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Agenda Document Pack - Social Work Resources Committee - 16/11/2022

South Lanarkshire Council · 16 November 2022
Back to Social Work Resources Committee — 16 November 2022 and its agenda

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Council Offices, Almada Street        
Hamilton, ML3 0AA 
Tuesday, 08 November 2022 
Dear Councillor 
Social Work Resources Committee 
The Members listed below are requested to attend a meeting of the above Committee to be
held as follows:- 
Date:  Wednesday, 16 November 2022
Time:  10:00
Venue: Hybrid - Council Chamber, Council Offices, Almada Street, Hamilton,
ML3 0AA 
The business to be considered at the meeting is listed overleaf. 
Yours sincerely 
Cleland Sneddon
Chief Executive 
Members 
Margaret B Walker (Chair), Catherine McClymont (Depute Chair), Joe Fagan (ex officio), Alex
Allison, John Bradley, Walter Brogan, Robert Brown, Archie Buchanan, Mathew Buchanan, Janine
Calikes, Maureen Devlin, Mary Donnelly, Allan Falconer, Elise Frame, Lynsey Hamilton, Celine
Handibode, Graeme Horne, Mark Horsham, Martin Hose, Cal Johnston-Dempsey, Eileen Logan,
Hugh Macdonald, Richard Nelson, Carol Nugent, John Ross, David Watson 
Substitutes
John Anderson, Maureen Chalmers, Margaret Cooper, Poppy Corbett, Margaret Cowie, Geri Gray,
Ross Lambie, Richard Lockhart, Elaine McDougall, Mark McGeever, Davie McLachlan, Graham
Scott, Bert Thomson 
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BUSINESS 
1 Declaration of Interests 
2 Minutes of Previous Meeting
Minutes of the meeting of the Social Work Resources Committee held on 7
September 2022 submitted for approval as a correct record. (Copy attached) 
5 - 20 
Monitoring Item(s) 
3 Social Work Resources - Revenue Budget Monitoring 2022/2023
Joint report dated 18 October 2022 by the Executive Director (Finance and
Corporate Resources) and Director, Health and Social Care. (Copy attached) 
21 - 28 
4 Social Work Resources - Capital Budget Monitoring 2022/2023
Joint report dated 19 October 2022 by the Executive Director (Finance and
Corporate Resources) and Director, Health and Social Care. (Copy attached) 
29 - 32 
5 Social Work Resources – Workforce Monitoring – July and August 2022
Joint report dated 5 October 2022 by the Executive Director (Finance and
Corporate Resources) and Director, Health and Social Care. (Copy attached) 
33 - 40 
6 Update of the 2022 Risk Register and Risk Control Plan
Report dated 28 October 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care. (Copy
attached) 
41 - 56 
7 Planning for Winter 2022/2023
Report dated 3 November 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care.  (Copy
attached) 
57 - 68 
Item(s) for Decision 
8 Strengthening Assessment and Review Capacity
Joint report dated 28 October 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care and
Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources). (Copy attached) 
69 - 72 
9 Reinforcing Safe Staffing - The Older People's Residential Care Staff Bank
Joint report dated 28 October 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care and
Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources). (Copy attached) 
73 - 76 
10  Enhancing Capacity in Support of Adult Disability Payments
Joint report dated 28 October 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care and
Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources). (Copy attached) 
77 - 80 
11  Enhancing Resilience of Mental Health Officer Provision
Joint report dated 27 October 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care and
Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources). (Copy attached) 
81 - 84 
12  Scheme for Curator ad Litem and Reporting Officers Panel
Report dated 20 October 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care. (Copy
attached) 
85 - 96 
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Item(s) for Noting 
13  The Lanarkshire Care Academy
Report dated 28 October 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care.  (Copy
attached) 
97 - 102 
14  Bairns' Hoose Update
Report dated 10 October 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care.  (Copy
attached) 
103 - 106 
15  Notification of Contracts Awarded - April to September 2022
Report dated 20 October 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care.  (Copy
attached) 
107 - 112 
Urgent Business 
16  Urgent Business
Any other items of business which the Chair decides are urgent. 
For further information, please contact:-
Clerk Name: Tracy Slater
Clerk Telephone: 07385370089
Clerk Email: tracy.slater@southlanarkshire.gov.uk 
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SOCIAL WORK RESOURCES COMMITTEE 
Minutes of meeting held via Confero and in the Council Chamber, Council Offices, Almada Street,
Hamilton on 7 September 2022 
Chair:
Councillor Margaret B Walker 
Councillors Present:
Councillor Alex Allison, Councillor John Anderson (substitute for Councillor Janine Calikes),
Councillor John Bradley, Councillor Walter Brogan, Councillor Robert Brown, Councillor Mathew
Buchanan, Councillor Maureen Devlin, Councillor Mary Donnelly, Councillor Allan Falconer,
Councillor Elise Frame, Councillor Lynsey Hamilton, Councillor Celine Handibode, Councillor Mark
Horsham, Councillor Martin Hose, Councillor Cal Johnston-Dempsey, Councillor Hugh Macdonald,
Councillor Catherine McClymont, Councillor Davie McLachlan (substitute for Councillor Eileen
Logan), Councillor Richard Nelson, Councillor David Watson 
Councillors' Apologies:
Councillor Archie Buchanan, Councillor Janine Calikes, Councillor Joe Fagan, Councillor Graeme
Horne, Councillor Eileen Logan, Councillor Carol Nugent, Councillor John Ross 
Attending:
Finance and Corporate Resources
H Goodwin, Finance Manager; E McPake, HR Business Partner; A Norris, Administration Assistant;
L O’Hagan, Finance Manager (Strategy); T Slater, Administration Adviser; M M Wilson, Legal
Services Manager
Health and Social Care/Social Work Resources
S Sengupta, Director; I Beattie, Head of Health and Social Care (Hamilton and Clydesdale); G
Booth, Justice Service Manager; M Kane, Service Manager (Performance and Support); S McNeil,
Service Manager (Registered Care at Home Services) 
1 Declaration of Interests 
No interests were declared. 
2 Social Work Resources – Revenue Budget Monitoring 2021/2022 
A joint report dated 9 August 2022 by the Executive Director (Finance and Corporate
Resources) and Director, Health and Social Care was submitted comparing actual expenditure
for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 against budgeted expenditure for 2021/2022 for
Social Work Resources. 
As at 31 March 2022, there was an overspend of £0.916 million before transfer to reserves and
an overspend of £2.967 million after transfer to reserves, as detailed in appendices A to F to the
report. 
The Adult and Older People Services’ budget, as detailed in Appendix D to the report, showed
an underspend of £2.082 million before transfer to reserves.  Included within this position, was a
commitment in relation to the Integration Joint Board (IJB) which had an underspend of £8.827
million.  The Council had agreed to the IJB retaining £6.746 million of this non-recurring
underspend within their reserves earmarked for future care costs in line with the approach to
integrating health and social care budgets.  Of the underspend remaining, £2.051 million was
transferred to a Council reserve to be used in 2022/2023 towards projected pressures within
Children and Family Services. 
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The £2.967 million overspend was in relation to additional Covid-19 related expenditure of
£2.573 million for Children and Families Services, which was not funded by the Scottish
Government via the Mobilisation Plan, as those services were not delegated to the IJB, and
£0.395 million non-Covid related. 
Additional Covid-19 related costs to services devolved to the IJB had been fully funded by the
Scottish Government through the Mobilisation Plan.  Those additional costs and income from
the Scottish Government totalled £15.702 million and were detailed in Appendix B to the report. 
In addition, the Resource had lost income from services which were not being provided during
the pandemic and non-achievement of proposed savings.  This totalled £2.069 million. 
Details were provided in the appendices to the report on budget virements in respect of Social
Work Resources to realign budgets. 
The Committee decided: 
(1) that the Social Work Resources’ outturn position as at 31 March 2022 of an overspend of
£2.967 million, after approved transfers to reserves, as detailed in Appendix A to the
report, be noted; and 
(2) that the proposed budget virements be approved. 
[Reference: Minutes of 9 February 2022 (Paragraph 3)] 
3 Social Work Resources – Revenue Budget Monitoring 2022/2023 
A joint report dated 28 July 2022 by the Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources)
and the Director, Health and Social Care was submitted comparing actual expenditure at 15 July
2022 against budgeted expenditure for 2022/2023 for Social Work Resources, together with a
forecast of the position for the year to 31 March 2023. 
As at 15 July 2021, there was an underspend of £0.407 million against the phased budget, all of
which related to Adult and Older People Services as a result of vacancies. 
Children and Family Services continued to experience budget pressures in 2022/2023 in relation
to residential placements, fostering and Kinship Care and £3.451 million had been added to the
Services’ budget on a one-off basis.  This had been funded by the monies set aside in
Reserves.  In addition, some of the remaining Covid funding was available to assist with this
pressure. 
The Council continued to incur expenditure in relation to Covid-19 and those costs were now
included within the individual service statements rather than shown separately. 
The Covid-19 related expenditure incurred by Social Work Resources for Adult and Older
People Services would be funded by Covid-19 reserves held by the Integration Joint Board.  The
additional costs included expenditure on beds to facilitate discharge from hospital, PPE
(Personal Protective Equipment), staff overtime and sustainability, and additional cost being
incurred by Social Care providers. 
The financial forecast for the revenue budget to 31 March 2023 was breakeven. 
Details were provided on budget virements in respect of Social Work Resources to realign
budgets. 
The Committee decided: 
(1) that the underspend of £0.407 million on Social Work Resources’ revenue budget be
noted; 
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(2) that the forecast to 31 March 2023 of a breakeven position be noted; and 
(3) that the proposed budget virements be approved. 
[Reference: Minutes of the Executive Committee of 29 June 2022 (Paragraph 3)] 
4 Social Work Resources – Capital Budget Monitoring 2021/2022 
A joint report dated 17 August 2022 by the Executive Director (Finance and Corporate
Resources) and Director, Health and Social Care was submitted advising of progress on the
Social Work Resources’ capital programme for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. 
The total capital programme for Social Work Resources for 2021/2022 was £5.354 million.  The
total expenditure to 31 March 2022 was £5.054 million, a difference of £0.300 million. 
The underspend was mainly due to the timing of project spend on a number of projects. 
Funding would be carried forward into the next financial year as required. 
The Committee decided: that the Social Work Resources’ capital programme of
£5.354 million, and expenditure for the year of £5.054
million, be noted. 
[Reference: Minutes of 9 February 2022 (Paragraph 4)] 
5 Social Work Resources – Capital Budget Monitoring 2022/2023 
A joint report dated 17 August 2022 by the Executive Director (Finance and Corporate
Resources) and Director, Health and Social Care was submitted advising of progress on the
Social Work Resources’ capital programme for 2022/2023 and summarising the expenditure
position at 15 July 2022. 
The capital programme for Social Work Resources for 2022/2023 was £3.903 million. 
Anticipated spend to date was £1.680 million and spend to 15 July 2022 amounted to £1.793
million.  This represented a position of £0.113 million ahead of profile and mainly reflected good
progress made on the Blantyre Care Facility project. 
The Committee decided: that the Social Work Resources’ capital programme of
£3.903 million, and expenditure to date of £1.793 million,
be noted. 
6 Social Work Resources – Workforce Monitoring – April to June 2022 
A joint report dated 15 August 2022 by the Executive Director (Finance and Corporate
Resources) and Director, Health and Social Care was submitted on the following employee
information for Social Work Resources for the period April to June 2022:- 
 attendance statistics
 occupational health statistics
 accident/incident statistics
 disciplinary hearings, grievances and Dignity at Work cases
 analysis of leavers and exit interviews
 Staffing Watch as at 11 June 2022 
The attendance information contained within the report included absences as a result of Covid-
19 and employees were being supported through this difficult time to maintain attendance levels
where possible.
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The Committee decided: that the report be noted. 
[Reference: Minutes of 9 February 2022 (Paragraph 5)] 
7 Social Work Resource Plan – Quarter 4 Progress Report 2021/2022 
A report dated 19 August 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care was submitted on the
Social Work Resource Plan for 2021/2022. 
Details were provided on:- 
 progress made against all Resource Plan measures, as detailed in the Quarter 4 Progress
Report, attached as Appendix 2 to the report
 key achievements made by the Resource to date, as detailed in Section 5.3 of the report
 areas for improvement and associated management actions, as detailed in Section 5.4 of
the report
 absence performance results as at Quarter 4, as detailed in Appendix 3 to the report 
Officers responded to members’ questions on various aspects of the report. 
The Committee decided: 
(1) that the Quarter 4 Progress report for 2021/2022, as detailed in Appendix 2 to the report,
be noted; 
(2) that the key achievements made by the Resource to date, as detailed in Section 5.3 of the
report, be noted; and 
(3) that the areas for improvement and management actions, as detailed in paragraph 5.4 of
the report, be noted. 
[Reference: Minutes of 1 September 2021 (Paragraph 8)] 
8 Social Work Risk Register 
A report dated 9 August 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care was submitted on the Risk
Register and Risk Control Actions for Social Work Resources. 
The Council’s Risk Management Strategy promoted consideration of risk in service delivery,
planning and decision-making processes.  The Strategy required Resources to record and
review risks and control actions regularly.  The purpose of the Risk Register was to ensure that
the Resource was fully aware of its top risks, that those risks were prioritised and that controls
were in place to eliminate or minimise the impact of the risks. 
Risks were measured both before (inherent risk) and after (residual risk) consideration of
controls.  The Council aimed to be risk-embracing, that is that a tolerable level of risk was
acceptable.  Risks were scored between 1 to 25 (low to very high).  Very high and high risks
were monitored particularly closely as the top risks identified for a Resource. 
In order to strengthen oversight arrangements, it was proposed that an update report on risk
would be provided at each Social Work Resources Committee, alongside the annual overview
report being provided in November/December each year. 
The current Resource Risk Register was attached as Appendix 1 to the report. 
Officers responded to members’ questions on various aspects of the report. 
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The Committee decided: 
(1) that the contents of the Resource Risk Register be noted; and 
(2) that future updates on the Social Work Resources’ Risk Register be reported at every
Social Work Resources Committee. 
[Reference: Minutes of 10 November 2021 (Paragraph 11)] 
9 Social Work Resources’ Workforce Plan 2022 to 2025
A report dated 18 August 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care was submitted on Social
Work Resources’ Workforce Plan 2022 to 2025. 
The Executive Committee had agreed the Council Workforce Plan 2017 to 2020, with
Resources being required to provide updates on their Workforce Plan to their respective
committees.  The review of workforce plans had been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic
and Resources had produced Plans covering the period 2022 to 2025. 
The Social Work Resources’ Workforce Plan 2022 to 2025, together with the Action Plan, was
attached as Appendix 1 to the report.  The Plan provided an overview of the services delivered
by the Resource, the service demands and a workforce profile.  This, together with the strategic
plans and drivers, was used to identify the objectives and actions required. 
The key themes for workforce planning that had been identified were:- 
 sustained pressure on services and an increased demand that would continue over the
period of the Plan
 significant national workforce supply challenges that required action at a national policy
level to impact change 
 implications of the National Care Service and impact on existing workforce and ability to
recruit
 maintaining the well-being and value of the workforce to enable recruitment and retention
across all service areas 
The key activities identified were:- 
 continue to invest in key areas to address the increased demand for services while looking
at how to redesign services to maximise the use of available resources
 review recruitment practices to extend and promote social care by using a flexible
approach and utilising employability routes 
 establishing the Care Academy in South Lanarkshire to ‘grow our own’ workforce and
avoid a skills gap in the future years 
 robust career pathways to be identified to enhance career progression and succession
planning 
 maintain employee health and well-being to ensure the workforce felt valued and
supported 
This aligned with the general common themes from all Resource Action Plans which were:- 
 increased demand and a reduced workforce pool, which was a national issue
 demographic challenges, increased turnover, employees retiring earlier than expected and
succession planning
 employee wellbeing 
Officers responded to members’ questions on various aspects of the report. 
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The Committee decided: 
(1) that the contents of the report be noted; and 
(2) that the Social Work Resources’ Workforce Plan, attached as Appendix 1 to the report, be
approved. 
[Reference: Minutes of the Executive Committee of 8 November 2017 (Paragraph 15)] 
10 Accelerating Preparations for Winter – Home First 
A joint report dated 29 July 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care and Executive Director
(Finance and Corporate Resources) was submitted on the progress of implementing the Home
First programme. 
The aim of Home First was to have a person-centred approach to care provision that allowed for
a period of rehabilitation and enablement.  This ensured that any supports were targeted and
realistic for a person’s needs and outcomes though a robust assessment and care plan. 
Details were provided on:- 
 Phase 1 outcomes - the Home First Home Assessment Team had supported 90 patients
between November 2021 and April 2022.  The Team had supported the patients’ needs,
resulting in outcomes to-date that had included 112 hours reduction in original prescribed
care and 59 hours of care reduced.  Critically, 90 people had been assessed and
supported in their own home, rather than a stay in hospital.  A monitoring framework was
being developed to track the benefits of the programme
 Home First Phase 2 - involved the expansion of the Home First Home Assessment Team
to provide cover to Hamilton, Cambuslang/Rutherglen and Clydesdale.  This included
additional hospital social work, assessment and care management, and care at home
staffing
 a joint initiative with Public Health Scotland’s Local Intelligence Support Team (LIST) and
Care at Home staff which had resulted in the development of a Geographical Information
System (GIS) mapping solution that plotted all individuals receiving an in-house or
commissioned Care at Home package on interactive maps and highlighted real potential to
release capacity within the system by focusing the work of individual providers within more
discreet areas 
To support this work, it was proposed that the following posts be added to the Social Work
Resources’ staffing establishment on a permanent basis:- 
 1 Full-time Equivalent (FTE) post of Operations Manager on Grade 4, Level 2-5, SCP 82-
88 (£44,089 to £48,250)
 3 FTE posts of Team Leader on Grade 3, Level 8, SCP 79-80 (£42,191 to £45,953)
 9 FTE posts of Social Work Assistant on Grade 2, Level 4, SCP 55-57 (£29,837 to
£30,749)
 8 FTE posts of Community Support Co-ordinator on Grade 3, Level 2, SCP 63-65 (£33,651
to £34,618)
 12 FTE posts of Senior Home Carer on Grade 2, Level 3 plus 2, SCP 50-52 (£27,757 to
£28,578)
 84.5 FTE posts of Home Carer on Grade 1, Level 4 plus 2, SCP 32-33 (£21,625 to
£22,008) 
It was also proposed that 4 FTE posts of Social Work Assistant on Grade 2, Level 4, SCP 55-57
(£29,837 to £30,749) be added to the Social Work Resources’ staffing establishment for a fixed
period of 18 months. 
The cost of the proposals would be met from the Scottish Government funding for Care at
Home.
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The Committee decided: 
(1) that the contents of the report be noted; and 
(2) that the additions to Social Work Resources’ staffing establishment, as detailed in the
report, be approved. 
[Reference: Minutes of 9 February 2022 (Paragraph 8)] 
11 Enhancing Social Work Fieldwork Capacity 
A joint report dated 10 August 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care and Executive
Director (Finance and Corporate Resources) was submitted on the proposal to utilise £1.200
million of recurring government funding to support frontline social care workforce development
and infrastructure. 
Between 2017/2018 and 2021/2022, demand for social care services had increased as follows:- 
 referrals to Adult Older People (AOP) teams by 41%
 Adult Support and Protection (ASP) enquiries by 47%
 Adults With Incapacity (AWI) Supervising Officer (SO) visits by 15%
 the number of service users with Welfare Guardianship Orders by 14% 
In February 2022, the Scottish Government advised that an additional £22 million of recurring
funding would be made available to provide additional capacity within local authorities.  This
funding was a direct response to feedback and a recognition that social care services were
enduring a level of demand and pressure in the system beyond anything experienced before. 
The allocation to South Lanarkshire had been confirmed as £1.292 million, with the Scottish
Government specifying that this should be utilised to target:- 
 support to the adult social care workload in recognition of the pressures across health and
social care
 enhancement of frontline capacity for Adults with Incapacity and Adult Support and
Protection, inclusive of Large-Scale Investigations (LSI)
 additional support to the statutory duties undertaken by Mental Health Officers and Social
Workers
 increasing capacity within the wider assessment, care management and reviewing
functions, for example individualised support planning in line with Self–Directed Support
(SDS)
 enhancing frontline management capacity to increase levels of assurance and supervision
of frontline staff
 support for Care Home oversight activity as a consequence of additional demands brought
about by the pandemic
 capacity within teams of support staff to free up pressures on frontline workers to
undertake their duties 
Staffing proposals, outlined at Section 4 of the report, had been specifically designed to mitigate
pressures on teams, whilst targeting types of roles where recruitment challenges were less
pronounced.  It was, therefore, proposed that the following posts be added to the Social Work
Resources’ staffing establishment on a permanent basis:- 
 6 FTE posts of Finance Assistant (SDS) on Grade 2, Level 3, SCP 46-48 (£26,151 to
£26,954)
 4 FTE posts of Administrative Assistant on Grade 2, Level 1–3, SCP 34-48 (£22,300 to
£26,953)
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 2 FTE posts of Staff Development Officer (Practice Coach) on Grade 3, Level 8, SCP 79-
80 (£42,191 to £42,830)
 6 FTE posts of Social Work Assistant on Grade 2, Level 4, SCP 55-57 (£29,837 to
£30,749)
 1 FTE post of Clerical Assistant on Grade1, Level 1-4, SCP 20-27 (£18,322 to £20,219)
 0.5 FTE post of Performance and Systems Support Assistant on Grade 2, Level 4, SCP
55-57 (£29,837 to £30,749) 
The cost of the staffing proposals was £0.757 million, with £0.737 million being utilised from the
£1.292 million funding for additional social work capacity in adult services.  The Performance
and Systems Support Assistant post would be a full time Health and Social Care Partnership
post hosted by the Council but resourced jointly with NHS Lanarkshire.  The Council contribution
was a vacant 0.5 FTE post and the additional cost of £0.020 million would be funded by NHS
Lanarkshire. 
The Committee decided: 
(1) that the contents of the report be noted; 
(2) that the staffing proposals, outlined at Section 4 of the report, be approved; and 
(3) that the additions to Social Work Resources’ staffing establishment, as outlined at Section 5
of the report, be approved. 
12 Enhancing Carers Supports 
A joint report dated 29 July 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care and Executive Director
(Finance and Corporate Resources) was submitted providing an update on the utilisation of
funding from the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 allocation 2022/2023 to enhance operational
services for carers in South Lanarkshire. 
The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 aimed to support carers’ health and wellbeing and help make
caring more sustainable.  The requirements of this Act came into effect on 1 April 2018. 
In January 2022 the Sottish Government announced additional funding for local Carers Centres
to expand vital support services for unpaid carers during the winter period.  Nationally, a £20.5
million uplift in Carers Act implementation funding was included in the local government
settlement as part of the Scottish Budget 2022/2023.  Adult Services in South Lanarkshire
received £1.053 million from this funding. 
