Since October 1 2007 no legal aid has been available for family assessments ordered by the family courts meaning councils have to foot the whole bill. This has led to cases where the council didn't have the money to pay for such an assessment so despite being ordered by the courts it did not take place. This is completely unfair for the family involved. Has anyone else heard about this case and what do people think?

I guess this is all part and parcel of the new Public Law outline whereby any assessments should have been undertaken prior to proceedings commencing, therefore why should legal aid be provided to pay for further assessments.... at least that is the theory, i am not at all convinced by it. There are definate holes in the new PLO and the increase in the cost of applying for Care Orders and the percieved emphasis that you cant make an application until you have done all the work on the pre-proceedings checklist will only place children at risk imo.

We have got a story in the magazine this week about the huge hike in the cost of applying for care orders (Page 9). I have no idea how the government can justify the increase in council fees for care proceedings from £150 to between £1, 775 and £4, 875 from May 1. Councils have received an extra £40m to pay for the increase but there are questions over if it's enough.

apparently all local authorities have been given the same amount of money to cover the cost of applications, which means for example that Rutland have the same as kent regardless of the size of the authority.... this cant be true though, can it?

Oh doesn't sound fair at all. I have just asked my colleague and we are not sure, we will keep our ears to the ground. The Local Government Association are meeting up with the government to discuss the hike so they should be able to find this out.

I know in Newcastle that if care proceedings are being undertaken there appears to be an expectation that the cost is shared between all parties which would include the LA the parent(s) and the guardian for the child'ds legal services. I am not sure whether that happens all over but to honest we expect reports to be be requested as this prevents delays withinthe court proceedings and we have with all party agreement began looking at who would be the expert to be comissioned prior to entering the court, thereupon we wait for the judge to instruct reports to be completed including timescales.

yes, lins, that is the old way of doing things, the PLO, as of may 1st (or earlier if, like me you work in one of the pilot areas) has changed all of that.

We are going to have a landing page on the public law outline on the site very shortly (hopefully within about a month). It will be at www.communitycare.co.uk/publiclawoutline.

I consider that the new PLO is going to create huge delays and risk for children.  In our team (like many others) we are seriously short staffed, and I think that this will affect our ability to do all the assessments in a timely manner in order to prevent drift.

In the PLO, there is also the expectation that we commission the 'expert' assessments, which can take several weeks. In addition, I was speaking to a solicitor regarding this matter, and he stated that when these cases come to Court, it is likely that this will cause disagreements, as previously all parties had to agree on the expert and agree the questions to ask. He felt that many solicitors would argue this point, and may request a further assessment, adding to more cost and expense for the LA. 

In my area, we have been told that due to the rise in cost, we cannot even discuss concerns with the legal department before having senior management approval.

 I am just about to initiate proceedings under the PLO so I shall wait and see how it goes!!

We have been using the PLO in my area for several months as one of the pilot areas. In reference to your point kymb21 about experts (who i think are over used anyway) is that legal aid will no longer foot the bill for assessments and LA's are carrying out their assessment before proceedings (as i am with a family at the moment). Therefore a social worker/legal team/LA with a bit of savvy should be saying 'this is our assessment, this is why we have brought this before the court, if you dont agree and want a different assessment, you go off and pay for it'. this will however lead to families maybe not getting a fair hearing.... just another observation.

I hear what you are saying whizzle but in my LA we are not allowed to commission reports from said experts before we go to court and we have been doing this for quite sometime. However due to the protocls this does stop you from preparing at the case management meeting all the questions and organising who will carry out the assessments before requesting them formally in the court arena. This has prevented long drawn out cases as you know the availabilty ofthe experts to put before the judge. 

Whizzle, I completely agree with you, I think experts are used too much and our views and expertise are not taking into account. What some local solicitors are saying about the assessments, which we will commission (and pay for, as you say) is that they consider that these may not be fair to their clients and they are concerned that the questions asked may slant towards what the LA hopes to prove, and I would be interested to hear your views and experience regarding this point. Out of curiousity, I would also like to know if the PLO has speeded up the court process at all? Thanks.

Whizzle, I completely agree with you, I think experts are used too much and our views and expertise are not taking into account. What some local solicitors are saying about the assessments, which we will commission (and pay for, as you say) is that they consider that these may not be fair to their clients and they are concerned that the questions asked may slant towards what the LA hopes to prove, and I would be interested to hear your views and experience regarding this point. Out of curiousity, I would also like to know if the PLO has speeded up the court process at all? Thanks.

Some social workers I have spoken to have also raised this issue of their opinion's not being seen as as valid as those of an expert despite the expert somtimes not having even met the child/family or only meeting them once. Sorry for my lack of knowledge but under the PLO what is the change in regard to this - that local authorities will commission and pay for all such assessments - how does this vary from before...