ICHA Committee questions re Placement Finder Platforms (PTP)

Transcription

1 ICHA Committee questions re Placement Finder Platforms (PTP) Answers completed by Link Maker Can you confirm that the use of the PTP will be free of any costs to RCC providers in perpetuity? If not, then how do you see the PTP being funded? A: As stated on our website, the development and maintenance of Link Maker is funded by local authorities, and the platform is free of charge to placement providers. Local authorities have shared a view that this is appropriate and transparent, and that costs to providers would likely become costs to authorities regardless. We have no plans to change this funding model. 2. Will you undertake to make a legal agreement with providers as to continuity of arrangements, eg. that there will be a year s notice needed if the PTP is to cease to operate. A: Link Maker is provided to local authorities by way of an annual licence. Failing to also provide an effective service to independent providers at any point would make the service of no value to any user, including those funding it through a licence agreement. Therefore, we believe that forming legal agreements with over 500 independent provider organisations would be a considerable burden for all involved with little added benefit. 3. How do you evaluate the involvement and management in the development and operation of the PTP of the following parties - yourself/ves, plus the RCC sector, plus the LAs, plus DfE. If you see some or all being involved, please explain how you see this operating. A: Link Maker s development over the past 4 years has benefitted from the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders, and this will be key to our ability to continue meeting the needs of the sector in future. Across different care settings Link Maker engages regularly with relevant leads at the DfE (and within national leadership boards ), and with the heads of umbrella organisations representing different parts of the sector. We take regular opportunities to meet with groups of users, both local authority and independent provider. Along with the direct feedback that we encourage from our users, this flow of ideas and advice informs everything we do. 4. What is your view of the role of a Board of Ethics/Governance/ Advisory Board for the PTP? Who would need to be included in such a group in your view? A: Our view on this is reflected in our answer to question 3. While terms of reference for a formalised group were agreed with ICHA in January 2017, existing members 1

2 preferred to retain a less formal arrangement in the interest of independence and impartiality. 5. What information do you see as relevant for the PTP re child and home? A: Link Maker s templates are designed to provide everything needed by a local authority, or children s home, to decide whether to explore a potential placement further. They were developed by Marie Tucker based on consultation with both providers and local authority placement officers, and on her own experience in both roles. The templates are kept under review and are updated in line with feedback from the sector. Examples of the templates currently in use by authorities and homes will be available on the following page by 27/4/17: 6. Can you confirm that the PTP will be only used for placement finding? Please confirm that you exclude it being used for any other purpose, eg. promotional/advertising. A: The use of Link Maker s platform currently covers placement finding, encrypted communication and document sharing, data collection and reporting, and the sharing of support and resources between staff and families. While we have no intention of carrying advertisements, we cannot confirm any limitations on the functionality the platform may provide in the future. This will be shaped by our organisational aims, which can be found here: 7. How would you facilitate positive occupancy levels? Would you be able to offer bed booking? A: Link Maker s platform fully supports forward planning of placements. On the profile of an individual home, in addition to the number of currently available beds, the date of the earliest planned vacancy can be indicated. Similarly, the required start date is a key item on a placement request. Both authorities and providers are helped to identify future placements by using this date information to filter current opportunities, and to set alerts of new referrals as required. 8. How would you manage the balance between small providers with one home and larger providers with many? How would searchers access individual homes of providers with multiple homes? A: Link Maker s platform is designed to promote decision making based on the individual needs of a child, and the extent to which a specific placement could meet those needs. To this end, the information regarding a vacancy from a single-home provider is presented no differently to a vacancy from a large, national organisation. When an authority searches for vacancies, they are as likely to find the former as the latter, depending on the needs of the child. When an authority issues a placement request, unless it is initially ring-fenced by framework membership, it can be accessed by any provider, large or small. 2

