Secure Criteria, Court Orders and Review Panel Arrangements

SECURE ACCOMMODATION ORDERS

Secure Criteria, Court Orders and Review Panel Arrangements

Contents

Introduction
Statutory Framework
Grounds for the Use of Secure Accommodation
Scope
Routes into Secure Accommodation
Detention for up to 72hrs - Local Authority Power
Secure Accommodation Orders
Establishing a Case – Secure Accommodation Criteria Meeting
Applications for a Secure Accommodation Order
Children Under 13 who Require Placement in Secure Accommodation
Section 20 -Removal from Secure Accommodation by Parents
Finding an Appropriate Placement
Secure Criteria Review Panel Arrangements
Timing of Secure Criteria Review Panel
Setting up the Secure Criteria Review Panel
Conducting the Secure Criteria Review Panel

After the Secure Criteria Review Panel

Appendix A Flowchart – Decision Making for Secure Criteria Meeting

Appendix B Agenda for Secure Accommodation Criteria Meeting

Appendix C Procedure for Local Authorities Applying for the Approval of the Secretary of State to Place a Child Under 13 years of age in Secure Accommodation

1. Introduction

Restricting the liberty of children and young people is a serious step which must be taken only when there is no genuine alternative which would be appropriate.

Subject to the following provisions of this guidance, a child who is being looked after by a local authority may not be placed, and, if placed, may not be kept, in accommodation provided for the purpose of restricting liberty ("secure accommodation") unless it appears that:

He has a history of absconding and is likely to abscond from any other description of accommodation; and

If he absconds, he is likely to suffer significant harm;
or
That if he is kept in any other description of accommodation he is likely to injure himself or other persons.

Wherever practicable any use of secure accommodation should arise as part of the Department's overall plan for the young person's welfare. There should be clear aims and objectives for the placement which the providers of the secure accommodation can meet.

When secure accommodation is being considered for any young person it is essential that:

The legal grounds for any application for a Secure Accommodation Order are clarified;
The duty to promote and safeguard the young person's welfare is kept fully in mind;
Adequate consultation occurs as for the making of all placements;
Any Independent Visitor for the young person is informed.

Whilst secure accommodation involves the restriction of liberty, it should not in any other sense involve or lead to any suspension or disregard of a young person's rights as someone who is looked after by the local authority.

Scrupulous attention should be given to ensuring that these rights are protected and that the right to liberty is restricted only in accordance with the law.

Whilst every effort will be made to avoid the need for young people being placed in secure accommodation by rigorous scrutiny of all possible alternatives, the important role played by secure accommodation as part of the range of services provided to a minority of young people by the Department is acknowledged.

A secure placement for some young people may be the only way of responding to the likelihood of them suffering significant harm or injury to themselves or to others.However any decision to restrict the liberty of a young person is a serious step which can only be considered when there is no other appropriate alternative.

Such a decision will only be authorised by the Operations Director of Specialist Services or above.

Where the decision is made to seek a Secure Accommodation Order the young person must be advised of their legal rights and their case regularly reviewed by a Secure Accommodation Review Panel (see Secure Accommodation (Criteria) Procedure, Secure Accommodation Criteria Review Panels).

All such placements must have clear aims and objectives and must only be made for as long as is necessary and unavoidable.

Admission to secure accommodation must form part of the Care Plan, with a clear idea about how it fits in to the overall plan.

Social Workers must have a firm plan about where they want the young person to go on discharge, mindful that a discharge could take place at short notice if it is decided that the criteria no longer apply.

Therefore contingency planning, at the outset, is vital when working with young people in secure accommodation as the Court or a Secure Accommodation Review Panel may discharge them from the secure unit. In these situations the Social Worker may have little notice.

The Court making the Order will want to hear about the overall Care Plan and what the Social Worker envisages for the young person - beyond secure accommodation.The Court will need to be reassured that, as far as possible, there will be continuity of care, education and other professional support when the young person leaves secure accommodation.

There are three key meetings to be aware of:

Secure Accommodation Criteria Meetings (to establish threshold for Secure Accommodation). This meeting is chaired by a Senior Manager.
Secure Accommodation Criteria Review Panel (to independently review whether the criteria for a Secure Order are still met). This meeting is chaired byan Area Manager who does not have line management responsibility for the social work team involved. The panel also includes two additional panel members, including;

An independentpanel member, an advocate, and;
Either a DCC manager who does not have any line management responsibility for the social work team involved or it can be an IRO who is not the allocated IRO for the young person.

Children Looked After Reviews (the ongoing Children in Care Reviews chaired by the young person’s IRO).

2. Statutory Framework

The following legislation and guidance governs the use of secure accommodation on welfare grounds:

Children Act 1989 (s25);
The Children (Secure Accommodation) Regulations 1991 and 1992;
The Arrangements for Placement of Children (General) Regulations 1991 Guidance and Regulations Volume 4, "Residential Care", Chapter 8.

