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Contents

1. Role of the Referral and Assessment Service
2. The Referral and Assessment Service Front Desk
3. Enquiries made at Neighbourhood Offices
4. Requests for Appointments with Referral and Assessment Service workers
5. Taking a Referral
6. Outcome of Referrals
7. Allocation of Cases
8. Initial Visits

1.  Role of the Referral and Assessment Service

The Referral and Assessment Service (RAS) deals with referrals in respect of children and families where the Directorate is not currently involved.

RAS will complete an Initial Assessment and Section 47 Enquiry/ Core Assessment and provide/arrange provision of services as required where the boundary at Level three or above of the Child's Wellbeing Model has been reached (see Children's Social Care Thresholds and Practice Standards).

RAS will redirect cases to the CAF arena where appropriate.

See Allocation of Work and Transfer Protocol for a more detailed breakdown of the Referral and Assessment Service's usual business

2. The Referral and Assessment Service Front Desk

The RAS Rota ensures that a number of workers will be available to service the front desk and will be available at all times to take referrals / complex enquiries. This will ensure that members of the admin team will have an identified person at all times to pass calls/enquiries on to. All referrers should have the opportunity to discuss their concerns with a qualified social worker.

The member of the admin team receiving any messages/ enquiries /referrals will retain ownership until the message/enquiry / referral has been passed on to the front desk workers. Message trays / baskets will not be used, as the front desk workers will assume responsibility for all calls in a given period of time. NB Front desk workers will be required to ensure that there is cover should they need to leave the office.

The function of the front desk will be to:

• Receive enquiries and referrals
• Ensure application of Child's Wellbeing Model (see Children's Social Care Thresholds and Practice Standards
• Ensure that good information is received
• Signpost service users if appropriate to other services
• Ensure information is correctly recorded in line with the recording policy (front sheets) and on the Integrated Children's System (ICS)
• Ensure checks of the electronic recording system are made.
• Ensure thresholds for Initial Assessments and Section 47 Enquiries are applied and that the RAS Duty Manager is involved in the Strategy Discussion/Meeting with the Police. The outcome of the Strategy Discussion/Meeting will be recorded and distributed to professionals concerned within 24 hours.
• Ensure that the responsible RAS Manager endorses in writing referrals to other agencies.

Admin staff will give information about simple requests for direction e.g. to the Benefits Agency, Housing or other Social Care offices. However if the member of the admin team feels that the enquiry is too complicated the call will be passed on to the front desk worker.

The front desk worker will make the decision about whether the enquiry constitutes a referral in consultation with a RAS manager - see Section 5, Taking a Referral.

The front desk worker should complete an Enquiry/Contact Form if a referral is not taken and should indicate what action was taken with the service user. The RAS Duty Manager will be required to endorse the decision and ensure that an appropriate response has been given, appropriate action has been taken and that the decision is appropriately recorded as authorised on the ICS system and the paper file.

The Enquiry/Contact Form allows Managers better oversight and monitoring of contacts/enquiries that do not progress to a referral to ensure that appropriate referrals are not falling through the net. Managers will meet on a regular basis to consider these in detail. 

If a CAF is recommended, this should be recorded as a contact/enquiry and passed to the CAF lead within RAS for progress.

The manager will also discuss the matter at Multi-Agency Panel.

3.  Enquiries made at Neighbourhood Offices

Should a member of the public arrive at a Neighbourhood Office wishing to make a referral or speak to a Social Worker on a matter that is not already known to Children's Social Care, then the Clerk should establish whether the caller wishes to speak to a Social Worker from RAS over the telephone and if so, arrange for this to be facilitated.  The Clerk will gather all of the relevant information so that they can relay this to the clerical office at RAS.  This service will then be able to determine the most appropriate person, to speak to the caller before the caller is transferred through.

Alternatively, should the person wish to visit the office in person, the Clerk will still gather all of the relevant information and telephone RAS to advise them of this so that there is a worker available to speak to the customer on their arrival.

4.  Requests for Appointments with Referral and Assessment Service workers

If a service user requests an appointment with a Referral and Assessment worker, this request should be put through to the front desk worker who will:

• Make a decision about whether a referral is being made
• Signpost and/or offer advice if appropriate
• Make an appointment if necessary

If a service user presents at a Neighbourhood Office, systems are in place to ensure an efficient response is made and that this is least disruptive to the person/family concerned (see Section 3, Enquiries made at Neighbourhood Offices)  

5.  Taking a Referral

See also the flowchart 'Contacts Not Progressing to Referral'

The front desk worker will take complex enquiries/contacts and all referrals. The aim is to achieve application of the Child's Wellbeing Model document (see Children's Social Care Thresholds and Practice Standards document), good quality referrals, prompt provision of simple services and clear and helpful signposting to other agencies/services. All referrers should have the opportunity to discuss their concerns with a qualified social worker.

