6.1.9 Out of Area Placements

Note that different provisions apply to children who acquire Looked After status as a result of a remand to local authority accommodation or Youth Detention Accommodation. In relation to those children, please see Remands to Local Authority Accommodation or to Youth Detention Accommodation Procedure, Care Planning for Young People on Remand or Youth Detention Accommodation.

AMENDMENT

Section 5, Placements in Wales was added in March 2022 in line with updated Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations - Volume 2: Care Planning, Placement and Case Review.

1. Placements to which this Procedure Applies

This procedure applies to any placement of a Looked After child outside the area of the local authority, EXCEPT WHERE the placement is with a Connected Person, or a local authority foster carer approved by the placing authority.

2. Approval of Placement by Nominated Officer / Director of Children's Services

The placement team (fostering) are responsible for all placement contract management and brokerage and as such should be contacted to assist the placement finding process.

Please contact: 0114 2734 145 / placementfindin@sheffied.gov.uk.

The decision to place the child should be made in collaboration as outlined in the Scheme of Delegation. Depending upon where a child/young person is placed, depends upon the level of management agreement needed, whether this be by an Assistant Director, Director, or Executive Director.

Caption: table with out of authority placements

Out of Authority Placements	The surrounding local authorities to Sheffield: Barnsley Derbyshire Doncaster Nottinghamshire Rotherham
Placements of Distance	All other local authorities.

In order to access an out of authority placement the social worker/team manager will have completed a Placement Referral, authorised by an appropriate manager. The Placement Officer will check for suitable vacancies and will forward the completed Referral form to all suitable provider/s.

The Placement Officer will regularly keep the social worker informed of how the placement search is progressing and will forward details of potential suitable Placements to the social worker to consider, as this is the responsibility of the social worker to determine the suitability of the Placement identified.

The approving manager as outlined in the Scheme of Delegation must be satisfied, from the information contained in the Placement Referral, of the following:

That the child's wishes and feelings have been ascertained and given due consideration;
That the proposed placement is the most appropriate placement available for the child and consistent with the Care Plan;
That relatives have been consulted where appropriate;
That the area authority has been notified, or, for a Placement at a Distance, the area authority have been consulted and have been provided with a copy of the child's Care Plan (see Section 3, Notification of Placements);
That the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) has been consulted (usually the IRO will discuss with the child after the child has visited the proposed placement).

If a placement is accepted, it is the responsibility of the social worker to arrange/agree the Transition Plan, the admission date and exchange all the relevant Care Management materials with the Provider. The Placement Officer will then issue an Individual Placement Agreement confirming the Placement duration and fees to the Provider with a copy to the CF Information Monitoring Payment Team.

3. Notification of Placements

Written notification must be given to the area authority of the arrangements for the placement before the placement is made or, if the placement is made in an emergency, within five working days of the start of the placement unless it is not reasonably practicable to do so.

4. Emergency Placements

In the case of a placement made in an emergency, the approval of the Assistant Director or other nominated management level (as outlined in the Scheme of Delegation) is still required and s/he must be satisfied that the child's wishes and feelings have been ascertained and given due consideration, and must take steps to ensure that within 5 working days: the IRO has been informed; relatives have been consulted (where appropriate) and the area authority notified.

Further information regarding the placement approval process can be found in the Scheme of Delegation.

5. Placements in Wales

Local authorities must not place a child under 16 in 'other arrangements' out of authority placement in Wales except where the placement is in one of the exempted regulated settings:

Accommodation provided by a registered care home service equivalent to a registered care home in England;
Hospitals;
Schools providing accommodation that are not also registered as a care home service;
Residential family centres.

Other arrangement placements in Wales may also be used for residential holiday schemes for disabled children as long as the placement setting is one of the alternatively regulated exemptions listed above.

It is essential that the responsible authority takes every step to establish that the child's needs are matched to the services provided by the placement and that the notification protocol is completed by the responsible authorities and submitted to Care Inspectorate Wales and Ofsted.