27756 - Pre Acceptance Case Manager - Healthcare and Welfare

Background

The Offices of the Official Solicitor and Public Trustee

We promote access to justice for the most vulnerable members of our society who might otherwise be unable to use the services offered by the justice system due to their lack of mental capacity or because of their young age. The office combines the duties of 2 separate independent statutory office holders - the Official Solicitor to the Senior Courts and the Public Trustee. There are around 135 staff who support the work of the Official Solicitor and Public Trustee work, including lawyers, lay case managers and administrators and are based in Central London. We are committed to providing the best level of service we can for our clients. The office is an Arms’ Length Body of the Ministry of Justice.

This post is for the Official Solicitor.

The Official Solicitor’s roles include acting as a last resort litigation friend, and in some cases solicitor, for children (other than those who are the subject of child welfare proceedings) and for adults who lack mental capacity. One of his roles is to act as litigation friend in proceedings in the Court of Protection relating to a vulnerable individual’s healthcare and welfare.

Our Team – Healthcare and Welfare

The healthcare and welfare team handle cases where the person is deemed vulnerable because they lack the capacity to make decisions for themselves. (Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005).

This could be decisions about where they live, what care they receive, who they have contact with, whether they have capacity to marry or consent to sexual relations, as well as use of social media and serious medical treatment. There are also cases which involve challenging a person’s deprivation of their liberty in a care home, or hospital, or in the community. The Court of Protection will invite the Official Solicitor to act as litigation friend for the vulnerable person in the proceedings because they are not able to conduct the litigation for themselves. The application may have been made by the local authority, a hospital trust, CCG, or a member of the family. Hearings may often be listed at short notice.

The Official Solicitor has a set criteria which must be met before the Official Solicitor will consent to act. Once we are in a position to consent to act, the file will be referred to the team leader for allocation to a lay case manager or lawyer.

The key purpose of the role is to

Complete all the pre-acceptance enquiries for a caseload of welfare cases until the case is ready for allocation, in advance of the court hearing date. You will use the case management system together with Outlook. The post holder needs to have determination and show initiative, as well as being flexible. The post will not have staff management at the outset but, potentially, the role will have the additional management of 1 Band E.

Key responsibilities

Communicate with the court and other parties to obtain service of the papers as quickly as possible. Use and amend template letters as well as emailing.

Peruse the file and prepare an accurate “File Introduction”, which includes a precis of the background and evidence. This is an internal document.

Investigate the financial position of the vulnerable client to establish whether he/she is eligible for public funding or has the means to fund the litigation from their own funds. Communicate with the DWP, the parties, the family and deputies and attorneys to obtain evidence of the finances.

Apply the legal aid regulations to calculate whether the person is entitled to means tested legal aid and raise issues regarding security for costs.

Correspond with the court and the parties to provide updates on the Official Solicitor’s enquiries and/or issues regarding funding, in advance of upcoming hearings. Find out details of future hearings to keep our records up to date.

Send the files for allocation to the team leader in advance of the hearing date.

Maintain an accurate Excel spreadsheet of progress on cases, complete “work returns” and report where cases are delayed.

Answer general telephone enquiries to the team.

Periodically, you will manage the incoming new cases via the team Inbox and allocate the new work amongst the pre-acceptance team. You may also be required to open new files on the case management system.

Competences

The Competences you will need to demonstrate for this role are as follows :

Delivering at Pace

• Remain positive and focused on achieving outcomes despite setbacks
• Be interested and positive about what they and the team are trying to achieve.
• Work in an organised manner using own knowledge and expertise to deliver on time and to standard.
• Set and achieve challenging goals and monitor quality
  

 Making Effective Decisions

• Demonstrate accountability and make unbiased decisions.
• Provide advice and feedback to support others to make accurate decisions.
• Identify a range of relevant and credible information sources and recognise the need to collect new data where necessary from internal and external sources.
  

Seeing the Bigger Picture

• Develop understanding of how own and team’s work supports achievement of Departmental priorities and delivery to citizen
• Take an active interest in expanding their knowledge of areas related to own role.
• Keep up to date with a broad set of issues relating to the work of the department

Building Capability for All

• Proactively support the development plans of others
• Encourage and be open to developmental feedback from others
• Take responsibility for the quality of own work and seeking opportunities for improvement through continuous learning.

Collaborating and Partnering

• Proactively seek information, resources and support from others outside own immediate team in order to help achieve results
• Change ways of working to facilitate collaboration for the benefit of the team’s work
• Readily identify opportunities to share knowledge, information and learning and make progress by working with colleagues

Leading and Communicating

• Confidently handle challenging conversations or interviews.
• Listen to, understand, respect and accept the value of different views, ideas and ways of working.
• Display enthusiasm around goals and activities – adopting a positive approach when interacting with others