Children's assisted contact centre - Find a freedom of information request

I hope this email finds you well. My name is Gibson Bannister, and I am reaching out to inquire about the establishment of a children's assisted contact centre within the jurisdiction of Lincolnshire City Council.

Over the past two years, I have worked extensively as an outreach support worker, primarily assisting 16-18-year-old children residing in assisted accommodation. This experience has also involved overseeing assisted contact sessions between children (aged 8 to 18) and their parents. Through conversations with various social workers, I've learned about the challenges they face in booking assisted contact services due to overwhelming demand. Motivated by the desire to address this need, I am exploring the possibility of setting up my own contact visit centre.

In light of this, I kindly request information on the following aspects:

Qualifications and Certificates:

1) What qualifications or certificates are required to own, run, and practice within an assisted children's contact visit business or centre?

2) Are there specific background checks, training, or qualifications that staff members overseeing assisted contact sessions need to possess?

Local Authorities' Selection Process:

1) How does the local authority allocate assisted contact work to businesses, and what criteria are considered in this selection process?

2) Can you provide information on how to become a preferred provider and be included in the list of businesses selected for contact visit services?

Preferred Providers:

1) Could you share the names of the current companies listed as preferred contact visit providers by the local authority?

Budgetary Information:

1) What is the local authority's allocated budget for assisted contact services in the upcoming year of 2024?

Additionally, I am interested in understanding the expenditure for children's assisted contact services in the year 2023.

I can confirm that the information requested is held by Lincolnshire County Council. I have detailed below the information that is being released to you.

Qualifications and Certificates

1) All Family Time arrangements take place in house within Lincolnshire County Council. Please find attached job description. 2) All Family Time arrangements take place in house within Lincolnshire County Council and are governed by their DBS processes.

Local Authorities' Selection Process:

1) The Council does not currently allocate assisted contact work to other organisations in the main. There are occasions when family time is commissioned when children are placed out of county. This is for a minority of families. The LA that the child resides within is approached to arrange these Family Time arrangements

2) The Council does not currently allocate assisted contact work to other organisations in the main.

Preferred Providers:

1) For the minority of sessions required out of Lincolnshire there is a limited choice of providers. Please contact sally.wright@lincolnshire.gov.uk regarding your company, and the locations that is covered, so that this can be considered when commissioning Family Time in the future.

Budgetary Information:

1) LCC doesn’t have a budget for a commissioned contact service. The inhouse budget for staffing and transport costs equates to £1,832,097.00 (this is county wide)

Should you require the attachment mentioned above please contact customerinformationservice@lincolnshire.gov.uk with the below reference number and this can be provided.