It was proposed that the additional funding from the Scottish Government be directed to support
ongoing work with carers in South Lanarkshire, with a particular emphasis on the Self-Directed
Support (SDS) agenda, and a strengthened internal capacity within the Resource to enable
frontline staff to manage increasing demand.  It was recommended that the following posts be
added to the Social Work Resources’ staffing establishment on a permanent basis:- 
 1 FTE post of Team Leader (Carers) on Grade 3, Level 8, SCP 79-80 (£42,191 to
£45,953)
 2 FTE posts of Social Worker (SDS Reviews) on Grade 3, Level 2–4, SCP 63-74 (£33,651
to £39,162)
 12 FTE posts of Social Work Assistant on Grade 2, Level 4, SCP 55-57 (£29,837 to
£30,749)
 1.4 FTE posts of Telecare Officer on Grade 3, Level 4, SCP 63-65 (£38,395 to £39,162)
 3 FTE posts of Clerical Assistant on Grade1, Level 1-4, SCP 20-31 (£18,322 to £21,406) 
The total cost of the staffing proposals was £0.801 million and would be met from the 2022/2023
funding for the Carers Act.  Full year funding would not be required in 2022/2023 due to the
timeline to fully recruit to posts.   
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The Committee decided: 
(1) that the contents of the report be noted; and 
(2) that the additions to Social Work Resources’ staffing establishment, as outlined at Section
5.1. of the report, be approved. 
13 Preparing for Winter: Enhancing Care at Home Capacity 
A joint report dated 29 July 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care and Executive Director
(Finance and Corporate Resources) was submitted on the progress of the redesign of Care at
Home Services and proposals to enhance capacity to sustain the improvements achieved and
support further development of the service. 
South Lanarkshire Care at Home Services currently employed almost 1,000 members of staff
who undertook approximately 25,000 visits to service users per week.  The staffing level was
expected to rise to around 1,200 following additional ringfenced Scottish Government
investment which would increase the number of visits undertaken in recognition of growing
levels and complexity of demand. 
At its meeting on 2 June 2021, the Committee approved proposals for the redesign of Care at
Home Services and for the use of the Carer’s Fund to establish a number of new posts to
enhance assessment and care management.  There were originally plans for a further report to
Committee to outline proposals for the implementation of phase 2 of the Care at Home redesign,
however, those plans were subsequently incorporated into proposals on the introduction of a
Home First Approach which was endorsed by the Integration Joint Board and by this Committee
at its meeting on 9 February 2022, following additional ringfenced funding from the Scottish
Government. 
One of the key aims of the modernisation of Care at Home Services was to improve standards
within the Service.  The nature of Care at Home services had become increasingly complex and
the Service needed to be able to respond to a frequently changing policy context to ensure that
it was employing best practice and had the appropriate quality assurance frameworks in place. 
To support this critical work, it was proposed that 2 of the temporary posts previously approved
by Committee be converted to permanent posts.  Those posts would also be responsible for
supporting the wider development of the service and overseeing the remaining elements of the
redesign of the service.  The existing staffing was 1 full-time equivalent full-time equivalent
(FTE) Project Governance Coordinator and 1 FTE Project Officer.  Once established on a
permanent basis, the focus would be on service development and improvement rather than
aligned to a specific project. 
The Service had now fully implemented a new electronic scheduling system and it had been
identified that there would be significant added value for there now being ongoing dedicated
capacity to support the system, deliver learning and development programmes, and further
develop the use of the system to meet the growing levels of demand and complexity.  It was
proposed that the fixed-term FTE posts of 1 Team Leader and 1 Performance and Support
Officer be made permanent. 
Information was also provided on the:- 
 requirement to strengthen the leadership arrangements for the Community Alarm
Responder Service by establishing 1 FTE post of Team Leader
 additional pressures on locality services and the requirement to address an equity issue
within the Clydesdale locality by establishing a 0.5 FTE post of Team Leader
 importance of the role of a fixed-term Operations Manager within the Service and the
requirement to make this a permanent position 
It was noted that 2 fixed-term posts within the Service would be coming to an end, therefore, the
overall number of posts would not increase.
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It was, therefore, recommended that the following posts be added to the establishment on a
permanent basis:- 
 1 FTE post of Operations Manager on Grade 4, Level 2-5, SCP 82-88 (£44,089 to
£48,250)
 1 FTE post of Project Governance Co-ordinator on Grade 4, Level 2–5, SCP 82-88
(£44,089 to £48,250)
 1 FTE post of Project Officer on Grade 3, Level 2, SCP 63-65 (£33,651 to £34,618)
 1 FTE post of Team Leader (Total Mobile) on Grade 3, Level 8, SCP 79-80 (£42,191 to
£45,953)
 1 FTE post of Performance and Support Officer (Total Mobile) on Grade 3, Level 2, SCP
63-65 (£33,651 to £34,618)
 1 FTE post of Team Leader (Alert) on Grade 3, Level 8, SCP 79-80 (£42,191 to £45,953)
 0.5 FTE post of Team Leader (Clydesdale) on Grade 3, Level 8, SCP 79-80 (£21,096 to
£22,977) 
The cost of the proposals amounted to £358,886, £63,473 of which was currently available
within the Care at Home staffing budget.  It was proposed that £295,411 be transferred from the
external Care at Home budget to provide the remaining funding, as outlined in the report. 
The Committee decided: 
(1) that the contents of the report be noted; and 
(2) that the proposals outlined in section 4 of the report with regards to staffing and
infrastructure capacity be approved; and 
(3) that the post conversions and additions to Social Work Resources’ establishment, as
outlined in section 5 of the report, be approved. 
[Reference: Minutes of 2 June 2021 (Paragraph 15) and 9 February 2022 (Paragraph 8)] 
Councillor Watson left the meeting during this item of business 
In terms of Standing Order No 14, the Chair adjourned the meeting at 12.00 noon for a 10 minute
period.  The meeting reconvened at 12.10pm.  Councillor Falconer was not present when the
meeting reconvened 
14 Strengthening Community Alarm Digital Capabilities 
A joint report dated 19 August 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care and Executive
Director (Finance and Corporate Resources) was submitted on proposals to recruit a Digital
Alarm Implementation Team to the Council’s Analogue to Digital Telecare Programme and to
support the Community Alarm Service redesign and Analogue to Digital (A2D) programme. 
The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) in the UK was due to be switched off in 2025,
requiring home phones to have an internet-based digital connection instead of a traditional
copper-wire landline.  Of the approximately 9,000 Community Alarm service users in South
Lanarkshire, around 7,000 had dispersed analogue alert alarms in their homes which helped
them to live safely and well at home for longer.  The analogue alert alarms would not be
compatible with a digital connection and required to be replaced with compatible digital telecare
alarms and peripherals to ensure that Community Alarm service users continued to receive a
reliable and safe service. 
The migration of telecom customers to digital voice over internet protocol products had already
begun and was anticipated to accelerate significantly over the coming months.  Approximately
500 digital alert alarms had already been installed in South Lanarkshire Community Alarm
service users’ homes as a result of the migration to digital products.
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The current arrangement was for the assistive Technology Enabled Care (TEC) team to
programme the required digital alarms which were then installed by the contracted assistive
technology installer (Care and Repair).  However, this arrangement was not sufficient to support
the scale of programming, installation and monitoring required for a further 6,500 digital alert
alarms.  To support this work, it was proposed that the following posts be added to the Social
Work Resources’ staffing establishment for a fixed term period of 23 months:- 
 4 FTE posts of Technology Assistant on Grade 1, Level 1-2, SCP 20-23 (£18,322 to
£19,125)
 2 FTE posts of Digital Telecare Assistant on Grade 2, Level 2-4, SCP 55-57 (£29,837 to
£30,749) 
Further analysis had identified that there would be a gap in programming and monitoring
capability out of hours and over weekends, resulting in programming, installing and monitoring
of digital alarms only occurring Mondays to Fridays during working hours.  Consequently, to
ensure a sustainable 7 days’ working arrangement, it was proposed that the following posts be
added to the Social Work Resources’ staffing establishment for a fixed term period of 23
months:- 
 2 FTE posts of Digital Telecare Assistant on Grade 2, Level 2-4, SCP 55-57 (£29,837 to
£30,749) 
The Health and Social Care Partnership had also secured £0.015 million from the Scottish
Government Technology Enabled Care funding to part-fund a fixed term post to lead the
redesign of the Community Alarm Service, as outlined in the report, and it was proposed that the
following post be added to the Social Work Resources’ staffing establishment for a fixed term
period of 23 months:- 
 1 FTE post of Project Manager on Grade 4, Level 2-5, SCP 82-88 (£44,089 to £48,250) 
The costs of the proposals would be met from the Scottish Government Technology Enabled
Care funding, capital funding approved from the A2D programme and slippage from the Home
First programme, as detailed in the report. 
The Committee decided: 
(1) that the contents of the report be noted; 
(2) that the staffing proposals, outlined in Section 4 of the report, be approved; and 
(3) that the additions to Social Work Resources’ staffing establishment, as outlined in Section
6 of the report, be approved.   
15 Enhancing Improvement Support 
A joint report dated 18 August 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care and Executive
Director (Finance and Corporate Resources) was submitted on enhancing improvement support
for the work of the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) to transform its Social Care
model and deliver the ambitions of the Integration Joint Board’s (IJB) Strategic Commissioning
Plan (SCP). 
The IJB had recently approved its new 3-year SCP which would ensure that resources were
directed to meeting the IJB’s key strategic outcomes.  This Plan continued the work of the
Partnership to focus on themes including prevention, early intervention and supporting people to
live as well as they could and as independently as they could.
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There had been a whole system approach to the redesign of service where, for example, the
existing review work on Residential Care Homes, Day Services, Care at Home and Care
Management teams all interacted to deliver a balanced, outcome-focused Social Work and
Social Care model.  Whilst the Partnership had been able to identify some project capacity to
support its change programme, it had been overly reliant on existing operational managers to
set aside time to support the change and improvement work. 
This review and transformation activity required to be sustained for the foreseeable future and
there was an ongoing need to invest in job roles which supported this critical activity.  As part of
this work, it was proposed that the HSCP establish a fixed term, part-time ‘business expert’ role
to support the leadership and co-ordination of the social care elements of the improvement and
transformation programme.  The role would have a particular focus on service user, carer and
staff engagement in relation to change processes. 
The Project Team resource, which was supporting the development and implementation of the
Care Facility at Blantyre, was fixed-term until September 2022.  This Team currently comprised
of a Project Governance Co-ordinator, 2 Planning and Development Officers and an
administration resource.  The Team had provided the theoretical and practical project
management support to the Blantyre development.  As it was unclear what future phases of this
programme would consist of and the fact that there was a significant change agenda, it was
proposed that the Project Governance Co-ordinator post be maintained to support Senior
Management Team priorities, particularly given the experience gained by the individual in this
complex project.  The remaining staff within this team would return to their substantive posts,
post September 2022. 
It was, therefore, proposed that the following posts be established for a fixed term period of 2
years:- 
 0.6 full-time equivalent (FTE) post of Service Manager (Improvement) on Grade 5, Level 8,
SCP 107-108 (£64,017 to £64,984)
 1 FTE post of Project Governance Co-ordinator on Grade 4, Level 2-5, SCP 82-88
(£44,089 to £48,250) 
The costs of the staffing proposals would be met from the Health and Social Care Partnership’s
Change fund, the aim of which was to support activity that enabled change to occur. 
The Committee decided: 
(1) that the contents of the report be noted; and 
(2) that the posts, as detailed in Section 4 of the report, be added to the Social Work
Resources’ staffing establishment for a fixed term period of 2 years. 
16 Enhancing Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) Support
Capacity 
A joint report dated 19 August 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care and Executive
Director (Finance and Corporate Resources) was submitted on the capacity requirements of the
Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). 
MAPPA was a pan-Lanarkshire Service with 2 full-time equivalent (FTE) administration posts
that supported MAPPA Level 2/3.  Those posts were jointly funded by North and South
Lanarkshire Councils.
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There had been a 20% increase in MAPPA meetings since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic,
and since April 2020, there had been a steady increase each quarter which was partly due to
courts being closed and groupwork meetings being suspended.  This increase had significantly
impacted on the capacity of the administration team.  Whilst this had settled down slightly, since
the easing of restrictions, an analysis of historic trends suggested that there would continue to
be increased demand in this area of 5.5% per annum. 
The impact of the increases had resulted in longer timescales in returning minutes to key
officers for approval and distribution.  In turn, this had a wider impact on ensuring protection
plans were up to date and being actioned to manage risk.  To manage this in the short–term,
temporary additional capacity had been re-directed from other areas of the administration
service, but this was now beginning to have wider impacts across the service, for example with
backlogs with other statutory minute taking functions.  In providing a sustainable way forward,
permanent additional resources required to be identified, given the consistent increase in
demand over time. 
It was proposed, therefore, that an additional post of 0.5 Clerical Assistant on Grade 1, Level 4,
SCP 30–31 (£21,096 to £21,406) be established. 
The funding for this post would be met from the Section 27 budget and would be a 50/50 share
of costs between North and South Lanarkshire Council. 
The Committee decided: 
(1) that the contents of the report be noted; and 
(2) that the addition to the Social Work Resources’ staffing establishment, as detailed in the
report, be approved. 
17 Blantyre Care Development – Progress Update 
A report dated 7 September 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care was submitted on the
progress of the new care facility and technology enabled housing in Blantyre. 
As part of the Council and South Lanarkshire Integration Joint Board’s (IJB) long-standing
commitment to improving later life for adults and older people, and to meet the future needs and
wishes of the people, work had been ongoing to develop technology enabled houses and a new
care facility based within Blantyre. 
All of the technology enabled homes had been allocated to service users throughout the first half
of this year and it was anticipated that the care facility would be fully operational by January
2023.  Details were provided on the:- 
 technology enabled homes
 intermediate care beds
 centre of excellence 
It had been proposed that the new care facility be named Blantyre LIFE, however, following
discussion, Councillor Allison, seconded by Councillor Nelson, proposed that a consultation
exercise be held with the local community and local elected members on the name of the care
facility.  This was agreed unanimously. 
The Committee decided: 
(1) that the progress made to date on the development of the Blantyre care facility be noted;
and 
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(2) that a consultation exercise be held involving the local community and local elected
members on the name of the care facility. 
18 Social Work Resource Plan 2022/2023 
A report dated 19 August 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care was submitted on the
Social Work Resource Plan 2022/2023.   
Details were provided on the Resource Plan for 2022/2023, attached as Appendix 1 to the
report, which outlined the:- 
 key areas of focus for the year ahead
 Resource outcomes
 measures and actions
 resourcing of the Plan 
The Resource had established a number of outcomes to support the delivery of the Connect
priorities in 2022/2023.  In line with the Council’s performance management arrangements, a
mid-year (Quarter 2) and end of year (Quarter 4) progress report on actions identified in the
2022/2023 Resource Plan would be submitted to future meetings of the Committee.   
The Committee decided: that the Social Work Resource Plan for 2022/2023 be
noted and uploaded to the Council’s website. 
[Reference: Minutes of the Executive Committee of 24 August 2022 (Paragraph 8)] 
19 Community Payback Annual Report 2020/2021 
A report dated 5 July 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care was submitted on the
Community Payback Order (CPO) Annual Report 2020/2021. 
The CPO Annual Report 2020/2021, attached as Appendix 1 to the report, had been submitted
to the Scottish Government in March 2022. 
The Community Justice Scotland Summary Report 2020/2021, which provided a summary of
local authority annual reports on CPOs, had been laid before Parliament on 30 March 2022. 
Within the Summary Report, South Lanarkshire’s Unpaid Work (UPW) Service was highlighted
for its work on survival blankets for homeless people and the hot meal service. 
The Committee decided: that the contents of the report be noted. 
20 Care Inspection Updates for Registered Services 
A report dated 19 August 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care was submitted providing
an update on inspections that had been undertaken by the Care Inspectorate on registered
social work services. 
South Lanarkshire had 39 registered services, which included 6 care homes for older people, 13
day centres for older people, 6 adult lifestyles centres, 1 adult community support service, 6
care homes for children and young people, 3 child and family services (fostering, adoption and
support carers) and 4 home care services. 
Since the last report to Committee, 3 in-house residential facilities for older people had been
inspected, with 6 care homes for children and young people having unannounced inspections. 
The grading of those inspections were outlined in the report. 
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Since an Improvement Notice had been put in place, the Care Inspectorate had also undertaken
2 inspections of Hamilton and Rutherglen Care at Home services, with both inspections resulting
in improvement and grades being increased.  The Improvement Notice had since been lifted. 
The Committee decided: that the content of the report be noted. 
[Reference: Minutes of 10 November 2021 (Paragraph 8)] 
21 Joint Inspection of Adult Support and Protection 
A report dated 19 August 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care was submitted providing
information on the timetable and progress made on preparations for the forthcoming Joint
Inspection of Adult Support and Protection. 
A national 2-year programme of Joint Inspection of Adult Support and Protection was
announced by the Scottish Government in 2019 to seek assurance that adults at risk were
protected by existing local and national arrangements, and to identify areas for further
improvement if necessary. 
The inspection programme had faced significant delay as a consequence of the Covid-19
pandemic.  11 inspections had now been completed and it was anticipated the programme
would conclude in July 2023. 
Details were provided on the timetable for inspection which had been reduced from a 20 week
timeframe to 13 weeks as a result of the pandemic.  The inspection would also be virtual with
communication and case file reading conducted via a secure data sharing IT system. 
Preparations for the inspection had continued throughout the pandemic, taking cognisance of
service pressures for each of the partners.  A programme of self-evaluation had provided
valuable feedback from staff, service users and the wider community.  A draft position statement
document had been produced and provided a clear statement of progress and an overview of
the partnership’s strengths and areas for improvement. 
The Committee decided: that the content of the report be noted. 
22 Rates and Charges for Care Services for 2022/2023 
A report dated 26 July 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care was submitted providing an
update on the 2022/2023 rates and charges for care services. 
Each year, Social Work Resources was required to confirm the rates and charges that would be
adopted for residential, nursing, supported living, non-residential care services and care at home
services.  The rates to be charged to other local authorities for care services must also be set. 
In recognition of the need to implement contractual uplifts in 2022/2023 without delay to
providers, the Social Work Resources Committee, at its meeting on 9 February 2022, authorised
the Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources) and Director, Health and Social Care
to agree the following rates, as detailed in the report:- 
 Care at Home, Supported Living, Day Care and Integrated Care Facilities
 Residential and Nursing Care through the National Care Home Contract
 Residential services outwith the National Care Home Contract 
In March 2022, the Scottish Government and COSLA approved a national living wage uplift for
contractual hourly rates paid to adult social care providers in accordance with the increase to the
real living wage.
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The Committee decided: 
(1) that the revised rates and associated arrangements to Residential and Nursing Care rates,
as detailed in Section 4 of the report, be noted; 
(2) that the revised Nursing and Residential Respite charges, as detailed in Section 5 of the
report, be noted; 
(3) that the revised rates and associated arrangements for Care at Home, Supported Living
and Day Care, as detailed in Section 6 of the report, be noted; and 
(4) that the arrangements for Non-Residential Charges, as detailed in Section 7 of the report,
be noted. 
[Reference: Minutes of 9 February 2022 (Paragraph 9)] 
23 Notification of Contracts Awarded - 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 
A report dated 9 August 2022 by the Director, Health and Social Care was submitted on
contracts awarded by Social Work Resources in the period 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022. 
In terms of Standing Order Nos 21.8 and 22.5 of the Standing Orders on Contracts, Resources
were required to notify the relevant Committee of contracts awarded in excess of £50,000. 
Details of the contracts awarded by Social Work Resources were provided in the appendix to
the report. 
The Committee decided: that the report be noted. 
24 Urgent Business 
There were no items of urgent business. 
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Report
Agenda Item 
Report to: Social Work Resources Committee
Date of Meeting: 16 November 2022
Report by: Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources)
Director, Health and Social Care  
Subject: Social Work Resources - Revenue Budget Monitoring
2022/2023 
1. Purpose of Report
1.1. The purpose of the report is to:-
[purpose]
 provide information on the actual expenditure measured against the revenue
budget for the period 1 April 2022 to 7 Oct 2022 for Social Work Resources
 provide a forecast for the year to 31 March 2023
[1purpose]
2. Recommendation(s)
2.1. The Committee is asked to approve the following recommendation(s):-
[re
(1) that the underspend position of £0.012m on the Social Work Resources’
revenue budget, as detailed in Appendix A of the report, and the forecast to
31 March 2023 of breakeven, be noted; and 
(2) that the proposed budget virements be approved.
[1recs]
3. Background
3.1. This is the second revenue budget monitoring report presented to the Social Work
Resources Committee for the financial year 2022/2023. 
3.2. The report details the financial position for Social Work Resources in Appendix A,
and then details the individual services, along with variance explanations, in
Appendices B to E. 
4. Employee Implications
4.1. There are no employee implications as a result of this report. 
5. Financial Implications
5.1. As at 7 October 2022, there is an underspend of £0.012m against the phased
budget, with underspends within Adult and Older People Services, Performance and
Support Services and Justice Services, offset with an overspend in Children and
Family Services.
3
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5.2. There continues to be financial pressures with the Children and Family Services
budget, with spend on external placements being the main reason for the continued
increase in spend.  As detailed at section 5.1 above, this is being offset within the
overall Social Work Resources’ position and in part by an underspend in Adult and
Older People, a service delegated to the Integration Joint Board (IJB).  Work is
ongoing with the Services to establish funding solutions for the residual overspend. 
In 2021/22 some core Adult and Older People budget underspend was retained by
the Council to help cover the Children and Family pressure, and the same approach
has been proposed to the Health and Social Care Partnership for 2022/23. 
5.3. As previously reported, there are likely to be further underspends in relation to
specific funding streams in Adult and Older People Services, where spend has not
yet commenced or is not fully committed, predominately related to recruitment
challenges.  Finance Services are currently in discussion with the Chief Financial
Officer from the IJB, and await confirmation on the anticipated position and this will
be reported back in the regular reports to this committee.  As detailed in section 5.2.,
the Council may look to this underspend to assist in managing the pressures within
Children and Family Services. 
5.4.  Virements are proposed to realign budgets. These movements have been detailed in
the appendices to this report, as appropriate. 
6.      Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Implications
6.1.     There are no implications for climate change, sustainability or the environment in
terms of the information contained in this report. 
7. Other Implications
7.1. The main risk associated with the Council’s Revenue Budget is that there is an
overspend. There are inflationary and budget pressures including utilities (as well as
general inflation pressures) this year which increase the risk of overspend, however,
these have mitigated through the IJB financial plan for 2022/23. The risk is managed
through four weekly Budget Monitoring Meetings at which any variance is analysed.
In addition, the probable outturn exercise ensures early warning for corrective action
to be taken where appropriate. 
7.2. There are no implications for sustainability in terms of the information contained in
this report. 
8. Equality Impact Assessment and Consultation Arrangements
8.1. This report does not introduce a new policy, function or strategy or recommend a
change to an existing policy, function or strategy and, therefore, no impact
assessment is required. 
8.2. There was also no requirement to undertake any consultation in terms of the
information contained in this report. 
