Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I request information about your Out-of-Hours / Emergency Duty Team (EDT) service for Children’s and/or Adults’ Social Care.
I would appreciate data for the current financial year (2025/26) and, where readily available, the previous year (2024/25).
Section 1 Service Structure and Coverage
* Please confirm whether the local authority operates its own Out-of-Hours (OOH) / Emergency Duty Service (EDT) for Children’s Social Care, Adults’ Social Care, or both.
Devon County Council (DCC) operates its own Emergency Duty Service for both Children’s and Adults’ Social Care.
DCC also has an out-of-hours Approved Mental Health Professional service.
* If not directly operated, please identify the organisation providing the service (e.g. NHS Trust, shared service, or contractor) and the contractual arrangement.
As mentioned above, DCC operates its own emergency duty services for both children and adults. The out-of-hours Approved Mental Health Professional service is employed by DCC, however it is provided under a Section 75 Partnership Agreement between Devon County Council and Devon Partnership Trust.
* Please describe the structure of the EDT, including job titles and number of FTE posts by grade or role.
| Service Manager (children’s and adults’ EDS) | 1 FTE | Grade L8 |
| Business Support Officer (children’s & adults’ EDS) | 1 FTE | Grade D |
| Children’s Team Managers | 3 FTE | Grade T |
| Children’s Advanced Social Workers | 8 FTE | Grade H |
| Family Practitioners | 3 FTE | Grade E |
| Children’s Referral Co-ordinators | 1.5 FTE | Grade D |
| Adults’ Team Manager | 1 FTE | Grade T |
| Adults’ Advanced Social Workers | 3 FTE | Grade H |
| Social Care Assessors | 3 FTE | Grade E |
* Please specify which teams or functions are integrated (e.g. Children’s, Adults’, AMHP, Housing).
Children’s and Adults’ Emergency Duty Service (EDS) are integrated but with specialist staff. The Approved Mental Health Practitioner (AMHP) service is separate. Housing is managed by the District Councils.
* Please confirm whether EDT staff work primarily from a designated base, from home, or through a hybrid arrangement.
Children’s and Adults’ EDT staff work through a hybrid arrangement.
Section 2 Staffing and Pay
* Please provide details of EDT staffing, including:
* job titles and grades; copy of the structure
Please see this DCC webpage for this information.
* whether sessional/bank staff are used and their pay rates;
On occasion DCC bank staff are used for shift cover:
Children & Adults’ Experienced Social Workers Grade G
Family Practitioners & Social Care assessors Grade E
Referral Coordinators Grade D
* details of any Out-of-Hours/Unsocial Hours or standby allowances (including method of calculation and whether sessional/bank staff also receive these);
Permanent staff are paid 20% unsocial hours allowance on their annual salary.
Bank staff also receive 20% unsocial hours payment for the hours they work.
The Service Manager & Business Support Officer do not receive the unsocial hours allowance as they predominantly work during weekdays. If they occasionally work on a Saturday they claim half time for the hours they work and take the worked time back as time off in lieu (TOIL).
Bank holiday rates of double time and triple time for Christmas Day apply to additional shifts worked on these days.
On rare occasions for last minute sickness cover, permanent staff will be paid overtime rates of time plus half and double time for a Sunday.
Team managers/adult advanced social workers receive a stand-by allowance for lone-working support/adult social care on-call for between 02:30 am – 08:30 am (6 hours).
* any market supplements or retention payments applied to EDT roles; and
There are no market supplements for Children & Adults’ EDS staff.
* whether staff receive time off in lieu (TOIL), overtime, or other additional compensation.
Please see the response to section 2 above for this information.
Section 3 ‘ Rota and On-Call Arrangements
* Please provide a copy or outline of the current EDT rota and on-call arrangements, including shift hours, number of staff per shift, management cover, and handover process.
Please see this DCC webpage for this information.
Section 4 Finance and Budget
Please provide:
* the total annual budget allocated to the EDT service for the current and previous financial year;
2024/2025 £1,786,000
2025/2026 £1,820,000
* a breakdown of this budget by staffing, management, allowances, and commissioned elements;
The whole of the joint Children & Adults’ budget is for staffing and allowances as outlined in the table on this DCC webpage. The EDS budget does not fund any commissioned services.
* any funding contributions from partner organisations (e.g. NHS, district councils, other Local Authorities if shared services, police);
No funding contributions are received.
and
* any known efficiency or savings targets applied to the EDT service.
EDS has no service specific applied efficiency or savings targets applied to it.
Section 5 Performance and Future Plans
Please provide:
* a summary or copy of the most recent internal or external review, audit or inspection relating to the EDT service;
Ofsted Inspection Report 30 September 2024 – Published 13 May 2025:
“The emergency duty service provides a timely response for children who may be at risk at weekends and outside of office hours. When there are urgent safeguarding concerns for children, child protection strategy discussions and child protection enquiries quickly take place. Social workers ensure that information is appropriately shared and considered, with effective action taken to prioritise children’s welfare.”
The Adults’ EDS has been reviewed as part of a recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection; the report has not yet been published.
* the number of referrals or contacts handled by the EDT in the past 12 months (broken down by Children’s and Adults’ if available);
Children’s EDS has recorded 9,292 contacts from 01/11/2024 to 31/10/2025.
Adults’ EDS has recorded 2,066 contacts 01/11/2024 to 31/10/2025.
* any current proposals, consultation documents or business cases regarding future changes (or recent changes), restructuring or reorganisation (LGR?) of the EDT or OOH service.
There are no current proposals, consultation documents or business cases regarding future or recent changes, restructuring or reorganisation of the Emergency Duty Services.