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Contents

1. Duty Referrals From the Home Office
2. Intake Duty Team
3. Age Assessments
4. Rota Referrals from Refugee Council / Home Office
5. Re-bookings
6. Logging and Tracking of Paperwork.

1. Duty Referrals From The Home Office

The Home Office may phone UMT Duty with a referral for accommodation.  There would usually be a Duty Social Worker at the Home Office who would also have details of the young person. 

When a referral is made the following procedures are required:-

• When taking the referral, Duty Social Worker/Duty Manager/Duty Admin will complete a White Duty Referral Form
• Intake Team/Duty Social Worker will complete a Yellow Referral Form - to be actioned and signed off by Duty Manager on return to the office.
• Duty Manager to complete a Gatekeeping Memo and contact Access to Resources Team (ART) for a placement.
• Duty Manager to complete Change of Circumstances Form
• Duty Social Worker to complete all LAC Pack Forms.
• The Home Office Duty Social Worker will bring the young person from the Home Office to Taberner House.
• Duty Staff to book taxi & complete taxi form, for taxi from Taberner House to placement address.
• Duty Manager to complete "out of borough" forms where appropriate.
• Duty Manager to initiate Green Health Forms to go to admin for an appointment to be arranged for a Health Assessment
• Original Home Office documents go with young person to the placement.  Keep photocopies for files.
• The Duty Manager is responsible for allocating all tasks including photocopying.

If the young person is over sixteen but not being referred on the Rota, the Duty Manager must give the details to the Admin Rota person to be entered as Croydon's Referral.

2. Intake Duty Team

At least one of the two Duty Social Workers on the Home Office Rota will be identified by the Duty Manager to go straight to the Home Office each morning. Although the work flow is controlled by Home Office staff, social workers should endeavour to identify any likely under 16's who will require foster placements. Ideally the basic details of any such referrals should be passed to the Duty Manager by 2:00 pm to enable a reasonable time for a placement to be found.

Home Office Duty must complete in full the Yellow/Initial Referral. It is important that a decision is made about the completion of paperwork as this can cause significant delays at the end of the day.

The Intake Duty Team must maintain regular contact with the Duty Team at the Fell Road Office.

3.  Age Assessments

3.1 Age Disputes

In cases where the Home Office disputes a young person's age, they are to be placed in temporary accommodation pending an Age Assessment.

On the day of the referral, an appointment should be set for the earliest available diary date for an Age Assessment to take place.

• Only the Duty Manager can allocate a date for an Age Assessment in the duty diary.
• The Duty Social Worker will book an interpreter and interview room and initial to confirm action.
• The Duty Social Worker will give the young person an appointment slip for the Age Assessment/
• The top of the Yellow Referral Form will be marked by the Duty Manager with the date and time of the Age Assessment to allow the paperwork to be placed in the correct duty sling once the information has been inputted to SWIFT by Duty Admin.
• In addition when Duty Admin issue the accommodation letter, the date for the Age Assessment is to be included.
• The Duty Manager will complete the Change of Circumstances Form to indicate - FROM UASC at Home Office - TO S17 Supportive ( Hotel) pending Age Assessment.

3.2 Notification of Decision Following Age Assessment

Immediately following completion of the Age Assessment, the young person should be given the decision sheet and advised, via the interpreter, of his or her right to seek legal advice as to the decision.

3.3 Outcomes of Age Assessment

Assessed to be an adult

The interviewing social worker will give the subject the decision sheet and a referral letter to Clearsprings Ltd.

Duty Manager: will sign off the Yellow Referral Form/complete Change of Circumstances Form, to indicate - FROM S17 (hotel) pending Age Assessment - TO - Closed, Assessed as an adult referred to Clearsprings Ltd

IMPORTANT NOTE: Interviewing social workers should not retain the referral paperwork whilst waiting to write up assessments. They should retain their own interview notes and forward the referral documents for closure to Admin.

Assessed to be under 16 years

The interviewing social worker will give the subject a copy of the decision sheet and inform them via the interpreter that they will be placed with a family.

The Duty Manager will contact the Access to Resources Team (ART) and complete a Gatekeeping Memo for same day placement.

The Duty Manager will complete a Change of Circumstances Form, to indicate - FROM S17 (hotel) pending Age Assessment - to assessed as (age DOB) - Section 20, foster carer, placement address and contact numbers, agency address and contact numbers, cost of placement.

Duty Social Worker to complete all the LAC Forms in the LAC Pack for a child who is to be placed in care and Green Health Forms to go to admin for an appointment to be arranged.  The Duty Social Worker should also photocopy the completed Placement Information Record, take two copies to the placement to be signed by the foster carer, leave one copy with the carer and return one back to the Duty Manager for the case files. 

The pack also includes an Education Form and a Health card with a letter of explanation to the carer.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Interviewing social workers should not retain the referral paperwork whilst waiting to write up assessments. They should retain their own interview notes and forward the referral documents for a file to be made up. 

Assessed to be over 16 but under 18.

The interviewing social worker will give the subject a copy of the decision sheet and inform them via the interpreter that they will be placed in semi-independent accommodation.

The Duty Manager will contact the Access to Resources Team (ART) and complete a Gatekeeping Memo for the placement.

