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Contents

1. General Introduction
2. General Principles when Placing Children
3. Planned Placements
4. Emergency (Out of Hours) Placements
   
   Appendix 1 - The Children's Resource Panel
   
   Appendix 2 - Complex Care Panel

1. General Introduction

The Children’s Placement Service is responsible for finding placements for children who are Looked After and who are under 16 years of age*.

This includes Unaccompanied Asylum Seekers until after 18 years old.

*The placements for children over 18 are the responsibility of the Leaving Care team.

The Placements Team is responsible for:

• Finding good quality placements for children that meet their assessed needs and that are value for money;
• Checking with SW that an appropriate educational placement has been identified near a prospective care placement before proceeding with a placement move;
• Ensuring that information about the placements of Looked After children is accurately recorded on the client information system Frameworki (F-I) and that information is passed to relevant colleagues as required;
• Ensuring that financial information about children in agency placements is accurately recorded on SAP; on Frameworki Interim Financial In formation (FIFI) and that invoices are processed and paid on time; and that money is recovered in situations where there is a joint funding agreement;
• Ensuring that accurate statistical and financial information is available to assist the planning process;
• Organising the Resource Panel (See Appendix 1 - The Children's Resource Panel) and the Complex Care Panel (See Appendix 2 - Complex Care Panel), ensuring that accurate information is available to the Panels and that any follow up work requested is completed;
• Organising Call Over (see Appendix 1 (d) below) Meetings with District Management from Children in Care Teams 1 and 2, UASC, LCT and Children with Disabilities to monitor the status of looked after children and to ensure that their identified needs are met, that care plans are still relevant as well as ensure that the placements remain to provide value for money;
• Organise monitoring meetings for the Five Rivers block contract to ensure it continues to meet the conditions of the contract;
• Manage monitoring of other providers.

*A Call Over Meeting is a meeting between the Senior District Team Manager and the Placements Team Manager in which they review the care plan for each individual looked after child in the team. The purpose of the meeting is to:

• Keep the care plan under check to minimise drift; identify planned moves according to the changing needs of the children;
• Identify children who may have been placed in P&V facilities in an emergency and may need to come back to in-House facilities;
• Identify cases that need to be referred for long term placement family finding;
• Plan for young persons that are due to move to the Leaving Care team; identify children that need to be prepared for semi-independent living.

Budgetary issues are also discussed at this forum.

Placements Team contact details:

Hornsey Town Hall, The Annex, 2^nd floor, London N8 9JJ
T: 0208 489 1849
Email: Placements.DutyDesk@haringey.gov.uk

2. General Principles when Placing Children

When placing a child/young person in a Fostering Service ensure that the National Minimum Standards for Fostering Services have been adhered to. The relevant sections within the Placement Information Record and Care Plan should be completed to reflect this by recording:

• Advice that has been given to the child about a fostering service and how to complain;
• The suitability of the foster placement based on guidance from the fostering service regulations;
• Details of trans racial/trans community placements;
• Allegations of abuse of a child, within a placement;
• How additional costs, to meet the child's needs will be met.

When placing a child/young person in a Children's Home ensure that the National Minimum Standards for Children's Homes have been adhered to. The relevant sections within the Placement Information Record and Care Plan should be completed to reflect this by recording:

• That advice was given to the child regarding the children's guide to the home; including how the child can make a complaint;
• That the suitability of the home has been assessed;
• The ability to provide support for children whose first language is not English;
• The availability of an independent person for a child;
• Whether the placement has been assessed as suitable for the child, with respect to the potential for abusive behaviour when sharing bedrooms;
• Where (in certain circumstances) a children's home is exempt from the requirement to provide a child with a single bedroom, or their own area in a double bedroom, a risk assessment has been undertaken.