3 9. Can you confirm that fees will not appear on the PTP and the agreement of these is a matter between the provider and LA? A: Yes. A provider would only be asked for a price by an authority in relation to a specific placement. 10. Would you be able to agree a detailed confidentiality, handling and processing agreement? Do you have suggestions as to what you would see in such an agreement? What do see as the soft information relevant for the PTP to carry? A: Link Maker already has in place a) comprehensive assurances around all aspects of how it handles data, including everything falling under the requirements ISO 27001, and b) an agreement with each user covering privacy and terms of use. This information is available here: How could the PTP become a research tool for analysis of placement making and also identifying the hard to place locations and needs? A: Link Maker s third aim (see above) is to promote more of the right placements, with better knowledge of sufficiency to inform recruitment and development of new provision. The way in which this could be achieved within residential care can be illustrated by the way Link Maker is currently used across the UK for adoption, as the most complete, detailed and up-to-date source of sufficiency data used by the DfE and national leads. Depending on the audience, line-level or aggregated data can be manipulated and reported to describe the needs of children, the nature of available placements, and where placements are made, according to different regions, caresettings, or cohorts of children and provision. In addition, analysis of the effectiveness of different placement procedures would be possible, by examining the speed and nature of placements made using different approaches (eg tiered systems or level playing field). 12. How would you make the data regarding searches available for research and what safeguards would there be for the data? A: Only aggregated, non-identifying data is made available by Link Maker for the purposes of research and analysis. Individual organisations, or groups of organisations, are able to extract, or report on, their own line-level or aggregated data. 13. How would you moderate the feedback from social workers and others on each homes page? A: There is currently no facility on Link Maker for feedback to be shared in this way only internal notes for communication within an organisation. We do see potential benefit in both providers and authorities accessing appropriate indicators of each other s recent performance, and this is something we are keen to explore with the sector. 3

4 14. What is your thinking regarding a PTP needing to have the ambition and capacity to be the national RCC DPS? A: We believe that rather than becoming a DPS, the role of a placement tool should be to support the functions of a DPS, delivered by others in the sector best placed to provide them. Link Maker can already support frameworks and DPS at any scale, and has both the ambition and capacity to support the development of a national DPS. The platform was built from the outset to reduce fragmentation in children s social care, and any barriers to children finding the most appropriate placement to meet their needs. Within adoption, its rapid take-up across the UK has brought a change in practice, from looking to a local consortium of agencies for a match to seeking the most suitable families from the outset, regardless of where they come from. In placement commissioning we believe a national DPS, or a series of regional DPSs, with centrally coordinated monitoring and contracting arrangements, would bring a similar freedom to choose the most suitable placement regardless of the provider. We believe this would lead to improved placement stability and subsequently improved outcomes for children. 15. How do you see the PTP offering local, regional and national searches? A: Both providers and authorities use Link Maker to search and identify potential placements, at any scale. At a basic level, an authority can issue a placement request to a local group of known providers (in order to comply with the terms of a framework contract, for example), or to any registered providers. Either way, providers can search available referrals by area, and can define which new referrals they would like to be alerted to. When an authority is searching vacancies, it can filter individual homes within an area on a map, defined as a point and distance from that point. 16. How would the PTP always create a selection that upholds the most appropriate placement and ensure matching of need to provision? A: Link Maker puts placement selection firmly in the hands of those with knowledge of the child and the provision. Users are given the tools to be able to make an initial selection efficiently, and to discuss the options together securely without delay. As can be seen in the profile examples given in Q5, children s home profiles on Link Maker contain comprehensive information about the size, location and nature of the home, other children in placement, and the degree to which a full range of behaviours, risks, and health and development needs can be supported. This data is all captured in such a way that, according to the specific needs of child, available vacancies can be filtered with a high degree of control and precision. In a similar way, Link Maker s referral template captures information about a child, his or her needs, and the nature of the placement required, in a way that allows a children s home to filter referrals, and set-up alerts for new referrals, with a great degree of control. 4

5 17. What profiling tool do you see has potential to provide the basis for sound matching of need to provision? A: If by profiling tool the question refers to platforms such as Link Maker, we do not have a detailed enough knowledge of other options to give a view on this. Link Maker ensures its own tool matches need to provision as effectively as possible by keeping all aspects under review, and with ongoing investment in developing the platform in line with feedback from the sector and to reflect any changes in legislation, policy or guidance. 18. How do you see the platform finding PTP being agent in enhancing social work assessment and report writing that will enable referrals and selection to ensure the right child is in the right place at the right time? A: Link Maker s platform is designed to put children needs, and those best-placed to understand them, at the heart of decision making. It can be a challenge for social workers to have effective, efficient and appropriate involvement in the placement finding process, and the attitude of placement teams to this varies. Access to a child s case on Link Maker is typically shared with commissioners, placement officers and managers, but can also be shared with social workers for the purpose of writing and updating referrals, reviewing available (or shortlisted) placements, and viewing or contributing to online discussion as placements are explored. Some of this involvement is welcomed by placement teams, while some see it as challenging. The extent of social worker s involvement can be limited on the platform to suit the policy and culture of an authority, but we hope to see a shift towards greater involvement. We also intend, through future development of our platform, to support and encourage the ability of those currently involved in a child s care to contribute to the assessment of needs when subsequent placements are sought. 19. How do you see the PTP supporting the use of standardised documentation for referrals? A: The referral template offered by Link Maker (as seen in Q5) was only introduced in March 2017 but is already being used. We hope authorities will continue to adopt its use and, along with providers, contribute to future iterations and improvements. 20. How do you see the PTP supporting a national set of contractual T&Cs? A: Any national documentation, such as contracts, could easily be hosted by Link Maker and presented where needed. As an example, we have agreed with one framework to integrate the creation of a framework agreement into the workflow on Link Maker, to increase efficiency and standardisation. This could be provided for any group of authorities and providers, at any scale. 21. How do you see the PTP supporting professional workforce development for social work, RCC and commissioning? A: Link Maker already has the functionality to provide this. For example, a Q&A is used nationally for the sharing of advice and support between agency staff, families 5