Paul Manning
Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources) 
Soumen Sengupta
Director, Health and Social Care 
18 October 2022
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Link(s) to Council Values/Priorities/Outcomes
 Accountable, Effective, Efficient and Transparent 
Previous References
 Social Work Resources Committee – 7 September 2022 
List of Background Papers
 Financial Ledger and budget monitoring results to 7 October 2022 
Contact for Further Information
If you would like to inspect the background papers or want further information, please
contact:-
Hazel Goodwin, Finance Manager
Ext:  2699  (Tel:  01698 452699)
E-mail:  Hazel.Goodwin@southlanarkshire.gov.uk 
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Appendix A 
SOUTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL 
Revenue Budget Monitoring Report 
Social Work Resources Committee: Period Ended 7 October (No.7) 
Social Work Resources Summary 
Annual
Budget 
Forecast
for Year 
Annual
Forecast
Variance 
Budget
Proportion
07/10/22
Actual 
07/10//22
Variance 
07/10/22 
%
Variance  
07/10/22
Note 
£000  £000 £000 £000 £000 £000   
Budget Category         
Employee Costs 110,322 110,322 0 49,424 48,327 1,097 under 2.2% 
Property Costs 3,630 3,630 0   1,578 1,628 (50) over -3.2% 
Supplies & Services 6,691 6,691 0 3,069 3,097 (28) over -0.9% 
Transport & Plant 4,890 4,890 0 957 1,008 (51) over -5.3% 
Administration Costs 1,809 1,809 0 568 575 (7) over -1.2% 
Payments to Other Bodies 26,410 26,410 0 12,456 12,287 169 under 1.4% 
Payments to Contractors 129,662 129.662 0 57,014 57,597 (943) over         -1.7% 
Transfer Payments 3,832 3,832 0 2,081 2,226 (145) over -7.0% 
Financing Charges 367 367 0 207 218 (11) over -5.3% 
Total Controllable Exp. 287,613 287,613 0 127,354 127,323 31 under 0.0% 
Total Controllable Inc. (76,216) (76,216) 0 (20,579) (20,560) (19) Under
recovered 0.1% 
Net Controllable Exp. 211,397 211,397 0 106,775 106,763 12 Under 0.0% 
Variance Explanations 
Variance explanations are shown in Appendices B -E. 
Budget Virements 
Budget virements are shown in Appendices B-E. 
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Appendix B 
SOUTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL 
Revenue Budget Monitoring Report 
Social Work Resources Committee: Period Ended 7 October 2022 (No.7) 
Children and Families Services 
Annual
Budget 
Forecast
for Year 
Annual
Forecast
Variance 
Budget
Proportion
07/10/22
Actual 
07/10/22
Variance 
07/10/22 
%
Variance
07/10/22
Note 
£000  £000 £000 £000 £000 £000   
Budget Category         
Employee Costs 17,716 17,716 0 8,718 8,703 15 under 0.2% 
Property Costs 404 404 0 245 284 (39) over -15.9% 
Supplies & Services 639 639 0 210 207 3 under 1.4% 
Transport & Plant 634 634 0 1278 314 (36) over -2.8% 
Administration Costs 351 351 0 139 138 1 under 2.6% 
Payments to Other Bodies 10,370 10,370 0 5,217 5,105 112 under 2.1% 1 a
Payments to Contractors 7,245 7,245 0 3,643 4,586 (943) over -25.9% 2 a 
Transfer Payments 3,819 3,819 0 2,075 2,211 (136) over -6.6% 3
Financing Charges 21 21 0 11 17 (6) over -54.5% 
Total Controllable Exp. 41,199 41,199 0 20,536 21,565 (1,029)) over 5.0% 
Total Controllable Inc. (2,371) (2,371) 0 (494) (520) 26 over
recovered  5.26% 
Net Controllable Exp. 38,828 38,828 0 20,042 21,045 (1,003) over 5.0% 
Variance Explanations 
1. Payment to Other bodies
The underspend is in respect of non-recurring underspends in relation to funding to develop both supported accommodation and young carers services
and demand for supported carers and short break services.  This is offset in part by an overspend as a result of the increased requirement for support
with adoption allowances. 
2. Payment to Contractors
This overspend is a result of the continuing increased requirement for children’s residential school and external placements. 
3. Transfer Payments
This overspend relates to an increase in numbers for kinship care. 
Budget Virements 
a Realignment of Carers Act Funding Net effect £0, Payment to contractor £0.131m, Payment to other bodies (£0.131m). 
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Appendix C   
SOUTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL 
Revenue Budget Monitoring Report 
Social Work Resources Committee: Period Ended 07 October 2022 (No.7) 
Adults and Older People Services 
Annual
Budget 
Forecast
for Year 
Annual
Forecast
Variance 
Budget
Proportion
07/10/22
Actual 
07/10/22
Variance 
07/10/22 
%
Variance
07/10/22
Note 
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000   
Budget Category         
Employee Costs 80,602 80,602 0 34,908 34,222 686 under 2.0% 1 b c 
Property Costs 2,625 2,625 0 929 915 14 under 1.5% b 
Supplies & Services 5,533 5,533 0 2,694 2,699 (5) over -0.19% b 
Transport & Plant 3,908 3,908 0 592 604 (12) over -2.0% b
Administration Costs 465 465 0 221 252 (31) over -14.0% B
Payments to Other Bodies 15,515 15,515 0 6,930 6,880 50 under 0.7% a, b
Payments to Contractors 122,374 122,374 0 53,328 53,328 0  0.0% b
Transfer Payments 7 7 0 3 12 (9) over -300.0% 
Financing Charges 58 58 0 29 31 (2) over -6.9% 
Total Controllable Exp. 231,087 231,087 0 99,634 98,943 691 under 0.7% 
Total Controllable Inc. (65,886) (65,886) 0 (16,655) (16,612) (43) Under
recovered 0.3% a b c 
Net Controllable Exp. 165,201 165,201 0 82,979 82,331 648 under 0% 
Variance Explanations 
1. Employee costs 
The underspend is a result of vacancies of vacancies across Social Workers, Day Care and Residential homes. 
Budget Virements 
a. Incorporation of Distress Brief Intervention funding 22-23 Net effect £0, Payment to other bodies £0.317m, Income (£0.317) 
b. Transfer from Covid Reserve Net effect £0, Employee costs £1.580m, Property costs £0.271m, Supplies and Services £0.557m, Transportation
£0.196m, Administration £0.010m, Payment to contractors £0.100m, Payment to other bodies £0.500, Income (£3.214m). 
c. Reversal of previous virement for Home Care Scheduling team budget reduction net effect £0, Employee costs (£0.147m), Income £0.147m. 
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Appendix D 
SOUTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL 
Revenue Budget Monitoring Report 
Social Work Resources Committee: Period Ended 07 October 2022 (No.7) 
Performance and Support Services 
Annual
Budget 
Forecast
for Year 
Annual
Forecast
Variance 
Budget
Proportion
07/10/22
Actual 
07/10/22
Variance 
07/10/22 
%
Variance
07/10/22
Note 
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000   
Budget Category         
Employee Costs 5,336 5,336 0 2,624 2,367 257 under 9.8% 1
Property Costs 534 534 0 351 352 (1) over -0.3% 
Supplies & Services 432 432 0 126 147 (21) over -16.7% 
Transport & Plant 256 256 0 31 26 5 under 16.1% 
Administration Costs 387 387 0 166 157 9 under 5.4% 
Payments to Other Bodies 35 35 0 3 1 2 under 66.7% 
Payments to Contractors 0 0 0 0 0 0 - n/a  
Transfer Payments 0 0 0 0 0 0 - n/a  
Financing Charges 278 278 0 162 161 1 under 0.6% 
Total Controllable Exp. 7,258 7,258 0 3,463 3,211 252 under 7.3% 
Total Controllable Inc. (758) (758) 0 (81) (81) 0  0.0% 
Net Controllable Exp. 6,500 6,500 0 3,382 3,130 252 under 7.5% 
Variance Explanations 
1. Employee costs
This is an underspend due to vacancies which are being actively recruited, mainly within Admin and Clerical staff. 
27

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Appendix E 
SOUTH LANARKSHIRE COUNCIL 
Revenue Budget Monitoring Report 
Social Work Resources Committee: Period Ended 07 October 2022 (No7) 
Justice Services 
Annual
Budget 
Forecast
for Year 
Annual
Forecast
Variance 
Budget
Proportion
07/10/22
Actual 
07/10/22
Variance 
07/10/22 
%
Variance
07/10/22
Note 
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000   
Budget Category         
Employee Costs 6,668 6,668 0 3,174 3,035 139 under 4.4% 1
Property Costs 67 67 0 53 77 (24) over -45.3% 
Supplies & Services 87 87 0 39 44 (5) over -12.8% 
Transport & Plant 92 92 0 56 64 (8) over -14.3% 
Administration Costs 606 606 0 42 28 14 under 33.3% 
Payments to Other Bodies 490 490 0 306 301 5 under 1.6% 
Payments to Contractors 43 43 0 43 43 0  0.0% 
Transfer Payments 6 6 0 3 3 0  0.0% 
Financing Charges 10 10 0 5 9 (4) over -80.0% 
Total Controllable Exp. 8,069 8,069 0 3,721 3,604 117 under 3.14% 
Total Controllable Inc. (7,201) (7,201) 0 (3,349) (3,347) (2) Under rec 0.1% 
Net Controllable Exp. 868 868 0 372 257 115 under 30.9% 
Variance Explanations 
1. Employee costs
This underspend is due to vacancies which are being actively recruited. 
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Report
Agenda Item 
Report to: Social Work Resources Committee
Date of Meeting: 16 November 2022
Report by: Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources)
Director, Health and Social Care  
Subject: Social Work Resources - Capital Budget Monitoring
2022/2023 
1. Purpose of Report
1.1. The purpose of the report is to:
[purpose]
 provide information on the progress of the capital programme for Social Work
Resources for the period 1 April 2022 to 7 October 2022 
2. Recommendation(s)
2.1. The Committee is asked to approve the following recommendation(s):- 
(1) that the Social Work Resources’ capital programme of £3.903 million, and
expenditure to date of £2.931 million, be noted. 
3. Background
3.1. This is the second capital monitoring report presented to the Social Work Resources
Committee for the financial year 2022/2023.  Further reports will follow throughout
the year. 
3.2. The budget of £3.903 million for Social Work Resources is based on the overall
Capital Programme for 2022/2023, which was approved by the Executive Committee
on 29 June 2022.  There has been no change to this budget since the last report to
this Committee. 
3.3. The report details the financial position for Social Work Resources in Appendix A. 
4. Employee Implications
4.1. There are no employee implications as a result of this report. 
5. Financial Implications
5.1. 2022/2023 Capital Programme Update 
As detailed in Section 3.2, the 2022/2023 capital programme for Social Work
Resources is £3.903 million.   
5.2. Period 4 Position   
Anticipated spend to date was £2.986 million and spend to 7 October 2022 amounts
to £2.931 million.  This represents a position of £0.055 million behind profile and this
mainly reflects the timing of payments on the Blantyre Care Facility project. 
4
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6. Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Implications
6.1. There are no implications for climate change, sustainability or the environment in
terms of the information contained in this report. 
7. Other Implications
7.1. The main risk associated with the Council’s Capital Programme is an overspend. 
There are detailed project management plans prepared and the risk of overspend on
each project is monitored through four weekly investment management meetings. 
7.2. The Council continues to experience material shortages, longer lead times and
extraordinary inflationary price increases and it is anticipated that this will continue to
impact the supply chain for the foreseeable future.  The impact of this will continue to
be monitored through the four weekly investment management meetings.  Further
updates will be reported in the coming months with any significant increases in
contract values being brought to members’ attention.   
8. Equality Impact Assessment and Consultation Arrangements
8.1. This report does not introduce a new policy, function or strategy or recommend a
change to an existing policy, function or strategy and, therefore, no impact
assessment is required. 
8.2. There was also no requirement to undertake any consultation in terms of the
information contained in this report. 
Paul Manning
Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources) 
Soumen Sengupta
Executive Director (Health and Social Care) 
19 October 2022 
Link(s) to Council Values/Priorities/Outcomes
 Accountable, effective, efficient and transparent 
Previous References
 Executive Committee, 29 June 2022 
List of Background Papers
▪ Financial ledger to 15 July 2022 
Contact for Further Information
If you would like to inspect the background papers or want further information, please
contact:
Lorraine O’Hagan, Finance Manager (Strategy)
Ext:  2601 (Tel:  01698 452601)
E-mail: lorraine.o’hagan@southlanarkshire.gov.uk
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Appendix A 
South Lanarkshire Council
Capital Expenditure 2022-2023
Social Work Resources Programme
For Period 1 April 2022 – 7 October 2022 
Social Work Resources Base
Budget 
£000
Budget
Adjustments
£000
Slippage
£000
Total
Budget
£000 
Budget 
to Date
£000
Actual
Expenditure
£000 
Care Facilities 2,702 40 - 2,742  2,658 2,614 
Other 4,691 40 (3,570) 1,161  328 317 
TOTAL 7,393 80 (3,570) 3,903  2,986 2,931 
31

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32

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Report
Agenda Item 
Report to: Social Work Resources Committee
Date of Meeting: 16 November 2022
Report by: Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources)
Director, Health and Social Care  
Subject: Social Work Resources – Workforce Monitoring – July
and August 2022 
1. Purpose of Report
1.1. The purpose of the report is to: -
[purpose]
 provide employment information for July and August 2022 relating to Social Work
Resources
[1purpose]
2. Recommendation(s)
2.1. The Committee is asked to approve the following recommendation(s): -
[recs]
(1) that the following employment information for July and August 2022 relating to
Social Work Resources be noted: - 
 attendance statistics
 occupational health
 accident/incident statistics
 discipline, grievance and Dignity at Work cases
 analysis of leavers and exit interviews
 Staffing Watch as of 11 June 2022 
[1recs]
3. Background
3.1. As part of the Council’s performance management arrangements, regular workforce
monitoring reports are submitted to Committee. This report for Social Work
Resources provides information on the position for July and August 2022. 
4. Monitoring Statistics
4.1. Attendance Statistics (Appendix 1) 
Information on absence statistics is analysed for the month of August for Social Work
Resources. 
The Resource absence figure for August 2022 was 7.5%, this figure has decreased
by 0.4% when compared to last month and is 3.1% higher than the Council-wide
figure. Compared to August 2021, the Resource absence figure has decreased by
0.7%. 
Based on the absence figures at August 2022 and annual trends, the projected
annual average absence for the Resource for 2022/2023 is 8.1%, compared to a
Council-wide average figure of 6.1%.
5
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Managers follow the procedures outlined in the Maximising Attendance Policy to
support employees to remain at work, or to return to work after a sickness absence.
There are comprehensive employee supports in place and additionally, Personnel
Services work in close partnership with line managers and Resource Management
Teams on a case management basis to ensure that appropriate actions are taken. 
The attendance information contained in this report includes absences as a result of
Covid-19, and employees are being supported through this difficult time to maintain
attendance levels where they can.  At the time of this report, the Council overall
absence level was 4.96% with 0.48% of this relating to Covid-19 for sickness and
special leave. 
4.2. Occupational Health (Appendix 2) 
In terms of referrals to occupational health, which include medical examinations and
physiotherapy, overall, 256 referrals were made this period. This represents a
decrease of 20 when compared with the same period last year. 
4.3. Accident/Incident Statistics 
There were 26 accidents/incidents recorded within the Resource this period, an
increase of 18 when compared to the same period last year. 
4.4. Discipline, Grievance and Dignity at Work (Appendix 2) 
During the period, 4 disciplinary hearings were held within the Resource, a decrease
of 3 when compared to the same period last year. No appeals were heard by the
Appeals Panel. Two grievance hearings were raised within the Resource, an
increase of 2 when compared to the same period last year. One Dignity at Work
complaint was raised within the Resource, this figure has increased by 1 when
compared to the same period last year. 
4.5. Analysis of Leavers (Appendix 2) 
There were a total of 27 leavers in the Resource this period eligible for an exit
interview. This figure has increased by 7 when compared with the same period last
year. Fifteen interviews were conducted in this period, an increase of 1 when
compared to the same period last year. 
4.6. When processing an employee termination, managers were asked to identify
whether they intended to replace the employee who had left the Council. If they
indicated that they did not intend to replace the employee, they were asked to select
from the following options:
 plan to hold for savings
 fill on a fixed term basis pending savings
 transfer budget to another post
 end of fixed term post 
4.7. Appendix 2a provides a breakdown of vacant posts and whether these are being
replaced or held for savings. In the period July to August 2022, 46 employees (38.11
FTE) employees in total left employment, managers indicated that 45 posts (37.11
FTE) posts were being replaced and 1 (1.00 FTE) is being removed for savings. 
5. Staffing Watch 
5.1. There has been a decrease of 14 in the number of employees in post from 12 March
2022 to 11 June 2022.
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6. Employee Implications
6.1. There are no implications for employees arising from the information presented in
this report. 
7. Financial Implications
7.1. All financial implications are accommodated within existing budgets. 
8. Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Implications
8.1. There are no Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Implications in terms
of the information contained within this report. 
9. Other Implications
9.1. There are no implications for sustainability or risk in terms of the information
contained within this report. 
10. Equality Impact Assessment and Consultation Arrangements
10.1. This report does not introduce a new policy, function or strategy or recommend a
change to an existing policy, function or strategy and, therefore, no impact
assessment is required. 
10.2. There was no requirement to undertake any consultation in terms of the information
contained in this report. 
Paul Manning
Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources) 
Soumen Sengupta
Director, Health and Social Care 
5 October 2022 
Link(s) to Council Values/Priorities/Outcomes
       Accountable, effective, efficient and transparent
       Fair, open and sustainable
       Ambitious, self aware and improving
       Excellent employer
       Focused on people and their needs
       Working with and respecting others 
Previous References
 Social Work Resources Committee – 7 September 2022 
List of Background Papers
 Monitoring information provided by Finance and Corporate Resources 
Contact for Further Information
If you would like to inspect the background papers or want further information, please
contact: -
Eileen McPake, HR Business Manager
Ext: (Tel: 01698 454647)
E-mail:Eileen.McPake@southlanarkshire.gov.uk 
35

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2020 /
2021
2021 /
2022
2022 /
2023
2020 /
2021
2021 /
2022
2022 /
2023
2020 /
2021
2021 /
2022
2022 /
2023
2020 /
2021
2021 /
2022
2022 /
2023
% % % % % % % % % % % %
April 5.5 4.5 6.2 April 10.2 9.6 12.6 April 7.1 6.2 8.3 April 4.4 4.3 5.6
May 4.4 5.0 5.7 May 8.1 9.3 10.1 May 5.7 6.5 7.1 May 3.1 4.9 5.4
June 3.9 3.9 5.9 June 7.6 7.6 11.3 June 5.2 5.2 7.6 June 2.7 4.7 5.3
July 3.7 6.1 6.0 July 6.3 10.3 11.8 July 4.6 7.5 7.9 July 2.3 4.0 4.6
August 4.4 7.3 6.0 August 6.7 10.2 10.8 August 5.2 8.2 7.5 August 3.1 4.7 4.4
September 5.4 7.6 September 7.5 10.3 September 6.1 8.5 September 4.2 6.4
October 5.9 6.9 October 8.2 11.3 October 6.7 8.4 October 4.8 6.3
November 6.6 6.2 November 8.9 10.8 November 7.4 7.7 November 5.8 6.9
December 6.5 5.5 December 10.3 11.1 December 7.7 7.3 December 5.6 6.9
January 5.8 7.4 January 13.1 13.0 January 8.3 9.2 January 4.8 7.0
February 5.1 7.5 February 12.6 10.1 February 7.6 8.3 February 4.8 6.6
March 4.6 8.0 March 10.6 12.8 March 6.6 9.5 March 4.9 7.9
Annual Average 5.2 6.3 6.6 Annual Average 9.2 10.5 11.3 Annual Average 6.5 7.7 8.1 Annual Average 4.2 5.9 6.1
Average Apr-Aug 4.4 5.4 6.0 Average Apr-Aug 7.8 9.4 11.3 Average Apr-Aug 5.6 6.7 7.7 Average Apr-Aug 3.1 4.5 5.1
1811 1045 2856 16466No of Employees at 31 Aug 2022 No of Employees at 31 Aug 2022 No of Employees at 31 Aug 2022 No of Employees at 31 Aug 2022
Appendix 1
Absence Trends - 2020/2021, 2021/2022 & 2022/2023
Social Work Resources
APT&C Council WideResource TotalManual Workers
36

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Jul - Aug Jul - Aug
2021 2022
MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS
Number of Employees Attending
EMPLOYEE COUNSELLING SERVICE
Total Number of Referrals
PHYSIOTHERAPY SERVICE
Total Number of Referrals
REFERRALS TO EMPLOYEE SUPPORT OFFICER 82 98
REFERRALS TO COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR THERAPY 0 0
TOTAL 276 256
Jul - Aug Jul - Aug
2021 2022
Specified Injuries* 0 0
Over 7 day absences 1 2
Over 3 day absences** 0 0
Minor 4 12
Near Miss 0 0
Violent Incident:  Physical**** 1 8
Violent Incident:  Verbal***** 2 4
Total Accidents/Incidents 8 26
Jul - Aug Jul - Aug
2021 2022
Total Number of Hearings 7 4
Total Number of Appeals 0 0
Appeals Pending 0 0
Time Taken to Convene Hearing April - June 2022
0-3 Weeks 4-6 Weeks Over 6 Weeks
2 2 0
Jul - Aug Jul - Aug
2021 2022
Number of Grievances 0 2
Number Resolved at Stage 1 0 0
Number Resolved at Stage 2 0 0
Number Resolved at Stage 3 0 0
Still in Progress 0 2
Jul - Aug Jul - Aug
2021 2022
Number of Incidents 0 1
Number Resolved at Informal Stage 0 0
Number Resolved at Formal Stage 0 0
Number of Appeals 0 0
Appeals in Process 0 0
Still in Process 0 1
Jul - Aug Jul - Aug
2021 2022
Number of Exit Interviews conducted 14 15
Total Number of Leavers Eligible for Exit Interview 20 27
Percentage of interviews conducted 70% 56%
Appendix 2
107 65
13 23
SOCIAL WORK RESOURCES
74 70
CAUSE OF ACCIDENTS/INCIDENTS
*A Specified Injury is any fracture (other than to the fingers, thumbs or toes), amputation, loss of sight,
serious burns, crushing injury, scalping, loss of consciousness caused by asphyxiation/ head injury, a
chemical or hot metal burn to the eye or penetrating injury as defined by the HSE.
**Over 3 day / over 7day absence is an injury sustained outwith specified injury category that results in a
period of absence of absence as defined by the HSE. 
***Near Miss - Any unexpected, unplanned occurrence (except Dangerous Occurrences) that does not
lead to injury of persons, damage to property, plant or equipment but may have done so in different
circumstance.
ANALYSIS OF REASONS FOR LEAVING
****Physical violent incidents are included in the "Specified" figures, where applicable, to provide the "Total
Specified" figures.
****Physical violent incidents and ***** Verbal Violent Incidents are included in the "Over 3-day or Over 7-
day" figures, where applicable, to provide the "Total Over 3-day or Over 7-day" figures.
****Physical Violent Incidents and ***** Verbal Violent Incidents are included in the "Minor" figures, where
applicable, to provide the "Total Minor" figures.
