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Guidance to managers on the allocation of cases

1. Allocation of new work to staff is a routine aspect of the management role and it is important that it is done efficiently and effectively to reduce the stress which staff sometimes experience at being given new work without adequate preparation or discussion.
2. Allocation of new work should be a planned activity that takes place in the context of a supervision meeting or a discussion between staff member and manager.
3. Allocation of new work should be done in the context of a review and up-date of the individual worker's workload management return. The exception to this may be in First Response teams where urgent and priority duty work may need to be allocated to whichever staff are available at the time.
4. Allocation should always take account of the worker's training and experience, and also of the perceived needs of  the child. Where expressed the child's wishes and feelings should also be taken into account.
5. Prior to the allocation of a new case it is essential that the supervising team manager reads the case file, reads the chronology, familiarises themselves with the care or protection plan and  familiarises themselves with any deadlines in respect of visits, conferences, reviews or court hearings. After this the supervising manager will be in a position to agree the summary of activity and priority tasks for the staff member to complete over the subsequent 3 months. This should take the form of a written direction and be placed on the file.
6. Within First Response teams the allocation of referrals for assessment by managers will be in accordance with Assessment Framework timescales.
7. Where staff are being asked to cover work temporarily for absent colleagues it is required that a similar exercise is undertaken by managers and that staff are not simply told to undertake tasks without having the opportunity of a briefing discussion on the context of the work.
8. It is not acceptable for managers to do any of the following –
   1. Allocate cases to staff in their absence
   2. Allocate cases to staff without first discussing the work with them
   3. Allocate cases to staff without first reading the case and agreeing the plan
   4. Allocate cases to staff on Fwi without having a discussion with the social worker and agreeing the actions required
   5. Allocate work to staff who do not have the training, experience or time to undertake the work adequately.
9. Managers must take responsibility for informing team administrators about any changes in allocation in order for Frameworki to be updated.

Implementation of this guidance on allocation of work will be audited by survey of staff at some point later in 2009-10 and will be incorporated into the quarterly satisfaction survey of staff about supervision activity.

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