Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009

We have added a guide to this Act, to the extent that it is of particular interest to persons working in child social care. The guide explains these aspects of the 2009 Act:

- the new statutory scheme about the education of detained children and young people, including children with statements of SEN;

- extended membership of, and new duties for, English Local Safeguarding Children Boards;

- the creation of Children's Trust Boards in England to oversee partnership working in each local authority area;

- the Secretary of State's new statutory power to set safeguarding targets for English local authorities;

- local authorities' new obligations to have 'Sure Start Children's Centres'.

Children's Services
On 12 January 2010, the Secretary of State gained the power to make regulations which set safeguarding targets for children's services authorities in England. On this date, s.195 of the Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 came into force and inserted a new section 9A into the Children Act 2004, which contains the Secretary of State's new powers to set statutory safeguarding targets. 

Also on 12 January 2010, schools became tied into Children's Trust arrangements in England. On that date, the list of bodies subject to the duty to co-operate to improve children's well-being under section 10 of the Children Act 2004 was extended to include governing bodies of maintained schools and Further Education Institutions, as well as proprietors of Academies. This extension occurred upon the commencement of s.195 of the Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009, which amends section 10 of the Children Act 2004. For further details, see section 10 of the Community Care Inform guide to the Children Act 2004.

Private Family Law Orders
There is now a general rule that residence orders last until a child is 18 (rather than 16 as previously). But the general rule does not apply if a court directs that the order should end earlier or another order is made discharging the residence order. This extension of the usual duration of residence orders is a result of amendments made to the Children Act 1989 by s.37 of the Children & Young Persons Act 2008 and which recently came into force. Section 9 of the Community Care Inform guide to the Children Act 1989 has been amended to take account of this change.

The rules on applications for residence orders by a child's relative have been relaxed. As a result of amendments made to the Children Act 1989 by the Children & Young Persons Act 2008, which recently came into force, a child's relative, such as a grandparent, is entitled to apply for a residence order (without obtaining leave of the court) if the child has been living with him/her for a period of at least one year preceding the application. This places relatives in the same position as local authority foster parents. Section 10 of the guide to the Children Act 1989 has been amended to take account of this change. The rules on relatives applying for special guardianship orders have also been changed to the same effect: see section 14A of the guide to the Children Act 1989.

A little-known corner of child protection law has been reformed. It will be of particular interest to councils with military bases in their areas who are working with families who are then stationed abroad. UK child protection legislation does not apply where a service family is stationed outside the UK. Instead, there is a separate legal mechanism for securing the welfare of children of such service families which is found in the Armed Forces (Protection of Children of Service Families) Regulations 2009 which can be accessed here (the regulations come into force on 31 October 2009). A council may well be asked to provide evidence in proceedings under the 2009 Regulations, say where child protection concerns escalated following a family being stationed abroad. In order to understand the legal context in which the evidence will be used, it would be useful for child protection teams to have access to a copy of the regulations.

Looked After Children

A key aim of the Children & Young Persons Act 2008 is to improve educational outcomes for looked after children. Section 20 of the Act allows regulations to ensure that designated teachers for looked after children have certain qualifications and experience. Regulations have now been made under section 20 for England and will come into force on 1 September 2009. They are called the Designated Teacher (Looked After Pupils etc)(England) Regulations 2009 and require mimimum levels of experience in order for a person to be the designated teacher for looked after children. The full regulations can be accessed from s.20 of the Inform guide to the Children and Young Persons Act 2008: click here.

Disabled Children

In November 2009, a new set of regulations will come into force governing the making of direct payments under the Children Act 1989, for example where the parent of a disabled child decides to take a cash sum to purchase care services on the open market as an alternative to the direct provision of services by, or on behalf of, a local authority. The new regulations can be accessed from the Inform guide to s.17A of the Children Act 1989: click here.

