What does the IRO do?

All children subject to child protection registration or who are looked after by the Local Authority will have an allocated IRO.

An IRO will chair a child looked after review, pathway plan review and in Powys, all Child Protection Conferences (initial and reviews)

The IRO offers a safeguard to prevent drift in the planning of the care of a child looked after and ensure that the Local Authority's efforts in reviewing a child's care plan are focused on meeting the needs of each individual child.

The IRO role is a statutory role and they have statutory responsibilities.

The role of the IRO is to ensure that the child's care plan fully reflects their needs. This will include their health, education and family time needs.

An IRO will ensure that Child Looked Reviews, Pathway Plan Reviews and Child Protection Conferences are run properly. They will ensure that the child's wishes and feelings are taken into consideration and that their best interests are protected. The IRO role will ensure that Professionals and Adults are doing what has been agreed in the child's care plan (for example social workers, foster carer, family members and teachers)

What the IRO Does

• Monitor the Child's Case 
• Liaise with/advise the social worker 
• Rigorously review the child's care and support plan  
• Refer to senior managers through a dispute resolution process/ refer to Cafcass Cymru if a significant failure in the care plan  
• Develop a specific relationship with the child / young person    

The IRO's role is to monitor, that is keep an overview, of the child's case, not just at formal review meetings, but in between review meetings as well. However, the IRO does not make final decisions about a child's case; that is for the child's social worker and managers. The 'decisions' made during a review are, in fact, 'recommendations' to the local authority. The word 'decisions' is used throughout the guide as it reflects the wording of the regulations and Code of Practice.

The IRO will want to develop a good working relationship with the child's social worker, and, in some circumstances, be able to advise the social worker. However, the social worker has their own manager, who takes responsibility for their actions and decisions. The IRO does not take on the role of managing the social worker.

During the reviewing process (see below) the IRO has a duty to look at how the child has been looked after and how the care plan is progressing, but the IRO does not make care planning decisions; the care plan is ultimately the decision for the social worker and manager as they are the representatives of the local authority who either have parental responsibility for the child or young person or are acting with birth parents' consent under s76 SSWB(W)A.

As the IRO does not have the power to overrule the local authority decision making process, there has to be some way of showing that they are concerned about the progress of a child or young person's case or a decision made in relation to a care and support plan. The local authority should have a dispute resolution process by which IRO's can make senior managers in the local authority aware of their concerns, with a view to resolving them. If that internal process does not work, then the IRO may refer to Cafcass Cymru.    

The child's social worker is the person who exercises parental responsibility and needs to develop a relationship with the child or young person. The IRO, although important as a consistent person in the child or young person's life for a number of years, should not take on the 'parental' role that the child's social worker should have.

What the IRO Does Not Do

• Manage the Child's Case
• Manage the social worker
• Devise the child's care and support plan
• Overrule the local authority
• Undermine the role of the child / young person's social worker