Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 part 11 - continuing care: guidance

8. Reviewing Welfare Assessments

Once a young person is in Continuing Care, the local authority must carry out Welfare Assessments to consider whether continuing to provide Continuing Care would significantly adversely affect the welfare of that person. The local authority will want to ensure that arrangements are still meeting the needs of the young person and that future planning is discussed and future plans are in place.

Welfare Assessments must be carried out at intervals not exceeding twelve months (the first interval starting from the date on which the person ceases to be looked after by the local authority)^[38].

The local authority’s duty to provide Continuing Care ceases if the local authority considers that continuing to provide the care would significantly adversely affect the welfare of the young person^[39].

In any situation in which a local authority has evidence of an issue significantly affecting the young person’s welfare, it is in the best interests of the young person and carer(s) that the assessment takes place as soon as practicably possible, rather than delay until the next scheduled annual review meeting. For this reason, it should be rare that a regular review meeting will recommend anything other than the continuation of the current arrangements.

If a Welfare Assessment assesses a situation as potentially significantly adversely affecting the welfare of a young person in Continuing Care, all reasonable steps should be taken to address the issue in order to allow the arrangements to continue.