For all children, the following principles apply:

• A child is usually best cared for within their own family or Kinship Network. A referral should not be accepted unless it is clear that every effort has been made to support the child at home or within its extended family;

• If a child does need to be Looked After, the preferred option is to place a child with an in-house foster carer. This ensures that the child’s schooling and social network is as undisturbed as possible and that local support services can be offered. It is also the most cost effective option;
• Education must be central to the initial planning around a care placement move. If the young person is going to reside in Haringey, all efforts should be made to maintain their place in their existing school. If a school move is unavoidable you need to contact the schools admission department of the local authority within which the young person resides. Haringey Admissions Department contact is: 020 8489 8356, for children residing in Haringey. If you are experiencing difficulty identifying a school place contact Haringey Virtual School Education Welfare Officer on: 020 8489 2440;
• If the young person has a statement of special educational need, any changes to educational provision must be managed by Haringey SEN Department, in consultation with the SEN Department in the ‘housing’ authority, where the child resides; if the young person resides outside Haringey. Please note that within national SEN protocol, schools have fifteen working days to consider the statement and other related paperwork and assess whether the school is able to meet the child’s needs. This time frame must be factored into the planning;
• If at all possible, a pre-placement meeting should be convened to discuss the suitability of the proposed placement and draw up a Placement Plan/Placement Information Record;
• If it is not possible to place the child with in-house carers and the child is of an appropriate age, Muswell House should be considered. Muswell House offers a 13 week assessment period so would be appropriate for children whose needs are not clear or the care plan is uncertain;
• If there are no vacancies in–house then the placements offered by Five Rivers should be considered. Placements with other agencies should only be sought if Five Rivers has no suitable vacancies;
• Unless the child has a clearly assessed need to be placed at some distance from the Borough, efforts should be made to find a placement within the 20 mile radius from Haringey as per Government directive;
• When the needs of a Looked After Child have been identified in Muswell House and the child is about to be transferred to the Leaving Care Team at 16, the child may be placed in Haringey Park when he/she remains until he/she completes her/his GCSE and learns independent skills prior to transferring to the Leaving Care Team;
• It is important that children should be placed in a stable placement throughout their time in care with as few moves as possible. Placements Officers therefore need to work closely with the allocated Social Worker and the placement to ensure that the placement meets the child’s assessed needs prior to the child being placed to ensure a coordinated approach.

3. Planned Placements

All placements must be authorised by the Deputy Director, or duly authorised Head of Service via the ‘Gate Keeping Form’, save for cases where authorisation has been confirmed by the Children’s Resource and Care Planning or the Complex Care Panel and also for cases of unaccompanied asylum seeking children. Panel authorisation or Gate Keeping Form process is not required in relation to the latter, in which case the decision is to be authorised by the Head of Service of the Placements Service. The authorisation will need to be specific as to the type of placement, the period and whether permission is granted for use of private and voluntary sector placement or restricted to in-house provision only.  (The Gate Keeping Form can be found on Frame Work-I and should be completed through the work flow process. Resource Panel forms can be obtained by request from the Placements Service).    

The Placement Information Record, which is contained in the Placement Request episode on Frameworki serves as the referral form for a placement. Once completed it must be sent via the Frameworki work flow process to the Placements Service. Whilst the Placements Service will commence a tentative search upon receipt of the request the identified placement will not be made available until the decision to place has been authorised.

Once the placement has been authorised the Placements Officer will exchange the details of the identified placement  and/ or the Form Fs are shared with Social Worker and Team Manager for agreement. The Placements Service Panel Administrator will book the case to be presented to the Children’s Resource and Care Planning Panel, usually, within a six week period to review/ endorse the care and placement plan.

Upon notification of a placement being identified the social worker should liaise with the provider to make arrangements for providing additional information, visiting and/or placing the child and for arranging a pre-placement meeting (see Planning and Disruption Meetings Procedure). This may include arranging pre-placement visits and drawing up detailed plans or agreements. The social worker should keep the Placements Team advised of these arrangements. If the child is placed, the social worker will be responsible for various post placement arrangements as set out in Post Placement Arrangements/Notifications Procedure.

If the child is to be placed in a placement provided by the private or voluntary sector  the Duty Placements Officer will try to negotiate a reduction in the stated price. They will also check on the services offered by the placement and ensure that any extra services which should be paid for out of the operational teams budgets are not included in the placement costs. If education or health services are offered as part of the placement fees, the Placement Duty Officer will consider whether the case meets the criteria for joint funding from the Primary Care Trust (PCT), Mental Health Trust (MHT) and Special Educational Needs (SEN) service and if so request that the case be booked for presentation at the next available Complex Care Panel. (Appendix 2 - Complex Care Panel).

Once a placement has been identified the Duty Placements Officer will inform the Social Worker of  the relevant details verbally and by entering the placement details  on the Placement Request Form on Frameworki.  S/he will also complete the relevant information on the (internal) ‘Case Systems Tracking’ form, which will be checked and authorised by the Placements Team Manager and then passed onto Placements Service finance staff who will in turn complete the required information on the financial management database systems.  