 
Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006

A number of amendments have been made to the Community Care Inform guide to the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, to reflect the following developments:

(i) the Government's decision that only the barring elements of the 2006 Act will come into force in October 2009 (so that, from that date, a person on the list of persons barred from working with children will be prohibited from carrying out that close-contact activity with children that falls within the 2006 Act's definition of "regulated activity"). This means that the 'monitoring'/ ISA-registration elements of the 2006 Act will not start to become mandatory until November 2010. In other words, no one will be required by law to become ISA-registered until November 2010 and, even then, monitoring will be phased in gradually;

(ii) a recent order has omitted certain types of activity from the 2006 Act's definition of "regulated activity" (the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (Miscellaneous Provisions) Order 2009). As well as ancillary first aid, the Order excludes certain foster carers from the definition of "regulated activity" so that, in some cases, a 'barred' person will still be able to foster, for example where the local authority responsible for a child is satisfied that the child's welfare requires him/her to be fostered by a 'barred' relative. For further details, see Schedule 4 of the Inform guide to the 2006 Act: click here;

(iii) recent regulations have extend the ambit of "regulated activity" so that it catches certain people providing transport for children. The regulations are the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2009. For further details, see Schedule 4 of the Inform guide to the 2006 Act: available here;

(iv) an order has been made so that a person contained on the Northern Ireland barred lists will also be barred in England and Wales. For more details, see section 3 of the Inform guide to the 2006 Act: click here.

Family Proceedings

 
Appeals

S.94 of the Children Act 1989 has been amended so that the general rule is now that appeals against decisions of the Magistrates' Court under the Children Act 1989 go to the county court, rather than the High Court. The reason for this, according to the Government, is to "make more efficient use of available judicial resources by rerouting appeals to a lower court so as to reduce pressure on the High Court bench". For the amended description of s.94 of the Children Act 1989 in the Inform guide to that Act click here. The Allocation and Transfer of Proceedings Order 2008 has also been amended in the light of the alteration to s.94. For the 2008 Order, as amended, click here (link to be posted asap).

Media attendance and disclosure of information

The Community Care Inform versions of the Family Proceedings Rules (which apply in the High Court and county court and are available here and the Family Proceedings Courts (Children Act 1989) Rules (which apply in the Magistrates' Court and are available here have been amended to take account of the following developments:

(i) the high-profile changes to the rules about press attendance at hearings in family proceedings. These involve the insertion of a new Rule 10.28 into the Family Proceedings Rules and a new Rule 16A into the Magistrates' Courts rules. The new rules provide rights for for "duly accredited" members of the press to attend proceedings. They are supplemented by two practice directions and two sets of guidance. The directions and guidance are available at http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/judgment_guidance/practice_directions/family-media.htm#pfd280409. It should be noted that that these changes do not apply to adoption proceedings because they are governed by separate rules, the Family Procedure (Adoption) Rules 2005 which have not been amended. The difficulties posed where care and placement order proceedings are running concurrently are dealt with by one of the sets of guidance just referred to;

(ii) the second development is a complete re-ordering of the rules about the disclosure of information relating to family proceedings. The Rules are now contained in Part XI of the Family Proceedings Rules and Part IIC of the Magistrates' Court rules.

Fees

The Community Care Inform version of the Family Proceedings (Fees) Order 2008 has been amended to take account of recent fee increases. The Order, as amended, is available here.

Childcare Act 2006

A number of changes have recently been made to the operation of the Childcare Act 2006 system for regulating childcare.

Fees

Registration fees for childcare provision registered with OFSTED will rise in September 2009, as part of what the Government describes as "a planned process of rises to increase the proportion of fee revenue from the Early Years Register towards the cost to Ofsted of providing its services". The revised fees are contained in the Inform version of the Childcare (Fees) Regulations 2008 (as amended) which can be accessed from s.53 of the guide to the Childcare Act 2006: click here.

The General Childcare Register

OFSTED is required by the Childcare Act 2006 to maintain two childcare registers, an Early Years Register and a General Childcare Register. The General Childcare Register has two parts. Part A is for childcare providers looking after children aged between (approximately) five and eight: these providers must be registered. Part B is for other providers who have decided voluntarily to register with OFSTED such as those looking after children aged over eight.