RECORD OF DISCIPLINARY HEARINGS
RECORD OF GRIEVANCE HEARINGS
RECORD OF DIGNITY AT WORK
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Appendix 2a     
Reason Jul - Aug 2022 Cumulative total
FTE H/C FTE H/C
Terminations/Leavers 38.11 46 107.76 136
Being replaced 37.11 45 104.11 132
Filling on a temporary basis 0.00 0 0.00 0
Plan to transfer this budget to another post  0.00 0 0.00 0
End of fixed term contract 0.00 0 1.65 2
Held pending service Review 0.00 0 1.00 1
Plan to remove for savings 1.00 1 1.00 1 
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As at 11 June 2022
F/T P/T F/T P/T
Social Work 231 168 1041 1240 2680
*Full-Time Equavalent No of Employees
Salary Bands
Director Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Fixed
SCP Teacher Total
Social Work 1.00 1149.08 589.20 542.04 34.80 28.76 2.00 0.00 0.00 2346.88
As at 12 March 2022
F/T P/T F/T P/T
Social Work 226 172 1026 1270 2694
*Full-Time Equavalent No of Employees
Salary Bands
Director Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Fixed
SCP Teacher Total
Social Work 1.00 1182.65 568.72 542.39 31.80 26.76 2.00 0.00 0.00 2355.32
Male Female Total
Appendix 3
Joing Staffing Watch Return
Social Work Resources
Male Female Total
39

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40

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Report
Agenda Item 
Report to: Social Work Resources Committee
Date of Meeting: 16 November 2022
Report by: Director, Health, and Social Care  
Subject: Update of the 2022 Risk Register and Risk Control Plan 
1. Purpose of Report
1.1. The purpose of the report is to:-
[purse]
 provide an update on risk management arrangements and the risk register for
Social Work Resources 
2. Recommendation(s)
2.1. The Committee is asked to approve the following recommendation(s):-
[recs]
(1) that the contents of the report be noted.
[1recs]
3. Background
3.1. The Council’s Risk Management Strategy promotes consideration of risk in service
delivery, planning and decision-making processes.  The Strategy requires Resources
to record and review risks and control actions regularly.  Social Work Resources
(SWR) follow the guidance in developing, monitoring and updating the risk register on
an ongoing basis. 
3.2. The purpose of the Risk Register is to ensure that SWR is fully aware of its top risks;
that these risks are prioritised; and that controls are in place to eliminate or minimise
the impact of the risks. 
3.3. The Resource scores these risks in accordance with the Council’s Corporately agreed
scoring mechanism, based on likelihood and impact.  This results in risks being scored
between one and twenty-five (low – very high).  Risks are scored on their inherent
score (risk if we do nothing) and their residual risk (risk after applying controls). 
Further detail on the Council’s scoring matrix and approach to risk appetite is outlined
in Appendix 1. 
3.4. Each Resource has a Resource Risk Management Group which has responsibility for
the promotion and management of risk.  The SWR Risk Management Group continues
to meet on a regular basis to provide strategic and operational oversight of all risks
impacting on the delivery of Social Care Services.  
6
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3.5. This particular report provides an update to Social Work Committee on a number of
interrelated pieces of work that have been undertaken with regards to risk in the
context and how these impact on the delivery of Social Care Services.  Notably, this
report will cover the following areas:
 a reviewed list of top risks impacting on social care as per agreement at Social
Work Committee on 7 September 2022 to undertake this piece of work
 in line with corporate reporting requirements, a comparison in risk scores across
the period 2021 and 2022.  The last annual update was reported to Social Work
Resources Committee on 10 November 2021
 an update on insurance hotspots for SWR
 update on Risk Control Actions 
4. Review of the Top Risks Impacting on Social Care Services
4.1. At its meeting of 7 September 2022, SWR Committee agreed that a review should be
undertaken to re-state the top risks impacting on the delivery of Social Care Services
and that risk should be a standing item on the agenda.  This work has been duly
undertaken and detailed below is a proposed revised set of 5 top risks for the
Committee’s consideration and approval:-
 workforce availability and capacity (lack of capacity and skills to meet increased
service demands)
 meeting Public Protection and Legislative Duties (combined legislation/statutory
duties Public Protection, Care Inspectorate/Self Directed Services (SDS)
 market and provider capacity (Procurement/Supply chain)
 funding and budgetary pressures (Reduction in funding/increased costs)
 demand pressures (Emergency response) 
4.2. Appendix 2 provides further detail on each of these top risks, alongside the inherent 
and residual risk scores and sample controls. 
4.3. Whilst these top risks will be the primary focus of the Resource in terms of oversight, 
monitoring and management, there are other risks (whilst deemed to be of lesser 
impact at this point in time) that the Resource will be required to monitor and 
contribute to by way of mitigation.  Some of these risks are wider organisational risks 
which require all departments of the Council to respond to by working together 
corporately.  The list below provides some additional detail in this regard:-
 deliver Strategic Commissioning Plan Outcomes IJB
 IT development and functionality
 pandemic response and recovery
 National Care Service/Independent Review Adult Social Care
 failure to meet sustainable development and climate change objectives
 fraud; theft organised crime and cyber-attacks
 historic child abuse
 increased levels of adverse weather
 cost of living crisis
 refugee resettlement and asylum seeker dispersal programme
 disruption to Council Services due to industrial action  
42

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4.4. From a risk appetite and tolerance perspective, the Council aims to be risk embracing,
in that it will accept a tolerable level of risk in seeking service efficiencies and in agreeing
control measures.  The level of risk facing the Council is measured both before (inherent
risk) and after (residual risk) consideration of controls.  The Council should never carry
a very high residual risk exposure as this would indicate instability, but a low residual
risk exposure should also be avoided as this indicates lack of innovation.   
4.5. The Council’s universal risk tolerance levels were updated as part of the review of the
risk management strategy last year, with the ideal risk profile defined as:- 
 no more than 10% of residual risks at a very high level
 no more than 15 % of risks at a high level
 around 50 to 60% of residual risks at a medium level
 no more than 30% of residual risks at a low level 
4.6. Of the 16 risks referred to in sections 4.1 and 4.3, SWR currently has a risk profile of
31% mainly due to the top risks having a residual score of very high.  However, this is
reflective of the environment and risks which the service currently operates within. 
4.7. Moving forwards, risk will be a standing item on Social Work Committee and the risk
register and reporting of risk will be a dynamic process, with Committee receiving
updates on any changes to levels of risk or new risks which may evolve overtime. 
5. Risk Movement Across the Period 2021 and 2022
5.1. As highlighted above and in line with corporate reporting, movement in risks are
required to be reported annually to Committee.   
5.2. Appendix 3 provides a comparison of risk scores across this period.  This appendix
also details changes in risk descriptions.  By way of summary, it is important to
highlight that risk has increased year on year with regards to workforce, procurement,
and the potential impact of the independent review of Adult Social Care. 
5.3. In addition to this, the Central Risk Management team annually review Resource
compliance with the Risk Management Strategy.  The outcome of the 2021/2022
review identified that SWR achieved 100 per cent compliance, scoring 45 out of a
possible 45. 
6. Insurance Hotspots
6.1. Following the completion of claims leakage analysis reports by insurers, specific
hotspot areas identified for SWR are liability and motor related claims. 
6.2. The Risk and Insurance Team are leading on corporate initiatives to mitigate against
liability, motor, and property insurance claims.  This includes a property insurer survey
programme, a Health and Safety/training review to be undertaken by the Councils’
claims handlers, and ongoing development of driving at work training with support
from Employee Development. 
7. Risk Control Actions
7.1. Social Work risk control actions were due for delivery between April and August 2022
and were completed on time. 
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7.2. Social Work actions due for completion during 2021/22 have been completed. 100 per
cent (7) of control actions were completed on time against an overall Resource target
of 90 per cent. 
7.3. Details of the completion of risk control actions during 2021/22 and 2022/23 to date
are contained in Table Three below.
Table Three – Completion of top risk control actions 
2021/2022 
2022/23
(as at 31
August
2022)
Total number of actions due 7 0
Completed on time 7 0
Completed late 0 0
Carried forward to 2022/23 0 0
To be completed at a later date 0 0 
7.4. Progress with completion of Resource Risk Control Actions is monitored by the 
Resource Risk Group.   
8. Major projects, partnerships, or change
8.1. Within SWR13 partnerships have been identified.  None of these is considered to be
high risk.  Major projects/transformational change programmes are reported to
Committee. 
9. Next steps
9.1. The Resource Risk Management Group will continue to meet on a regular basis.  The
risk register will be reviewed on an ongoing basis by the group to ensure that risks
remain valid for the appropriate Service areas and to identify new areas of risk that
affect the Resource.  An update report will be provided regularly to Committee. 
9.2. Moreover, future reports and proposals brought before Social Work Resources
Committee will show the correlation and read across with the top risks to assure
Committee that such proposals are geared towards providing further levels of
mitigation. 
10. Employee Implications
10.1. Time will be required by the Resource Risk Management Group in the management of
the Resource Risk Register and Risk Control Plan 
11. Financial Implications
11.1. There are no direct financial implications associated with the Resource’s top risks. 
There are a number of proposed risks which are classified under the heading of
financial.  Where this is the case, the appropriate controls and actions have been
included in the risk control cards and progress will be monitored. 
12. Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Implications
12.1. Sustainable development issues are included within the Council’s top risk register
through being linked directly to the Council plan objective ‘make communities safer,
stronger and sustainable’. 
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13. Other Implications
13.1. Failure to demonstrate that risk is actively considered and managed cannot only lead
to avoidable financial loss but could also affect delivery of services and could affect
the resources’ reputation. 
13.2. There are no sustainable development issues associated with this report. 
14. Equality Impact Assessment and Consultation Arrangements
14.1. This report does not introduce a new policy, function or strategy or recommend a
change to existing policy, function or strategy and therefore, no impact assessment is
required. 
14.2. Consultation on the content of this report has been undertaken with the Resource
Management Team. 
Soumen Sengupta
Director, Health, and Social Care   
28 October 2022 
Link(s) to Council Values/Priorities/Outcomes
 accountable, effective and efficient 
Previous References
 Social Work Committee  - 7 September 2022 
List of Background Papers
 none 
Contact for Further Information
If you would like to inspect the background papers or want further information, please
contact:-
Martin Kane, Service Development Manager 
Ext:  3743  (Phone:  01698 453743)
Email:  martin.kane@southlanarkshire.gov.uk @southlanarkshire.gov.uk 
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Appendix 1 – Risk scoring matrix, likelihood, and impact definitions 
Likelihood 
Score 1 2 3 4 5
Description Rare   Unlikely  Possible  Likely Almost
certain 
Likelihood of
occurrence
1 in 10 years 1 in 3 years 1 in 2 years Annually Monthly
Probability of
occurrence
The event may
occur in certain
circumstances
The event
could occur
The event may
occur
The event will
probably occur
The event is
expected to
occur or
occurs
regularly 
Impact 
Reputation Financial Service delivery/
Time to recover
Compliance Safety
1
Negligible
Public concern
restricted to
local
complaints
<£50,000 per
annum
No impact to
service quality;
limited disruption
to operations.
No external
interest
Minor injury
– no lost
time
2
Minor
Minor adverse
local/public/me
dia attention
and complaints
£50,000-
£250,000 per
annum
Minor impact to
service quality;
minor service
standards are not
met; short term 
Very minor
attention
from
legislative
/regulatory
body
Minor injury
– resulting
in lost time
3
Moderate
Adverse
national media
Public attention
£250,000 to
£500,000 per
annum
Significant fall in
service quality;
major partnership
relationships
strained; serious
disruption in
service standards
Short-term
attention
from
legislative/
regulatory
body 
Major injury
or ill health
resulting in
lost time
4
Major
Serious
negative
national or
regional
criticism
£500,000 to
£1million per
annum
Major impact to
service delivery;
multiple service
standards are not
met; long term
disruption to
operations;
multiple
partnerships
affected
Medium-term
attention
from
legislative/
regulatory
body 
Fatality;
or injuries to
several
people
5
Catastrophic
Prolonged
international,
regional and
national
condemnation
£1million per
annum
Catastrophic fail
in service quality
and key service
standards are not
met; long term
catastrophic
interruption to
operations;
several major
partnerships are
affected
National
impact with
rapid
intervention
of legislative/
regulatory
body 
Multiple
fatalities; Or
injuries to
large
number of
people
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The assessments for impact and likelihood combine to provide an overall inherent risk score on the
scale of between 1 and 25, using the Council’s recognised risk matrix. 
Risk matrix       
Likelihood
5
Almost
Certain
5 10 15 20 25
4
Likely 4 8 12 16 20
3
Possible 3 6 9 12 15
2
Unlikely 2 4 6 8 10
1
Rare 1 2 3 4 5  
1
Negligible
2
Minor
3
Moderate
4
Major
5
Catastrophic  
Impact 
The risk score is calculated as follows: 
Likelihood score x Impact score = Risk Score
Risks scored 15 to 25 are considered to be very high risks and risks scored eight to 12 are
considered to be high risks.  Very high and high risks are monitored closely. 
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Appendix 2 – Top Risks impacting on Social Work Services 
Risk
Category
Key Risk Inherent
risk
score
Sample Controls                                                      Residual Risk Score
1 1
Very High
(15-25)
Workforce Availability and Capacity   
Description
• lack of capacity and skills to meet increased
service demands.
• National shortage of skilled workforce
across all sectors
• Recruitment, selection, and retention of
Social Care Staff challenging
• Growing demographic and post pandemic
service demands
• Workforce profile shows an ageing
workforce within social care
• Competition with other industry sectors and
Local Authorities 
25 Prioritising workloads, raising concern within
management team 
Social Care and Social Work Critical Functions
Framework 
Care at Home social media recruitment campaign
(Everyday heros) 
Workforce Monitoring reports to SWC 
Personnel targeted recruitment campaigns 
Increase use of social media to recruit 
Care Academy 
Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care
Scotland 
SSSC (Scottish Social Services Council)
registration requirements 
20
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Appendix 2 – Top Risks impacting on Social Work Services 
Risk
Category
Key Risk Inherent
risk
score
Sample Controls                                                      Residual Risk Score
2 1
Very High
(15-25)
Meeting Public Protection and Legislative
Duties 
Description
• Ability to meet increased demands and risks
with regards Public Protection (Child
Protection, Adult Support and Protection,
MAPPA and Gender Based Violence)
• Meeting all legislative duties pertaining to
assessment, support planning and reviews 
25 SwisPlus system records legislative rationale for
intervention. 
Improve reports on legislative timescales targets
being met 
ASP decision making support tool for staff. 
Wellbeing portal for all staff to access.
Risk Assessment for Service Users
PPE support to all who require 
A risk assessment is part of care management
function. 
Mandatory training and LOL courses for all staff,
specific legislation LOL’s available. 
Workforce updates to all SW Committee
Meetings.
Serious Incident recording and action 
Previous inspections reports by CI: SDS,
Children’s Services and current planned ASP
inspection. 
All registered care services have oversight by
Care Inspectorate 
Other inspection (ASP)
Mental Welfare Commission reviews
20 
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Appendix 2 – Top Risks impacting on Social Work Services 
Risk
Category
Key Risk Inherent
risk
score
Sample Controls                                                      Residual Risk Score
3 1
Very High
(15-25)
Market and Provider Capacity 
Description
• The market has insufficient capacity and
choice to meet demand
• Risks of Providers not being able to sustain
their business models/supply chain issues
• Providers are able to maintain compliance
with national standards and quality of
service delivery 
25 Quality Assurance & Commissioning Team in
place 
Procurement Network Oversight meetings in
place 
Mapping tool developed in support of care at
home service 
Oversight of all SL based registered care
services maintained 
Social Work Scotland Care Market intelligence
shared. 
Market facilitation plan 
Care Inspectorate regulation of all care services 
Scottish Care support of independent, private,
voluntary care providers 
.20 
4 1
Very High
(15-25) 
Funding and Budgetary Pressures
Description
• Risk that services have to re-prioritised as a
result of reductions in budgets
• Reduction in early intervention and
prevention activity as a result of having to
respond to statutory duties such a public
protection 
25 Budget holder responsibility and monitoring. 
Care Packages linked to finance module 
Voluntary Sector commissioned services can
lever additional funding to the area 
Revenue and Capital budget monitoring reports to
SW Committee 
20
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Appendix 2 – Top Risks impacting on Social Work Services 
Risk
Category
Key Risk Inherent
risk
score
Sample Controls                                                      Residual Risk Score
Four weekly monitoring and reporting of financial
performance to CMT 
COSLA role in support of LA’s and links to
Scottish Government 
Audit Scotland reports and briefings
5 1
Very High
(15-25) 
Demand Pressures
Description
• Increased service demand beyond normal
levels as a result of the impact of seasonal
Flu, other respiratory conditions and
increased unwellness in the population
• Impact on workforce availability due to
potential increases in sickness/absence
• Impact of adverse weather on service
delivery 
25 Planning for Winter 2022/2023 commenced in July
2022 
All health and social care staff offered flu and
COVID 19 vaccines. 
Covid and Flu Vaccine Programme for public
GP and Pharmacy Opening 
Maximising Planned Date of Discharge,
Discharge Without Delay and Home First 
Multi-agency approach across NHS Lanarkshire,
the two H&SCPs/IJBs, North and South
Lanarkshire Councils together with the respective
supports. NHS 24 etc.    
NHS Scotland, Public Health Scotland, Healthier
Scotland driving forward Winter 2022 Vaccines
programme. 
Overall Resilience Planning 
20 
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Appendix 3: Comparison of the 2022 and 2021 Resource risk registers 
Risk
Category
Key Risk 2021 Residual
Risk Score
2022 Residual Risk
Score
Change Change to key
descriptions/score
1 1
Very High
(15-25) 
The Council does not provide an adequate
response to the pandemic; maintaining critical
services; delivering emergency response
commitments as a Category One Responder;
and protecting wellbeing of employees and
service users as far as reasonably practicable.
Responding to the pandemic will impact on
everything else the Council does
• Health and Social Care Services increased
pressures/service demands
Council Top Risk 
16 12  Wording amended to focus
on response and recovery
and future pandemic 
2 1
Very High
(15-25) 
Reduction in external funding and fees/income
received by the council, as well as increased
service demands, results in saving difficulties.
• Failure to generate income from charging
policy
Council Top Risk 
20 20 = Reworded risk, Funding
and Budgetary Pressures
3 1
Very High
(15-25) 
The Council does not fully deliver the strategic
outcomes required of the IJB in their Strategic
Commissioning Plan
• Independent Review of Social Care and role
of IJB
Council Top Risk 
12 9  Slight rewording
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Risk
Category
Key Risk 2021 Residual
Risk Score
2022 Residual Risk
Score
Change Change to key
descriptions/score
4 1
Very High
(15-25) 
Failure to ensure the health, safety and
wellbeing of employees and the protection of
service users and members of the public in
the delivery of council services.
• Increased demand on Mental Health Services 
• More vulnerable service users
• Staff capacity and increase absence rates
and attrition of qualified posts and challenges
with recruitment
Council Top Risk 
9   Risk refocussed, and
reworded
Meeting Public Protection
and Legislative Duties 
5 1
Very High
(15-25) 
Community Alarms - Failure to properly
prepare and successfully transition from the
current analogue services to a digital solution
within the pre-determined timescale
• There are currently approximately 9,000
community alarm users in South Lanarkshire   
15   Removed
6 1
Very High
(15-25) 
Failure to evidence sufficient progress against
Care Inspectorate requirements 
• Resource responsible for 39 Registered Care
Services 
16   Risk refocussed, and
reworded
Meeting Public Protection
and Legislative Duties
7 1
Very High
(15-25) 
Lack of capacity and skills to provide and
meet increased service demands 
• Competition with other industry sectors
• (retail and hospitality sector, less
responsibility)
• Competition within Social Care sector
• Covid – expectation of vaccination
• Qualified Social Work salary differential
across the country
• Volume of inexperienced workers
Council Top Risk 
9 20 Risk refocussed and
reworded
Workforce Availability
and Capacity   
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Risk
Category
Key Risk 2021 Residual
Risk Score
2022 Residual Risk
Score
Change Change to key
descriptions/score
8 1
Very High
(15-25) 
New and amended legislation 
• Social Work operates against a backdrop of
many pieces of legislation, historically
operating under the requirements of the
Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968
• Independent Review of Adult Social Care
(IRASC) implications on Social Care Services
(not just Adult Services) 
6   Risk refocussed, and
reworded
Meeting Public Protection
and Legislative Duties
9 1
Very High
(15-25) 
The Council fails to meet statutory and
legislative duties in respect of public
protection.
• Child Protection
• Adult Protection
• MAPPA/VISOR
• Gender based Violence
Council Top Risk 
9   Risk refocussed, and
reworded
Meeting Public Protection
and Legislative Duties
10 2
High
(8-12)
The Council is materially affected by the
recommendations arising from the
independent review of Adult Social Care in
Scotland.
• All social care services no longer based in
Councils
• Impact on Council Budgets
Council Top Risk 
12 16 Corporate risk reworded
The council is materially
effected by the implications
arising from the National
Care Service Bill
11 2
High
(8-12)
Information Governance not subject to
adequate controls 
• Poor information recording within Client index
systems 
Council Top Risk 
12 12 = Not considered a high or
very high risk as
replacement system
commissioned
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Risk
Category
Key Risk 2021 Residual
Risk Score
2022 Residual Risk
Score
Change Change to key
descriptions/score
12 2
High
(8-12)
Historical Childhood Abuse
• Perceived failure on the authority and
predecessor authority to fulfil its obligations in
relation to looked after children
Council Top Risk 
12 12 = National redress scheme
and Scottish Child Abuse
Inquiry
13 2
High
(8-12)
Failure to embed Self-directed support (SDS)
with the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 in respect
of Carers
• Allows for choice/option in how care is
delivered service user/carer control 
6   Removed, included in
Meeting Public Protection
and Legislative Duties
14 2
High
(8-12)
Procurement activity is affected by a lack of
resources, non-compliance or legal challenge
• Centralised procurement function reducing
capacity and knowledge of health and social
care requirements
Council Top Risk 
9 20  Risk refocused and
reworded
Market and Provider
Capacity 
15 2
High
(8-12)
IT development and functionality does not
keep pace with changing service requirements
• Restrictions on legacy systems (SWIS plus)
Council Top Risk 
9 9 = Major IT project SWIS+
replacement
16 2
High
(8-12) 
Fraud, theft, organised crime and cyber-
attacks 
• Employee fraud/theft
• Breach in internet security
Council Top Risk 
12 12 = Corporate
17 2
High
(8-12)
Failure to achieve results and demonstrate
continuous improvement through leadership,
good governance and organisational
effectiveness 
• Children’s Services Inspection
6   Removed, is it part of
legislative duties
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Risk
Category
Key Risk 2021 Residual
Risk Score
2022 Residual Risk
Score
Change Change to key
descriptions/score
• Adult Support and Protection Inspection
18 2
High
(8-12)
The Council is significantly affected by the
impact of the UK leaving the European Union 
• There will be a shortage of entry level
workers, including those with lower skills,
those who gain their qualifications largely
through work based training, and those in less
highly-paid sectors
• Social Care Staff shortages
• Access to supply chains (mobile phone
components, computer parts, Technology
enabled care equipment)
• )
Council Top Risk 
6   Removed 
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Agenda Item 
Report
Report to: Social Work Resources Committee
Date of Meeting: 16 November 2022
Report by: Director, Health and Social Care  
Subject: Planning for Winter 2022/2023 
1. Purpose of Report
1.1. The purpose of the report is to :- 
 provide the Committee with an update on and confirm support for the planning
arrangements being put in place to ensure health and social care services are
prepared as reasonably as they can be for the coming winter months – with
particular recognition of the uncertainties and potential impacts of Covid 19,
influenza, cost of living issues and other concurrent risks against the backdrop
of unprecedented pre-existing system-wide pressures 
2. Recommendation(s)
2.1. The Committee is asked to approve the following recommendation(s) :- 
(1) that the planning arrangements which have been put in place to ensure health
and social care services are prepared for the coming winter months and the
associated costs associated with same are noted;
(2) that the potential need for additional support to mitigate the wider impacts of
winter across all public services are noted; and
(3) that the ongoing work with Scottish Government to confirm the financial
arrangements is noted. 