The Duty Placements Officer will ensure that the Pan London contract is signed by the Placements Manager and uploaded onto Frameworki.

The Duty Placements Officer will trigger the booking of first/ subsequent Looked After Child review, by completing the appropriate outcome on Frameworki and tasking it to the Review Team.

The Duty Placement Officer will also complete and send off notifications of out of borough placement and/ or of Looked After Child to Health and Education.   

The Duty Placements Officer must ensure that the panel convenor is notified of new placements and placement changes so that the cases are systematically booked for the Children’s Resource Panel (Appendix 1 - The Children's Resource Panel) and Complex Care Panel (Appendix 2 - Complex Care Panel).

The Social Worker should make arrangements to convene a Placement Planning Meeting within the following timescales:

• If the child is placed in an emergency, within 3 working days;
• If the child is placed on a planned basis, within 7 working days.

See Planning and Disruption Meetings Procedure.

The Social Worker should also undertake various notifications and other arrangements as set out in Post Placement Arrangements/Notifications Procedure.

The Duty Placements Officer must ensure appropriate prioritisation of tasks and placements requests when necessary, in consultation with the Placements Manager.

The Duty Placements Officer will discuss current vacancies with the duty officer in the Fostering Service every morning before 9.30 and every evening after 4.30. A list of current vacancies will be sent to EDT at 5.00 and the Carer’s Register (on Frameworki) will be kept up to date by the Fostering Service.  

4. Emergency (out of hours) Placements

The Emergency Duty Social Work Team (EDSWT) will take all possible steps to support and contain vulnerable children within their family or social contexts and avoid the need for them to be Looked After

However, if this is not possible or in the child’s interests then the EDSWT Social Worker will obtain authorisation from the on-call Head of Service and in so doing will provide an account of  the following:

• Why those with Parental Responsibility for the child cannot look after them;
• Why someone who is capable, willing, and knows the child cannot look after them, (with Children and Families support as may be required);
• The child’s own wishes and feelings regarding their current situation.

4.1 Obtaining Emergency Placements

Once the EDSW Team has excluded all other care options as impossible or not in the child’s interests, the best placement for that child must be found.

4.2 Foster Care or placement with relative/family and friends

Unless there are clear indications to the contrary, all children requiring emergency accommodation should be placed with approved foster carers.

The EDSW Team should consult the availability list (updated weekly) and make direct contact with potential carers.

In some circumstances, the EDSW may decide to place the child with relatives/family and friends, in which case, they should follow the procedures for emergency placements in Placement with Connected Persons Procedure, Section - 1, Emergency Placements.

4.3 Residential Care – L.B.H. Provided

The only L.B.H. residential home to be contacted by EDSW Team (unless specifically directed otherwise) is Muswell House Children’s Home in Coppetts Road.

This is intended for children 8 to 13 years, although siblings of any age will be considered.

Staff should access this home directly.

4.4 Placement of Children in Non-Haringey Residential Care

All the requirements and expectations of the Children Act and PACE, as well as those listed above must be met before deciding that a child needs to be accommodated.

On contacting a potential placement, the EDSW Team should establish the likely duration of the placement sought. This must be recorded in order to avoid disputes over invoices.

4.5 Senior Management Authority

Senior management authority must be obtained prior to any placement being made.

The EDSW Team will contact the on-call third tier manager for authorisation to accommodate a child. The authorising manager will require a synopsis of the situation, including the attempts to find alternative provision.

Appendix 1: The Children’s Resource Panel

Introduction

Children should only become Looked After if they are at risk of Significant Harm and if all efforts to keep the child safely within their immediate family or their extended family have been unsuccessful. It is therefore expected that, before coming to the Children’s Resource Panel, a Core Assessment will have been completed, the strengths of the extended family network assessed, and a referral made to the family support services. The support plan should be reviewed at a family support meeting and all other options considered before a request is made for a placement.

If the child needs to be placed in an emergency, the possibility of offering family support services to enable the child to return home should be considered at the earliest possible opportunity, and always before the first Looked After Child Review.

If the child is already Looked After and requires a placement move, the Children’s Resource Panel would expect that this decision had been agreed at the previous Looked After Review or at a planning meeting if the situation arose between Reviews. A Review should be arranged as soon as possible after the Children’s Resource Panel has agreed a new placement if this alters the overall Care Plan.

