Knowsley Resource and Allocation Forum

1. Purpose of the Forum

The Resource Allocation Forum is a multi-professional decision making forum and key driver for achieving good outcomes for children and young people with disabilities where they have been assessed as vulnerable and have long term complex disability needs. The forum will meet every month to consider requests for funding where either:

• A comprehensive child and family assessment, SEND Early Help Assessment or EHCP Social Care Assessment of need identifies that a child or young person needs are so complex, that this need may only be met by additional funding;
• An assessment of need by Social Care identifies that those children or young person’s require additional short break services over and above the Local Offer or those provided by universal and mainstream provision who are disabled;
• Applications are to be submitted to the forum using a referral form which is available through CSCadmin@knowsley.gov.uk;
• Care and support packages will be scheduled for review annually, in line with annual updated assessments of need or when the lead practitioner or key worker identifies the need of an earlier review.

Access to respite care at Fullerton Grove (see Fullerton Eligibility Criteria Procedure).

will be requested at Forum so that Forum members are aware of the totality of support the family receives. This will also enable packages of support to be coordinated with the respite arrangements for each individual family.

The Forum will oversee those packages of care and agree review timescales (as outlined above) to ensure the package remains appropriate.

The Forum will advocate for strategic development of joint working across partnerships for children with complex needs and will make recommendations for developments that support such initiatives.

2. Principle

Before a child or young person is presented to the Forum, there must be detailed consideration of why existing local resources at Universal and Targeted level provision cannot meet the needs. Consideration must be given to the Short Breaks Local Offer meeting the identified need before a request is made to Forum for additional resources.

All packages of care and support will be focused on promoting good outcomes, independence and reducing dependence therefore there is an expectation that requests for Forum will be outcome focused and where/if possible, time limited. Lead Practitioners will be expected to report back on outcomes achieved as part of agreed packages at Forum reviews.

Requests to Forum must be specifically outlined e.g. activities in the community must be identified and potential days and times outlined in the request and number of hours needed must be evidenced clearly within the support plan.

3. Process

1. Any request for the Forum must have completed the requested Forum paperwork by the Lead Practitioner in partnership with all practitioners involved in the care of the young person;
2. The format for application will be a referral, a updated Assessment of need, and Support plan which should clearly demonstrate what the unmet needs are in relation to the young person and also how the proposed plan will address them;
3. The application must be informed by an Assessment of need covering the whole needs of the young person and not just in one particular setting. There is an expectation that a multi-agency meeting will have taken place prior to the application being submitted, if the child or young person is an open case to social care or evidence gathered as part of assessments to ensure that all unmet needs are identified, and the proposed care plan addresses them. The assessment must include the intended outcomes of the proposed package of care and support;
4. All assessments must be shared with the parent/carer and child/young person where appropriate and their comments must be included;
5. All applications must be reviewed by the Team Manager of the Children’s Complex Needs Team or as appropriate by the Team Managers within other areas of Children’s Social Care;
6. The papers will then be circulated to all Forum members prior to the Forum for consideration;
7. The Lead Practitioner will be invited to the meeting to present the case The Forum will discuss the case and will make a decision and inform the Lead Practitioner in a timely manner;
8. Documented decisions will be circulated within 10 working days of the Forum meeting. These will be circulated to the parent/carer, referrer and relevant commissioning leads and finance leads. Decisions from Forum are to be added to children's case files within the relevant service area;
9. All details of children's packages will be kept on ICS or EHM and the file should provide a holistic overview of other resources accessed by families in order to produce a full picture of the support families are receiving;
10. The Lead Practitioner is responsible for feeding back the Forum outcome to the family;
11. The parent/carer are able to appeal decisions of the Forum and may do so in writing to Chair within 10 days of receipt of the written outcome. The Forum will undertake a further review at the next available Forum;
12. In addition, the criteria to return to Forum for review is when circumstances of the family change significantly to warrant a review or when the Forum request a review; or when scheduled for review as outlined above;
13. Urgent cases can be dealt with outside of Forum by the designated senior leader  but must be brought to the next Forum for ratification;
14. Forum decisions are final. Following an initial appeal all additional appeals are to be directed through the Knowsley complaints procedure.

4. Membership and Governance

Membership:

• Chair – Senior Leader, Children’s Social Care (Local Authority);
• Vice Chair – Commissioning Manager – Children;
• SEND Children’s Social Care Team Managers;
• Adult Social Care – Team Manager Transitions;
• SEND Education – Team Manager/Senior Leader with responsibility for funding decisions;
• Finance Officer; Children’s Social Care;
• Finance Monitoring Officer; Direct Payments/Short Breaks Children’s;
• Other professionals who manage access to resources as required:
• Manager of Fullerton Grove;
• Short Breaks Officer;
• Positive Behaviour Support Service.
• The Lead practitioner presenting the request and assessment (to present).