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Monitoring of use of welfare guardianship for adults under 25

Over the past several years we have witnessed an increasing use of welfare guardianship for young adults, most of whom have a learning disability. These orders are often granted for indefinite periods to private guardians with a larger number of powers being sought and granted.

Central to the safeguards built into the legislation, is the role of the local authority supervising officer. Over the years we have encountered a growing number of cases where we have been concerned about the quality of local authority supervision. In some cases, the statutory requirement placed upon the local authority to supervise guardians was not being carried out at all.

It was in this context that we felt it would be helpful to look in greater detail at the use of welfare guardianship for those under 25.

A local authority Mental Health Officer with considerable AWI experience was seconded into the Commission to take the lead on this project.

The exercise involved questionnaires and interviews with private guardians, local authority supervisors, local authority nominated guardians and social work managers. Following this exercise, a report was disseminated to Chief Social Work Officers and MHOs throughout Scotland. Areas covered in the report include communication between private guardians and local authority supervising officers; provision of information to private guardians; delegation of guardianship powers, recording of use of powers by guardians, recording of supervision visits by local authority officers; preparation, training and support of local authority staff in carrying out their statutory duties and the role of local authority management in the guardianship process. A number of recommendations have been directed at Chief Social Work Officers, Programme Leaders of Mental Health Officer Courses, the Social Work Inspection Agency, Scottish Ministers and the Mental Welfare Commission itself.

The detailed findings and recommendations of this report can be found in the themed reports section of this site.

A separate monitoring exercise was undertaken to look exclusively at local authority supervision of private guardians - focusing on adults over 25, but taking account of data collected in the under 25 survey in respect of the supervision of private guardians. We were pleased to have the services of another Mental Health Officer who was employed on a part-time basis to take the lead in this work. This report will be completed in 2010.