The Role of the Children’s Resource Panel

The Children’s Resource Panel will be responsible for agreeing the placements of all children who are Looked After and who are under 16. This will include unaccompanied minors who are looked after and children who are under 16, including those who have a disability.

The Children’s Resource Panel’s remit is to:

• Review the quality of care planning for all children/children who are looked after and placed away from home and who are under 16;
• Have an oversight of the financial management of the Placements budget.

The Children’s Resource Panel is a multi disciplinary one. This helps to ensure that there is continuity in the planning for children if they are coming into care or moving placements. It is important that the Social Worker has considered issues such as secondary transfers, exam schedules, and hospital or therapeutic appointments when planning a placement. These issues can be discussed at the Children’s Resource Panel, for example the Educational Attainment Group meets fortnightly and concerns about educational attainment could be referred to that group to ensure that resources are targeted appropriately.

The membership of the Resource Panel:

• Deputy Director Children and Families (Chair) - this role may be delegated to the Head of Service responsible for placements;
• Special Educational Needs Strategy Manager;
• Team Manager for Looked After Children (Education);
• Fostering Manager;
• Representative from Haringey Park/Muswell House;
• Placements Team Manager;
• Head of Service from District Team;
• Head of Service from Family Support Services;
• Manager from CAMHS Service (or representative);
• Team Manager Asylum;
• Minute taker.

Continuity is important so representatives of a service will commit to attending the meetings for at least a 6 month period.

The Children’s Resource Panel is a decision making group so it is expected that Panel members will come equipped with the necessary information to enable them to reach a decision.

Children’s Resource Panel Schedule

The Panel will meet fortnightly from 9.30 to 12.00 on a Tuesday.

Extended Panel

The primary function of this panel, which is chaired by the Deputy Director and includes representation at a senior management level from Social Work services and Finance, is to review progress to reduce placement related spend. 

The dates of these meetings will be circulated in advance for the financial year. The schedule will also be on the Q drive.

Every 3 months the Panel will review the list of placements of all children who are Looked After. The purpose of this is to ensure that placements continue to meet the child’s needs, are value for money, and that any multi disciplinary issues about the placements are discussed. These dates will also be circulated in advance. On these dates the Panel will only be able to deal with emergency requests for placements.

In some instances it will be necessary for the Chair to make urgent decisions outside the schedule of meetings.

Call-Over Meetings

These are periodic meetings, held between Placements Service and individual social work team managers to review cases held by that team. The purpose being to determine whether the care plan and placement remain relevant, similar to the aim of the Children’s Resource and Care Planning Panel. This meeting provides an opportunity to review all cases of LAC by responsible team. 

Procedures for Children’s Resource and Care Planning Panel

Children's Resource Panel Administrator

Placements Team contact details:

Hornsey Town Hall, The Annex, 2^nd floor, London N8 9JJ
T: 0208 489 1849
E: Placements.DutyDesk@haringey.gov.uk

It is expected that a decision about whether a child should become Looked After or should move placement is discussed and agreed by operational managers prior to coming to Panel unless in the event that the proposed placement is planned and there is sufficient time to obtain panel approval prior to the placement. A Gate Keeping Form or other placement authorisation is not required where the placement in question has been agreed at panel.

1. All children who become Looked After or who move placements should come to the Resource Panel, preferably before they are Looked After, or, in an emergency (see * (d) below), as soon afterwards as possible. This will include children where a permanent placement has been identified as part of the permanency procedure and an in principle decision is required before the Permanency Panel for funding. Once a request for a placement has been accepted by the Placements Team they will be booked into the first available panel by the Panel Administrator who will advise the SW and TM by e-mail;
2. Social Workers or Team Managers may wish to discuss the placement of a particular child in particularly complex cases or where it has been difficult for the Placements Team to find an appropriate placement. In this case they will e-mail the Panel Administrator who will book them a slot and inform them by e-mail;
3. The Team Manager of the Placements team may wish to discuss the placement of a particular child. In this case they will ask the Panel Administrator to book a slot;
4. *Occasionally it will be necessary for the Chair of the Panel to agree a placement outside of a Panel meeting. In these circumstances the Panel Administrator will book a place at the next Panel meeting and inform the SW and TM by e-mail;
5. Prior to coming to Panel the SW should complete the Panel Referral form which should be sent by e-mail to the Panel Administrator no later than the Thursday evening before the Panel. If it is the child’s first placement the Request for a Placement form will be sufficient. The completed form must be signed by the relevant Team Manager;
6. The Team Manager will come to the Panel to discuss the child’s situation. It is their decision as to whether they wish to ask the SW to accompany them. In some instances the Team Manager may decide that the SW can attend the Panel alone;
7. The Resource Panel will either agree the placement and set a review date or defer to another date for more information. In either case the decision will be minuted and signed by the Chair. This will be e-mailed to the SW and TM by the minute taker for the file and will act as the financial agreement to the placement;
8. The Resource Panel may decide to refer to the Complex Care Panel (Appendix 2 - Complex Care Panel) for a discussion re joint funding. In this case the Panel Administrator will book it into the next available panel and inform the Team Manager and Social Worker by e-mail.

