Child Care Legal Professionals - Find a freedom of information request

1. How many Child Care legal professionals (or equivalent) are employed by the Council?

2. Does the Council have a specific risk assessment for legal employees undertaking child care work which deals with the potential harm of being exposed to vicarious trauma?

3. On average how many child care case files do the legal professionals have?

4. What policies (if any) are in place which highlight the risk of Council employees experiencing ill health as a result of exposure to vicarious trauma?

5. What steps has the Council implemented to minimise the risk to its employees’ health as a result of being exposed to vicarious trauma?

6. Within the last 6 years how many legal professionals working in child care have submitted sick notes for stress or other mental health condition, citing their work as a contributing factor?

7. Within the last 6 years, how many working days have been lost by child care Solicitors or similar legal professionals, citing stress or other mental health condition as a contributing factor for their absence?

8. For the last 6 years, please advise as to the number of claims made against the Council for negligence and/or breach of the Human Rights Act in relation to deprivation of liberty and/or failure to act or remove children?

1. The team consists of 10 lawyers with conduct of cases supported by 10 legal officers.

2. The childcare legal team does not have a specific risk assessment but such matters are dealt with by line management supervision arrangements.

3. A lawyer (supported by their legal officer) can hold approximately between 12 – 20 cases; staff have differing levels of experience and caseloads will contain mixed types of work with differing levels of complexity, so there is no particular average caseload.

4. The Council does not have any specific policies which highlight the risk of exposure to vicarious trauma.

5. Any issues wold be discussed at individual one to one supervisions with line managers. If required the line manager can carry out a Stress Risk Assessment and a referral to Occupational Health for more specialist advice. Support is available to all employees through the Council's Employee Support and Counselling service and if required specialist psychological support can be obtained through Occupational Health.

6. The Council holds data relating to current employees. None of the employees have submitted sick notes for stress or other mental health condition, citing their work as a contributing factor.

7. The Council holds data relating to current employees. None of the employees have submitted sick notes for stress or other mental health condition, citing their work as a contributing factor.

8. Lincolnshire County Council has been able to identify 8 claims made against the Council within the last 6 years for negligence and/or breach of the Human Rights Act in relation to deprivation of liberty and/or failure to act or remove children. However, please note the Council's data does not record specific categories of claims in relation to breach of human rights, deprivation of liberty or failure to remove. The Council cannot therefore confirm that the 8 claims identified are the total number of claims made within the last 6 years falling within these categories.