol cases should not be unallocated or assigned to teams on a Thursday or last day of the month.
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