4.2.10 Administrative Process for Start/Stop Forms |
Contents
1. Placements
All placements for Looked After children require payments. They are initially recorded on a Start/Stop Form by a social worker and then recorded on the child's electronic recording system.
The Fostering Team record all in-house placements including children placed with friends and family.
The Access to Resources Team records all placements with external fostering agencies and residential placements
The Leaving Care Team records all placements made by that team.
1.1 Fostering Team
- Admin. will print Start/Stop Form for social workers, ensuring that the numbering remains consistent.
- Admin. to mark in the blue book the next number due to be printed.
- Duty social worker/foster carer’s supervising social worker completes the forms for any placements being made or ceased with carers, ensuring that the form is fully completed and, where appropriate, RESPITE PLACEMENT is written in bold on top. Placement costs should be broken down into correct categories.
- The social worker should fax details over to the Finance Team and Access to Resources Team.
- Form is handed to Admin. or placed in duty tray.
- Admin. to check the following prior to faxing the form to Finance and the Access to Resources Team:
- Is the form fully completed?
- Is the foster carer’s name and address details correct on the form? If not, correct them.
- Has the social worker indicated the cost of placement?
- Has the social worker written on the form if the placement is respite?
- Has the social worker ticked the box if the child is unaccompanied?
- Admin. to load on service package on the child's electronic recording system.
- Admin. to take 7 copies of the form and distribute to:
- Clerical Officer, Access to Resources Team
- Foster carer’s File
- Foster carer’s supervising social worker
- Clerical Officer, LAC team
- Original form to Principal Officer, Finance
- Foster carer Placements Lever Arch
- Admin. number file
- Admin. to check on a weekly basis any missing forms and investigate where they are and process the forms accordingly when found - Any missing forms that are not found to be reported to Admin. Officer LAC on a weekly basis with a copy to Principal Officer LAC
Any forms that are destroyed by social workers need to be returned to admin. with “DESTROYED” and a line put across the form. These should be filed in the start/stop folder.
1.2 Leaving Care Team
- Admin. prints the forms ensuring the numbering is consistent.
- Social worker completes Start/Stop Forms when they move their young people into new placement ensuring that the form is fully completed with cost of placement broken down into correct categories.
- Admin. will log the start/stop in a tracking book.
- Form is passed to Leaving Care Team Manager or Deputies - this is for confirmation of approval of funding.
- Admin. to check the form to ensure that:
- The form is fully completed.
- Placement name and address details are correct, if not, correct them.
- The social worker has indicated the cost of placement.
- The social worker has written in bold on top of form if the placement is respite
- The social worker has ticked the box if the child is unaccompanied.
- Admin. to fax the form to:
- Access to Resources Team, Clerical Officer - (Access to Resources Team Clerical Officer to load service package on electronic recording system on a daily basis)
- LAC’S Clerical Officer
- Principal Officer, Finance
- Leaving Care Team.
- The original Start/Stop Form is filed away in the start/stop folder. All original forms must be sent to the Finance team
1.3 Access to Resources Team
- Access to Resources Team Clerical Officer completes the next subsequent number Start/Stop Form
- Access to Resources Team clerical officer completes all the relevant information regarding the placement
- Passes the completed form to the Placement Officer to countersign
- Access to Resources Team clerical officer completes the Access to Resources Tracker excel spreadsheet
- Access to Resources Team clerical officer faxes completed Start/Stop Form over to Finance. Once faxed, place form face down in the manual paper-loading tray and await verification report to be printed on the back
- Access to Resources Team clerical officer to load service package on electronic recording system on a daily basis and email Principal Officer Finance if there are special conditions e.g. 1:1 rates
- Once complete, make two copies
- Original is sent internally to Principal Officer Finance team
Copy to be filed in Blue Start/Start Form folder
Second copy to be sent internally to Clerical Officer LAC team
2. Ending of Placements
- Access to Resources Team clerical officer, upon the ending of a placement, must inform the Head of LAC via an email and request authority for closure to be made on the child's electronic recording system
- Head of LAC authorises the closure on the child's electronic recording system (failure to do this will result in over payments being made).
3. Tracking of all Start/Stop Forms by the Access to Resources Team
- Access to Resources Team clerical officer to track numbered Start/Stop Forms for the following teams:
Fostering In house – IH
Leaving Care Team – LCT
Access to Resource Team – ART.
- Access to Resources Team clerical officer on a weekly basis to list any missing numbered Start/Stop Forms and check for duplications or any other discrepancies for each of the teams.
- Access to Resources Team clerical officer to send notification (by email) detailing any discrepancies i.e. duplications etc. via an email to the appropriate Clerical Officer within the Fostering and Leaving Care Teams cc Admin. Officers for LAC & Commissioning, Performance & Development.
- If there is no response within 1 day, clerical officer to chase the appropriate team via telephone.
- Admin. Officers for LAC and Commissioning, Performance & Development to chase if the missing forms are not provided.
- Principal Officer’s LAC and Commissioning, Performance & Development to be advised should these issues remain outstanding when carrying out the following weeks checks.
4. Finance Team
- Finance Clerical Officer receives Start/Stop Forms via fax.
- Finance Clerical Officer updates Boarding Out Payments (BOP) on various changes in allowances.
- When the original copy is received this is compared to the fax copy to amend any errors.
- The original is then filed along with the faxed copy and with the appropriate Change of Circumstances Form.
- All changes on Start/Stop Forms are entered on BOP; the deadline for payment for the BOP run is 12.30 on Fridays, after which no more forms are processed for that week. (Any work received after this time will be processed in the following weeks run).
- Electronic recoring system team is informed upon completion of the entry of allowances data by Finance by 2.30 Friday.
- BOP run is carried out and payments for the week are generated.
5. Reconciling LAC and Access to Resources Team Spreadsheet
The relevant information on LAC spreadsheet should match with the placement spreadsheet kept by Access to Resources Team. For this reason it is important to cross check both spreadsheets to ensure the accuracy of the relevant information.
6. Change of Circumstances Forms
Information about changes in placements is highlighted on the Change of Circumstances Form, which is completed by the child’s social worker and given to the LAC clerical officer to process. The clerical officer in LAC will then send the pink copy of the Change of Circumstances Form to Access to Resources Team.
7. Start/Stop Forms
The Fostering Team faxes completed and signed copies of their Start/Stop Forms to the Finance Team and the Access to Resources Team.
Changes are then made to Access to Resources Team and LAC spreadsheets by the appropriate Clerical Officers.
Both Access to Resources Team and LAC teams record the changes on the spreadsheet. This is also a trigger for a LAC Clerical officer to follow the Change of Circumstances Form if not already provided.
- The LAC spreadsheet can be found on – Shared on ‘Mwfps-edm01/Data/S/LAC 2004/5.xls
- The Access to Resources Team spreadsheet can be found on – Common on ‘Nwfps-pgr01/Data/Changes.xls
- In the last week of the month Clerical Officers Access to Resources Team and LAC reconcile/cross check the LAC and Access to Resources Team spreadsheet
- Any queries arising are resolved by appropriate clerical officer
- Any unresolved queries are passed on to Principal Officers Commissioning, Performance & Development and Principal Officer, LAC.
- Finance & Activity Officers to be notified by e-mail when spreadsheets have been reconciled.
8. Changes in Social Worker/Managers
To capture other changes, lists of social workers and their cases can be accessed from electronic recording system in order that the spreadsheet may be updated.
It is essential that both these spreadsheets contain the most up to date information at all times.
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