The Duty Manager will also complete a Change of Circumstances Form, to indicate - FROM S17 (hotel) pending Age Assessment - to assessed as (age DOB)- LAC S20 , placement address and contact numbers, agency address and contact numbers, cost of placement.

In cases where no same day placement is available, a Change of Circumstances Form should be completed to indicate - FROM S17 (hotel) pending Age Assessment - TO Assessed as (age DOB) S17 (hotel) pending semi-independent placement.

Duty Social Worker to complete all the LAC Forms in the LAC Pack for a child who is to be placed in care and Green Health Forms to go to admin for an appointment to be arranged  The Duty Social Worker should also photocopy the completed Placement Information Record, take two copies to the placement to be signed by the foster carer, leave one copy with the carer and return one back to the Duty Manager for the case files. 

The pack also includes an Education Form and a Health card with a letter of explanation to the carer.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Interviewing social workers should not retain the referral paperwork whilst waiting to write up assessments. They should retain their own interview notes and forward the referral documents for a file to be made up. 

All Age Assessment paperwork must be forwarded to John & Debbie once typed up within 10 working days.

4.  Rota Referrals from Refugee Council / Home Office

The Rota Referral Scheme is for unaccompanied minors aged 16 - 17.  If the Home Office or Refugee Council has a young person aged 16 or 17 they are referred to Croydon UMT who then refer them to different boroughs on the rota.

The procedure for rota referrals is as follows:-

• Intake Team Duty Worker to pass details to office Duty Worker
• Duty Worker to complete a Blue Rota Referral Form ensuring the Date of Birth & Home Office Reference number is included.
• Young people will not be accepted as Rota Referrals without Home Office paperwork with a Date of Birth making them under the age of 18.
• The allocated Rota admin worker will complete a referral of a child letter and fax the borough next on the list. Then after a few hours, call the borough to confirm the fax was received and see if a booking can be made. If there are any difficulties making a referral to the borough, allocated Rota admin worker will refer the matter to the Duty Manager.
• Please note when arranging appointments with Boroughs, that the Emergency Accommodation is sited in Wood Green, North London, so please ask for appointments from 11.00 onwards (for Boroughs far away), to allow the young person time to be escorted to the Borough.
• If the young person does not have an appointment the same day, they have to be booked into emergency accommodation (Skyline in North London).  Rota Worker to complete a Request For Emergency Accommodation Placement Form and email to info@skylinegroup.com.
• Rota worker to complete details on the Rota Sheet (Non-Local Connection Rota Referral Form).

5.  Re-bookings

For the young people who have been booked into the Emergency Accommodation with Skyline, they may not have their appointments for a few days.  In which case, their accommodation has to be re-booked on a daily basis.

• During the morning, Rota Worker to check the Emergency Accommodation Placement Forms (in the Re-Bookings Folder/Tray).  Complete new forms where required and tick appropriate night box and fax to Skyline.

When Rota Referrals have been completed (i.e. they have had their appointments with the relevant Borough), please file the papers in the Large Green Lever Arch File (Rota H.O. Papers). The Rota Worker collates all the stats from these forms on a weekly basis (Mondays) which are then sent to LASC and the Refugee Council.

6. Logging and Tracking of Paperwork.

The systems in place to manage papers are:-

6.1 The Duty Diary 

The Duty Diary is the responsibility of the Duty Manager.

Whenever possible 2 appointments per day (if Age Assessments) will be arranged.

Any activity requiring duty worker input must be discusses with and agreed by the Duty Manager & the name of the worker recorded.

Duty Rota - any changes in duty cover to be recorded by the worker seeking the swap.

6.2 SWIFT

The electronic system is only as good as the information put into it, but as our main search facility, it is essential that it is kept up to date. This is only achieved by ensuring that Change of Circumstances Forms are completed by the Duty Worker and passed to the Duty Manager.  A copy of the Change of Circumstances Form is to be put in the Change of Circumstances basket.

(FROM S17 Supportive (Hotel) pending age assessment - to - Assessed as (AGE DOB) S20 Acc (F/C or Semi) (or S17 Supp pending semi).

(FROM S17 Supportive (Hotel) pending age assessment - TO - Assessed as an adult referred to Migrant Helpline)

6.3 Duty Log

The duty log, which the Duty Manager has the responsibility to maintain, is a tracking aid which records any new incoming work as well as any outcomes from diarised work.  It is particularly important to record the names of workers undertaking Age Assessments as well as the outcome of the assessment.  It is essential to indicate that the necessary paperwork has been completed and passed to Admin.

6.4 Duty Diary Cupboard

Any papers should appear in the date marked sling that corresponds to the date of the proposed Duty action in the diary.  Primarily for cases pre decision such as pending Age Assessments, by ensuring that paperwork is clearly marked for the next activity (this can be an age assessment, Home Office appointment or a payment).  Any cases awaiting non-diary action will move into the left hand unallocated cupboard.

6.5 B&B List

This list is compiled daily by Duty Admin giving a report of all young people currently placed in supportive accommodation. These are mainly those awaiting an Age Assessment but also include allocated cases that are between placements or awaiting specific outcomes.

End