IFA providers will alert EM SMP to an upcoming vacancy opportunity, where a lead time of at least two weeks prior to the vacancy becoming available is requested and will provide the EM SMP with the carer profile (including information about whether the carers would be willing to accept an age disputed child).  

IFA providers who are already on a procurement framework will abide by that framework for this pilot, in the event that IFA providers are not on a framework Local Authorities will commission placements using their existing spot purchasing terms and conditions. 

Local Authorities upon accepting a vacancy offer will be expected to indicate whether the IFA provider is currently part of framework agreement with them and if not shall provide EM SMP with their standard spot purchasing T&C’s to be passed onto the IFA provider for use with this pilot. 

IFA NTS Pilot Process Map Final.pdf 

EM SMP will first look to see whether there are any outstanding transfers and offer the vacancy to those authorities with outstanding transfers in the first instance. If there are no outstanding transfers or if the vacancy is not deemed suitable for outstanding transfers, EM SMP will follow the selection process below to determine which authorities should be offered a vacancy opportunity: 

• First offer will be made to the Local Authority where the carer resides, unless this authority has already been offered a vacancy through the pilot. 

• Second offers will be made to those Local Authorities who border the authority where the carer resides in the event of that authority either refusing the offer or being excluded because of already having been offered a vacancy through the pilot, any bordering authorities who have already been offered a vacancy through the pilot will also be excluded. 

• Third offers will be made to all remaining authorities on the basis of authorities from the first two rounds either refusing the vacancy or being excluded due to having been offered a vacancy through the pilot already, any remaining authorities who have already been offered a vacancy through the pilot will also be excluded. 

• It should be stated that as part of the pilot a maximum number of two vacancies will be utilised per Local Authority area, if a further vacancy is offered in an area which has already had two vacancies filled, EM SMP will offer the vacancy to the Local Authority concerned, outside of the formal pilot mechanism, if that Local Authority refuses the vacancy, then that vacancy will be refused by EM SMP. 

The EM SMP will provide all of the information given by the IFA provider relating to the vacancy, to the authorities approached, this will be contained within a vacancy form and will indicate how the vacancy has arisen, which they can use to make a decision about whether they wish to accept a vacancy or not. 

The EM SMP will approach authorities sequentially on an individual basis, and authorities will have up to 48 hours to respond, this approach will happen via email and will contain a short form for authorities to complete to indicate whether or not they wish to accept the vacancy and the reasons for their decision, this information will be one of the measures used to determine the success of the pilot. 

In the event that an authority does not respond within the 48-hour deadline, this will be counted as a refusal and the process of selecting an authority to take the vacancy will continue to be followed by the SMP. 

This selection process assumes that there will be a gap of at least two weeks between an IFA provider expecting a vacancy to become available and the vacancy being ready to accommodate a child.  

If there is less time before a vacancy is ready to accommodate a child, EM SMP will review resource availability and run an accelerated process if EM SMP has enough resource to manage an accelerated process, where Local Authorities will be contacted via telephone or email to provide a response immediately or within 2-hours.  

If EM SMP doesn’t have the resources to manage an accelerated process the vacancy offer will be refused and the reason for refusal recorded to contribute to the pilot evaluation report. 

Once an authority has accepted a vacancy offer, the authority is expected to indicate whether the IFA provider is currently on their framework and to provide their relevant sport purchasing T&C’s if not which will be used for the purposes of the pilot.  

The EM SMP will provide the IFA provider contact details to LA’s and vice versa (including Spot Purchasing T&C’s if relevant). IFA providers are expected to reach out to Local Authorities in order to start the matching process by reviewing the carer profile and discussing child profiles appropriate to the carer, at this point IFA providers and Local Authorities may wish to make any amendments to the spot purchasing arrangements if there isn’t an existing framework relationship. 

When the date at which the vacancy becomes available to take a child is known IFA provider’s will need contact the Local Authority and the EM SMP at the earliest opportunity. If the Local Authority has an outstanding transfer (either the authority would have been selected due to having an outstanding transfer or since being selected may have received an NTS cycle for which they have an outstanding transfer), the Local Authority will enter into a matching process with the IFA provider. 

If the Local Authority doesn’t have an outstanding transfer, or the matching process for an outstanding transfer is not successfully concluded, the EM SMP will request a child from the Home Office for transfer to the region and the matching process can be concluded.  

From the point at which IFA providers notify the EM SMP that a vacancy is available to take a child, IFA providers will be required to hold the vacancy for up to three working days to enable the matching process to be concluded and the child to be transferred. 

The Home Office will respond to the EM SMP who will pass on the details of the child to IFA Providers and the Local Authority involved for the matching process to be conducted. Decisions regarding the suitability of a particular child for the placement will need to be made within 24 hours of being referred by the Home Office and ideally within the same working day that a referral is received by the Home Office. 

It should be noted that in the event that a referral is not accepted this builds in a delay for a child and as such decisions should be made as quickly as possible to ensure that delays for children are minimised. 

Once the matching process is complete the relevant authority will need to confirm formal acceptance of the vacancy and provide the transfer details to the EM SMP who will then liaise with the Home Office to arrange transport to the child to the carer.