3.2.9 High Cost Placement Panel Terms of Reference and Procedure |
Contents
- Aims and Objectives
- Key Functions
- Membership
- Pre-Meeting
- Quorum
- Attendance at Meetings
- Format for Applications to be Considered by the Panel
- Additional Information
- Minutes of the HCPP
- How Recommendations/Conclusions are Communicated
- Submission of Recommendations to the Departmental Expenditure Panel
- Appeals
- Monitoring and Review
Annex A - Pro forma for Applications to HCPP
Annex B - Pro forma for Applications to Departmental Expenditure Panel
1. Aims and Objectives
The High Cost Placement Panel (HCPP) aims:
- To secure the wellbeing, health care and education of the child by ensuring appropriate packages of support are in place.
- To track all children in the system to avoid drift.
- To agree all requests which exceed £1000 per week; to include secure (welfare and remand) placements, USAC, social care, children with disabilities and education placements with a multidisciplinary dimension.
- To contribute to the placement strategy and inform the department's commissioning plan.
- To consider exceptional requests for transport associated with the above or any appeals that have been made by parents for travel support.
- To ensure that children are placed in settings close to home and their families, as long as this is deemed to be in their best interest.
- To consider expenditure for young people post 18.
2. Key Functions of the HCPP
- To enable and promote good care planning.
- To agree the resources required to achieve the Care Plan.
- To ensure appropriate provision is made for looked after children's continued education and health care needs
- To ensure the best use of resources.
3. Membership
- Chair: Head of Service Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Head of Service Social Work and Safeguarding - to alternate
- Administration: Childcare Management Team
- Chief Educational Psychologist
- Head of Social Work
- Children with Disabilities Manager
- Health Service Commissioner
- Finance
- Senior Manager Adult Services (as determined by the agenda)
- CAMHS representative
- ART (Access to Resources Team)
- Leaving Care Manager
- Adviser to the Panel - Manager of the Quality Assurance and Review Service
4. Pre-Meeting
Prior to the HCPP meeting a pre-meeting will be held to check that the cases being presented have been thoroughly worked through and all alternative methods of support and schooling have been tested. The membership of this group should be the Chief Education Psychologist, the Service Manager for Children with Disabilities, the Head of Social Care, a CAMHS representative, the Designated Nurse for LAC and the Manager of the Access to Resources Service. The chairing of this meeting will revolve between the Service Managers and the Education Psychologist on a three monthly basis.
The work of this Panel will have clear links to the Accommodation and Rehabilitation Panel operating in the Children's Social Care Service.
5. Quorum
A HCPP meeting will not be quorate unless it is attended by at least one Head of Service, a representative of the Educational Psychology Service and/or SEN team, a representative of the Children with Disabilities Team, a representative of the PCT and a minute-taker.
6. Attendance at Meetings
HCPP meets fortnightly on Wednesday afternoons. All applications must be made to HCPP via the Panel administrator no later than the 12 noon on the Friday before Panel.
Due to the volume of requests to HCPP, it is not usual for a case manager or social worker to be required to attend to present a case or offer additional material. However, there may be exceptional complex cases where they may be invited for a specific item. However, it is expected that each meeting will be attended by a case manager and/or social worker as an observer, in order to promote understanding of the process and make it as transparent as possible.
Parents, carers, children and young people will not be invited to attend.
7. Format for Applications to be Considered by the Panel
Applications to the HCPP must be submitted using the pro forma attached at Annex A. Applications must contain sufficient information for Panel members to be able to reach a consensus on cases without having had a detailed involvement in the case.
Case managers and social workers completing the pro forma should have regard to the following:
- Recommendation to the Panel should provide only a succinct explanation of the action required by the HCPP. This should be a maximum of 3 lines of text, but preferably less. Any relevant background information or explanation should be included elsewhere on the pro forma.
- Primary Needs should be a summary of any learning difficulties or disabilities and any other vulnerability the child or young person is at risk of.
- Summary of the current situation is an opportunity to provide all relevant background: events leading up to the present circumstances as well as the existing situation. It should also identify any risks associated with the current situation.
- Summary of actions taken to resolve the situation locally should explain what other solutions have been tried and the progress or outcomes to date. Where a new placement is proposed, this section should also set out what alternatives may be available and why the preferred option is the most appropriate.
- Key local contacts should explain what interaction has taken place between different teams and services in order to manage the current arrangements more effectively and/or lead to more effective placement options or alternative strategies.
8. Additional Information
From time to time, the Panel may request additional information or ask for further options to be explored before a decision/recommendation can be reached. Unless there is any other imperative over timing, it is expected that the case along with the additional information will be reconsidered at the next HCPP meeting.
9. Minutes of the HCPP
Minutes will be taken for all HCPP meetings and will include a summary of key points and conclusions or actions on each case considered by the Panel. Both reasons for the decision and the actual decision will be reported in the minutes. Access to the minutes will be restricted to members of the Panel due to their confidential nature. However, if they are requested as a result of a legal challenge or a complaint then the minutes should be made available to the appropriate named departmental personnel.
10. How Recommendations/Conclusions are Communicated
The HCPP administrator will email conclusions/actions on individual cases to the relevant case manager and/or social worker and team managers the same day whenever possible and within 24 hours of HCPP being held. The emails are for internal advice only and it becomes the responsibility of the social worker / team manager to relay the conclusions and reasons to the carers and children concerned as appropriate.
11. Submission of Recommendations to the Departmental Expenditure Panel
Recommendations on individual cases will be summarised by the HCPP administrator on the pro forma (Annex B - Pro forma for Applications to Departmental Expenditure Panel) and submitted with the original applications (Annex A - Pro forma for Applications to HCPP) for consideration by the Departmental Expenditure Panel via the HCPP chairs. This action should be completed by close of business by the Friday immediately following the HCPP meeting.
12. Appeals
There is no formal appeals system. Social workers may resubmit applications, endorsed by their team manager, with additional information for reconsideration by the HCPP. Following this process, service users may access the Council's complaints procedure.
13. Monitoring and Review
The work of the HCPP will be regularly monitored. Monitoring will comprise monthly reports on financial trends to the SEN Finance and Strategy Group and quarterly reports on placement trends to Croydon's Partnership and Commissioning Group for Placements. These terms of reference will be reviewed by the HCPP at least on an annual basis.
Annex A - Pro forma for Applications to HCPP
Annex B - Pro forma for Applications to Departmental Expenditure Panel
Click here to view expenditure pro forma
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