Social Worker's Assessment Reports
Case reference FOI2024/01625
Received 26 September 2024
Published 31 October 2024
Request
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act.
The information I am requesting relates to children's social services.
1. In how many instances are any of the following factors referenced in a social worker's assessment report (or equivalent) of a child that has been referred to social services? Please provide the total number per year, for the past five years.
* Insecure or substandard housing,
* Temporary housing / accommodation
* Risk of homelessness or eviction
2. In how many instances are any of the following factors referenced in a social worker's assessment report (or equivalent) of a child that has been referred to social services? Please provide the total number per year, for the past five years.
* Financial instability,
* Adults without work
* Family requiring support with finances
* Unmanageable debt
3. In how many instances is 'poverty' mentioned in a social worker's assessment report of a child that has been referred to social services? Please provide the total number per year, for the past five years.
4. In how many instances is 'malnutrition' and/or 'hunger' mentioned in a social worker's assessment report of a child that has been referred to social services?
Response
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act.
The information I am requesting relates to children's social services.
1. In how many instances are any of the following factors referenced in a social worker's assessment report (or equivalent) of a child that has been referred to social services? Please provide the total number per year, for the past five years.
* Insecure or substandard housing,
* Temporary housing / accommodation
* Risk of homelessness or eviction
2. In how many instances are any of the following factors referenced in a social worker's assessment report (or equivalent) of a child that has been referred to social services? Please provide the total number per year, for the past five years.
* Financial instability,
* Adults without work
* Family requiring support with finances
* Unmanageable debt
3. In how many instances is 'poverty' mentioned in a social worker's assessment report of a child that has been referred to social services? Please provide the total number per year, for the past five years.
4. In how many instances is 'malnutrition' and/or 'hunger' mentioned in a social worker's assessment report of a child that has been referred to social services?
Answer: This information is not held in a form that would enable it to be located, retrieved and extracted within the Appropriate Time Limit which equates to 18 hours as defined by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Our electronic reporting systems are unable to run a report for this information. To ascertain the data requested, officers would need to manually check individual files for this information. An initial search has shown that 2,233 files* would need to be checked for this information, and it is estimated that it would take 15 minutes to check each file. Once the details had been identified this would need to be noted and once all files had been checked in this way, the total figures requested could be calculated.
This would at a conservative estimate take at least 558.25 hours to complete. Where the Limit is exceeded Public Authorities are not obliged to supply the information requested by virtue of S12 of the Act. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act.
However, in order to advise and assist, the Service Area have provided the definitive list of what Local Authorities are required to capture, which may help refine your request. Please note, codes 18A and 19A are historical but are kept for reference. *Please also note an initial search has already taken place for code 20 which resulted in the 2,233 files noted above.
Please see the definitive list below:
|
Factors at Assessment |
|
|
Code |
Description |
|
1A |
Alcohol misuse: concerns about alcohol misuse by the child. |
|
1B |
Alcohol misuse: concerns about alcohol misuse by the parent(s)/carer(s). |
|
1C |
Alcohol misuse: concerns about alcohol misuse by another person living in the household. |
|
2A |
Drug misuse: concerns about drug misuse by the child. |
|
2B |
Drug misuse: concerns about drug misuse by the parent(s)/carer(s). |
|
2C |
Drug misuse: concerns about drug misuse by another person living in the household. |
|
3A |
Domestic violence: concerns about the child being the subject of domestic violence. |
|
3B |
Domestic violence: concerns about the child’s parent(s)/carer(s) being the subject of domestic violence. |
|
3C |
Domestic violence: concerns about another person living in the household being the subject of domestic violence. |
|
4A |
Mental health: concerns about the mental health of the child. |
|
4B |
Mental health: concerns about the mental health of the parent(s)/carer(s). |
|
4C |
Mental health: concerns about the mental health of another person in the family/household. |
|
5A |
Learning disability: concerns about the child’s learning disability. |
|
5B |
Learning disability: concerns about the parent(s)/carer(s) learning disability. |
|
5C |
Learning disability: concerns about another person in the family/household’s learning disability. |
|
6A |
Physical disability or illness: concerns about a physical disability or illness of the child. |
|
6B |
Physical disability or illness: concerns about a physical disability or illness of the parent(s)/carer(s). |
|
6C |
Physical disability or illness: concerns about a physical disability or illness of another person in the family/household. |
|
7A |
Young carer: concerns that services may be required or the child’s health or development may be impaired due to their caring responsibilities. |
|
8B |
Privately fostered: concerns that services may be required or the child may be at risk as a privately fostered child - overseas children who intend to return |
|
8C |
Privately fostered: concerns that services may be required or the child may be at risk as a privately fostered child - overseas children who intend to stay |
|
8D |
Privately fostered: concerns that services may be required or the child may be at risk as a privately fostered child - UK children in educational placements |
|
8E |
Privately fostered: concerns that services may be required or the child may be at risk as a privately fostered child - UK children making alternative family arrangements |
|
8F |
Privately fostered: concerns that services may be required or the child may be at risk as a privately fostered child - other |
|
9A |
UASC: concerns that services may be required or the child may be at risk of harm as an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child. |
|
10A |
Missing: concerns that services may be required or the child may be at risk of harm due to going/being missing. |
|
11A |
Child sexual exploitation: concerns that services may be required or the child may be at risk of harm due to child sexual exploitation. |
|
12A |
Trafficking: concerns that services may be required or the child may be at risk of harm due to trafficking. |
|
13A |
Gangs: concerns that services may be required or the child may be at risk of harm because of involvement in/with gangs. |
|
14A |
Socially unacceptable behaviour: concerns that services may be required or the child may be at risk due to their socially unacceptable behaviour. |
|
15A |
Self-harm: concerns that services may be required or due to suspected/actual self-harming child may be at risk of harm. |
|
16A |
Abuse or neglect – ‘NEGLECT’: concerns that services may be required or the child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm due to abuse or neglect. |
|
17A |
Abuse or neglect – ‘EMOTIONAL ABUSE’: concerns that services may be required or the child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm due to abuse or neglect. |
|
|
|
|
18B |
Abuse or neglect – ‘PHYSICAL ABUSE’: concerns that services may be required or the child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm due to abuse or neglect by another child. |
|
18C |
Abuse or neglect – ‘PHYSICAL ABUSE’: concerns that services may be required or the child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm due to abuse or neglect by an adult. |
|
|
|
|
19B |
Abuse or neglect – ‘SEXUAL ABUSE’: concerns that services may be required or the child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm due to abuse or neglect by another child. |
|
19C |
Abuse or neglect – ‘SEXUAL ABUSE’: concerns that services may be required or the child may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm due to abuse or neglect by an adult. |
|
20 |
Other. |
|
21 |
No factors identified - only use this if there is no evidence of any of the factors above and no further action is being taken. |
|
22A |
Female genital mutilation (FGM) - concerns that services may be required or the child may be at risk due to female genital mutilation. |
|
23A |
Abuse linked to faith or belief - concerns that services may be required or the child may be at risk due to abuse linked to faith or belief. |
|
24A |
Child criminal exploitation: concerns that services may be required or the child may be at risk of harm due to child criminal exploitation |
To submit another request, please visit our website: Freedom of information request - Details - Section 1 - MyHerefordshire
Alternatively, you can email your request to foi@herefordshire.gov.uk
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.