3. Background
3.1. Committee members have previously been provided with a briefing on the most
recent national Audit Scotland Report on Social Care (January 2022). This national
report described the significant challenges facing the sustainability of social care in
Scotland; the degree to which those challenges resonate across the health and
social care system as a whole; and the consequent imperatives for evidence-based
and values-based transformation. 
3.2.        Annual ‘whole system’ planning is undertaken in preparing health and social care
services in such a way as to mitigate the risks normally associated with winter. The
Committee will be aware that the South Lanarkshire health and social care system
– in common with that across Scotland - continues to face significant challenges.
Last winter, health and social care services and staff had to contend with extreme
pressures, many of which continue to be issues for the system. 
7
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3.3. Planning for Winter 2022/23 commenced in July 2022 and, as in previous years, is
undertaken in accordance with national guidance. The Lanarkshire approach to
winter planning is a multi-agency approach across NHS Lanarkshire, North and
South Lanarkshire Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) and both Councils together with
the respective supports (e.g. the Scottish Ambulance Service and NHS 24).   
3.4.       Give the level of unpredictability in the health and social care sectors as well as in
the wider public system, this year’s Winter Plan has been developed as – and
should be understood to be - a dynamic plan and one that is highly likely to be
subject to change over the coming months.  This has also been recognised from a
Local Resilience Planning (LRP) perspective and a specific piece of work is being
undertaken by NHS Lanarkshire, to take account of the increasingly likely
eventuality of a number of concurrent risks which may well align to create increased
system pressure. These risks include, inter alia, further waves of Covid 19;
increased prevalence of flu and other respiratory infections - both in relation to
infectivity and impact; uptake and efficacy of vaccination programmes; workforce
shortages in all sectors and grades across the health and social care sector;
potential industrial action; public health impact of cost of living crisis/fuel costs and
subsequent demand on health and care services; increasing numbers of displaced
Ukrainians/Asylum Seekers; inclement weather; and available finances.   
4. Winter Workstreams 
4.1. National Guidance / Scottish Government Correspondence
4.1.1.   On 4 October 2022, Scottish Government published a Winter Resilience Overview
2022-23 which set out the actions they are taking in an effort to support the sector
over the winter period. 
4.1.2.   That guidance set out the national expectations for those areas that local winter
plans would be expected to address.  As will be clear from the body of this report
most of the areas identified already feature as part of the Lanarkshire winter
planning process; are being reviewed/refined to ensure that they are as up-to-date
as can be and resourced appropriately given available capacity. The guidance was
further reinforced by subsequent correspondence to Chief Executives and Chief
Officers on 12 October 2022 and 17 October 2022, the latter including a checklist
for completion. Following a national event on 19 October 2022, further guidance
was issued and an associated operational self-assessment on winter preparedness
was issued. Work is ongoing in completing the same prior to submission to Scottish
Government by 7 November 2022. 
4.1.3. Discussion is still ongoing at national and local level on available funding to
manage the impact of Covid 19 and ongoing pressures associated with both
unscheduled and planned care.   Work is ongoing between the NHS Lanarkshire
Director of Finance, the two Chief Financial Officers of the IJBs and Council
Finance Directors to be clear of those monies which have already been committed
to meet ongoing service pressures/respond to previous Government policy; and
that which may be available to support any new proposals. 
4.2.      Ongoing Urgent and Unscheduled Care Planning
4.2.1.   The national Redesign of Urgent Care programme looks to build on these
opportunities to support the public to access the right care in the right place at the
right time. As part of the ongoing NHS Lanarkshire Urgent and Unscheduled Care
development programme work has been undertaken to identify those areas where
there may be scope to introduce early change such that there can be a beneficial
impact on whole system capacity. 
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4.2.2.    As well as a refocus on the Six Essential Actions (nationally developed with the
Academy of Royal Colleges) there are a further six main areas where active
consideration is now being given to opportunities to support increase “flow” through
the system. It should be noted that these areas are all consistent with the Scottish
Government guidance from October 2022 referred to above: 
•   Hospital at Home - review of the current model and consideration of opportunities
for expansion of service.
•   Frailty – pathway development to support admission avoidance and early
discharge.
•   Development of a community-based Urgent Care Service. 
•   Development of Minors Service Hub.
•   Expansion of the scope of the Flow Navigation Centre (FNC – see below).
•   Development of Discharge Ward Model / Commissioned Beds. 
4.2.3.    Both Chief Officers of the North and South Lanarkshire IJBs are also closely
involved in the Urgent and Unscheduled Care work stream. This is in recognition of
the fact that currently almost 95% of patients are discharged from hospital without
delay; and, accordingly, it is very important to whole system “flow” that acute
services are delivered as efficiently as possible alongside expanding the capacity of
and transforming the delivery of more services in the community. 
4.3. Discharge Without Delay
4.3.1.    A national Unscheduled Care Planning for Winter event was held on 19 October
2022 at which it was reinforced that the delivery of discharge planning by acute
hospital staff was vital as part of the Discharge Without Delay programme with its
emphasis on Planned Date of Discharge. 
4.3.2.   NHS Lanarkshire is a pathfinder site for the national Discharge Without Delay
programme. The South Lanarkshire IJB endorsed the NHS Lanarkshire Discharge
Without Delay pathfinder programme – which is hosted within the South
Lanarkshire HSCP – at its meeting of 25 January 2022. This was subsequently
ratified at Social Work Resources Committee on 9 February 2022. Considerable
work is going to promote and systematise Planned Date of Discharges across all
hospital sites; and work is ongoing to embed the necessary steps to improve “flow”
(e.g. increase pre-noon discharges) across all hospital settings. 
4.3.3.    As reported to the IJB at its meeting of 25 January 2022 and Social Work
Resources Committee of 9 February 2022 and then 7 September 2022, to progress
this South Lanarkshire HSCP implemented a pilot with redeployed Allied Health
Professionals (AHPs), Social Care Staff and Care at Home Staff called the Home
First Home Assessment Team. This was and is a multi-disciplinary initiative with a
focus on early intervention, reablement and rehabilitation, which supports people
home from hospital and avoid admission, while maximising their independence and
outcomes and ensuring that they have the package of care that best meets their
needs. As Committee has been updated on, recurrent and ringfenced funding from
the Scottish Government has subsequently been used to further develop the pilot
teams into a wider Home First Programme. 
4.3.4.   The South Lanarkshire HSCP Home First programme is already receiving national
recognition, including winning the Integrated Care Award at the 2022 Scottish
Health Awards. 
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4.3.5.   Similarly, work being undertaken by the Home Assessment Team in North
Lanarkshire has also made significant improvements in the number of people able
to be supported out of hospital with no/little delay. 
4.3.6.   There are a range of other initiatives that are being implemented to provide better
outcomes for patients and service users which also contribute to the better use of
available services and reduce pressures on social care services. These include:  
•   The establishment of an end-of-life pathway to support people to die at home
without a care package but with appropriate support. 
•   Carer support on the wards to support signposting.
•   Working with third sector to develop a pathway for supporting discharge. 
4.3.7.   The development of third sector support for hospital discharge includes volunteer
recruitment; induction and training; and process and system development to ensure
volunteers and ward staff are clear on what can be done and that patients are
supported to feel safe in the knowledge that the volunteers involved are an integral
part of the discharge process where applicable. This reflects the commitment of
NHS Lanarkshire and the HSCP – mirroring that of the Council - to the South
Lanarkshire Community Planning Partnership Volunteering Pledge. 
4.4.      Ongoing Modernisation of South Lanarkshire Care at Home Service
4.4.1.   South Lanarkshire HSCP Care at Home staff currently undertake circa. 25,000 visits
to service users per week. The Service currently employs almost 1,000 staff, with
this expected to rise to around 1,200 following additional ringfenced Scottish
Government investment. The increase in capacity will increase the number of visits
undertaken in recognition of growing levels and complexity of demand. 
4.4.2.  The modernisation of the Care at Home Service is progressing, with a variety of
milestones now having been achieved that are crucial to its being able to better
contend to the significant demand pressures from both within the community and
through the acute hospital sites. These include: 
•   Home Carer mobile devices have been refreshed and Microsoft 365 has been
introduced to enhance communication with the dispersed workforce.
•   A new electronic scheduling system has been implemented across all four
localities.
•   Scheduling and Response teams have been established in all localities and are
operating between 6.30am and 11pm every day of the year to ensure support to
staff and service users is aligned to periods when services are delivered.
•   Responsibility for the out-of-hours care at home support function in respect of the
Clydesdale and Rutherglen/Cambuslang localities has been transferred from the
Emergency Social Work Service into the Care at Home Service itself (with plans in
place to transfer support functions that serve the teams working in the Hamilton and
East Kilbride localities by March 2023). 
4.4.3.  The Council has a statutory duty to undertake an assessment of an individual’s
needs and to complete this within 28 days of its commencement. There is also a
statutory duty to review their needs on an annual basis, or more regularly if needs
or circumstances change. In addition to ensuring that the Council meets its
statutory obligations, timely assessment and review of service users serves to
mitigate risks to service users and ensures that their health and wellbeing needs
are met and the services that they receive are appropriate to their needs – often
releasing capacity that can be directed towards supporting hospital discharges and
those in greatest need.
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4.4.4.  Proposals approved and actions taken over the course of the last 18 months –
including introducing the Home First approach and increasing Social Work
Assistant capacity within the Care at Home service - will address this going forward.
4.4.5.  However, there is now a substantial back-log of assessments and reviews as an
inevitable result of the pandemic and ongoing demand and capacity challenges.
Work has been ongoing and some progress on outstanding internal assessments
and reviews has been made as part of remobilisation. Nonetheless, having
reviewed the situation – and given the anticipated ongoing demands on the Service
– Officers have identified that there is a pressing need to accelerate activity to
reduce this backlog to provide assurance as to the safety, health and wellbeing of
service users and to ensure that services appropriately meet their needs; and that
in order to do so, additional fixed term capacity is required. The latter is the focus
for a separate report that has been prepared for this meeting (November 2022) of
the Social Work Resources Committee.  
4.5.      Maximisation of Flow Navigation Centre (FNC)
4.5.1.   The Flow Navigation Centre offers rapid access to a senior clinical decision maker
within the multidisciplinary team, optimising digital health through a telephone or
video consultation where possible, and minimising the need to attend an
Emergency Department. This includes the use of ‘Consultant Connect’ for rapid
professional to professional clinical decisions to support clinical decision making,
reduce unnecessary attendances, and to navigate patients to the most appropriate
place, first time. Both of these services allow GPs to have the opportunity to
discuss cases with an appropriate secondary care clinician with a view to ensuring
as many patients as possible are managed in a ‘planned’ way. 
4.5.2.    Accordingly, as part of the planning for winter, work is being undertaken to enhance
the FNC to maximise the number of people who can be diverted from Emergency
Departments and managed in a different way.    
4.6. Surge/Bed Capacity
4.6.1. Acute hospitals that are working close to or at full capacity are a strong indicator of
a system that is under significant pressure. Surge capacity generally refers to the
ability to maintain a sudden and unexpected increase in patients. 
4.6.2.    Unlike in previous years and in common with the position across Scotland, the
scope for additional surge capacity in NHS Lanarkshire is limited. This is both in
terms of workforce and accommodation, recognising other capital works ongoing on
the University Hospital Monklands site means that the ward traditionally used to
manage “surge” is not currently available. The latter position will be kept under
constant review such that if sufficient staffing does become available, then the
respective acute beds can be mobilised and introduced to support overall hospital
capacity. 
4.6.3. Both South and North Lanarkshire HSCPs will also utilise intermediate care beds;
and interim beds within care homes such that additional flow can be created in the
absence of immediately available care at home or a care home of choice. 
4.7.      Social Care Provider Sustainability
4.7.1.    Independent providers of social care in Scotland – notably care homes and care at
home providers – have highlighted the extremely difficult operating environment.
Coupled to the cost-of-living-crisis and the impact of the pandemic, vacancy
pressures are a significant concern for many providers in terms of service viability. 
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4.7.2.    Both HSCPs and their respective Councils have taken steps to augment their
scanning of the care home provider context and provide additional support
proportionate to the demands on in-house provision, available resources (noting the
social care workforce challenges) and statutory/legal parameters. Within South
Lanarkshire, ongoing actions include the HSCP convening the providers’ forums,
and regular meetings with Scottish Care. On a Lanarkshire-wide basis support and
quality assurance for Care Homes continues on a whole system basis to be
overseen by the pan-Lanarkshire Care Home Assurance Tactical (CHAT) Group;
and for care at home services through the equivalent Care at Home Oversight
Group. The Care Inspectorate participates in both of these meetings.         
4.8.      General Practice and Pharmacy Opening
4.8.1. As in previous years, a Local Enhanced Service to support general practices
opening on the fourth day of the weekend/public holidays - i.e. on 27 December
and 3 January as well as the Saturdays through January 2023 - will be offered.
There will also be an extended public holiday pharmacy service available to ensure
that people can both access prescriptions as well as being available for re-direction
from NHS24, the Primary Care Out of Hours (PCOOH) Service, Emergency
Departments and the FNC where possible. 
4.9. General Practice Sustainability 
4.9.1.    As is recognised as the situation across Scotland, general practices across
Lanarkshire are experiencing more pressure than at any point in their history. The
Scottish Parliament’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee has highlighted that
the rise in complexity of patient needs has led to a substantial increase in the
primary care workload in Scotland; and that the problems in maintaining and
developing the general practice workforce also exacerbate the overall system
challenges. 
4.9.2.    This was the subject of an extensive presentation at the September 2022 meeting
of the South Lanarkshire IJB, which including describing the work ongoing to
address capacity and demand – most notably, through the Primary Care
Improvement Plan (PCIP) that is reported through to the IJB and NHS Lanarkshire
Board as per the expectations within the General Medical Services (GMS) Contract. 
4.10.     Primary Care Out of Hours
4.10.1.  For a considerable period, and similar to most Scottish out of hours services, the
NHS Lanarkshire PCOOH Service has had to manage workforce availability
challenges (notably in relation to GPs); and has regularly had to contend with
escalating levels of demand. There are already approvals in place for a new clinical
model and supporting project which will move the PCOOH service to a more multi-
disciplinary workforce and competency-based model of care, alongside a wider
review of urgent care arrangements (as has been reported to and approved by both
IJBs and the Health Board). In the meantime, work continues to stabilise the
service, with contingency and escalation frameworks in place. 
4.11.     Planned Care
4.11.1. Work is ongoing in estimating the extent of planned care that may require to be
stood down during the peak winter period, all the while seeking to minimise this
such that the pace of recovery in meeting revised NHS Treatment Time Guarantee
targets can be maintained. In extremis, there may be a requirement to revisit
attainment of the targets depending on the impact of winter on overall system flow. 
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4.12. Contingency Arrangements for Additional Deaths 
4.12.1. As set out within national guidance and is the case every year, work is underway –
including with local undertakers - to ensure that there is sufficient ‘pace’ of funeral
services (both burials and cremations) to support the eventuality of a significant
excess of deaths over the winter period. Additional mortuary capacity identified for
Covid 19 is still in place and will continue to be available over this winter period. 
4.13.    Covid 19 and Flu Vaccine Programme
4.13.1. Following final advice on the winter Covid 19 booster programme from the Joint
Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the following groups are being
offered an additional Covid 19 booster: 
 residents in a care home for older adults and staff working in care homes for
older adults 
 frontline health and social care workers
 all adults aged 50 years and over
 those aged 5 to 49 years in a clinical risk group, including those who are
pregnant
 those aged 5 to 49 years who are household contacts of people with     
immunosuppression
 carers aged 16-49 years 
4.13.2.  It has been estimated that approximately 300,000 people will be eligible for a Covid
19 vaccine and 380,000 for a flu vaccine as part of the Autumn/Winter Vaccination
Programme for 2022. 
4.13.3.  Work is well underway in pursuit of achieving an 80% uptake by December 2022 -
thereby maximising protection to the community and, in turn, to health and social
care services by reducing the risk of increased Covid 19 and flu related hospital
admissions or other deteriorations in health such that additional support is required.
Significant progress has already been made in relation to residents within the older
people’s care home sector; and work is advancing in respect of the cohorts linked
with those with illnesses that results in immuno-suppression.   
4.13.4.  Despite considerable efforts to promote the programme, uptake thus far by NHS-
employed staff and social care staff from both Council and independent and
voluntary sectors in Lanarkshire has been lower than predicted. This is consistent
with the pattern being seen across the rest of the country. Action is being taken to
try and increase uptake accordingly.             
4.14.    Carers Supports
4.14.1.  At is meeting of 7 September 2022, the Committee was provided with an update on
the utilisation of funding from the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 allocation 2022/2023
to enhance operational services for carers in South Lanarkshire. This included
monies from this funding being directed to support ongoing work with carers in
South Lanarkshire, with a particular emphasis on the Self-Directed Support (SDS)
agenda; and a strengthened internal capacity within the HSCP to enable frontline
staff in managing increasing demand with regards to supporting carers.   
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4.15.     Staff Wellbeing
4.15.1.  NHS Lanarkshire’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy is being launched during its Staff
Health and Wellbeing week (31 October to 4 November 2022).  Key messages from
the Strategy form an integral part of the system wide winter plan, with the emphasis
on providing a working environment in all areas across health and social care
where staff are able to enhance and maintain their personal and professional
wellbeing and to reach their full potential in a culture that’s provides space, time
and support for self-care. 
4.15.2.  The Strategy supports the shared vision of ensuring that staff health and wellbeing
is embedded in everything we do and championed at all levels across the
respective organisations. To increase visibility and awareness of staff health and
wellbeing platforms, Staff Health and Wellbeing week has been designed to
showcase the support, resources, initiatives and opportunities currently provided to
help support staff to manage their health and wellbeing. Again, like the wider
approach to winter planning, this recognises pressures which are system-wide; and
a shared approach to dynamic between the imperative to maintain staff health and
well-being alongside the significant demand being placed on health and social care
services. 
4.15.3.  South Lanarkshire Council employees can access a range of materials to support
health and wellbeing through the employee wellbeing hub and through the
employee assist program. In addition, the Council have been awarded a grant from
the Workforce Wellbeing fund for Adult Social Work and Social Care. This grant will
be used to promote wellbeing at work activities for residential and day care
employees. 
4.16. Adverse Weather
4.16.1. Adverse Weather events are defined by reference to the Met Office Weather
Warning system. NHS Lanarkshire and both South and North Lanarkshire Councils
have policies in relation to adverse weather that applies wherever severe weather
obstruct staff from being able to attend work, and/or where severe weather poses a
significant risk to the health, safety and wellbeing of staff. 
4.16.2.  A series of actions is open to the organisations – individually and in collaboration -
in managing adverse weather and these have been refined over many years of
winter planning. These include working with and through the Local Resilience
Partnership (LRP) and with pre-identified voluntary organisations. 
4.17. Concurrent Resilience Planning and Risks
4.17.1. As highlighted above, there is a likelihood of concurrent risks aligning to have a
significant impact on the wider health and social care services.  
4.17.2. Perhaps key amongst these is the threat of industrial action and the impact both
directly and indirectly. As well as potential industrial action by NHS and local
government staff, so too there is the indirect impact of industrial action in other
sectors, e.g. ScotRail and Royal Mail. 
4.17.3.  Resilience Planners from across the NHS and local government have been
collaborating on scoping the range and extent of the mitigating factors introduced to
reduce the impact of winter on the overall system. Two ‘Winter Breach’ events have
been held this year, a regional event on 26 October 2022 and a Lanarkshire LRP
event on 27 October 2022. Learning from both of these events have been taken
into account in reviewing the robustness of the planning to date. 
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4.17.4. Importantly, there are well-developed escalation processes and prioritisation
frameworks in place supported by ‘Strategic Command’ structures can be
introduced when required. These arrangements provide appropriate and necessary
governance for services to be stood down in a planned way in extremis, and
thereby ensure a focus on the delivery of essential/core functions and the provision
of care for the most vulnerable. 
4.18. Communications
4.18.1. Work is underway at both local and national levels on the public message in
relation to the different pathways/routes into health care services the public are
being asked to follow during the winter months. As will be appreciated from the
foregoing range of initiatives, there are many areas where the public will be asked
to assist in managing the impact of winter this year. South and North Lanarkshire
HSCPs, both Councils and NHS Lanarkshire are actively involved in seeking to
ensure the messages are appropriate, shared widely and understood.   
4.18.2.  The key message themes are to ask people to plan ahead; know the different
options that are available to them to access urgent care; and to encourage as many
people as possible to access the service which is closest to them and least reliant
on hospitals and general practices. Communication staff from both Councils are
also actively engaged in the advertising campaigns to maximise care staffing
recruitment. 
5. Employee Implications
5.1.  Learning from recent months and years have underscored the need for continued
multi-disciplinary team working to better meet service demands; and the need for a
cohesive whole system approach to delivering health and social care going forward.
The experience of the pandemic has emphasised the interdependencies between
primary care (including independent contractor services), community care,
secondary care, and social care; and shown that one component of health and
social care delivery being overwhelmed with demand can have consequential
knock-on effects on the other component parts of the system. 
5.2.       As Committee will recall from the approved Social Work Resources Workforce
Plan, there are a number of workforce challenges for social care – both in South
Lanarkshire and across Scotland – that are directly impacting on the ability to fully
meet current demand, including:
 workforce availability – there are national workforce shortages (recently referenced
in Audit Scotland’s briefing on social care) and the HSCP is experiencing difficulty
in filling all care roles.
 competition and pay – the Council, other social care providers and other employers
are competing for the same pool of staff, with the pool not being sufficient in
numbers. This is leading to competition and pay variation, which has increased the
challenges around successful recruitment and retention of staff. 
 Social Care as a vocation and the value placed on it within society requires national 
action. 
5.3.       Significant workforce challenges are also being experienced in respect of health
care services and NHS staff, as highlighted by the Audit Scotland report NHS in
Scotland 2021. 
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5.4.       As workforce supply challenges persist across health and social care, this has led
to increased competition for recruitment and retention at local, regional and national
level. This poses an ongoing risk and emphasises the need to develop new and
transformational roles in response to growing demand across health and social
care to ensure there will be a sustainable supply of workforce to meet future health
requirements of an ageing population in Lanarkshire, and across Scotland. 
5.5.       Capacity planning is a key area of action for both South and North Lanarkshire
HSCPs and is being supported by both Councils and NHS Lanarkshire. All services
are scoping and making contingency arrangements in respect of staffing levels to
respond to and as required prioritise the potential needs over the period. In addition
to this, additional staff will be sought to cover a number of areas where it is
recognised that maximising flow will be essential to maintaining safe systems off
care. Work is also progressing on the recruitment of various staff who will support
system “flow’ across the winter period. These developments have been reported
previously through the Social Work Resources Committee. 