Many aspects of 'General Childcare' are governed by regulations. The Inform version of the relevant regulations - the Childcare (General Childcare Register) Regulations 2008 - has been amended to take account of recent changes. For the amended regulations, go to s.54 of the Inform guide to the Childcare Act 2006: click here. Briefly, the main changes are:

(i) alignment of complaints procedures for general childcare providers with those for early years providers (so 28 days within which to respond to a complaint and complaints records must be kept for 3 years),

(ii) OFSTED will now be able to waive the requirement for a childminder (registered in the general childcare register) to be on the premises at all times which would allow children to be left in the care of, for example, a CRB-checked assistant,

(iii) relaxation of the CRB checking requirements for home-child carers registered in Part B of the General Childcare Register.

Disqualification

Disqualification regulations set out a list of persons who are automatically disqualified from being registered as a childcare provider with OFSTED. A new set of disqualification regulations has been made and will come into force in September 2009. They are called the Childcare Disqualification Regulations 2009 and are available from s.75 of the Community Care Inform guide to the Childcare Act 2006: click here. The main change from the previous regulations is that a person who, in the past, has been refused registered or had registration cancelled because of non-payment of registration fees is not now automatically disqualified from registration in the future.

Collection of information about young children

 
Childcare providers for "young children" (meaning a child from birth to the end of the academic year in which a child turns 5) can be required to provide information to local authorities. This process (the 'Early Years Census') is governed by regulations made under s.99 of the Childcare Act 2006. New regulations have been made to replace the previous ones. The new regulations, called the Childcare (Provision of Information about Young Children) (England) Regulations 2009, draw a distinction between funded and non-funded early years provision: a greater amount of information about the former may be collected than about the latter. The new regulations can be accessed from s.99 of the Community Care Inform guide to the Childcare Act 2006: click .

Take a look at the newsletter from Wednesday 1st July.

If you did not receive the fortnightly focus, please contact jessica.cree@rbi.co.uk.

Welcome to Community Care Inform's new Fortnightly Focus to keep you up-to-date with new content and site developments.

Headline of the fortnight Social workers as witnesses in family proceedings court...in the spotlight Involvement with the judicial system is something most people dread. Whether speeding offence or murder charge, it's bewildering and frightening. People visualise heckling barristers in strange costumes, last-minute new evidence and dramatic final twists. In reality, most courts aren't like this, and family courts certainly aren't. Nevertheless, the language is often strange, nobody checks that everyone understands what's happening, and the outcome seems to result from a conspiracy between everyone else in court. The whole unfamiliar process is daunting, for both professionals and families enmeshed in what are very stressful situations. Attending court becomes part of every professional's working life and becomes easier with time but the prospect of attending court, particularly for the first time, probably causes many sleepless nights. For parties, court appearances add extra tensions to families often least well-equipped to cope. For both social workers and their clients, information will help de-mystify the process, freeing everyone to concentrate on the prime purpose - the child's welfare." Read more WHAT ELSE CAN I FIND TO HELP ME IN MY JOB? A reference manual on emotional abuse Author: Martin Calder, Calder Social Work Training and Consultancy Guide to an initial pre-assessment of an adult who has committed sexual abuse Author: Dr Andrew Durham, independent child care consultant, Sexualised Inappropriate Behaviours Service, Warwickshire County Council NEWLY PUBLISHED! Guide to the Youth Justice System Author: Alex Chard, director, YCTCS ltd TOP TIP! Don't forget you can save your favourite articles to "My documents" to save time when you need to find what you are looking for. Read on to find out more about the guide in the spotlight; a round up of other valuable content you will find on the site and a top tip on how to use Community Care Inform. We hope you enjoy this edition of Fortnightly Focus. For any question, please get in touch with Kim Poupart at kim.poupart@rbi.co.uk. COMING SOON! Here are some articles due to be published shortly Reference manual: Neglect Author: Neil Ventress with additional comments by Simon Hackett Guides to risk assessments for emotional; sexual and physical abuse and neglect Author: Rikki Sneddon

Contact orders - the main contact order enforcement provisions of the 2006 Act came into force on 8 December 2008. The 2006 Act inserts a number of new sections into the Children Act 1989 which are designed to improve compliance with contact orders. For further details, see the CCInform guide to the Children Act, which has been updated to take account of the 2006 Act amendments. The relevant parts of the guide can be found here .