Procedures for the Three Monthly Review

• Every three months the list of placements for all children Looked After will be circulated to all members of the Children’s Resource Panel . The list will be amended to include a column for comments by the Panel and will also include the date of the last Looked After Review;
• The list will be circulated two weeks prior to the Panel meeting by the Panel Administrator;
• Each panel member will undertake to look at the list and note any comments or concerns that their service may have about an individual child’s placement;
• These will then be discussed at the Panel meeting. It is not expected that a SW or TM will attend these meetings. The outcome may be that the Panel will ask for the case to be bought back to Panel for further discussion with the TM present, or a panel member may agree to follow up their concerns directly.

Administrative Procedures for the Panel

• The Panel Administrator will prepare a yearly schedule of the dates of the Resource Panel on the Q drive and also distribute a paper copy to all panel members and operational managers. The schedule will note when the Panel will be meeting only to review the call over list;
• The Placements Duty Clerk will inform the Panel Administrator by e-mail once a referral has been accepted by the Placements Team for a new placement or a change of placement. The Panel Administrator will book this into the next available Panel, taking care whenever possible to group the time slots together for the different teams. She will inform the SW and TM by e-mail and e-mail them a copy of the Panel Referral form unless it is a new placement, in which case the Placement referral form will be used.;
• If a placement has been agreed outside the Panel by the Chair and the placement agreement signed the Placements Officers will advise the Panel Administrator by e-mail and she will book a place at the next panel and inform the SW and TM by e-mail;
• The Panel Administrator will book a place at Panel if requested directly by a SW or TM or the TM of the Placements team and e-mail them the Panel referral form;
• The Panel Administrator will copy all the Referral forms received prior to the meeting, prepare the agenda for the meeting and e-mail it to Panel members on the Friday before the meeting;
• The Panel Administrator will circulate the most up to date list of the placements of all Looked after Children to the Panel members 2 weeks prior to the review meeting;
• The meeting will be minuted by the Panel Administrator or another member of the Placements Administrative team. These minutes will be circulated within 5 working days to all Panel members. The decision sheet for each child will be e-mailed to the allocated SW and TM for inclusion in the Child’s file.

Appendix 2: Complex Care Panel

The Purpose of the Complex Care Panel

Complex Care Panel Administrator.

Placements Team contact details:

Hornsey Town Hall, The Annex, 2^nd floor, London N8 9JJ
T: 0208 489 1849
E: Placements.DutyDesk@haringey.gov.uk

The Complex Care Panel’s remit is to:

• Reach agreement on joint funding issues where a child has complex needs;
• Promote effective decision making and resolve disputes;
• Ensure that the decision making for these children is consistent and in line with the agreed criteria of each agency;
• Authorise expenditure from their respective agencies;
• Monitor the progress of children/children where there is a joint funding arrangement or may be a need for a joint funding arrangement in the future to ensure that the care package is still meeting their needs;
• Work together to ensure that children with complex needs and their families are given access to the widest range of resources to maximise the possibility of them remaining within their family of origin so that the need to accommodate children because of a lack of community based health, education or social care resource is avoided;
• Inform their respective services of gaps in Service provision to assist long term planning.