6.  Financial Implications
6.1. As described above, there has been a range of funding sources which have been
identified and suggested as being able to support planning for winter. Many of
these have already been utilised in undertaking work to meet Scottish Government
directions, for example increasing the hourly rate of care staff. Accordingly, work is
ongoing to identify those monies which may be available to support additional costs
over the winter period. 
6.2. Some of these costs are also associated with additional Covid 19 funding, e.g. cost
of the vaccination service, and again work is ongoing in agreeing the extent of
funding which is available and scope to be used towards the respective actions
requested. All of this is against a requirement to stay within year end brokerage
limits agreed between Scottish Government and NHS Lanarkshire. 
6.3. Costs associated with each of the attendant parts of planning activities articulated
here are being finalised and work will continue during the coming weeks to confirm
which funding is available and the extent to which the various parts of the plan can
be met. 
6.4. Future reporting to the South Lanarkshire IJB will confirm the respective costs and
budgets. 
7. Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Implications 
7.1.  There are no implications for Climate Change, sustainability or the environment in
terms of the information contained in this report. 
8. Other Implications
8.1.  The proposals contained in this report will contribute to the mitigation of a number of
risks within the Social Work Resources Risk Register, notably: 
•   Workforce Availability and Capacity 
•   Meeting Public Protection and Legislative Duties 
•   Market and Provider Capacity
•   Funding and Budgetary Pressures
•   Demand Pressures 
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8.2. Availability of staffing over the peak winter period has been identified as the major
risk. There is also work ongoing in predicting the scale and potential impact of
Covid 19 and flu on hospital admissions and associated care services. This will
form part of the regular review of contingency arrangements and the prioritisation of
resources. These risks are heightened by the fact that there is the scope for a
series of major risks all to coincide concurrently. 
8.3. Depending on further advice from Scottish Government as well as local Strategic
Command arrangements, it may be necessary to re-prioritise essential/core
services and temporarily standing down other services thereby necessarily
interrupting the remobilisation process. 
8.4. There are no other issues associated with this report.   
9.   Equality Impact Assessment and Consultation Arrangements
9.1.   This report does not introduce a new policy, function or strategy or recommend a
change to an existing policy, function or strategy and therefore no impact
assessment is required. 
9.2.       This substance of this report has been informed by and reflects following
discussion across both North and South Lanarkshire HSCPs, both Councils, NHS
Lanarkshire and LRP partners. Briefings and reports have been or will be provided
to South and North Lanarkshire IJBs and NHS Lanarkshire. 
Soumen Sengupta
Director, Health and Social Care 
3 November 2022 
Link(s) to Council Values/Objectives 
 focused on people and their needs
 we will work to put people first and reduce inequality
 people live the healthiest lives possible 
Previous References 
 none 
List of Background Papers 
 Scottish Government (2023) Winter Resilience Overview 2022-23:
https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/strategy-
plan/2022/10/health-social-care-winter-resilience-overview-2022-23/documents/winter-
resilience-overview-2022-23/winter-resilience-overview-2022-
23/govscot%3Adocument/winter-resilience-overview-2022-23.pdf 
 Scottish Government (2015) Improving unscheduled care: six essential actions
https://www.gov.scot/publications/improving-unscheduled-care-six-essential-actions/ 
 Audit Scotland (2022) Social Care Briefing
https://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/publications/social-care-briefing 
 Audit Scotland (2022) NHS in Scotland 2021
https://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/publications/nhs-in-scotland-2021 
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Contact for Further Information
Name: Craig Cunningham
Designation: Head of Commissioning and Performance
Phone: 01698 453704
Email:  craig.cunningham@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk 
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Report
Agenda Item 
Report to: Social Work Resources Committee
Date of Meeting: 16 November 2022
Report by: Director, Health and Social Care
Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources)  
Subject: Strengthening Assessment and Review Capacity 
1. Purpose of Report
1.1. The purpose of the report is to: -
[purpose] 
 update the Committee on proposals to utilise slippage from the Home First
Programme to address a backlog of assessments and reviews resulting from the
Pandemic and contribute to action to improve unscheduled care
[1purpose]
2. Recommendation(s)
2.1. The Committee is asked to approve the following recommendation(s):-
[recs]
(1) that the content of the report be noted; and
(2) that the additions to Social Work Resources’ establishment, as outlined in
Section 5, be approved.
[1recs]
3. Background
3.1. The Care at Home Service (CAH) plays a pivotal role in achieving the strategic goal
of supporting people to live independently and safely at home and in doing so
supports the Social Work Resource Plan’s delivery of a key direction within the
South Lanarkshire Integration Joint Board’s (IJB’s) Strategic Commissioning Plan
(SCP) of managing the pressures on unscheduled care. 
3.2. The Council has a statutory duty to undertake an assessment of an individual’s
needs and to complete this within 28 days of its commencement.  There is also a
statutory duty to review their needs on an annual basis, or more regularly if needs or
circumstances change. 
3.3. In addition to ensuring that the Council meets its statutory obligations, timely
assessment and review of service users serves to mitigate risks to service users and
ensures that their health and wellbeing needs are met and the services that they
receive are appropriate to their needs – often releasing capacity that can be directed
towards supporting hospital discharges and those in greatest need. 
3.4. The assessment and care management infrastructure within CAH has remained
relatively static for almost 12 years.  Proposals approved and actions taken over the
course of the last 18 months – including introducing the Home First approach and
increasing Social Work Assistant capacity within the CAH Service - will address this
going forward.  However, there is now a substantial backlog of assessments and
reviews as an inevitable result of the Pandemic and ongoing demand and capacity
challenges. 
8
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3.5. Work has been ongoing and progress on outstanding internal assessments and
reviews has been made as part of remobilisation.  Nonetheless, having reviewed the
situation – and given the anticipated ongoing demands on the Service – Officers
have identified that there is a pressing need to accelerate activity to reduce this
backlog to provide assurance as to the safety, health and wellbeing of service users
and to ensure that services appropriately meet their needs; and that in order to do
so, additional fixed term capacity is required. 
4. Current Position
4.1. Internally, CAH Services undertake a dual function, comprising of both statutory
assessments and reviews for non-complex cases; and the six-monthly support plan
reviews required of service providers by the regulator, the Care Inspectorate. 
4.2. The Council currently commissions 29,734 CAH hours each week for 1,203 service
users. Assessment and Review activity for commissioned services is currently
running approximately 12 months behind schedule. 
4.3. It should be noted that immediate concerns and risks that are reported continue to
be addressed by the Service, with reviews taking place to ensure the safety and
wellbeing of service users.  Further assurance is provided via the regulatory
requirement on CAH providers to undertake a review of support plans every six
months, with providers expected to highlight any concerns for action by the Health
and Social Care Partnership (HSCP).  Despite this, there is potential for risks to
service users remaining unidentified given the volume of assessments and reviews
that are outstanding. 
4.4. In addition to the above, it is anticipated that activity targeted towards commissioned
cases will enable capacity for new services to be generated through the assessment
and review process – and for this to be consequently directed towards supporting the
current challenges being faced by colleagues in NHS acute settings by facilitating
further discharges from hospital. 
4.5. Internal CAH Services benefit from routine communications between staff and
assessors about the changing needs of service users, with support plans routinely
revised to ensure they are appropriate to the needs of the individual.  This practice is
more limited for services commissioned externally and there is confidence that
targeted assessment and review activity will release capacity that can be redirected. 
4.6. A conservative estimate of a 5% reduction in externally commissioned services
following assessment and review would release 1486.7 hours every week.  For
context, this is equivalent to 43 care packages at 35 hours, 53 packages at 28 Hours
or 70 packages at 21 hours. 
4.7. It is proposed that a team is established comprising a permanent 1 full time
equivalent (FTE) Team Leader and permanent 7 FTE Social Work Assistants to
target the assessments and reviews for commissioned service users and that this is
supplemented by a further 6 FTE fixed-term Social Work Assistant posts for a period
of 12 months to address outstanding assessments and reviews within the Internal
Service.  This will address the build-up across the Service and enable the existing
staffing infrastructure to focus on maintaining activity going forward.
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4.8. Funding for these fixed terms post has been identified from the slippage in the Home
First programme expenditure (as its use here would be in accordance with the
criteria for the ringfenced funding from Scottish Government to manage the
pressures on unscheduled care and contribute to action to reduce delayed
discharges). 
5. Employee Implications
5.1. The following posts will be added to the Social Work Resources’ establishment on a
permanent basis as detailed below: 
Post
Number
of
posts
(FTE)
Grade SCP
Range
Hourly
Rate
Annual
Salary
Gross
Cost
Inc on
costs
31.55%
Total
Costs
Team
Leader 1 Grade 3
Level 8  79-80
£23.12
-
£23.47
£42,191
-
£45,953
£55,503
-
£56,343
£55,503  
- £56,343
Social
Work
Assistant
7 Grade 2
Level 4 55-57
£16.35
-
£16.85
£29,837
-
£30,749
£39,251
-
£40,451
£274,757
-
£283,157 
The following posts should be added to the Social Work Resources’ establishment
on a fixed term basis for 12 months: 
Post
Number
of
posts
(FTE)
Grade SCP
Range
Hourly
Rate
Annual
Salary
Gross
Cost
Inc on
costs
31.55%
Total
Costs
Social
Work
Assistant
6 Grade 2
Level 4 55-57
£16.35
-
£16.85
£29,837
-
£30,749
£39,251
-
£40,451
£235,506
-
£242,706 
5.2. As acknowledged within the Social Care Resource Workforce Plan, Social Care –
both in South Lanarkshire and across all of Scotland – continues to operate within an
exceptionally challenging employment market.  Due to pro-active working between
the Care at Home Service and Human Resource colleagues’ recruitment to Social
Work Assistant posts has been progressing well, with significant interest in the
permanent posts that have been advertised to date. There is, therefore, confidence
that these posts could be recruited to. 
6. Financial Implications
6.1. The cost of the additional posts is £0.582m per annum.  The phasing of the
introduction of Home First has resulted in slippage in expenditure and it is proposed
that £0.752m of this slippage is earmarked to fund the permanent posts for 18
months and the temporary posts for 12 months. 
6.2. At the end of the 18-month period the permanent posts will be transferred to
vacancies within the establishment. 
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7. Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Implications
7.1. There are no implications for Climate Change, sustainability, or the environment in
terms of the information contained in this report. 
8. Other Implications
8.1. The proposals contained in this report will contribute to the mitigation of a number of
risks within the Social Work Resources Risk Register, notably:
 lack of capacity and skills to provide and meet increased service demands (very
high)
 the Council does not fully deliver the strategic outcomes of the IJB as outlined in
their Strategic Commissioning Plan (very high) 
8.2. These proposals mitigate the risk that service improvements cannot be sustained as
a consequence of shortfalls in the management and support infrastructure. 
8.3. There are no other issues associated with this report.   
9. Equality Impact Assessment and Consultation Arrangements
9.1. This report does not introduce a new policy, function or strategy or recommend a
change to an existing policy, function, or strategy and, therefore, no impact
assessment is required. 
Soumen Sengupta
Director, Health and Social Care 
Paul Manning
Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources) 
28 October 2022 
Link(s) to Council Values/Priorities/Outcomes
 focused on people and their needs
 we will work to put people first and reduce inequality
 people live the healthiest lives possible 
Previous References
 none 
List of Background Papers
 none 
Contact for Further Information
If you would like to inspect the background papers or want further information, please
contact: -
Name: Ian Beattie
Designation: Head of Health and Social Care
Phone: 01698 453701
Email:  ian.beattie@southlanarkshire.gov.uk 
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Report
Agenda Item 
Report to: Social Work Resources Committee
Date of Meeting: 16 November 2022
Report by: Director, Health and Social Care  
Executive Director, Finance and Corporate Resources  
Subject: Reinforcing Safe Staffing – The Older People’s
Residential Care Staff Bank 
1. Purpose of Report
1.1. The purpose of the report is to: -
[purpose] 
 update Committee on the staffing requirements to support the management of
the Older People’s Services supply staff bank
[1purpose]
2. Recommendation(s)
2.1. The Committee is asked to approve the following recommendation(s):-
[recs]
(1) that the content of the report be noted; and 
(2) that the changes in establishment, identified in the table at Section 5.1., be
approved. 
3. Background
3.1. The adult Social Care sector has experienced major challenges related to the
recruitment and retention of staff for many years.  Many of these issues and the risks
associated with them were touched upon at the last Social Work Committee,
specifically within the Workforce Plan and Risk Register reports. 
3.2. These risks have been acutely felt in the last few years in the wake of events such
as Covid-19 and Brexit, with vacancy rates in the sector reported to have risen
sharply in the last year across Scotland.  This in turn, creates enduring challenges
for employers within the Social Care sector to recruit, develop and retain the right
people to deliver high quality, person-centred care, and support services. 
3.3. These risks and challenges are very live within the care homes and will be further
exacerbated by winter pressures and potentially another wave of Covid-19.  It is
therefore essential that solutions are developed to ensure that safe staffing levels
can be maintained to not only provide good care and support, but also to support
staff wellbeing and reduce the risks of fatigue.   
3.4. In an attempt to address these issues, a successful Internal Bank Staffing
arrangement was tested in the winter of 2021 utilising a temporary administration
post to support this.  Staff from across the Social Care Service were asked to put
forward expressions of interest to be included within the bank of staff that could be
called upon in times of sickness or higher than usual vacancy levels.  This approach
assisted in augmenting existing staffing levels, reducing overtime and alleviating staff
fatigue.
9
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3.5. It is evident, with all the challenges outlined above, that this development remains
crucial whilst work on other initiatives such as the development of the Care
Academy, job fairs and the innovative use of social media take effect.  As such, there
is now a requirement for this temporary function to transition to a permanent
arrangement, given the benefits already outlined by way of service resilience and
business continuity.   
4. Proposed Next Steps
4.1. Approval is sought from Committee to increase staffing within the Adult and Older
People Services by one Grade 2, Level 1 post to provide administrative support to
the residential older people’s units’ team to source cover within residential
establishments and to ensure adequate services are delivered to the Residential
Services within the said establishments 
5. Employee Implications
5.1. The following post should be added to the establishment on a permanent basis:
Post No. of
posts
Grade SCP
range
Hourly
rate
Annual
salary
Gross
cost
Total
cost
Admin
Assistant 
1 Grade 2
Level 1
34 – 35 £12.22
-
£12.42
£22,300 -
£22,665
£29,336 -
£29,816
£29,336 -
£29,816 
6. Financial Implications
6.1. The financial implications are as outlined above and will be met from existing
budgets within the current residential care budget. 
7. Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Implications
7.1. There are no implications for Climate Change, Sustainability, or the Environment in
terms of information contained in this report. 
8. Other Implications
8.1. The proposals outlined in this report help to mitigate key Social Work risks with
regards to fulfilling statutory and core duties and workforce availability. 
9. Equality Impact Assessment and Consultation Arrangements
9.1. This report does not introduce a new policy, function, or strategy, or recommend a
change to an existing policy, function, or strategy and, therefore, no Equality Impact
Assessment is required. 
Soumen Sengupta
Director, Health and Social Care 
Paul Manning
Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources) 
28 October 2022 
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Link(s) to Council Values/Priorities/Outcomes
 focused on people and their needs
 we will work to put people first and reduce inequality
 people live the healthiest lives possible
 our children and young people thrive 
Previous References
 Social Work Resources Committee – 7 September 2022 
List of Background Papers
 none 
Contact for Further Information
If you would like to inspect the background papers or want further information, please
contact: -
Martin Kane, Service Development Manager
Ext:  845 3743 (Phone:  01698 453743)
Email:  martin.kane@southlanarkshire.gov.uk 
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Report
Agenda Item 
Report to: Social Work Resources Committee
Date of Meeting: 16 November 2022
Report by: Director, Health and Social Care
Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources)  
Subject: Enhancing Capacity in Support of Adult Disability
Payments 
1. Purpose of Report
1.1. The purpose of the report is to: -
[purpose] 
 update the Committee on changes to disability benefits through the introduction
of Adult Disability Payments and how this will impact on Social Work Resources
[1purpose
2. Recommendation(s)
2.1. The Committee is asked to approve the following recommendation(s):-
[recs]
(1) that the contents of the report be noted; and
(2) that the changes in establishment, identified in the table at Section 5.1., be
approved.
[1recs]
3. Background
3.1. On 22 August 2022, the way in which disability payments for people aged 16 plus to
state pension age changed.  Prior to this date, the Department for Works and
Pensions (DWP) oversaw this process of approval and the administration of benefits
through Personal Independence Payments (PIPs) and Disability Living Allowance
(DLA). 
3.2. From this date of 22 August 2022, Social Security Scotland assumed the lead role for
this, with PIPs and DLA being replaced by Adult Disability Payments (ADPs).  All
existing people in receipt of a PIP or DLA will automatically transition on to an ADP
with no break in entitlement or payment.  Any new applicant applying for support with
a disability, will require to apply for an ADP. 
3.3. Similar to PIP and DLA, ADP payments will be made to people who have a disability
or long-term condition which impacts on their daily living.  The payment is made up
of two parts 1) support with daily living tasks, for example, preparing food,
washing/bathing and dressing/undressing; 2) mobility, for example, moving around
or planning a journey.
10
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3.4. By way of process, Social Security Scotland will be taking a slightly different
approach to how supporting information is gathered.  Applicants are still encouraged
to provide supporting evidence with their claim form for example, a prescription list, a
letter confirming a diagnosis or a copy of a Social Care assessment.  In
straightforward cases this may help the Social Security Scotland to make a quicker
decision about eligibility.  But applicants can opt instead to give the name of a
person or people who understand the impact of their condition so that Social Security
Scotland can contact that person direct.  A named person may be a friend, carer,
family member, GP or a professional supporting them.  If Social Security Scotland
assess that they need to better understand a person’s needs to make a decision on
eligibility, they will contact the named person (or people) to request supporting
information. 
3.5. At present, both Health and Social Care professionals may already assist people to
complete disability benefits applications or provide supporting information for
applications.  Supporting information is generally evidence of how someone is
affected by their condition and the impact it has on their life.  Such information is
used as part of assessing whether or not someone is eligible for a benefit. 
Information will be requested via a standard questionnaire covering a number of
areas associated with daily living tasks 
4. Current Position, Implications and Proposed Next Steps
4.1. Whilst it is anticipated that the majority of requests for additional information fielded
by Social Security Scotland will go direct to NHS colleagues, there will be a volume
of requests that require the Social Care workforce to provide information within a
defined turnaround timescale of 28 days of receipt. 
4.2. To manage this, the Scottish Government has been working with Social Security
Scotland, councils and the NHS to agree a process.  In terms of requests coming to
Social Care, this will be managed through a secure drop box which is checked daily
by trained administration staff.  Thereafter, the requests are fielded to the relevant
frontline member of staff to complete the questionnaire, where it is then returned to
the administration member of staff and forwarded on to Social Security Scotland
through a secure system (Objective Connect).w 
4.3. In a South Lanarkshire context, this drop box system has been in place since June
2022 and requests thus far have been extremely low.  However, it is anticipated that
this will progressively step up by way of activity as all new applications for an ADP
will require to go through a process such as this, whereby a health professional or
social care professional may become involved. 
4.4. To assist with this transition and the potential for new requests to generate extra
work for both support services and frontline services, the Scottish Government has
allocated a sum of £3.409m.  The South Lanarkshire share of this being £223,000.  It
is unclear at this stage if this funding will continue beyond 2022/23 as the Scottish
Government is currently reviewing this. 
4.5. It is proposed that this funding it utilised to add capacity into frontline services and
support services in order that potential demand and the 28-day timescale can be
met.  This is important, given that any delay in the process will directly impact on the
member of the public who may be eligible for an ADP.  Therefore, the following posts
are proposed to be added to the establishment on a temporary basis until such times
as there is confirmation of funding beyond 2022/23 as referred to in Section 4.4: 
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Post Number Responsibility
Combination of Occupational
Therapy Assistants and
Social Work Assistants
4 To add capacity into locality teams to deal
directly with requests for information related to
an open case.  For example, assessed
information in relation to a person’s ability to
communicate, undertake personal care tasks,
mobility, and social skills. 
Administration Support 2 To oversee and field requests direct from Social
Security Scotland to frontline services, ensuring
this information is returned within the 28-day
target time 
5. Employee Implications
5.1. These posts should be added to the establishment on a permanent basis as detailed
below 
Post No.
of
posts
Grade SCP
range
Hourly
rate
Annual
salary
Gross
cost
Total
cost
Social Work
Assistant/Occupational
Therapy Assistants
4 Grade
2
Level
1-4
34 -
57
£12.22
-
£16.85
£22,300
-
£30,750
£29,336
-
£40,451
£117,344
-
£161,804
Clerical Assistant 2 Grade
1
Level
1-4
20 -
31
£10.04
-
£11.73
£18,322
-
£20,220
£24,103
-
£28.160
£48,206 
-
£56,320
Total 6      £165,550
-
£218,124 
6. Financial Implications
6.1. The cost of the proposals is £0.218m and will be funded from the allocation of
£0.233m provided by the Scottish Government.  Given that there is the potential for
the funding allocation to change, in the event that if funding is reduced, staff will be
redeployed to other vacancies within the Service.   
7. Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Implications
7.1. There are no implications for Climate Change, Sustainability, or the Environment in
terms of information contained in this report. 
8. Other Implications
8.1. The proposals outlined in this report help to mitigate key Social Work risks with
regards to fulfilling statutory and core duties and workforce availability. 
9. Equality Impact Assessment and Consultation Arrangements
9.1. This report does not introduce a new policy, function, or strategy, or recommend a
change to an existing policy, function, or strategy and therefore no Equality Impact
Assessment is required. 
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Soumen Sengupta
Director, Health and Social Care 
Paul Manning
Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources) 
28 October 2022 
Link(s) to Council Values/Priorities/Outcomes
 focused on people and their needs
 we will work to put people first and reduce inequality
 people live the healthiest lives possible
 our children and young people thrive 
Previous References
 none 
List of Background Papers
 none 
Contact for Further Information
If you would like to inspect the background papers or want further information, please
contact:-
Martin Kane, Service Development Manager
Ext:  845 3743 (Phone:  01698 453743)
Email:  martin.kane@southlanarkshire.gov.uk 
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Report
Agenda Item 
Report to: Social Work Resources Committee
Date of Meeting: 16 November 2022
Report by: Director, Health and Social Care
Executive Director (Finance and Corporate Resources)  
Subject: Enhancing Resilience of Mental Health Officer
Provision 
1. Purpose of Report
1.1. The purpose of the report is to:-
[purpose] 
 seek Committee approval to increase Social Work establishment within
Community Mental Health Teams
[1purpose]
2. Recommendation(s)
2.1. The Committee is asked to approve the following recommendation(s):-
[recs]
(1) that the content of the report be noted;
(2) that the proposals outlined in section 4 with regards to staffing and
infrastructure capacity be approved; and
(3) that the additions to Social Work Resources establishment, as outlined in
section 5, be approved.
[1recs]
3. Background
3.1. The Scottish Government and COSLA have provided additional funding in order to
ensure that local authorities have additional resources to address pressures within
Mental Health Officer Services.  The funding is intended to build capacity and
resilience within services. 
