Case Closure

The Lead Social Worker will ensure that the:

• Parents/carers have been seen and spoken to by a social care practitioner within the 7 days of notifying the Practice Supervisor that the child's record is ready for closure via notification on Mosaic. A record of the visit will be recorded within the closure workflow and will record the carer/parents view of the closure;
• Child/young person has been seen and spoken to alone by a social care practitioner within the 7 days of notifying the Practice Supervisor that the child's record is ready for closure. A record of the visit will be recorded within the closure workflow and will record the child's view of the closure;
• The accommodation which the child and young person is living has been seen by the allocated worker and recorded within visit workflows. Where accommodation has not been seen, this will be clearly documented within the closure record with reasons why;
• The Chronology, core person details and all areas of the child's record are up to date.

The Lead Social Worker will notify the Practice Supervisor that the child's record is ready for closure by completing the closure record and sending a notification to the Practice Supervisor on Mosaic. The Key Worker will complete the closure record in full, detailing the overview of involvements and outcomes achieved. They will prepare a closure letter (using the forms/letters within the closure step) for the parents, child/young person and professionals including the child’s GP. A closure discussion may take place and will be recorded in supervision.

The Practice Supervisor will read the child's record within 5 working days of the notification and record management oversight within the closure record, or if closure is not agreed and further action is required record management oversight within the supervision workflow.  

The Practice Supervisor will check that there is evidence on the child's record that the Lead Social Worker has completed the actions identified including those set out at 1.1above before closure and management oversight is added within the closure record to confirm outstanding actions have been completed.

Following the Practice Supervisor confirming closure agreement, within 5 working days the Practice Supervisor will complete all the sections of the child's MOSAIC record required to close the referral as set out below.

All services that a child has been receiving need to have been ended before the Referral can be closed. Services must have an end date and reason recorded against them as follows:

• End Service User Groups;
• End involvements for Key Worker and Organisation;
• Send a notification to Business Support to send out the closure letter to the identified recipients;
• Cancel and end all workflows on the child/young person’s record.

The Practice Supervisor will read the closure visit and closure record and will close the referral by recording within the management oversight section

• Reason for referral being closed;
• Overall summary of progress achieved, reasons for successful outcomes or for non or partial achievement of planned outcomes;
• Views of child/young person about closing the case;
• Views of responsible adults about closing the case;
• Confirm if a TAF will remain in place, and if not the reasons for this.

The child, parent(s), carer(s) and other professionals involved will be provided with a closure letter detailing the reason for closure and included will be safety plans or relevant details at case closure. This will be sent by the area team Business Support and a case note added on the child’s record to confirm these have been sent and to whom.

Closure at referral where a Social Worker is not allocated.

In cases where a contact for a child/young person is closed at the point of referral and not allocated to a Social Worker, the Practice Supervisor will agree this decision with the practice supervisor within the Screening Team.

If agreement cannot be reached between the two relevant Practice Supervisors then the decision will be escalated to the Team Manager.

Where closure at the point of referral is agreed, the Practice Supervisor will document the reasons for this decision being taken and details of any alternative or next steps to be taken.

The Practice Supervisor will send a further outcome letter to the referrer, detailing the decision for closure at referral with any additional outcomes such as the referrer completing an Early Help Assessment. The referrer will be asked to update the child/family with the outcome should the referrer have informed the child/family they were making the referral.

Closure following strategy Discussion where a Social Worker is not allocated.

Where a referral has progressed to a strategy discussion which concludes “no further action” for Social Care, the Practice Supervisor will add case closure as a next step from the strategy discussion.

The Practice Supervisor will cancel the allocation steps (assessment, visit and supervision) from the child’s record.

The Practice Supervisor will complete the closure record, detailing why the closure is being completed and the outcome of the strategy decision and rationale for no further action to be taken by Social Care.

If the child/parent/carer are aware of the referral, and the referrer is a professional who is not present in the strategy discussion to hear the outcome, the Practice Supervisor will notify the referrer with the outcome and request they notify the child/parent/carer of no further action. If it is evident the child/parent/carer are aware of the referral, but the referrer is not a professional, closure letter to be sent by Practice Supervisor. 

Closure where parents/carers/child or young person have not consented to the assessment.

Where a child or young person, or their parent or carer, has not consented to assessment under S17 of the Children Act 1989, the Social Worker and Practice Supervisor will hold a 10 day discussion which will be recorded in the Supervision Workflow.

The Key Worker will complete the assessment documenting that there is no consent and within the analysis section of the assessment, providing clear rationale as to why escalation is not required and the child/young person’s safety or needs do not require a strategy discussion to be convened. A Closure step will be added as a next action from the assessment.

The Key Worker will detail within the closure record the reasons for case closure and complete a closure letter to be sent to the family, following earlier steps within this policy.

The Practice Supervisor will detail within the management oversight section of the closure record, the agreement and reasons why the child/young person is being closed without the child/young person being seen.