Q1. Could you provide details of any service(s) you commission to provide Independent Advocacy Support to adults and children or young people receiving aftercare support under section 117 of the Mental Health Act?
Devon County Council commissions the Devon Advocacy Consortium to provide advocacy support to adults who are eligible for such support under section 117 of the Mental Health Act
Children’s Social Care does not commission advocacy specifically for children and young people receiving after care support under section 117 of the Mental Health Act. Our advocacy contract does include capacity for children and young people who wish to make a complaint or representation about health or social care services which could include complaints relating to this.
Further information is available online at https://www.devonadvocacy.org.uk/
Q2. Could you provide details of any service(s) you commission to provide Independent Advocacy Support to people going through Continuing Health Care processes (adult) or Continuing Care (children)?
Please see our response to question 1
Q3. Could you provide details of any service(s) you commission to provide Independent Advocacy Support to people accessing personal wheelchair budgets?
Devon County Council does not specifically commission advocacy support for adults going through Continuing Health Care processes, but commissions advocacy for people who are eligible for it under the Care Act which can include Continuing Health Care cases. Likewise, we jointly commission NHS Complaints Advocacy with the Devon NHS Clinical Commissioning Group which can apply to Continuing Health Care cases
Children’s Social Care does not commission advocacy specifically for children and young people receiving after care support under section 117 of the Mental Health Act. Our advocacy contract does include capacity for children and young people who wish to make a complaint or representation about health or social care services which could include complaints relating to this
Q4 Could you provide details of any service(s) you commission to provide Independent Advocacy Support to people accessing or using personal health budgets processes (both adult and children)?
Devon County Council does not commission the provision of advocacy specifically for people accessing personal wheelchair budgets but such people may be eligible for Care Act or NHS Complains advocacy.
Children’s Social Care does not commission advocacy specifically for children and young people receiving after care support under section 117 of the Mental Health Act. Our advocacy contract does include capacity for children and young people who wish to make a complaint or representation about health or social care services which could include complaints relating to this
We would be grateful if you could tell us which services are commissioned.
Devon County Council commissions adult social care advocacy for people who are eligible for advocacy under the Care Act, Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act. The provider is required to prioritise those people with the greatest needs in the most pressing circumstances and if there is any capacity after delivering these statutory advocacy services then general social care advocacy may be provided using the same principles for prioritization of cases. We also jointly commission NHS Complaints Advocacy with NHS Devon Clinical Commissioning Group.
Children’s Social Care commissions advocacy for:
• Children subject to Child Protection;
• Children Looked After and Care Leavers;
• Children and young people who self-refer for support to make a complaint or representation about health or social care services;
• Children and young people in the Atkinson Secure Children’s home.
There are also other services children can access relating to SEND although these are provided rather than commissioned. E.g. Devon Information Advice & Support (DIAS) has a responsibility to work with young people up to age 25 with SEND on issues relating to Education, Health and Care, particularly in relation to the SEND code of practice
And lastly we would be grateful if you could indicate the budget allocated for any of the above types of advocacy?
Devon County Council’s annual budget for adult social care advocacy is £592,075.65 and NHS Devon Clinical Commissioning Group’s annual budget for NHS Complaints advocacy is £40,226.80.
Devon County Council’s annual budget for advocacy commissioned through Children’s Social Care is £250,000. If the needs of eligible children and young people require it then additional provision is purchased. This is for the commissioned service and does not include running costs relating to DIAS.