3.2. Following consultation with Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) staff, Team
Leaders and with the Social Work Mental Health Strategy Group, it was agreed that
there are currently sufficient funded Mental Health Officer posts across the teams
with additional resilience afforded by the authority’s continued strategy for mental
health commitment to supporting Social Workers to train as Mental Health Officers. 
However, it was recognised that enhancing the provision of Social Workers within
the teams would support the functioning of the Community Mental Health Teams. 
This will permit Mental Health Officers to focus on delivery of the increasing
demands for statutory Mental Health Officer duties whilst being supported by social
work staff undertaking general assessment, enablement and review functions with
users of Community Mental Health Team Services. 
11
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3.3. Over the past 2 years there has been a significant and sustained increase in demand
upon the Mental Health Officer Service in terms of requests for Mental Health Officer
consent to detention across both day and Out-of-Hours Service (OOH).  Day time
detentions for the period 2021/2022 have increased by 27% over the previous year. 
Out-of-Hours Service call outs from the first 6 months of this year are 25% higher
than for the same period last year. 
3.4. Out-of-Hours Service Mental Health Officer shifts have been challenging to fill,
requiring considerable input of Team Leaders and a reliance on goodwill from
practitioners to ensure that we, as an authority, meet our obligations.  Having
identified sufficient Mental Health Officer’s on establishment, Social Work Resources
will continue to review rota processes to ensure effectiveness in service delivery
whilst having due regard to the Mental Health Officers who support the Out-of-Hours
Service rota. 
4. Proposed Position
4.1. Approval is sought from Committee to increase staffing within the Community Mental
Health Teams by 3 full time equivalent Social Workers and to convert 1 full time
equivalent Social Work Assistant post to a Social Worker post.  This enables Social
Workers to be distributed across the four localities as follows 1 full time equivalent in
Hamilton, 1 full time equivalent in East Kilbride and 0.5 full time equivalent in
Clydesdale and 0.5 full time equivalent Rutherglen Community Mental Health
Team’s.  The additional capacity can be utilised to increase existing part time posts
to full time. 
4.2. The Mental Health Manager post provides operational oversight and input to the
Social Work Team Leader and Social Work team at The State Hospital, Carstairs. 
Changes in the service level agreement with The State Hospital Board has resulted
in a revised funding commitment from 1 full time equivalent to 0.5 full time equivalent
for this post.  This in turn creates opportunity for Social Work Resources to provide a
dedicated mental health social work management input and oversight support to
locality fieldwork mental health provision through request for funding for 0.5 full time
equivalent which will facilitate retention of a 1 full time equivalent Mental Health
Social Work Manager. 
5. Employee Implications
5.1. The following amendments should be made to the establishment on a permanent
basis, as detailed below: 
Post No of
posts
Grade SCP
range
Hourly
rate
Annual
salary
Gross
cost
Total
cost
Social Worker 4 Grade 3
Level 4
72 -
74
£21.02
-
£21.46
£38,359
-
£39,162
£50,462
-
£51,518
£201,848
-
£206,072
Social Work
Assistant 
-1 Grade 2
Level 4
55 -
57
£16.35
-
£16.85
£29,837
-
£30,750
£39,251
-
£40,451
(£39,251)
-
(£40,451)
Mental Health
Manager 
0.5 Grade 5
Level 1
96 -
97
£29.76
-
£30.22
£54,309
-
£55,148
£71,444
-
£72,548
£35,722 
-
£36,274       
£198,319
-
£201,895
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6. Financial Implications
6.1. The cost of the staffing proposals at 5.1. is £0.202m.  In addition, the proposed
changes to the Out-of-Hours Service rota will require funding of £0.006m, bringing
the total cost of the proposals to £0.208m.  This will be funded from the funding of
£0.214m provided by the Scottish Government to build capacity in Mental Health
Officer Services. 
7. Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Implications
7.1. There are no implications for Climate Change associated with this report. 
7.2. There are no sustainable development issues associated with this report. 
7.3. There are no environment Implications associated with this report. 
8. Other Implications
8.1. The proposals contained in this report will contribute to the ongoing delivery of
statutory mental health services and ensure that the authority can continue to meet
its obligations in this respect and support public protection. 
8.2. This report does not describe any new other implications. 
9. Equality Impact Assessment and Consultation Arrangements
9.1. This report does not introduce a new policy, function, or strategy, or recommend a
change to an existing policy, function or strategy and, therefore, no Equality Impact 
Assessment is required. 
Soumen Sengupta
Director, Health and Social Care 
27 October 2022 
Link(s) to Council Values/Priorities/Outcomes
 focused on people and their needs
 ambitious, self-aware and improving
 we will work to put people first and reduce inequality
 we will work to recover, progress and improve
 caring, connected, sustainable communities
 people live the healthiest lives possible 
Previous References
 none 
List of Background Papers
 none 
Contact for Further Information
If you would like to inspect the background papers or want further information, please
contact:-
Ian Beattie, Head of Health and Social Care
Ext:  3701  (Phone:  01698 453701)
Email:  Ian.Beattie@southlanarkshire.gov.uk@southlanarkshire.gov.uk 
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Report
Agenda Item 
Report to: Social Work Resources Committee
Date of Meeting: 16 November 2022
Report by: Director, Health and Social Care  
Subject: Scheme for Curator ad Litem and Reporting Officers
Panel 
1. Purpose of Report
1.1. The purpose of the report is to: -
[purpose] 
 to seek approval of the Revised Scheme for Curator ad Litem and Reporting
Officers Panel, appended to the report
[1purpose]
2. Recommendation(s)
2.1. The Committee is asked to approve the following recommendation(s):-
[recs]
(1) that the contents of the report be noted; and
(2) that the Revised Scheme for Curator ad Litem and Reporting Officers Panel
be approved.
[1recs]
3. Background
3.1. Under the Curator ad Litem and Reporting Officers (Panels) (Scotland) Regulations
2001 as amended the local authority have a requirement to maintain a Panel of
Curators ad Litem and Reporting Officers.  The role of Curators ad Litem and
Reporting Officers involves investigating the circumstances and providing a report to
the Court in respect of adoption or Permanence Order applications for children who
cannot remain with their birth families and who become accommodated by the local
authority, adoption and permanent fostering provides a secure family base from
which their needs can be met into adulthood and beyond. 
3.2. When an Adoption Petition or Permanence Order application is lodged in Court, a
Curator Ad Litem/Reporting Officer is appointed by the Court to investigate the
circumstances and to report to the Court. 
3.3. The general duty of a Curator ad Litem is to safeguard the interests of the child.  A
Reporting Officer is charged principally with witnessing agreements to adoption and
with matters relating to parental consent.  The same person may be appointed to the
case in both capacities. 
3.4. Local authorities have a requirement to maintain a panel of Curators ad
Litem/reporting officer in terms of:
 the Curator ad Litem and Reporting Officers (Panels) (Scotland) Regulations
2001 
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4. Report
4.1. The impetus to update the previous scheme was informed by rising Court costs, the
necessity to update membership of the panel and a legislative requirement to review. 
4.2. Discussions regarding the proposals took place with North Lanarkshire Council and
the previous Sheriff Principal (Sheriff Principal Abercrombie) of the Sheriffdom of
South Strathclyde, Dumfries, and Galloway and with the Lanark and Hamilton Sheriff
Court Faculties of lawyers who were supportive of the updated scheme.  More
recently, discussions took place between the current Sheriff Principal of the same
Sheriffdom (Sheriff Principal Anwar) and the relevant local authorities including
South Lanarkshire Council with a view to there being consistency across the
authorities in the terms of the Schemes and of the qualifications and experience of
potential Curators and Reporting Officers not being unduly restrictive.  As a result, all
the authorities have agreed to include those with relevant teaching qualifications and
teaching experience with associated Court experience and family law knowledge
who may apply to be curators/reporting officers.  The local Faculties of Lawyers for
Hamilton and Lanark have been made aware of this addition. 
4.3. The Revised Scheme, attached as Appendix 1, covers processes and standards
which will apply to: 
 the establishment and maintenance of the Panel
 Appointments to the Panel 
4.4. The most important requirements for those appointed to the Curators ad Litem and
Reporting Officers Panel are:
 an ability to communicate effectively with child/parents and other
agencies/professionals concerned
 awareness of the issues and implications of permanent substitute care for the
children, the natural parents, and the substitute carers
 a working knowledge of relevant legislation and Court procedures 
4.5. Recruitment to the Panel is managed via the Council’s Administration and Legal
Services in consultation with the Sheriff Principal as detailed in the Revised Scheme
appended to this report. 
5. Employee Implications
5.1. There are no significant personnel implications arising from the updating of the
scheme. 
6. Financial Implications
6.1. The Scheme sets out the fees chargeable by the Curator ad Litem /Reporting
Officers.  It, therefore, regulates the fee which a Curator ad Litem/Reporting Officer
can charge.  It is proposed that the level of fees set by the Council from the date of
agreement is a fixed fee of £600 for a joint appointment as Curator ad Litem and
Reporting Officer, and a fixed fee of £550 for a single appointment as either Curator
ad Litem or a Reporting Officer.  For an additional child, the appointment will be a
fixed fee of £200.  This ensures a consistent approach to fees paid.  The current
scheme which has operated since 2014 stipulates fees of £300 per report with no
reduced fee for additional children.
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6.1.1. It should be noted that to avoid significant costs being awarded on a time and line
basis, and in recognition of increased payments within other local authorities,
Curators’ claims in excess of those fees have been agreed by South Lanarkshire
Council (SLC) as permitted within the current scheme and average £600.  Previous
time and line claims awarded were in the region of £1,500 and there were concerns
that should this become normal practice, the costs to the Council would be
significant.  By deploying this approach which echoes the fees of the revised scheme
for which approval is sought we have avoided larger claims from Curators/Reporting
Officers which may be granted by Sheriffs.  It is anticipated that under the Revised
Scheme significant savings in fees would be made. 
6.1.2. Funding for the appointment of Curator ad Litem and Reporting Officers is contained
within the Service’s Professional Fees budget. 
7. Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Implications
7.1. There are no climate change, sustainability or environmental implications associated
with this report. 
8. Other Implications
8.1. The implementation of the Scheme proposed in this report will ensure that a panel of
Curator ad Litem and Reporting Officers is maintained in accordance with the
Council’s statutory obligations ensuring compliance with the relevant regulations and
reducing the risk of a shortage of Curators ad Litem and Reporting Officers. 
8.1.1. The implementation of the Scheme will assist in continuing to ensure that Curators
ad Litem and Reporting Officers have the qualifications and experience required to
undertake their duties and support good decision making for children. 
8.1.2. In setting out related fees chargeable it regulates the fee which a Curator ad
Litem/Reporting Officer can charge and reduces risk of excessive fees being granted
by Sheriffs. 
9. Equality Impact Assessment and Consultation Arrangements
9.1. The Scheme attached to this report will help to ensure that children and young
people who cannot live with their birth families are given the opportunities to grow up
and thrive within alternative secure family settings. 
9.2. The arrangements outlined in this report and appendices will assist the Council to
comply with its statutory responsibilities. There are however no direct equalities
implications arising from this report. 
9.3. In developing this proposed Scheme there has been broad consultation with Sheriff
Principals, Curators, other local authorities and the Hamilton and Lanark Faculties 
of Solicitors. 
Soumen Sengupta
Director, Health and Social Care 
20 October 2022 
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Link(s) to Council Values/Priorities/Outcomes
 focused on people and their needs
 our children and young people thrive 
Previous References
 none 
List of Background Papers
 None 
Contact for Further Information
If you would like to inspect the background papers or want further information, please
contact: -
Jan Strain, Adoption and Fostering Manager
Ext: 880 6457 (Phone: 01355 886457)
Email:  jan.strain@southlanarkshire.gov.uk 
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1
Appendix
Scheme for Curator ad Litem and Reporting Officers’ Panel 
South Lanarkshire Council requires to appoint a panel of persons from which Curators ad Litem
(“Curators”) and Reporting Officers may be appointed.  This scheme and attached appendices
outline the appointment process for Curators and Reporting Officers and the terms of appointment.          
Definitions
“Local Authority” means South Lanarkshire Council 
“Panel Member” means a person appointed to a panel of persons established in accordance with
Regulation 3(1) of the Curators ad Litem and Reporting Officers (Panels) (Scotland) Regulations
2001. 
“Relevant Experience” means having a minimum of 5 years, demonstrable experience in (i) Family
Law; (ii) Social Work working with children and their parents and carers (including experience of
dealing with adoption and other long term substitute care arrangements and the issues associated
with those arrangements); or (iii) Teaching working with children and their parents and carers, and
having relevant experience of court practice and procedures and dealing with Family Law matters
(including experience of dealing with adoption and other long term substitute care arrangements
and the issues associated with those arrangements). 
“Relevant Legislation” includes but is not limited to Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007,
Curators ad Litem and Reporting Officers (Panels) (Scotland) Regulations 2001 as amended, Act
of Sederunt (Sheriff Court Rules Amendment) (Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007) 2009,
Children (Scotland) Act 1995, Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011, Social Work (Scotland) Act
1968 and all subsequent amending legislation.
“Relevant Qualifications” means being a (i) Solicitor or Solicitor Advocate, holding a current or who
has previously held a practising certificate from the Law Society of Scotland;  (ii)  Advocate, being
a practising Member of the Faculty of Advocates;  (iii) Social Worker, holding or who has previously
held a  registration with the Scottish Social Services Council; or (iv) Teacher, holding or who has
previously held a registration with the General Teaching Council for Scotland. 
“Services” means Curator ad Litem and Reporting Officer services
1. Qualifications and Experience 
The Panel Member shall, when submitting an application, confirm that he / she has:- 
1. the Relevant Qualifications;
2. the Relevant Experience;
3. knowledge of the Relevant Legislation; and
4. the capacity to perform the duties of the role as identified in Paragraph 12 of the Act of
Sederunt (Sheriff Court Rules Amendment) (Adoption and Children) (Scotland) Act 2007)
2009 
2. Process for Nominations and Appointment to the Panel
(i) The Local Authority shall invite nominations for persons as potential members of the panel
from Sheriffs, other local authorities and such other persons as it may consider appropriate;
(ii) The Local Authority may take such steps as it considers appropriate after consultation with
the Sheriff Principal, including advertisement to secure the nominations of panel members,
including making nominations itself; and
(iii) Appendix 2 outlines the Nomination Application process. 
3. Scheme Membership
1. The Panel Member acknowledges and agrees that her or she is appointed by the Court. 
The appointment is a public appointment, and the Panel Member is deemed to be a public
office holder;
2. The Panel Member acknowledges that:-
12
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2
(a) the scheme membership does not constitute a contract of employment; 
(b) when providing the Services, he/she will be acting in an individual capacity; and
3. The Panel Member undertakes to disqualify himself/herself from appointment in cases
where he /she has prior personal knowledge of any of the parties to the case or if the
appointment in any way represents a conflict of interest, actual or perceived.
4. The Panel Member undertakes to submit reports in accordance with Paragraph 12(d) of the
Act of Sederunt (Sheriff Court Rules Amendment) (Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act
2007) 2009. 
4. Length of appointment 
(i) The initial appointment will be for a period not exceeding three years, or for such other
period as the Sheriff Principal and the Local Authority consider appropriate. 
(ii) A Curator or Reporting Officer may apply to be re-appointed.  Any application for re-
appointment should be sent in advance to the Local Authority for consideration by it and the
Sheriff Principal.  Up to date information confirming the applicant’s continuing eligibility for
appointment will be required.  Any re-appointment shall be for a period not exceeding three
years as determined by the Local Authority after consultation with the Sheriff Principal. 
5. Termination of Appointment
The Local Authority shall be entitled to terminate any appointment with immediate effect,
without written notice, where: -
(i) the Local Authority is satisfied that the Panel Member is unable, unfit or unsuitable to
continue to carry out the functions of a Panel Member;
(ii) the Sheriff Principal or any Sheriff or Summary Sheriff in the Sheriffdom reports to the Local
Authority that the Panel Member is unable, unfit or unsuitable to continue to carry out the
functions as Panel Member; or
(iii) the Panel Member no longer meets the standard of qualifications or experience specified in
Condition 1. 
6. Confidentiality & Data Protection
(i) The Panel Member will not include any information specifying prospective adopters’ or
foster carers’ identity, location or employment in any report prepared in respect of the
Services;
(ii) The Panel Member will not specify in any report prepared in relation to the Services, the
name of any child or children’s nursery, school or any other information that may lead to the
identification of the prospective adopters or foster carers 
(iii) The Panel Member acknowledges that he/she will comply with the Data Protection Act
2018 as amended. 
7. Expenses and fees
(i) Payment for the provision of the Services will be made at the rates stated in the Fees and
Expenses Table (Appendix 1], as revised from time to time, or as judicially determined by
the Court at the option of the Panel Member.
(ii) Claims for payment should be submitted to the Local Authority using the Fee Claim Form
(Appendix 3) accompanied by a breakdown of hours worked and receipts for reasonable
expenses. 
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3 
8. Insurance, Liability and indemnity
(i) The Panel Member agrees to indemnify the Local Authority from and against any loss,
damage, costs or liability incurred by the Local Authority from any breach by the Panel
Member of his/her duties or inappropriate or negligent use of any of the data or information
supplied to the Panel Member. 
Signed by Panel Member: 
Print Name: 
Date: 
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4 
APPENDIX 1 
Fees and Expenses Table
1 Joint Appointment as Curator ad
Litem and Reporting Officer
(Appointment Fee)
Fixed fee
£600
Covers the first 10 hours of work which
includes:  Investigation, written report
including interim report, written and verbal
communications, attendance at hearings
and meetings, contribution and
administrative expenses.
2 Single Appointment as either Curator
ad Litem or Reporting Officer
(Appointment Fee)
Fixed fee
£550
Covers the first 10 hours of work which
includes:  Investigation, written report
including interim report, written and verbal
communications, attendance at hearings
and meetings, contribution and
administrative expenses. 
3 Additional Child appointment fee -
Joint Appointment as Curator ad
Litem and Reporting Officer
(Appointment Fee)
Fixed fee
£200
Covers the first 10 hours of work which
includes:  Investigation, written report
including interim report, written and verbal
communications, attendance at hearings
and meetings, contribution and
administrative expenses. 
4 Additional Child appointment fee -
Single Appointment as either Curator
ad Litem or Reporting Officer
(Appointment Fee)
Fixed Fee
£150
Covers the first 10 hours of work which
includes:  Investigation, written report
including interim report, written and verbal
communications, attendance at hearings
and meetings, contribution and
administrative expenses. 
5 Daily Court attendance fee  £30 per
hour up to
a
maximum
of £150
per day
To be paid only after the first 10 hours
referred to in the Appointment Fee have
been completed. Includes the time spent
travelling to and from a Court hearing and
time spent at the hearing.
6 Additional Work not covered in
paragraphs 1-5 above
£30 per
hour
To be paid only for additional work not
already covered or referred to in
paragraphs 1-5 above which includes, but
is not limited to, further investigation,
additional written report, or further
written/verbal communications. The Panel
Member must seek prior authorisation from
the Local Authority before commencing
work on the foregoing.
7 Mileage £0.45 per
mile
Mileage  
8 Exceptional accommodation or
transport
To be
agreed
with
Relevant
Local
Authority
Cannot be claimed retrospectively and can
only be paid where the Panel Member has
sought and received prior authorisation
from the Local Authority. 
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5
APPENDIX 2 
Guide for Application - Curator ad Litem and / or Reporting Officer Panel for South Lanarkshire
Council (“the Local Authority”) (“the Panel”) 
This guide is based on the rules for application and appointment set out in the Curators ad Litem and
Reporting Officers (Panels) (Scotland) Regulations 2001/477 (Scottish SI). 
Nomination Process 
Please submit your application for Nomination to the Local Authority. This should be clearly marked for the
attention of Administration and Legal Services, Finance and Corporate Resources, South Lanarkshire
Council, Floor 11, Council Offices, Almada Street, Hamilton, ML3 0AA only. In order to avoid a conflict of
interest your application will not be viewed or considered by any other official in any other Resource of the
Local Authority. 
You need to list your qualifications and experience in the application. For guidance, please see the
Contractual Terms and Conditions where the required “Relevant Experience” and “Relevant Qualifications”
are defined. 
Please note that the Local Authority cannot accept your application unless you are able to demonstrate that
you possess the relevant qualifications and experience.  
You also require to demonstrate that you have a Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme Membership.
Guidance on how to obtain membership can be found here; www.mygov.scot/pvg-scheme. 
You can apply to be a member of more than one panel if you wish. 
Once your application has been received, it will be processed by Administration and Legal Services of the
Local Authority.  If your application is accepted it will be passed to the Sheriff Principal.  The Sheriff Principal
and the Local Authority may consult Sheriffs, Summary Sheriffs, Sheriff Clerks, local Faculties/Bar
Association and representatives of Local Authority’s Administration and Legal Services and Social Work
Resources and others as he/she/it considers necessary with respect to the suitability of your appointment. 
If you are called for an interview; this will take place before the Sheriff Principal.  The Sheriff Principal may
invite representatives of the Local Authority‘s Administration and Legal Services to attend. 
The Local Authority will notify you of the outcome of your application. If your application is approved, the
Sheriff Principal will nominate the candidate and the Local Authority will appoint the applicant to the Panel. 
The Sheriff Principal may, independently from this process, nominate individuals with the necessary
qualifications and experience to the Panel.  The Local Authority will upon receipt of nomination by the Sheriff
Principal appoint that individual to the Panel 
Any decision in respect of your application is final and not subject to appeal. 
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6
APPENDIX 3 
Fee Claim Form
To: SOCIAL WORK DEPARTMENT - CHILDCARE 
COUNCIL 
CLAIM FORM – CURATORS AD LITEM AND REPORTING OFFICERS 1
Name  
Address 
(to which payment will be forwarded) 
Court 
Serial No. of Petition 
FEES
(1) Reporting Officer 2     £ 
(2) Curator ad litem    £ 
(3) Combined Duties    £ 
(4) Other expenses 3    £ 
(5) VAT (where appropriate)    £ 
V.A.T. Registration No.  
Total Amount Claimed     £ 
OTHER EXPENSES
(i) Travelling 
(a) Fares –
Bus/Train/Ferry/Air    
£  
1 This form should be returned to the Court with the report
2 Amount entered at (1), (2) or (3) above should be taken from the current list of fees
3 Items included should be expenses directly incurred in carrying out the duties of Curator ad litem / Reporting Officer
and detailed overleaf 
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7 
Details of Journeys 
(b) Car travel  
miles at   p per mile   £ 
Parking fees                                            £ 
Details of journeys 
(ii) Meals / Overnight Accommodation 4                   £ 
(iii) Postage / Telephone Expenses 5                   £ 
(iv) Miscellaneous 6                   £ 
TOTAL                   £                                7
Signature of Claimant 
Date   
To be completed by Sheriff Clerk’s Office  To be completed by Social Work Department
I hereby certify that we are in receipt of the
above report  
Signature    Signature  
Designation  Designation 
Date    Date     
4 Details of costs incurred, receipts should be attached in respect of accommodation
5 To be claimed at actual cost
6 Any other direct expenses incurred may be claimed here. Please detail the expenditure and indicate why it was
necessary
7 This figure should be shown in (4) on previous page   
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Report
Agenda Item 
Report to: Social Work Resources Committee
Date of Meeting: 16 November 2022
Report by: Director, Health and Social Care 
Subject: The Lanarkshire Care Academy 
1. Purpose of Report
1.1. The purpose of the report is to: -
[purpose] 
 provide an update to the Committee on the adoption and development of the
Care Academy approach in South Lanarkshire
[1purpose]
2. Recommendation(s)
2.1. The Committee is asked to approve the following recommendation(s):-
[recs]
(1) that the content of the report be noted; and
(2) that it be noted that officers will provide updates on the approach as the Care
Academy develops.
