Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
CARE PROCEEDINGS
REFORMS:
An Overview
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
CONTEXT
• Over 14,000 applications (by child) for care or supervision order
each year
• More than 60% of care proceedings involve children under six
years of age
• Cases frequently take longer than 12 months to reach a
conclusion…and the longer it takes, the longer a child has to
wait for a decision as to their future
• These children, and their families, are some of the most
vulnerable and socially excluded people in our society
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
CASE FOR CHANGE
Care Review (May 2006) found unnecessary delay
caused by complex set of drivers:
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poorly prepared court applications;
ineffective case management;
scarcity of judicial resources;
variation in quality of representation;
expert evidence that takes a long time to commission
and/or is requested late and/or does not provide suitable
guidance for the court;
late allocation of the children’s guardian;
alternative carers emerging late in proceedings;
variations in regional practice.
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
CARE REVIEW
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Review of the Child Care Proceedings System in England and
Wales (May 2006) highlighted five key areas for attention:
– Helping families - ensuring families and children understand
proceedings
– Better informed resolution - ensuring applications are made
after all safe and appropriate alternatives have been explored
– Preparation for proceedings - improving the quality and
consistency of applications
– During proceedings - improved case management
– Inter-agency working - ensuring closer professional
relationships
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
KEY REFORMS
• Volume 1 (Court Orders) Children Act 1989 Guidance
and Regulations
– revised statutory guidance for local authorities, issued by the
Department for Children, Schools and Families and Welsh
Assembly Government
– issued under the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970
• Public Law Outline
– replacing the current Protocol for Judicial Case Management
– setting out how cases will be managed through the courts
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
STATUTORY GUIDANCE
Key changes:
– ensuring core assessments are completed
– access to pre-proceedings legal advice
– front-loaded preparation: emphasis on preproceedings work by local authorities
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Public Law Outline (PLO)
Key changes:
– Four stages, rather than six
– Advocates’ meetings
– Timetables focussed around the needs of the child
– Cafcass/Cafcass Cymru analysis and
recommendations
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
STATUTORY GUIDANCE
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Relevant training materials
• Section 2, training packs:
– pre-proceedings flowchart
– slides
– chapter 3, Volume 1 (Court Orders) Children Act 1989
guidance and regulations
– template ‘letter before proceedings’
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Structure of the guidance
• Chapter 3 - care and supervision - supports the PLO
• But we must not forget the other chapters, which
reflect case law and policy developments:
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Chapter 1 - introduction
Chapter 2 - private law
Chapter 4 - emergency provisions
Chapter 5 - secure accommodation
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Engaging with families
• Good evidence-based assessments
• No ‘surprises’ about the issues
– parents fully involved and informed about the possibility of
proceedings
• Plans in plain written terms
– explained to families and children
• Effective communication with children and families
– tailored to their needs
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Engaging with families
• Clarity of expectations and consequences
• Identifying all significant adults in the child’s family
and their role
– completing appropriate kinship assessments
• Quality initial and core assessments
– good quality, ensuring core social work takes place
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Preparing for proceedings
• Legal planning/gateway meetings - determining
whether it is appropriate to issue a ‘letter before
proceedings’
• Letters before proceedings - tailored for each
individual case
• Entitlement to pre-proceedings legal advice parents/those with parental responsibility
• Meeting with parents, advocates and local authority
• Completion of the pre-proceedings checklist
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Pre-proceedings checklist
From local authority files:
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previous courts orders and judgments/reasons
initial and core assessments
section 7/37 reports
relatives and friends materials
single, joint or inter-agency materials
(e.g. immigration/health)
– pre-existing care plans
– letter before proceedings
To be prepared:
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social work chronology
initial social work statement
care plan
allocation record and timetable for the child
– schedule of proposed findings
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Implementation planning
• Work with other local authorities and agencies to look
at the implications
• Consideration of how local authority processes fit
with the pre-proceedings work, e.g. resource panels
and planning interventions for children
• Clarity internally about the resources available for
working with the family and child at each stage
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
PUBLIC LAW OUTLINE
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Relevant training materials
• Section 3, training packs:
– flowchart showing the court process
– Practice Direction from the President of the Family Division,
to be used by all parties as a case management tool
– Public Law Outline, pages 9-11 of the Practice Direction
– supplementary application form: PLO1 (Annex A)
– local authority case summary form (Annex B)
– draft case management order (Annex C)
• Section 4, training packs:
– Cafcass/Cafcass Cymru guidance for completion of the
analysis and recommendations
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Pre-proceedings checklist
• Checklist documentation should be filed, together
with the supplementary application form - PLO1
• Balance - if the safety and welfare of the child means
an application needs to be made immediately, local
authorities should not wait until all of the
documentation has been prepared
• The court will review the application and checklist standard directions will be given on issue, requesting
any missing checklist materials and covering matters
such as the appointment of the Children’s Guardian
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Allocation record
• To be filed with the pre-proceedings checklist
• No standard form - it should be produced by the local
authority
• It must include a proposal about which level of court
the case should be heard at
• The court will review this and make a decision about
allocation - space should be provided for the court’s
decision in the allocation record
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Timetable for the child
• Set by the court - and reviewed at all the PLO stages
• Will take account of all significant steps in the child’s
life that are likely to take place during proceedings including legal, social care, health and education
steps
• Examples:
– starting a new school
– assessments
– change in the child’s placement
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Streamlined process
• Six stages reduced to four:
– Issue and First Appointment - to allocate and give
initial case management directions
– Advocates’ meeting and Case Management
Conference (CMC) - to identify issues and give full
case management directions
– Advocates’ meeting and Issues Resolution
Hearing (IRH) to resolve, narrow and identify and
remaining issues
– Final Hearing - to determine remaining issues
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Issue focus
• Each stage of the PLO:
– focused on identifying, narrowing and resolving the key
issues in the case
– e.g. drink, drugs, violence
• The focus should be on those issues that need to be
resolved and determined by the court
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Advocates’ meetings
• Only advocates and litigants in person should attend
these meetings
• To consider issues in the case at least two days
before the CMC or IRH
• Completion of the draft case management order - to
be filed by the local authority at least one day before
the hearing - identifying the key issues in the case
• Emphasis on co-operation
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Experts
• There will be a separate Practice Direction on how
and when experts will be appointed in court
proceedings
• The appointment of an expert is a matter to be
determined by the court
• An expert’s report should not take the place of core
social work - e.g. initial and core assessments, and
assessment of family members as carers
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Cafcass/Cafcass Cymru analysis and
recommendations
• Incremental analysis and reporting in order to
help the court focus on the key issues in the
case
• Initial analysis and recommendations at day
six will be built upon for the CMC and IRH
• The final report is replaced by a final analysis
and recommendations, which is a sum of the
earlier analysis
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
PLENARY SESSION
Statutory Guidance and Public Law Outline Training
Action planning - considerations
• Training - how and when will it be cascaded to peers
and colleagues
• Inter-agency working - who do you need to work with
to make this a reality
• Impact assessment - e.g. what working
practices/structures may need to change
• Implementation planning