Adoption

Baby placements - the CCInform guide to the Adoption and Children Act 2002 has been updated to reflect recent case law on adoptive placements for children aged under 6 weeks. For further details, click here.

Court proceedings

Allocation of Proceedings - there is a new Allocation of Proceedings Order which (a) specifies the type of court to which applications concerning children should be made, and (b) governs the transfer of cases between different types of court. In terms of changes from the previous Order, the aim is for more private law applications concerning children to be decided by Magistrates, rather than before the County Court. However, it governs all types of proceeings, including public law proceedings under the Children Act 1989 and adoption cases. The new Order is available at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/uksi_20082836_en_1

Fees - the CCInform version of the legislation which sets out fees for care and other family proceedings has been updated to take account of recent changes. The changes concern fees for applications under the new contact enforcement legislation and the new forced marriage legislation. The fees legislation is available here

Safeguarding

Immigration - the UK Borders Act 2007 (Code of Practice on Children) Order 2008 provides, from 6 January 2009, a statutory basis for the UK Borders Agency Code of Practice on safeguarding the welfare of children with whom they are involved. For further details, see the CCInform guide to the Children Act 2004.

Wales

Primary law-making powers for the Welsh Assembly - in December 2008 a Legislative Competence Order made under the Government of Wales Act 2006 gave the Welsh Assembly the power to make laws for Wales about a range of child-related matters including adoption, fostering, safeguarding and the provision of social care services. For further details, click here.

CCInform's legal expert, Ed Mitchell, has provided the latest legislation update. 

• the meaning of "regulated activity" with children (the type of activity controlled by the Act),
• what employers need to do to comply with the Act (in terms of checking workers and making referrals to the new Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) where a worker has been, for example, dismissed),
• the personal obligations of social workers, and others working with children, to become 'ISA-registered'."

For the time being, 'What's new?' will reflect the recent Fortnightly Focus updates.

Just published:

Research review on child protection in sport

Guide to working with people affected by eating disorders

Reference manual on safeguarding disabled children

Coming soon:

Reference manual on disabled children and NSF standards

A guide to assessing the emotional harm experiences by children exposed to domestic violence from a domestically violent parent/ carer

Reference manual on fostering children in contact with the youth justice system

Instructions:

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Articles published this week:

Reference manuals:

• Private fostering
  

Research reviews:

• Child contact in the context of divorce and separation: A research review
• Forced marriage
  

Guide to:

• The Child Abuse Investigation Command policing plan for 2008/2009
• What to expect from the court process - A guide for professionals

We have a few reference manuals due to be published shortly (within the next couple of weeks). These include:

• Intercountry adoption
• Institutional abuse
• Age Assessments

Also, look out for the research review on child protection in sport, due to be published this week.

Gary Vaux, Hertfordshire Council’s welfare rights officer, has updated the A-Z benefits section this week. In this update, you will now find the amounts payable for each benefit. This has come as a direct result of feedback from Inform users! We are listening to your views and want to tailor this service as best we can to meet your work needs.

We are now back on track with loading case law summaries in partnership with our legal publisher Lexis Nexis. We’ve loaded 80 case summaries over the past couple of weeks taking the total up to 380. We aim to have the target 500 on the site very soon!

At the beginning of the year we published a guide to the Public Law Outline. This can be found in the legislation section. It has been mentioned in a few training sessions, so I just thought it would be useful to bring to your attention that it is now available on the site. The guide includes: a proposed summary of changes; recommendations from the care proceedings review; the existing protocol – the key changes in relation to the PLO; the case management model template order; what the changes mean for local authorities; what the changes mean for CAFCASS and training arrangements.

We have also loaded lots more content which include:

Reference manuals
- A guide to child and adolescent mental health services
- Child protection in sport
- Children and young people who go missing
- Kinship care

Guide to…
- Lifestory work
- Obesity in children and young people

Research review
- Young runaways