3. Grounds for the Use of Secure Accommodation

A young person may not be placed, and if placed may not be kept in secure accommodation unless it appears that:

S/he has a history of absconding and is likely to abscond from any other form ofaccommodation and

If s/he absconds, s/he is likely to suffer significant harm;
or
If kept in any other accommodation is likely to injure her/himself or other person's;

The Children (Secure Accommodation) Regulations 1991 modify the above requirements slightly in respect of children and young people who are looked after and are either:

Detained under s38(6) of PACE Act; or
Remanded to local authority accommodation or bailed with a condition of residence in local authority accommodation and charged with certain serious offences.

Such young people may not be placed, and if placed, may not be kept in secure accommodation unless it appears that any accommodation other than that provided for the purpose of restricting liberty is inappropriate because:

The young person is likely to abscond from such other accommodation; or
The young person is likely to injure her/himself or other people if s/he is kept in any such other accommodation (Regulation 6);
The person is detained under any provision of the Mental Health Act 1983.

The Court is unable to exercise its power to authorise a period of restriction of liberty if the young person is not legally represented, unless the young person has chosen not to exercise this right (s25 (6) Children Act 1989).

The Children (Secure Accommodation) Regulations 1991 states local authorities may not keep a young person to whom s25 of the Children Act 1989 applies in secure accommodation without leave of the Court beyond 72 hours (whether or not consecutive) in any period of 28 consecutive days.

4. Scope

Any young person who fulfils the above criteria can be made the subject of a Secure Accommodation Order unless they are under the age of 13 when the prior consent of the Secretary of State must be obtained (Regulation 4).(See Section 10, Children Under 13 who Require Placement in Secure Accommodation for further details).

It is theoretically possible to apply for a Secure Accommodation Order on a young person aged up to 18.However in practice applications for young people beyond the age of 17 are extremely rare.

Many of the young people who require placement in secure accommodation are not in care but accommodated. It is therefore essential that parental views are sought, as parents can discharge the young person from accommodation.

The need to seek the views of the young person, so long as that is consistent with their welfare, remains.

5. Routes into Secure Accommodation

The Act makes provision for two routes by which a young person's liberty may be restricted:

By means of a Secure Accommodation Order made by a Court;
By means of the local authority exercising its power to restrict liberty without the consent of the Court for up to 72 hours.

Each route requires agreement by the Head of Children’s Social Work Services and Child Protection including when these decisions are sought out of hours.

6. Detention for up to 72hrs - Local Authority Power

Regulation 10(1) places a limit on the maximum period a young person, to whom s25 of the Act applies, may have her/his liberty restricted without the authority of the Court. This can only be agreed by the Head of Service or in emergency or out of hours the Senior Manager on call who will contact the Head of Service. A Secure Criteria meeting should be set up on the next working day and an application should be made in Court within 72 hours of the emergency powers being invoked.

The maximum period is 72 hours, either consecutively or in aggregate in any period of 28 consecutive days. The exceptions to this are where the 72 hours expires on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, when the period extends to midday the next working day.

Consequently this provision is a power available to the local authority and not a Court Order.

A 72 hours order cannot be repeated for a child/young person without going to court in the intervening period.

This may be applicable where a young person's:

Physical or emotional state or offending or self-harming behaviour places them at risk of significant harm; and
No other resource/provision is appropriate to reduce this risk; and
It is consistent with the local authority's duty to promote the wellbeing of Children Looked After then;

If these circumstances apply in an emergency, detention in secure accommodation for up to 72 hours may be considered. This requires Head of Social Work and Child Protection Service agreement at all times.

7. Secure Accommodation Orders

Applications are made to the Family Proceedings Court unless the child is:

Remanded to local authority accommodation; and
Charged with or convicted of an offence imprisonable in the case of a person aged 21 or over, for 14 years or more; or
Where charged with a convicted of an offence of violence, or has been convicted of an offence of violence, when application is made to the remanding Youth Court.

The circumstances under which a Social Worker may wish to make application for a Secure Accommodation Order are very similar to those in which the decision may be made to detain a young person up to 72 hours namely; where a child/young person's:

Physical or emotional state or offending or self-harming behaviour places them at risk of significant harm; and
No other resource/provision is appropriate to reduce this risk; and
It is consistent with the local authority’s duty to promote the wellbeing of Children Looked After.

The Court can grant an Order for up to three months initially and thereafter further authorisation by the Court is required, when a maximum period of 6 months can be authorised.

All Secure Orders are ‘permissive’ which means that if the criteria no longer apply during the term of the court order, the Local Authority can make arrangements to terminate the secure accommodation and arrange step down for the young person in line with a Secure Criteria Review Panel recommendation/plan.

The child/local authority may appeal to the High Court against the making, or refusal to make, an order.

