5.1.24 Emergency Duty Team

1. Who Are We?

Lincolnshire Children's Services Emergency Duty Team is a small team of Social Workers based at East Lodge, Lincoln.

We are open when local daytime offices have closed, including:

• Nights;
• Weekends;
• Public holidays.

We work shifts to ensure that the service is available at all times. This means that often there will be only one or two Social Workers covering the entire County. We are therefore only able to respond to Emergency situations which cannot wait until the next working day.

2. Team Structure

The team is comprised of one team manager and four advanced social work practitioners who cover on a rolling rota.

We are also supported by a small team of trained Customer Services Advisors who work within the Customer Service Centre (CSC).

3. What We Do

Our aim is:

Provide an effective, high quality emergency Social Care service, responding to children and families in crisis and meeting their urgent needs outside of normal office hours. Our primary task is to respond to new situations that arise after area offices close. These should be urgent, needing a response that cannot wait until offices re-open.

We work closely with partner agencies on a range of issues affecting children and their families including Police, Health and Housing.

4. What is an Emergency?

An emergency is that cannot safely wait until the next working day.

An emergency is a serious, unexpected situation in the life of a child or young person that cannot safely wait until the next working day.

5. What Happens When You Call Us

Your call will be answered by a trained Customer Service Advisor. They will take your details and discuss the reason for your call with you to find out how urgent it is.  If necessary they will pass your details onto a social worker from the Emergency Duty Team. Alternatively they may signpost you to other agencies.

Your call will be answered by a trained Customer Service Advisor. They will take your details and discuss the reason for your call with you to find out how urgent it is. They will record the information into a contact for the child/family you are worried about. If necessary they will pass your details onto a social worker from the Emergency Duty Team. Alternatively they may signpost you to other agencies. If there is no role for the Emergency Duty Team, your concern will be considered by the following working day by a member of the screening team.

6. How You Can Contact Us

Please note: We are only available to deal with Social Work emergencies which happen when local daytime offices have closed.

We are open:

• Monday to Thursday - from 5pm to 8.45am the following morning;
• From 4.45pm on Friday through to 8.45am the following Monday morning;
• All day (24 hours) on Bank Holidays.

Our telephone number is: 01522 782333.

Please be advised that because there is a small number of Customer Service Advisors available, there may be a wait until your telephone call is answered.

7. Services Available

The social workers on the Emergency Duty Team are highly trained and experienced practitioners who will evaluate the concerns you have shared with the Customer Service Advisor to determine its urgency and take any necessary actions to address the emergency situation to ensure safety until the following working day. 

This may include involving an Early Help Worker to support the child or young person and their family.

8. Young People and Families

We are a contact point for children and young people at risk of immediate family breakdown.

Our aim is to prevent children from going into public care wherever possible and we assist families in finding new ways of dealing with difficult situations.

We offer emergency telephone support and advice to carers and families dealing with crisis and emergency situations.

We are often able to signpost families/other agencies towards other help available.

In certain circumstances we may enlist support from either the Early Help or Future4Me teams to undertake visits and offer some direct work to support to de-escalate a crisis situation. 

9. Foster Carers

We are able to provide telephone support to foster carers experiencing difficulties with children in their care, and at times may be able to utilise Early Help or Future4Me support. We are able to offer advice on coping strategies and managing difficult behaviour. Our aim is to prevent placement breakdown and to support foster carers to manage difficulties until the next working day.

10. Emergency Foster Care Placements

There may be absolute emergencies that arise out of hours that will require foster care.  EDT has the same access to in-house foster care placements as Fostering Duty, if no placements are available; every attempt will be made to secure alternative accommodation prior to considering this as an option.

EDT will have use of East Lodge to provide a safe and comfortable environment for children/young people, however this provision can only be utilised on a very temporary basis and with a capacity of no more than 2 young people with the expectation that the following day the child/ren is removed and a suitable plan developed for him/her/them.

Daytime teams are advised to ensure contingency plans do not rely upon EDT's ability to secure a foster placement or utilise East Lodge in the event of an emergency. 