Introduction

• The panel will be responsible for discussing the provision of services for children up to the age of 18 (or 19 for those with a Statement of Special Educational Needs) who may be in need of health, education or social care as a result of illness (congenital or acquired), degenerative disease, physical disability, sensory impairment, learning disability or significant psychological or psychiatric disturbance. These criteria also cover the care needs of children with terminal illness;
• They may have long term or short term needs. Their needs may include complex care in the community, specialist residential homes, day and residential special schools, or support within a specialist health care setting such as therapeutic communities. The panel will ensure that the child/young persons care needs are reviewed regularly as they may change;
• All children are eligible for universal health, education and care services such as those provided by General Practice, health visiting, school health services, and schools, but the amount and intensity of service offered will be dependent upon the needs of the particular child or young person. Most children with complex needs will be supported at home within their families by such services that are readily available locally. These care packages do not need to come to the Complex Care Panel. Only those situations, which require specialist support over and above this need to be agreed at the Panel;
• Similarly, most transition arrangements to adult services will take place following the normal procedure. Only those children requiring more complex support need to come to Panel;
• The priority should be on supporting the family of a child with complex needs to care for him/her at home or within the extended family. Evidence that this option has been fully explored will be required before funding is agreed for a placement away from home;
• A Core Assessment should be undertaken by the relevant professionals prior to coming to the Panel. This will ensure that decisions are not delayed due to lack of information. Referrals for assessments should therefore be made in good time to ensure that informed decisions can be made at Panel. As a guideline, the time required for a core assessment is 35 working days.

The Membership of the Complex Care Panel

• Deputy Director Children and Families (Chair) - this role may be delegated to the Head of Service responsible for placements;
• Special Educational Needs Strategy Manager;
• Head of Service from District Team;
• Head of Service Leaving Care team;
• Head of Service from CAMHS Service;
• Deputy Director Planning and Commissioning PCT;
• Commissioning Manager Learning Difficulties;
• Panel Administrator;
• Placements Team Manager.

All parties must be committed to the Panel to ensure that it is effective. Members of the Panel should be of sufficient seniority to make funding decisions. The Panel is a decision making group so it is expected that Panel members will come equipped with the necessary information about the child or young person to enable them to reach a decision.

Agency Criteria for Joint Funding

CAMHS

Wherever possible services will be offered from in house resources.

• Funding for placements away from home will only be considered if there is evidence of a recognised therapeutic programme at the placement;
• Staff involved in the therapy should be appropriately qualified, registered and supervised. This must be demonstrated before funding will be considered;
• If these criteria are not met the CAMHS team will liaise with colleagues in the area in which the child is placed to secure community based therapeutic support.

Education: The Child must have a Statement of Special Educational Needs and in a placement that provides education and is registered with the Department for Education (DfE).

Health: Health will be working within the Responsible Commissioner Guidelines

Children and Families

• A Core Assessment will be completed which will look at the child’s care needs and the capacity of the family or extended family network to meet those needs. The assessment will detail the resources already explored and identify any other resources which would support the family to care for the child;
• Children and Families will only consider the joint funding of placements of children away from home if a full assessment has been completed, as described above. Additionally this will include a risk assessment as to the likely effects on the child’s development should he/she remain at home, and why the family is unable to meet the child’s care needs;
• The assessment, and the request for the child to be found a placement away from home, must have been presented to, and agreed by, the Children’s Care Planning and Children’s Resources Panel prior to coming to the Complex Care Panel.

Complex Care Panel Schedule

• The Panel will meet every 8 weeks between 10.30 and 12.00 on a Thursday;
• The dates will be circulated in advance for the financial year;
• Every 6 months the Panel will review the list of all children who have complex needs and who are jointly funded. The purpose of this is to ensure that the care package continues to meet the child’s needs, is value for money, and that any multi disciplinary issues about the care packages are discussed. There will also be the opportunity at these meetings to alert colleagues to children who may be requiring funding in the future. This will help with Budget forecasting. These dates will also be circulated in advance. On these dates the Panel will only be able to deal with emergency requests for joint funding.

Panel Process

• The Panel will expect to receive a completed referral form for each child on the Friday before the Panel meeting. Only fully completed forms will be accepted to ensure that informed decisions can be made. These will be e-mailed to them by the Panel Administrator;
• It is not expected that the person making the referral will attend the Complex Care Panel so it is important that all the relevant information is available to the Panel members beforehand. Occasionally the Panel may ask the manager of the relevant team to attend for the discussion;
• The Complex Care Panel will either agree the funding and set a review date or defer to another date for more information. In either case the decision will be minuted and signed by the Chair. This will be e-mailed to the panel members and the SW and TM by the minute taker for the file and will act as the financial agreement to the placement.