Please see the separate chapter Remands to Local Authority Accommodation or to Youth Detention Accommodation Procedure for further information regarding remands in criminal proceedings.

8. Establishing a Case–Initial Secure Accommodation Criteria Meeting

This meeting is chaired by a Senior Manager. This meeting should always include the social worker, legal representative and a team manager/area manager. In addition, where appropriate, this meeting will also include other key professionals such as the police and the current carer.

This meeting and all meetings in respect of Secure Accommodation are convened via a request by the social work team, following agreement via Senior Managers to the IRU, via

The Social Work Team must seek agreement via their Senior Manager to request a Secure Criteria Meeting. The Senior Manager must be satisfied that the evidence provided to them in respect of the child/young person fits the criteria for a meeting.

The child/young person’s IRO must be consulted about concerns and the plan to seek a secure criteria meeting and their views must be shared with the meeting, if held.

The IRO must record their views regarding the plan for any secure application on the child’s electronic record and ensure that this is shared with the secure criteria meeting.

The social worker must consult with all parents with parental responsibility and the current carers for the child to seek their views about a possible placement in secure accommodation.

A report must be compiled by the Social Worker for this meeting. This report must include:

The history of absconding and likelihood of the young person absconding from any placement other than a secure unit;
The likelihood of her/him suffering significant harm if s/he does abscond;
The likelihood of her/him injuring her/himself or others;
Details of the young person's current assessed needs from most recent Single Assessment;
Details of all the actions previously taken with the young person to prevent an escalation of her/his behaviour;
Current Care Plan;
Placement Plan;
Contingency Plan (when Secure Placement ends);
The young person's requirements while in a secure unit, e.g. psychiatric assessment, therapeutic intervention, full assessment of needs, etc;

The social workers report must include the senior manager view and be counter-signed by the Team Manager. It should be provided to the criteria meeting.

The chronology should include the young person's history of being looked after, i.e. types of placements, duration of these placements, reasons for the breakdown of these placements; missing episodes, issues regarding harm to self and others, information gleaned from return home interviews and investigations with outcomes.

Note: legal advice to this is meeting privileged and therefore must not be disclosed to the young person or his parent(s) or carers.

A record of the above meeting with a clear recommendation should be sent,with the pre-meeting social work report,to the Head of Service

The Head of Service holds decision-making responsibility for each placement and must record her/his reasons for the decision and attach these to the report.

This meeting will follow an agenda (see Appendix B) in order to consider a range of outcomes which will be discussed for recommendation to the Head of Service. Theseinclude:

Authorising an immediate secure placement, which can last for up to 72 hours;
Authorising an application for a Secure Accommodation Order;
Refusing a request for an immediate placement but asking that a further planning meeting in respect of a planned placement be held;
Refusing placement request whether for a planned or immediate placement.

9. Applications for a Secure Accommodation Order

Once a decision has been taken to authorise the use of secure accommodation, the Social Worker must make an immediate application to the Court for a Secure Accommodation Order.

Young people will need to be legally represented in Court before it will hear an application for a Secure Order. The only exception to this is if s/he refuses to accept legal representation. S/he will be entitled to legal aid for these hearings.

All adults with parental responsibility must be notified within 24 hours in advance of any application, if, for any reason they have not already consulted and notified.

10. Children Under 13 who Require Placement in Secure Accommodation

Any placement of a child under 13 in secure accommodation must be approved in advance by the Secretary of State for Education. In February 2015 the Department for Education issued revised guidance Department for Education guidance, Secure children’s homes: how to place a child aged under 13. See Appendix A.

The Head of Service must be consulted at the beginning of the process of planning so that s/he is aware that a request for a Secure Accommodation Order may follow.

Only the Head of Service can contact the Department for Education (DfE) requesting admission. S/he must have the fullest facts on which to base the request to the DfE.

Evidence must be provided to support the request, including how the criteria are met and the plan on discharge.When receiving the initial telephone contact seeking authority the DfE will ask for:

The name and date of Independent Review Team of the child concerned;
A verbal summary of the reasons for the secure placement;
Confirmation of whether a bed in a secure children's home has been identified and is available;
Confirmation of whether the child is currently with the local authority or missing from care (having absconded);
Details of when the local authority is intending to go to court to seek a secure order;
An explanation as to why a secure placement is necessary;
Details of what alternatives to a placement in a secure children's home have been considered and why these were rejected.

In guidance associated with the Children's Home (Amendment) Regulations 2011 clarification is given, in respect of children under the age of 13 in Secure Accommodation, that once a child's secure placement ends, if a new secure placement is to be made while that child remains under the age of 13, the local authority must again seek the approval of the Secretary of State for that placement. However, if the local authority wish to extend the original secure placement (i.e. where there is no break in the secure placement) further Secretary of State approval is not necessary.