Child Protection Procedures - East Ayrshire Council

Offenders Under Supervision
The purpose of the Sex Offenders Act was to make monitoring feasible. Social work
have a duty to notify the police of significant changes in registration information about
offenders under supervision or known by teams to pose a risk to others.
Risk assessment is an integral part of the work of criminal justice social workers. It is
vital that their assessment be informed by the best information available. This means
that information requires to be shared not only between the police and criminal justice
social workers but between criminal justice social workers and their colleagues in
children and families teams and community care teams, as well as, in certain
instances, other council departments. Disclosure must be on a need to know basis.
Criminal justice social workers and managers must formulate a supervision plan
following from the assessment of risk and outlining how the social worker will check on
the activities and circumstances of an offender, monitor compliance with the
requirements of the statutory order and collaborate with other agencies in reducing
risk.
Social Work and Housing Services
Where Housing Services have concerns about the level of risk posed by an offender
to children in the community they can convene a meeting with social work services to
consider location, area etc. in relation to re-housing. The police may be invited to
these meetings. These meetings are not child protection conferences (they consider
risk of non-familial abuse).
Once re-housed should any problems or concerns arise, a further meeting may be
immediately re-convened by housing services.
While social work must consider the client's right to confidentiality, nevertheless there
will be circumstances where, in order to protect children and vulnerable adults,
personal details of sex offenders should be released to a designated official within
housing services.
Managing Case Conferences and Meetings
It is recognised that there is potential for a case conference or meeting to be arranged
by 3 separate agencies. Efforts should be made to avoid duplication of
conferences/meetings and, where appropriate, the agencies should agree to arrange
one conference/meeting to address all issues for each agency. It is, however,
recognised that there will be circumstances when separate conferences/meetings can
be justified.
Crime and Disorder Act 1998
An application for a sex offenders order can be made by a chief constable if it appears
to him that certain conditions are fulfilled. The conditions are that the person:
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