Process for Meeting to Review Care Packages

• Every 6 months the list of all children who are jointly funded will be circulated to all members of the Complex Care Panel. The list will include a column for comments by the Panel and will also include the date of the last LAC review, if the child is looked after;
• The list will be circulated two weeks prior to the Panel meeting by the Panel Administrator;
• Each panel member will undertake to look at the list and note any comments or concerns that their service may have about an individual child’s placement. They will also undertake to bring the names of children from each of their services where there may be a need for joint funding in the future.

Professional Disagreements regarding Decisions made at Complex Care Panel

All agencies acknowledge that there will be occasions where there may be differences of opinion about whether the criteria for joint funding have been met. Every effort will be made within the meeting to resolve these differences. This may be by means of seeking a further assessment whether by a single agency or jointly. If it is not possible to resolve the issue at the meeting then the matter should be referred to the person nominated by each agency to resolve such disagreements.

Complex Care Panel Procedure for Children and Families Staff

This procedure is intended only if the SW is requesting funding for a placement away from home.

• All children who become Looked After or who move placements and who have complex needs should come to the Panel;
• Usually the child’s situation would have been discussed at the Children’s Resource Panel (Appendix 1 - The Children's Resource Panel) and a decision made there about whether the child should be placed. A recommendation would then be made that it should also be discussed at the Complex Care Panel. It will then be booked into the first available panel by the Panel Administrator and the SW and TM informed by e-mail;
• Social Workers or Team Managers may wish to discuss the placement of a particular child in particularly complex cases or where it has been difficult for the Placements Team to find an appropriate placement. In this case they will e-mail the Panel Administrator who will book them a slot and inform them by e-mail;
• The Team Manager of the Placements Team may wish to discuss the placement of a particular child. In this case they will ask the Panel Administrator to book a slot;
• Occasionally it will be necessary for the Chair of the Panel to agree a placement outside of a Panel meeting with a recommendation that it should be discussed at the Complex Care Panel. In these circumstances the Panel Administrator will book a place at the next Panel meeting and inform the SW and TM by e-mail;
• Prior to referring the child to the Panel the SW should complete the Complex Care Panel referral form which should be sent, with the original Referral form from the Children’s Placement and Child Care Planning panel by e-mail to the Panel Administrator no later than the Thursday evening before the Panel. If it is the child’s first placement the Request for a Placement form will be sufficient, along with the Complex Care Panel Referral form. The completed form must be signed by the relevant Team Manager;
• It is not expected that the SW will attend the Complex Care Panel so it is important that all the relevant information is available to the Panel members beforehand. Occasionally the Panel may ask the TM of the relevant team to attend for the discussion;
• The Complex Care Panel will either agree the funding and set a review date or defer to another date for more information. In either case the decision will be minuted and signed by the Chair. This will be e-mailed to the SW and TM by the minute taker for the file and will act as the financial agreement to the placement;
• Representatives from the funding agencies will be expected to sign a schedule of all jointly funded cases at each panel to ensure that disputes do not arise later.

Administrative procedures for the Panel

• The Panel Administrator will prepare a yearly schedule of the dates of the Complex Care Panel and distribute a paper copy to all panel members and operational managers. The schedule will note when the Panel will be a review meeting only;
• When a decision is made at the Children’s Placement and Care Planning Panel to refer a case to the Complex Care Panel the Panel Administrator will book this into the next available Panel. She will inform the SW and TM by e-mail and e-mail them a copy of the Panel Referral form;
• If a placement has been agreed outside the panel by the Chair and the placement agreement signed, the Placements Officers will advise the Panel Administrator by e-mail and she will book a place at the next panel and inform the SW and TM by e-mail;
• The Panel Administrator will book a place at Panel if requested directly by a SW or TM or the TM of the Placements Team and e-mail them the Panel referral form;
• The Panel Administrator will copy all the Referral forms received prior to the meeting, prepare the agenda for the meeting and e-mail it to Panel members on the Friday before the meeting;
• The Panel Administrator will circulate the most up to date list of the placements where there is a joint funding agreement to the Panel members 2 weeks prior to the review meeting;
• The meeting will be minuted by the Panel Administrator. These minutes will be circulated within 5 working days to all Panel members. The decision sheet for each child will be e-mailed to the allocated SW and TM for inclusion in the Child’s file.

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