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Social work services for disabled children and young people and their families Assessment and eligibility Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People
Social work services for disabled children and
young people and their families
Assessment and eligibility
Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People
Research objectives
• Establish current practices in local authorities across Scotland in terms of eligibility criteria and assessment tools.
• Discover if there has been any change to criteria and tools.
• Explore how variations in practice or changing criteria might affect services and access to them.
• Establish whether the level of accessibility and availability of services match the legislative and policy commitments in Scotland.
What did we do?
• Phase 1– FOI request made by the Commissioner to all
32 local authorities.
• Phase 2– Survey of all local authorities - social work
services• 23 responded.
– Discussion groups with social work professionals in two case study areas.
– One interview with a social work professional– Interview with two Scottish Government
representatives.
Current practice
• Service users• Budget, caseloads & staffing• Monitoring• Services provided• Charging
• Assessment tools• Eligibility criteria
Current practice: who are the services for?• 2 said their local authority does not
cover hearing impairments and 1 does not cover mental health problems.
• Differences in approach to autistic spectrum disorder.
• Definition of disability still an issue?– Impacts on eligibility.
Current practice: budget, caseloads & staffing
• Seems to have been less affected by cuts than other areas:– Only one local authority reported their budget being
smaller than it was five years ago.– About half said the budget had increased and half
staying about the same. – But concerns about both the impact on families &
the future.
• But, most local authorities (16) have experienced a rise in caseload in the last five years.– And, of those, only 6 reported a rise in staffing levels
and only 8 a rise in budget.
Current practice: performance monitoring
• Most authorities (19) reported problems with waiting times, but:
– 10 did not have a target for how quickly an assessment will be done
– 16 did not have a target for how quickly services will be put in place
• And:– 9 do not monitor waiting times– Only 4 monitor waiting times up to the point of
provision.
Current practice: services provided
0 5 10 15 20
Meals
Telephone equipment
Equipment for recreational need
Home help
Travel
Befriending
Leisure facilities/schemes
Sibling & carer support groups
Play schemes
Support to parents
Access to suitable housing
Occupational therapy
Practical assistance
Equipment & adaptations
Short break respite
Residential respite
Day care
Current practice: charging
0 3 7 10 13 16 20 23
Practical assistanceEquipment for recreationalLeisure facilities/schemes
TravelEquipment & adaptations
Short break respiteResidential respite
MealsTelephone equipment
BefriendingPlay schemes
Home helpDay care
Support to parentsAccess to suitable housing
Occupational therapySibling & carer support groups
Always provide free Contribution sometimes Contribution always
Current practice: assessment
• Process– While most publish key information about
assessment:• only about 2/3s publish information about the factors
taken into account when deciding whether to provide services, and
• only one local authority reported publishing information specifically for children.
– Assessment process is usually, but not always, explained to children and young people and their families.
– Most provide the opportunity for children and young people to participate directly in their assessment.
Current practice: assessment
• The tools used– 22 have tools in place for assessing children but
only 12 specifically for disabled children and young people.
– Differences in how far a multi-agency approach to assessment has been adopted
• 6 local authorities reported not yet using a multi-agency assessment tool
• Content of the tools differs - some more detailed than others; some more GIRFEC based than others.
• Still an issue around multiple assessments and duplication.
Current practice: eligibility criteria
• Why use them? • When are they used?• What do they look like? • Complexities
– Differences in definitions– Differences in when used
How have things changed?
• Eligibility• Assessment• Charging
• Referrals• Services
Impact of variation
• Variation does lead to differences in, for example:– the experience of assessment
process– types of services received– the amount of money paid
• But, difficult to conclude if one area is meeting need better than any other.
Meeting commitments?
• Some specific gaps in specific authorities, e.g– Planning & monitoring– Publishing information– Involving children & young people
• But, difficult to conclude overall.
Meeting commitments?
0
3
7
10
13
16
20
23
All Most vulnerable
Always Most of the time Some of the time
