Family Mediation Service - Proposal to no longer fund or provide in-kind office space
| Title | Family Mediation Service - Proposal to no longer fund or provide in-kind office space |
|---|---|
| Council Resource | Social Work |
| Service Area | Planning and Performance |
| Aims and Objectives | Budget cost pressures for Social Work Children and Family Services has resulted in the Resource adopting a Sustainability and Value Option Appraisal Screening Tool. The Sustainability and Value Option Appraisal approach is summarised as follows: 1 Benchmarking and Efficiencies 2 Service Redesign or Reduction with no/limited impact on outcomes 3 Service Redesign or Reduction with impact on outcomes 4 Legislative and Registration Requirements 5 Public Protection The current financial commitment for the Service is £50,120 per annum. The provider (Relationship Scotland) has free access to office space at High Patrick Street. Family Mediation Service falls into the lower scale category 1 and not a service that social work are required to provide. There is no contractual arrangement in place. Procurement Service identified this as NON CONTRACT SPEND, and with funding challenges South Lanarkshire Quality Assurance and Commissioning Team undertook a service review. The review engaged with the local Family Mediation Service, Relationship Scotland, and social work offices at Burnbank and High Patrick Street. Families and clients supported by Family Mediation were not known to Social Work Services. |
| Conclusion | The service provision is mainly supporting the Court’s contact direction in civil cases whereby the Local Authority does not have any duty placed upon it to service these Orders. The service provision does not have any children and families service users, there is no contract. There is a national organisation funded by Scottish Government Relationship Scotland, whose role it is to support this specific type of work. No service users linked to the service are known to Social Work. Our Justice Services link with Courts and can maintain oversight if issues arise. Our Community Justice Partnership also has representation from the Courts, if issues arise this forum will be aware. There are no social work service users linked to this service and no contract. There are financial challenges within Children and Justice Services and yet Relationship Scotland are funded by Scottish Government to provide Contact Centres, and are the specialists in relationship counselling and family mediation. This is not a statutory function of Social Work Resources. |
| Completion date | 2024 |
| Contact Email address | equalities@southlanarkshire.gov.uk |
| Area | Council Wide |