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Contents

1. Description
2. Transfers
3. Transfer Standards
4. Transfer Timescale
5. Re- Referrals
6. Dispute Resolution
7. Expectations of Group Managers

1. Description

The Children's Social Care Division provides a range of services from within a number of specialist social work teams. In a number of different situations, case responsibility for providing services to a child / young person and their family may move between teams. Cases will be allocated to the team based on the specialist remit of the team. A number of guiding principles underpin this process -

• That transfer of casework responsibility should be carried out with the child / young person and their family's best interests in mind.
• That transfer of cases needs to meet certain standards of recording, assessment and information to allow the receiving service to see any immediate needs, assessments and plans required to keep the child safe.
• That transfer of cases needs to be fully shared with the family, carer and other involved agencies. It is good practice for there to be a handover meeting between the old and new social worker and including the child and family. 
• That procedures will not cover every case situation and in exceptional cases it is expected that Group Managers will negotiate individual decisions based on the child’s best interests.
• That in the event of any case transfer proves particularly complex, and cannot be sorted between Group Managers, then this is referred to the relevant Head of Service for action. 
• That if there are specific workload / staffing issues that impact on a case transfer then this is referred to the relevant Head of Service for action.
• At no point should a child assessed as needing a service be unallocated. Any unallocated cases must be reported to the relevant Head of Service by the Group Manager.

2. Transfers

Between Referral and Assessment Teams and Safeguarding and Careplanning Teams

The following cases are to be transferred -

• Where children have become subject to a Child Protection Plan after a section 47 investigation leading to a core assessment and initial child protection conference, the transfer will take place at the first core group meeting.
• Where a child is made the subject of a child protection plan pre-birth the case will transfer at the pre-birth conference. This should be at the earliest opportunity following the completion of the core assessment but not before 24 weeks gestation.
• Where children are subject to care proceedings: following the Initial Court Hearing.
• Where a child also has a LAC status, the first LAC Review must have taken place.
• Children in Need cases where a core assessment has been completed and further intervention is required from social care because the child/ren have multiple or complex needs. Cases should not be transferred to the Safeguarding and Careplanning team if there are needs identified through the core assessment that can be met through the use of universal or targeted services and the use of the CAF step-down procedure. Cases will transfer with an outline CHIN plan once the core assessment is complete. The Safeguarding and Careplanning team will produce a CHIN plan after the multi-agency meeting.
• Requests for s7 court reports on new referrals should transfer following a brief initial assessment. The Duty Manager should write a very short IA on CareFirst to say ‘Request received for s7 court report. This case needs to be allocated in the Safeguarding and Careplanning team. No further work required in Referral and Assessment’. Then allocate it to Safeguarding and Careplanning GM. The ‘Protocol between CAFCASS and Local Authority Children’s Services’ assists practitioners in identifying if a s7 report should be prepared by CAFCASS or Children’s Social Care.
• Requests for s7 court reports on cases that are open to Referral and Assessment should transfer once Referral and Assessment have finished the assessment for Safeguarding and Careplanning to do the s7 court report.
• Requests for s37 court reports on new referrals should transfer following a brief initial assessment. The Duty Manager should write a very short IA on CareFirst to say ‘Request received for s37 report. This case needs to be allocated in Safeguarding and Care Planning team. No further work required in Referral and Assessment’. Then allocate it to GM Safeguarding and Careplanning.
• Requests for s37 court reports on cases that are open to Referral and Assessment should transfer once Referral and Assessment has completed the  for Safeguarding and Careplanning to do the s37 report

Between Referral and Assessment Teams and Teenager and Parent Support Service (TAPSS)

The following cases are to be transferred:

• Teenagers (age 11+) refusing to go home or parents refusing to accept them home will transfer to TAPSS after an initial assessment. TAPSS will provide mediation (where possible) in the first instance to support teenagers to stay in the community
• If, following mediation, removal from home is unavoidable, the Referral and Assessment Team will explore all options (relatives and friends)
• If the young person needs to be looked after under section 20, that will be for a short period of time, with regular reviews. During this time, TAPSS will work with the teenager to rehabilitate him/her home, and will undertake a core assessment to determine any additional needs.
• If the teenager can go home in this time, TAPSS will offer support to them and their carers to sustain them at home for an additional period of six weeks.
• TAPSS social workers would take primary case responsibility for assisting the teenager and their family, and carry out a core assessment.