11. "Appropriate Adult" Service

If a child has been arrested and detained, police will contact the Customer Service Centre who will arrange for The Appropriate Adult Service (TAAS) who will attend the custody suite to support the young person. This is a 24/7 service.

12. Police Powers of Protection

Section 46 of the Children Act 1989 empowers a police officer who has reasonable cause to believe that a child would otherwise be likely to suffer significant harm, to:

1. Remove the child to suitable accommodation and keep him/her there; or
2. Take such steps as are reasonable to ensure that the child's removal from any hospital, or other place, in which he/she is being accommodated is prevented.

EDT will only seek the assistance of the police to use their 'powers of protection' in exceptional circumstances and where there are significant concerns relating to the child's immediate safety.

When Police Powers of Protection are used, an independent officer of at least Inspector rank must act as the designated officer. The powers of protection can last up to 72 hours.

Police have a duty to notify the Local Authority if they have used their powers of protection and must clearly detail, that the criteria for risk of significant harm has been met.  Once the Local Authority have been notified, a strategy discussion must be held.

Under PPoP the Local Authority and/or Police do not obtain PR for the child, however, in an Emergency; the Local Authority can accommodate children under Police Protection without parental consent.

13. Emergency Duty Team Process, How Does it Work?

On receipt of any referral in which concerns are expressed about the immediate safety or welfare of a child, the EDT Social Worker must determine whether the threshold for Section 47 Enquiries applies.

Given the out of hours nature of the service, there may be a lack of clarity or information about the nature and severity of risk. The EDT Social Worker will therefore need to make, and record, a considered judgement. These initial enquiries will provide sufficient information upon which to determine, whether there is a need for emergency action to safeguard and promote the welfare of a child/children.

Where a decision is made that there is no role for EDT, this should be recorded, together with the reasons, and the referrer should be advised as soon as possible, having due regard to issues of confidentiality where the referrer is a member of the public.

Where the Social Worker determines that further enquiries and/or investigation is necessary, this should also be recorded and undertaken without delay.

Where the allegation or concern(s) relates to a foster carer or member of staff, or where there is any suggestion that the referral may involve organised abuse, the EDT Social Worker should immediately consult with their manager or 'on call' Head of Service.

14. Parental Participation/Consent

It is good practice to consult parents/carers at the earliest opportunity in any referral, and to seek their agreement and permission before sharing information about them with other agencies. Whereas EDT will endeavour to seek this consent, however should there be information to indicate that in doing so it would place the child at increased risk, this will be clearly recorded. 

EDT may not be in possession of sufficient information, or have sufficient time, to assess whether seeking parental consent will increase the risk to the child referred, prior to carrying out initial enquiries into the child's circumstances.

EDT Social Workers should therefore proceed as above, but should remain aware of the parent's rights to be informed at the earliest opportunity of agency concerns, and of agency involvement in discussing the appropriate response to these concerns. Those involved in a strategy discussion should agree how and when the parent is to be consulted, and this should be clearly recorded.

15. Outcomes

Should EDT become involved with a child/family, the contacts and information must be passed to the appropriate area daytime team the next working day, regardless of the outcome or level of intervention.

It will then be the responsibility of the locality social care team to follow up the referral and to ensure that they are clear about who has been consulted, and exactly what action has been taken, with what results.

The information provided to daytime services must specifically state whether the parent/carer is aware of the referral, and what information has been shared with them, and this should be recorded, together with the reasons why any information has been withheld.

Where any investigation, assessments, ongoing casework or placement breakdowns are likely to present to EDT, it is the responsibility of the locality office to ensure that EDT have up to date information about risk to the child(ren), on which to base any emergency action which may then be required out of hours. This should include a detailed contingency plan with appropriate contacts and valid telephone numbers.

17. Housing

Young People presenting as homeless:  Every attempt will maintain the young person at their home or within their network, including the use of Early Help or Future4Me when appropriate until they can access the Rebuilding Family Relationships Team the following day. 

People who pose a risk to children and require housing: Authorities have agreed that people/children will not be offered emergency accommodation in B&B or hostel accommodation where the authority has also housed families or other vulnerable young people.

EDT Social Workers who are approached to provide emergency accommodation for such individuals should therefore consult housing lists for identified single person accommodation in the first instance.