1.6.8 Financial Delegation |
SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER
The purpose of this Divisional Circular is to clarify the delegated authority for budgetary responsibilities. The levels of delegation budgetary authority and responsibilities are in line with the new management structure for Children's Social Care implemented on 1st April 2005.
Contents
- Financial Limits in Relation to Service Users
- Authorisation (PL1) / Commitments
- Separation of Duties
- Invoices
- Official Orders
- Exceptions
- Authorisation Levels for (Section 23) Children Looked After and (Section 24) Leaving Care payments. (this to Include Placement Commitments)
- "In house" Fostering (including Reg. 38/11 Fostering payments i.e. Pre-fostering Panel Kinship Placements)
- Other Payments for Children Looked After and those Supported by the Leaving Care Team Including "Minor Variations".
- Authorisation Levels for Children who are Disabled where the Care Package may include both the Provision of Accommodation and/or Section 17 Support.
- Interpreting and Translation
- Authorisation Levels for Section 17 Children in Need
1. Financial Limits in Relation to Service Users
Managers are required to specifically check and verify that there is sufficient funds in the appropriate budget before authorising the expenditure requested.
| Business Support Team Managers Limit £ | Social Work Team Managers Limit £ | Service Managers Limit £ | |
| Petty cash (i) | 200 | 500 | 500 |
| Cash payments (advance) (ii) | 200 | 200 | 500 |
| Local orders | 200 | 500 | 1,000 |
| Children In Need | 200 | 5,000 | 15,000 |
| Placements | Not applicable | 5,000 | (iii) 15,000 |
- Covers voucher for several small amounts, but no single petty cash item must be over £50.00.
- Can relate to an individual amount for a particular family/case.
- Maximum limit for Service Managers £ 15,000 per invoice, per month.
Anything over the above limits should be referred to the Director of Children's Social Care.
2. Authorisation (PL1) / Commitments
The Service Manager must authorise placement/commitments up to a maximum limit of £15,000 per month. Set review dates to be standardised for the following placement types:-
| Placement type | Period |
| Residential homes | 3 months |
| Agency fostering (IFAs) | 3 months |
| In-house fostering | 6 months |
| Semi-independent unit | 6 months |
Residential and IFA placements must be reviewed at 3 month intervals to ensure that financial commitments are assessed as part of the package of care.
3. Separation of Duties
Financial regulations stipulate that the person authorising the order cannot authorise that invoice. Therefore, if the Service Manager authorises the order they cannot authorise the invoice. It is proposed that the Service Manager, Business Support will authorise invoices up to a maximum of £15,000 per invoice per month.
4. Invoices
Central Invoice and Monitoring team to ensure invoice has been checked against authorisation (PL form or official order) and ICS commitment ensuring that the agreed target end date is completed and entered onto the ICS system.
Any variation should be brought to the attention of the relevant Team Manager and/or Service Manager.
If the Service Manager has authorised the PL1 form/commitment and the related invoice exactly corroborates the commitment, the Service Manager, Business Support can sign-off the invoice up to a maximum of £15,000 per invoice per month.
If the invoice differs from the commitment, the Invoice and Monitoring team must immediately contact the provider and alert the relevant Service Manager.
If the invoice period exceeds the target end date, further approval must be obtained from the relevant Service Manager.
5. Official Orders
Official Orders must be raised where appropriate in accordance with the relevant guidelines. Under the new delegated financial responsibilities, Team Managers must authorise all Official Orders for their teams and always within financial limits and available budgets.
Advice must be sought from Business Support about which suppliers are approved as appropriate to use and to ensure that the necessary checks are conducted. This includes the commissioning of external reports e.g. Form F Assessments which must be cross referenced with the relevant Divisional Circular.
6. Exceptions
Financial responsibility for the following areas will remain with the relevant Service Manager including Direct Payments and short breaks. Funding to cover both day and over night arrangements.
| Domiciliary | Service Manager, Children In Need |
| Residence Orders | Service Manager, Family Support and Intervention |
| Rents/deposits | Service Manager, Leaving Care Service |
7. Authorisation Levels for (Section 23) Children Looked After and (Section 24) Leaving Care Payments (this to Include Placement Commitments)
The Service Manager can authorise both seeking a placement by completing form PL1 front page "Authorisation to Seek" the actual commitment, once clarified by the Placements and Procurement service, on form PL1.
The Service Manager will be responsible for validating the accuracy of the individual commitments held in the database relating to the children in their service area and for confirming the monthly returns as part of the budgetary management process. Changes to the original placement contract must be entered onto the PL2 form.