6 or both. Any body (be it an authority, provider, framework or umbrella organisation) can host a secure, branded area within Link Maker providing fora, resources and event information to all relevant stakeholders. 22. What is your thinking about a proposal that the ICHA Handbook form the basis for the national DPS and therefore, the PTP would need a direct link and therefore agreement as to the relationship with regards to the management and arrangements? Would you fund further developments of the ICHA Handbook in order to facilitate this use? How would you enable videos of homes to be available? A: As per our answer to Q14, we see the role of a placement platform s as supporting the functions of any potential DPS, as provided by those best placed in the sector. Link Maker would be keen to support such developments but does not see this evaluation as an appropriate place to respond to, nor give option on, specific proposals. Homes are already adding up to 10 minutes of video, in addition to photographs, to their profiles on Link Maker. 23. What is your thinking about there being one, two or many such platforms coexisting? A: We believe the potential benefits of platforms such as Link Maker include a reduction of duplication, and an increase in the range of placements readily available to children. To this extent, the greater the scale of the platforms, and the smaller the number, the greater the potential benefit. However, different parts of the UK, and different parts of the children s social care sector, may have differing requirements and preferences that are best met by a number of alternatives. One benefit of a single platform is that a national picture can be built with fewer gaps and overlaps, however there are ways to achieve this even when a number of parallel systems are used. 24. What is your evaluation of the work of the ICHA? A: We feel that an evaluation of the work of ICHA by Link Maker would not be appropriate in this context, and we would prefer that it should not be considered as part of ICHA s evaluation of placement platforms. In any case, we do not feel that Link Maker is best placed to provide an evaluation, and that only ICHA members would have the necessary expertise and experience to give a considered view. 25. Do you agree that there is the need to ensure that the ICHA is able to continue to provide its full service to the RCC sector? A: We believe that it is important for each part of the children s social care sector have an effective body to represent it, and to support its functioning, development and sustainability. Link Maker has always worked collaboratively with such organisations and would hope to do so with ICHA, however, as above, we do not feel 6

7 this is an appropriate opportunity to give views on the relative merits of ICHA, nor, as above, do we feel best placed to do this. 26. What additional benefits does the PTP bring to ICHA and its members? A: We hope that the answers above allow ICHA to assess the potential benefits for its members, and, we hope, for children. We do not feel it would be appropriate in the context of this evaluation to suggest how Link Maker might benefit ICHA itself. 27. Do you confirm that the PTP in no way is, or will become a competitor for the services of ICHA and other member organisations? A: As per Q25, we believe organisations such as ICHA serve an important purpose, and we cannot envisage Link Maker, given our very specific aims and expertise, ever wishing to, or being in a position to, compete in the area of representing any part of the sector. 28. What would your action be if you were finding that the PTP was being detrimental to ICHA or other membership organisations? A: Beyond our answers to Q25 and Q27 we find this question too hypothetical to be able to provide a response. 29. What would be your view to a partnership agreement with ICHA? A: We do not feel that it would be appropriate in the context of this evaluation to give a view on a potential partnership with ICHA. However, we are always keen to work collaboratively and would be happy to consider any specific proposals in a different context. 30. What recommendations do you have for ICHA? A: We do not feel that it would be appropriate in the context of this evaluation to give recommendations to ICHA, nor, as above, do we feel Link Maker is best placed to give them. The committee will evaluate by discussion and make conclusions in the form of recommendations for ICHA, PTPs, DfE, LAs, Others. 7