[1recs]
3. Background
3.1. As Committee will recognise, Social Care – both in South Lanarkshire and across all
of Scotland – continues to have to operate within an exceptionally challenging
employment market. 
3.2. The approved South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) Social Work Resources Workforce
Plan outlines the key workforce challenges and the actions required to address
these. 
3.3. A key action within the Workforce Plan is to establish a Care Academy to better
promote Social Care as a vocation in South Lanarkshire; reinforce and expand
routes into a career in Social Care; and provide a much more explicit framework to
enable the Council to ‘grow their own’ workforce to address workforce requirements. 
3.4. The Care Academy is being progressed in such a manner as to provide a
mechanism to further co-ordinate the activity of partners throughout Lanarkshire with
a view to increasing the number of staff entering the Social Care and Health Care
workforce. By doing this, the intention is to enable the Council and key partners to
better address recruitment challenges and enhance capacity to meet increasing
demands for services. 
4. The Care Academy
4.1. The Care Academy is being progressed on a pan-Lanarkshire basis, so as to build
upon existing and growing effective co-operation between both South Lanarkshire
and North Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs): both in terms
of co-ordination between the respective Councils; joint working between the Councils
and NHS Lanarkshire; and Lanarkshire-wide services “hosted” by each HSCP. 
13
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4.2. A Care Academy is already in place for North Lanarkshire, and so the plan is for that
arrangement to be extended and developed on a Lanarkshire-wide basis in order to
strengthen existing links; reduce duplication; streamline engagement with other
partners; share learning; and enable this more structured approach to be established
for South Lanarkshire more rapidly (the latter being particularly important given the
workforce challenge).  The vison of the existing North Lanarkshire HSCP Care
Academy is ‘to deliver the future Health and Social Care workforce from the local
population by encouraging more residents to choose a career from a broad range of
opportunities.’  This vision aligns to the objectives set out in the South Lanarkshire
Social Work Resource Workforce Plan - namely to maximise opportunities and
create pipelines into Social Care as a career – and so should provide reassurance
that this joint approach will be mutually beneficial to all the partners involved. 
4.3. A pan-Lanarkshire approach then across SLC, North Lanarkshire Council (NLC) and
NHS Lanarkshire (NHSL) will enhance the existing work across a range of Health
and Social Care portfolios and enhance a collaborative approach in areas of mutual
interest. 
5. Current Position
5.1. The Council already has a range of initiatives which will fit into and enhance the
Lanarkshire Care Academy, with examples as follows.   
5.1.1. Modern Apprenticeships 
The Council has a well-established Modern Apprentice program across different
vocational areas.  For Social Care this is a two-year program and participants work
alongside experienced employees towards achieving the SVQ level 3 qualification.
There are currently 18 Social Care Modern Apprentices and there is planned
recruitment for a further 23 in 2022/23. 
5.1.2. Developing the Young Workforce
The Council’s Youth Employability Service currently supports young people in the
senior phase to develop skills and experiences in the Health and Social Care Sector.
The Foundation Apprenticeship (FA) programme in Health and Social Care is
delivered in partnership with South Lanarkshire College (SLC).  Young people attend
college, or an FA Hub established in South Lanarkshire secondary schools while
taking part in a work placement and achieve an award at SCQF level 6.  Health and
Social Care FA work placements take place across a range of settings, including
Social Work and Health Care.  There are currently 37 SLC pupils engaged in an FA. 
5.1.3. The GradU8 Programme supports young people to develop vocational skills across
12 subject areas including Social Care.  The Social Care programme is delivered in
partnership with SLC and New College Lanarkshire (NCL).  There are currently 48
pupils undertaking the programme which will see them achieve qualifications at
SCQF level 5.   
5.1.4. Professional Apprentices 
In 2022/23 10 existing employees are being supported to undertake Professional
Apprenticeships with SLC.  They are doing SVQ 4, and are drawn from Care at
Home, Adult Residential and Day Care Services.  
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5.1.5. Employability
SLC deliver in partnership, a range of employability programmes to support the
health and care sector to recruit, develop and retain the right people to deliver high
quality, person-centred care, and support.  There are a range of employability
services to support the sector and encourage a pipeline of talent to enter Social
Care.  South Lanarkshire Council has established a dedicated Employability Team to
support the supply of suitable new recruits directly matched to the available job
opportunities.  In terms of Council positions, the Employability Teams (in conjunction
with services and HR) offer a targeted and streamlined recruitment process to fast
track unemployed residents.  In addition, the Employability Team work directly with
several independent care providers delivering Care at Home Services to people
within local communities under contract to SLC. 
5.1.6. Links with colleges 
The Council and the HSCP has links to colleges and universities which can be used
to attract students into positions once they have completed their qualifications.  This
is done through a practice placement program for Social Workers.  In addition, the
Social Care Staff Supply Bank has been promoted through the colleges to enable
students to gain experience at the Council while completing their studies.  This
academic year, 18 HNC placements have been offered to SLC – these are a mixture
of HNC Social Services and HNC Health Care Practice.  This creates a route for
these students to secure posts in the Council once they have completed their
qualification. 
5.1.7. Keeping the Promise
The Care Academy is being developed to support the commitment to Keep the
Promise for care experienced children, young people and their families and promote
opportunities for routes into a career in Social Care.  As per the South Lanarkshire
Corporate Parenting Strategy 2021-24, work is already undertaken with partners in
further and higher education to ensure care experienced young people get continued
support throughout their studies; to provide bespoke employability support to all care
experienced young people who need it; and expand the care experienced pilot Into
Work program and provide more places within the Council and NHS Lanarkshire. 
6. Next Steps
6.1. Work is underway on a Memorandum of Understanding between North and South
Lanarkshire Councils and NHSL to formalise a Lanarkshire-wide Care Academy. 
6.2. A Steering Group is in place and have identified three foundation workstreams within
which South Lanarkshire Council will be represented:
 Developing the Young Workforce
 Employability and Inclusion
 Recruitment, Attraction and Retention. 
6.3. In addition, research undertaking by the Open University regarding removing barriers
to learning for adults in high SMID area has identified the benefits of providing
support for adult learners in South Lanarkshire.  Using these findings, the Open
University will work with local partners to access local learning.  As this develops this
work will be incorporated into the Care Academy activity. 
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7. Employee Implications
7.1. Having a proactive workforce planning process in place, ensures an effective
workforce is in place to deliver our services.  A key action within the Workforce Plan
is to establish a Care Academy. 
8. Financial Implications
8.1. There are no costs associated with establishing a Lanarkshire-wide Care Academy
nor undertaking the workforce planning process.  Any financial implications that have
been detailed in the approved Workforce Plan will be met within existing resources. 
8.2. Planning for appropriate workforce arrangement demonstrates effective and efficient
use of resources. 
9. Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Implications
9.1. There are no implications for Climate Change, sustainability, or the environment in
terms of the information contained in this report. 
10. Other Implications
10.1. This development of a Lanarkshire Care Academy will contribute to mitigating the
workforce supply-side challenges described within the Resource Workforce Plan
over the short-medium-and-long term. 
11. Equality Impact Assessment and Consultation Arrangements
11.1. This report does not introduce a new policy, function or strategy or recommend a
change to an existing policy, function or strategy and, therefore, no impact
assessment is required. 
11.2. There is also no requirement to undertake any additional consultation in terms of the
information contained in this report. 
Soumen Sengupta
Director, Health and Social Care 
28 October 2022. 
Link(s) to Council Values/Priorities/Outcomes
 focused on people and their needs
 working with and respecting others
 accountable, effective, efficient, and transparent
 ambitious, self-aware, and improving
 fair, open, and sustainable
 excellent employer 
Previous References
 Social Work Resources Committee, 7 September 2022 
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List of Background Papers
 none 
Contact for Further Information
If you would like to inspect the background papers or want further information, please
contact:-
Eileen McPake, HR Business Manager
Ext:  845 4668 (Phone:  01698 454668)
Email:  Eileen.mcpake@southlanarkshire.gov.uk 
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Report
Agenda Item 
Report to: Social Work Resources Committee
Date of Meeting: 16 November 2022
Report by: Director, Health and Social Care  
Subject: Bairns’ Hoose Update 
1. Purpose of Report
1.1. The purpose of the report is to: -
[purpose] 
 update the Committee on the progress with the implementation of Bairns’ Hoose
in South Lanarkshire
[1purpose]
2. Recommendation(s)
2.1. The Committee is asked to approve the following recommendation(s):-
[recs]
(1) that the contents of the report are noted. 
3. Background
3.1. The Scottish Government’s vision is that all children who are victims or witnesses to
abuse or violence will have access to a Bairns’ Hoose by 2025.  The term Bairns’
Hoose is adapted from the Icelandic term Barnahaus which literally means children’s
house.  Barnahaus was first implemented in Iceland in 1988 to respond to the
special needs of children and brings together services in a “four rooms” approach
with Child Protection, Health, Justice, and Recovery Services all made available in
one setting.  A key aim of the model is to reduce the number of times children must
recount their experiences.  A co-ordinated approach which places the needs of the
children at the centre is at the core of the Barnahaus model.  The Barnahaus model
is based on the requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child (UNCRC).  Bairns’ Hoose is aligned with #Keep the PROMISE and Getting it
Right for Every Child to ensure children receive the right help at the right time.   
3.2. Scope
3.2.1. Those eligible for inclusion in the Bairns’ Hoose are:
 children who are believed to have been victims to abuse or violence, which has
caused or is likely to cause significant harm
 children under the age of criminal responsibility whose behaviour has caused
significant harm or abuse 
3.2.2. The national guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 describes the
responsibilities and expectations for all involved in protecting children in Scotland
and provides a definition of significant harm.
14
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3.3. Child-friendly setting
3.3.1. The Bairns’ Hoose model offers a co-ordinated approach designed to reduce the
number of times children have to recount their experiences to different professionals.
All the care, support, and recovery a child and their family needs will be delivered
under one roof.  This child-centred model offers consistent and holistic support which
enables the voice of the child to be heard and prevents children being retraumatised. 
3.4. Target Group
3.4.1. Children who are suspected or have been subjected to violent crimes, unlawful
deprivation of personal freedom, trafficking, children who have witnessed violence
against a relative, women subjected to female genital mutilation. 
3.5. Environment
3.5.1. The premises are located in residential areas and the interior is child friendly.
Services provided include forensic interviews, medical examination, therapeutic
services, family counselling/support. 
3.6. How it functions
3.6.1. Bairns’ Hoose is described as having four rooms with different purposes/operations.
It is a child-centred environment where the Police, forensic medicine, child and
adolescent psychiatry can collaborate and plan the initial stages of an investigation. 
3.7. Draft Bairns’ Hoose Standards
3.7.1. Draft Bairns’ Hoose (Scottish Barnahaus) national standards have been developed
for Scotland and were published in August 2022.  The national standards are out for
consultation with a closing date for responses on 4 November 2022. (The
Lanarkshire multi-agency consultation response will be ready for submission by the
end of October 2022). 
The11 national standards are outlined below:
1. Key principles and the rights of the child
2. Collective, collaborative leadership
3. Inclusive Access
4. Design and Environment
5. Planning for Children
6. Interviews in the Bairns’ Hoose
7. Support through court and legal processes
8. Health and Wellbeing
9. Access to therapeutic recovery
10. Multi-disciplinary staff training and support; and
11. Prevention, sharing knowledge and support. 
4. Progress and model for local implementation of Bairns’ Hoose
4.1. North and South Lanarkshire were chosen as a pilot site for implementation of the
Scottish Child Interview Model (SCIRM) in 2020.  The principles underpinning the
Scottish Child interview model for Joint Investigative Interviews (JII) will be a
fundamental part of Bairns’ Hoose. 
4.2. The SCIRM is the new approach to JII of children who are victims or witnesses to
abuse or violence as well as children under the age of criminal responsibility whose
behaviour has caused significant harm or abuse. 
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4.3. SCIRM for JII was staffed from within the existing establishment with no additional
funding provided. Three experienced children and family’s Social Workers from the
Camglen, Lanark and Hamilton localities were relocated to support this pilot.  Since
2020 these Social Workers have continued to be co-located with Social Workers
from North Lanarkshire and dedicated Police Officers in Police (Scotland) Offices in
Blantyre. The local implementation of the SCIRM is overseen by a Lanarkshire
implementation group chaired by a North Lanarkshire Children and Families Service
Manager and a strategic group chaired by the Chief Social Work Officer from North
Lanarkshire with partners from Social Work, NHS/Health Care, Police Scotland, the
Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration (SCRA) and the Procurator Fiscal. 
These strategic groups will oversee the next steps of the Implementation of the
Bairns’ Hoose Approach in Lanarkshire and a timeline will be attached to this plan. 
4.4. Next Steps
4.4.1. At a national level the financial framework underpinning the implementation of
Bairns’ Hoose has not yet been published.  Locally, a full implementation plan for the
Bairns’ Hoose project is being progressed at the Strategic Group in November 2022.
Key factors included in strategic discussions going forward include who will be the
lead authority for Bairns’ Hoose.  The strategic group will also make
recommendations on where the Bairns’ Hoose accommodation which meets the
holistic requirements and adheres to the national standards will be located.  To add
to this, is staffing, funding and the wider implementation framework for the project.
The local governance and reporting frameworks also need to be agreed. 
5. Employee Implications
5.1. There is currently funding in place for 3 FTE Children and Families Social Workers
and 0.5FTE Team Leader to undertake interviews, briefing and debriefings. 
Costings are outlined in the table below for information. 
Post title Number
of
posts
Grade /
SCP
Hourly
Rate
Annual
salary
Gross salary
(including on-
costs 30.3%)
Total
Social
Worker
(Children
and
Families)
3.0 Grade 3
Level 4 /
72 - 74
£21.02
-
£21.46
£38,359 -
£39,162
£50,462 -
£51,518
£151,386 -
£154,554
Team
Leader
0.5 Grade 3
Level 8 /
79 -80 
£23.12
-
£23.47
£42,191 -
£42,830
£55,503 -
£56,343
£27,751 -
£28,171 
6. Financial Implications
6.1. There will be additional financial implications for the building and staffing going
forward but at the present time it is unclear what these costings will be for South
Lanarkshire in the future. 
7. Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Implications
7.1. There are no implications for Climate Change, Sustainability, or the Environment in
terms of the information contained within this report. 
8. Other Implications
8.1. There are no other risk implications associated with this report. 
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9. Equality Impact Assessment and Consultation Arrangements
9.1. This report does not introduce a new policy, function, or strategy, or recommend a
change to an existing policy, function or strategy and, therefore, no Equality Impact
Assessment is required. However, an Equality Impact Assessment will be
undertaken in advance of implementing a Bairns’ Hoose in Lanarkshire. 
Soumen Sengupta
Director, Health and Social Care 
10 October 2022 
Link(s) to Council Values/Priorities/Outcomes
 Focussed on people and their needs
 Ambitious, self-aware and improving
 Our children and young people thrive 
Previous References
 none 
List of Background Papers
Guidance on Joint Investigative Interviewing of Child Witnesses in Scotland, Scottish
Government, 2011
National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland, Scottish Government, 2021.
Evidence and Procedure Review, Scottish Court Service, 2015. 
Contact for Further Information
If you would like to inspect the background papers or want further information, please
contact: -
Diane Dobbie, Service Manager (Children and Justice)
Ext:  3952  (Phone:  01698 453952)
Email:  diane.dobbie@southlanarkshire.gov.uk 
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Report
Agenda Item 
Report to: Social Work Resources Committee
Date of Meeting: 16 November 2022
Report by: Director, Health and Social Care  
Subject: Notification of Contracts Awarded:  April to September
2022 
1. Purpose of Report
1.1. The purpose of the report is to:-
[purpose] 
 provide notification, in line with Standing Orders on Contracts, to Committee of
contracts awarded by Social Work Resources during the period 1 April 2022 to
30 September 2022
[1purpose]
2. Recommendation(s)
2.1. The Committee is asked to approve the following recommendation(s):-
[recs]
(1) that the details of the contracts awarded be noted.
[1recs]
3. Background
3.1. It is a requirement of Clauses 21.8 and 22.5 of the Standing Orders on Contracts
that details of the acceptance of all tenders above £50,000 be reported
retrospectively to the relevant Committee for noting, other than those under Clause
21.3 where the award is not the lowest in a price only tender, or costs exceed the
approved financial provision.  In these instances, a report is submitted to the
appropriate Committee and subsequent authority to award is granted by that
Committee. 
4. Contract Awards
4.1. Contracts awarded for the period 1 April to 30 September 2022, on the basis of
lowest offer and/or most economically advantageous offer submitted, are detailed in
Appendix 1. 
5. Employee Implications
5.1. Contract management, including performance appraisal, will be undertaken by both
Social Work Resources and the Procurement Service. 
6. Financial Implications
6.1. Appropriate budgetary provision is available for each of the contracts awarded. 
7. Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Implications
7.1. There are no climate change, sustainability or environmental implications associated
with this report. 
15
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8. Other Implications
8.1. There are no direct risks or implications for sustainability in terms of the information
contained in this report. 
9. Equality Impact Assessment and Consultation Arrangements
9.1. This report does not introduce a new policy, function or strategy nor recommend a
change to an existing policy, function or strategy and therefore, no impact
assessment is required. 
9.2. There is also no requirement to undertake any consultation in terms of the
information contained in this report. 
Soumen Sengupta
Director, Health and Social Care 
20 October 2022 
Link(s) to Council Values/Priorities/Outcomes
 Accountable, Effective, Efficient and Transparent 
Previous References
 Social Work Resources Committee – 7 September 2022 
List of Background Papers
None 
Contact for Further Information
If you would like to inspect the background papers or want further information, please
contact:-
Emma Smith, Corporate Procurement and Transactions Manager
Ext:  5329  (Phone:  01698 455329)
Email:  emma.smith@southlanarkshire.gov.uk 
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Appendix 1 
Contracts Awarded by Social Work Resources over £50,000 in value 
Contractor CRN Value of Contract
Awarded Date of Award Brief Description Contract Period
The Advocacy Project  SLC/PS/SW/21/007 £364,160.00 03 May 2022
Independent Advocacy
Services 01/04/22 - 01/04/23
Speak Out Advocacy Project SLC/PS/SW/21/009 £275,200.00 03 May 2022
Independent Advocacy
Services 01/05/22 - 01/04/23
Aberlour Child Care Trust
SLC/PS/SW/21/011 £9,700,000.00 31 May 2022
Fostering and Continuing
Care – call off from SXL
Framework
01/07/22 - 30/06/24
(extension 30/06/25)
Action for Children
Barnardos
Carevisions Fostering Ltd
Carolina House Trust
Dean & Cauvin Young People's
Trust
Foster Care Assoc Scotland Ltd
Fostering People Scotland Ltd
Fostering Relations Ltd
Fosterplus (Fostercare) Ltd
St Andrew’s Children Society Ltd
Swiis foster care Scotland Ltd
The Adolescent & Children's Trust
The National Fostering Agency
Kibble Education & Care Centre
SLC/PS/SW/21/012 £2,300,000.00 01 April 2022
Secure Care Services
Call-off from SXL 0219
Secure Care Services
Framework
01/04/22 - 31/03/24
(extension 31/03/25)
Rossie Young People's Trust
St Mary’s, Kenmure
The Good Shepherd Centre
National Autistic Society SLC/PS/SW/21/071 £2,812,890.00 22 August 2022
Specialist Adult Supported
Living - Daldorch House 
01/08/22 - 31/07/27
(extension 31/07/29)
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SACRO SLC/PS/SW/21/087 £60,000.00 14 July 2022
Bail Mentoring and
Support
01/04/22 - 28/02/23
(extension 31/12/223)
Highfield Park SLC/PS/SW/21/091 £581,709.70 01 May 2022
Specialist Residential
Care - Pine Cottages 
01/05/22 - 31/10/23
(extension 31/10/24)
Craegmoor Supporting You Ltd SLC/PS/SW/22/015 £434,232.00 01 July 2022
Negotiated - Provision of
Care at Home Services 01/06/22 - 30/06/24
Trust Community Care Ltd SLC/PS/SW/22/026 £126,162.00 01 July 2022
Provision of Care at Home
Services - Negotiated 01/07/22 - 30/06/24
Glasgow Science Centre Ltd SLC/PS/SW22/023 £106,820.00 29 June 2022
Technology Enabled Care
(TEC) Zone - Blantyre
Care Hub 13/05/22 - 30/09/22 
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Contract extensions awarded over £50,000 in value 
Contractor CRN Value of Extension Date of
Extension Brief Description Contract Extension
period
National Autistic Society SLC/PS/SW/21/066 £     174,005  01 April 2022
Specialist Adult Supported
Living – Daldorch House
01/04/2022 –
31/03/2023
Care at Home Framework
providers:
• Allied Healthcare Services
Ltd
• BJMCA Ltd t/a Bluebird Care
(South Lanarkshire)
• C-Change Scotland
• Community Care Choice Ltd
• Constance Care Ltd
• Craegmoor Supporting You
Ltd
• Social Care Council of the
Church of Scotland,
operating as CrossReach
• Crossroads Caring Scotland
• ENABLE Scotland (Leading
the Way)
• GMD Community Services
Ltd
• Hazelhead Homecare Ltd
• HRH Homecare Services Ltd
• Keane Premier Support
Services Ltd
• Key Housing Association Ltd
• Mears Care (Scotland) Ltd
(now Cera Care)
• Real Care Agency Ltd
• SRS Care Solutions Ltd
(SRS Partnership)
SLC/PS/SW/16/015 £40,000,000 30 June 2022 Care at Home Framework 01/07/2022 –
30/07/2024
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• The Richmond Fellowship
Scotland Ltd
121 Care at Home SLC/PS/SW/20/018 £    500,000
30 June 2022 Care at Home Services –
negotiated providers
01/07/2022 -
30/06/2024
Adigo Care Ltd SLC/PS/SW/20/034 £    150,000
All New Beginnings Ltd SLC/PS/SW/20/019 £    500,000
Angels Home Care Lanarkshire SLC/PS/SW/20/020 £    500,000
ASAC Care Ltd t/a SLC/PS/SW/20/026 £    500,000
Care1 Professional Services Ltd SLC/PS/SW/20/021 £    500,000
Care Solutions Ltd SLC/PS/SW/20/022 £    500,000
Enhance Living Support Services
Ltd SLC/PS/SW/20/024 £    500,000
ICare Group SLC/PS/SW/20/027 £    500,000
Ion Care SLC/PS/SW/20/028 £    500,000
JKL Services Ltd SLC/PS/SW/20/029 £    500,000
Lica Home Care UK Ltd SLC/PS/SW/21/048 £    115,236
Love@Care Ltd SLC/PS/SW/20/030 £    500,000
Take Care at Home Ltd SLC/PS/SW/20/037 £      96,030 
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