SCIE Practice guide 7: Making referrals to the POVA list
Deciding to make a POVA list referral
Practice point: Who can refer to the POVA list?
Referrals to the POVA list can be made only by:
- employers and managers who are care providers
- regulators in CSCI and CSIW
- the Secretary of State for Health, following an inquiry.
Employers and managers
In this context, 'employers and managers' includes anyone who employs staff or who directs and supports self-employed care workers or adult placement carers in the specified care services:
- registered care or nursing homes
- registered domiciliary care services
- adult placement schemes.
This may be a manager or owner of a single home, agency or scheme, or the manager of a home or service that is part of a larger organisation. In the latter case, the responsibility for referring to POVA is shared by both the wider organisation and the individual service manager.
Example
Large providers such as BUPA handle all POVA referrals centrally. This means that every referral is carried out in a standard way, is coordinated and monitored centrally and is separated from the local situation and disciplinary process. Lead officers are building up experience and knowledge about making referrals and have developed good relationships with the DfES POVA team. Local managers are supported in making referrals.
Referrals cannot be made by staff in local authority adult protection teams, by the police or by commissioners of services such as social services or primary care trusts.
Some employers and managers find the idea of making a referral daunting. While it is a serious action that needs to be undertaken with care, it is a statutory duty and employers should act confidently to protect vulnerable adults. It is always better to make a referral than to do nothing; the final decision to list an individual is made by the Secretary of State, not by employers.
Although you do not need the consent of the vulnerable adult to make a referral, it is important to consult the person and to keep them informed of what is happening where this is appropriate.
In deciding to make a POVA referral, employers are acting responsibly in carrying out their statutory duty to protect vulnerable people and for the benefit of the wider social care sector - they might be the next employer of someone who was not appropriately referred to the POVA list. Employers who fail to refer risk losing their registration as a care provider on the grounds of lack of fitness.
Making a referral can be particularly daunting for small service providers. These employers may wish to consult local adult protection coordinators and their CSCI/ CSIW inspectors for advice and support.
Referrals are made on behalf of the whole organisation, rather than by employers as individuals. This limits the opportunities for victimisation or malicious referrals. Referrals are not made in isolation from the clear processes of local adult protection procedures and robust employment or review practices.
CSCI and CSIW
Exceptionally, the regulators at the CSCI and the CSIW can make a referral to the list. In practice, this is done only when they find evidence of misconduct that has not been referred by the employer, or where there is no one else available to make the referral. Unlike providers, the regulators do not have the power to make retrospective referrals.
Examples
CSCI has made referrals when the home in which the registered person was working has been closed. CSIW has made referrals where a service provider was unable to do so or refused. In the case of the refusal, this raised questions of fitness to practise under the registration criteria.