8. "In house" Fostering (including Reg. 38/11 Fostering payments i.e. Pre-fostering Panel Kinship Placements)
The fostering budget is held by the fostering service, though the database allows for reference to the record for Service Managers to cross check the accuracy of the data for their Looked After Children. Fostering Allowances for all in-house placements are to be agreed by the Service Manager, Fostering and Adoption. For approved foster carers this will be at the agreed rates. For emergency placements/Reg. 38/11 (including pre fostering panel kinship placements) the amount to be as in the Fostering Procedures and prior to this, as agreed by the Service Manager, Fostering and Adoption. A Service Manager's signature will only have to be on the front page for in house placements. Sign-off in relation to exceptional payments must be authorised by the Service Manager, Fostering and Adoption.
9. Other Payments for Children Looked After and those Supported by the Leaving Care Team including "Minor Variations"
| Business Support Team Managers Limit £ | Social Work Team Managers Limit £ | Service Managers Limit £ | |
| Petty cash | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| Cash payments (advance) (i) | 200 | 200 | 500 |
| Invoice | 500 | 500 | 5,000 |
- Covers voucher for several small amounts, but no single petty cash item must be over £50.00.
Since 2002 the provision of welfare services by private and voluntary bodies is exempt from VAT, so there should be no VAT addition on invoices from providers of these services. If any invoices are received from residential care providers which include a VAT addition, this should be deleted and the invoice total reduced accordingly. The care provider must be advised that the service provision is exempt from VAT and asked to invoice correctly in the future.
Exceptionally, Leaving Care can issue Cash Advances to a total of £2,000 per voucher to cover the large amounts of weekly allowances payable to individual young people. The vouchers must be supported by a spreadsheet detailing the young people to whom these allowances have been made. Team Managers must authorise these payments for cases held by their teams. It is important that the Service Manager closely monitors that Team Managers are in compliance with these requirements.
10. Authorisation Levels for Children who are Disabled where the Care Package may include both the Provision of Accommodation and/or Section 17 Support.
All "Care Packages" for disabled children, which may include respite care, the appropriate panel will agree domiciliary care etc. The Service Manager can agree any emergency provision.
Residence Order Allowances
Please refer to the relevant procedures. Authorisation of Residence Order Allowances must be sought for by the Service Manager, Family Support and Intervention.
Adoption Allowances
Any new allowance or variation to allowances to be agreed by the Service Manager, Fostering and Adoption.
11. Interpreting and Translation
The Budget for this is held by the Service Manager, Referral and Assessment. Delegated responsibility for authorisation of interpreting and translation costs including use of Language Line and the Lewisham Interpreting Service.
Social Work Team Managers and Business Support Team Managers
Up to £50 per payment [see note (a)] up to a maximum of £250 per family or individual child if she/he is looked after and no interpreting costs are needed to be offset against interpreting for adults in the family. Where there may be costs split between services, the payment to be per family per service when different services separately hold a file i.e. Referral and Assessment and Safeguarding or Lewisham Assessment Centre, but not Referral and Assessment and Family where the same file transfers.
- Payment per family - This is a total authorisation level for the financial year, whether it is for on-going commitments or a series of one-off payments, not an agreement for this amount per manager per family.
Service Managers
Up to £3,000 total
12. Authorisation Levels for Section 17 Children in Need
Section 17 invoices must specify the child's name and the manager who has authorised the expenditure. It is important that managers ensure that agencies providing staff to supervise contact adhere to this requirement as otherwise the invoice cannot be verified for payment.
| CASH | |
| up to £50 per cash payment up to a maximum of £250 per family. [see note (a)]. Can be agreed at this level in a financial year (this will later be recorded against the individual child once costed packages of care are introduced). | |
CASH PAYMENTS |
|
| Social Work Team Managers and Business Support Team Managers | Up to £200 per payment and up to £5,000 per family |
| Service Managers | Up to £500 per payment and up to £15,000 per family per year |
| INVOICES | |
| Social Work Team Managers and Business Support Team Managers | Up to £500 per payment [see note (b)] up to a maximum of £15,000 per family in a financial year. |
| Service Managers | Up to £5,000 per payment [see note (b)] and up to £50,000 in a financial year |
| The Director of Children's Social Care | Up to £15,000 per payment [see note (b)] up to a maximum of £250,000 per annum |
Since 2002 the provision of welfare services by private and voluntary bodies is exempt from VAT, so there should be no VAT addition on invoices from providers of these services. If any invoices are received from residential care providers which include a VAT addition, this should be deleted and the invoice total reduced accordingly. The care provider must be advised that the service provision is exempt from VAT and asked to invoice correctly in the future.
A monitoring system will be introduced for use by Business Support to track all expenditure in the different service areas (i.e. Leaving Care, Looked After Children, Fostering and Adoption, Referral and Assessment, Family Support and Intervention and Placements and Procurement) to ensure that the cumulative amounts to not exceed the agreed levels.
Note: Any authorised cash payment form will have to be accompanied by the client file when presented to the Business Support Officer for payment, so that the finance running record can be completed.
End