Between Referral and Assessment Teams and the Looked After Children Team

The following cases are to be transferred -

• Where children have been relinquished by their parents at birth, they can be transferred immediately after they become looked after.
• Where children are looked after under section 20 of the Children Act 1989, have not returned home within 28 days, and after the completion of the first review and core assessment.
• If a child is looked after under section 20 of the Children Act and becomes the subject of a child protection plan.
• Private Fostering cases where the placement is assessed as meeting the child’s needs

Between Safeguarding and Careplanning Teams and the Looked After Children Team

The following cases are to be transferred -

• Where care proceedings have been completed and the plans for the child involve permanency through either a planned return home, long-term foster or residential care, kinship care, or adoption - Cases should transfer at point of conclusion of care proceedings. Six weeks before final hearing there should be a pre-transfer discussion between managers and planned handover of the case.
• Where children are looked after under section 20 of the Children Act 1989, have not returned home within 28 days, and after the completion of the first review and core assessment
• Where a child aged 0-15, is Looked After under section 20 of the Children Act 1989 (agreement with family in place) and is not expected to return home. The social worker should be alerting GM for the Looked After Children team to these cases and the GM should attend the Permanency Planning Meeting if possible.
• Where a child aged 0-15, is Looked After under section 20 of the Children Act and is also the subject of a child protection plan.
• (Where permanency through adoption or fostering has been recommended, this will be brought to the relevant best interests panel prior to transfer to the LAC team.)

Between the Teenager and Parent Support Service (TAPSS) and Looked After Children Team / 16+ Leaving Care Team

The following cases are to be transferred:

• Where the core assessment identifies that the young person cannot return home or to an alternative carer, then TAPSS will transfer the case to LAC
• Where the core assessment identifies that the young person is ready to and/or prepared for independence, then TAPSS will transfer the case to Leaving Care or the Housing Young Person’s Resettlement Team

Between the Looked After Children Team and the 16+ Leaving Care Team

The following cases are to be transferred -

• Where children in care have reached the age of 16 (although consideration will be given to individual children's needs during this process - e.g. to ensure that a change of social worker does not impact on the young person's educational attainment or if the child is part of a sibling group which is placed together).

Between the Looked After Children Team and the Safeguarding and Careplanning Team

The following cases are to be transferred -

Where a Looked After Child (0-15) is in the Looked After Children Team and returns home, the case will stay in the LAC Team for 3 months if the child needs support - a CHIN meeting may then need to be held.

Between the Children with Disabilities Team and the Safeguarding and Careplanning Teams

The following cases are to be transferred -

• (Where children require intervention via a section 47 assessment but also have a severe or complex disability, the section 47 assessment will be undertaken by the relevant Referral and Assessment Team involving the allocated Children's Disability social worker as appropriate.)
• Where children allocated to the CDT have been made subject to a Child Protection Plan, the case will be transferred to the relevant Safeguarding and Careplanning Team. The CDT may continue to be involved but will not have key work responsibility

3. Transfer Standards

Where a case needs to be transferred to another team, the GM will email their counterpart in the receiving team, the DM will have a discussion/ meeting with the DM of the team the case is transferring to, in order to discuss the case in detail before the transfer. The DM’s should agree any outstanding work which needs to be completed before the transfer. They will agree a time for the case transfer to take place which will be within 10 working days of the initial notification from the GM by email to the receiving GM.

The DM of the transferring team should ensure that a completed Case Transfer Checklist is sent to the DM of the receiving team.

In certain cases there should be an agreement between the two managers around a period of joint work, including a joint visit, although if the worker with knowledge of the case no longer works in the team this many not be necessary.

1. All transferring cases must have a completed transfer checklist form for each child, completed by the team admin (checked by DM) handing over the case.
2. The ICS Case Transfer Summary must be completed in Care First; summarising the department’s involvement with the family and services provided/ actions being taken by the worker/ team.
3. The ICS Case Transfer Summary must be authorised by the GM/DM for the team transferring the case.
4. A chronology must be completed to reflect the type of case being transferred.
5. The parent / carer and birth family, together with any other key agency is informed of the transfer of the case in writing and given the new contact numbers.
6. All paper files that transfer should be in one family file in relevant sections (until all documents are stored on CareFirst)
7. All files must be organised in line with the File Structure Guidance.

For Looked After Children

1. All the relevant LAC forms must have been fully completed, and in cases where the child has been in care for 3 months +.
2. For children who have been the subject of court proceedings and permanency planning, a PPM must have taken place and where appropriate a best interests decision taken at the fostering or adoption panel.
3. A core assessment must have been completed on all LAC prior to transfer to the LAC team.
4. Where a child is Looked After (0-15) and it is expected they cannot return home, the social worker should be alerting the GM for Looked After Children Team.

4. Transfer Timescale

Transfer of case responsibility between teams should be completed within 10 working days of the email communication from the GM of the transferring team.

5. Re-Referrals

Where a case has been closed by any team and is re-referred within three months, the case will be reallocated directly to the team that closed it rather than being referred to a Referral and Assessment Team.

6. Dispute Resolution

Where a child’s circumstances dictate that their assessed needs meet the criteria for more than one service, it is expected that Group Managers in the respective services will resolve any dispute over case allocation between them in the best interests of the child.

In exceptional circumstances where clarification is required or an agreement cannot be recorded, Group Managers will escalate the dispute to their respective Head of Service to reach a resolution.

Where there is disagreement about the work that should be completed before transfer and this cannot be resolved by the GM’s, this will be referred to the relevant Head of Service for resolution.

7.Expectations of Group Managers

• Ensure work is allocated, when appropriate to their team, in a timely manner.
• Ensure that all case files are up to date prior to transfer.
• They will allocate cases to an appropriate worker in line with their caseloads and experience.

End