Referrals will be completed within 24 hours.

On receiving the telephone /fax message, letters or direct contact from service users, the front desk worker will obtain as much information as possible* in order to be able to decide if:

• Signposting to an appropriate service/agency is required, including for a Common Assessment to be undertaken - as set out in the Common Assessment Framework document (see Children's Social Care Threholds and Practice Standards). The designated CAF leads in RAS will progress this
• Level of need for a referral to the Referral and Assessment Service is identified - as set out in the Child's Wellbeing Model (see Children's Social Care Thresholds and Practice Standards)
• Simple service/advice is needed
• An Initial Assessment is required
• A Section 47 Enquiry/Core Assessment is required.
• No further action is required

*Referrers should be asked specifically if they hold any information about difficulties being experienced by the family/household due to domestic abuse, mental illness, substance misuse, and/or learning difficulties.

If the referrer is a professional, additional information will be sought.

• What work has been / is being done by the agency?
• What support is already being offered to the family?
• What do they expect to happen now?
• Has the family been made aware of the referral?

On accepting a referral, the front desk worker will

• Complete all relevant paperwork and enter new referral on Chronology.
• Remember the domains of the Assessment Framework - the triangle) - when taking information for the referral - see Universal Assessments Guidance .
• If the referral is from another professional - remind the professional to put the referral in writing within 48 hours
• When the referral information is completed including the recommendations for outcome, pass to the Duty Manager. (This should be as and when the referral is received to ensure ongoing oversight / discussion by the Manager) 
• The Manager will consider the referral and endorse the recommendations, giving clear instructions as to further action. This may be done on a CF15 or on the referral form under the relevant section. (This will depend on the complexity of the instructions).
• If the recommendation is to refer on to another agency then the Duty Manager should also endorse this in writing.

6.  Outcome of Referrals

The outcome of a Referral, which must be authorised by a Duty Manager, may be:

• That the child does not appear to be a Child In Need, which will result in one of the following: no further action, the provision of information/advice, and/or signposting to another agency including for a Common Assessment to be undertaken
• That the child appears to be a Child in Need, in which case the manager may authorise an Initial Assessment.
• That it is suspected that the child is suffering or is likely to suffer from Significant Harm, which will result in an Initial Assessment, with a view to conducting a Strategy Discussion/Meeting, prior to a Section 47 Enquiry and Core Assessment commencing.

If there are indications that a child may be at risk of Significant Harm, the manager may authorise whatever actions are necessary to protect the child or others in the household from Significant Harm, which may result in the immediate provision of services.

Professional referrers should be advised of the outcome of the referral within 24 hours of the receipt of the referral

Feedback on the outcome of the Referral should also be provided to non-professional referrers in a manner consistent with respecting the confidentiality of the child.

7.   Allocation of Cases

Children's Social Care aspires to achieve 100% allocation of children identified being in need of a caseworker. It is expected that all referrals will be automatically allocated to ensure swift through-put of work.

Managers are responsible for maintaining a 'Rota' to cover for Social Care Staff annual leave and sickness etc.

Once the Duty Manager has confirmed that an enquiry should be processed as a referral it is expected that this will be allocated. The Duty Manager will identify who will be the allocated worker, this may or may not be the person taking the referral. Workload and skill mix will be considered.

The Duty Manager will:

• Clearly record the name of the allocated worker on the case record.
• Identify the purpose / task of allocation
• Sign and date the recording
• Ensure that SURFACS is updated by admin and that ICS is updated from 'Draft' to 'Complete'.

8.   Initial Visits

On all initial visits, workers should take an information pack (this contains a Front sheet for personal data - to check and add information to, Access to Files leaflet, 3 C's leaflet, Information about You leaflet, Form to be signed to allow Children's Social Care to consult with other agencies,  - Parents and Children and Child Protection Conference leaflets).

Before undertaking an initial visit, the worker should be clear about:

• The purpose of the visit
• Who is to be seen
• What information is required and what is already known.

If no access is gained, guidance should be sought from the Duty Manager as how to proceed.

End