Section 10: Independent Reviewing Officers
61.Section 10 replaces section 26(2)(k) and (2A) to (2D) of the 1989 Act with new sections 25A to 25C that set out:
requirements regarding the appointment of an Independent Reviewing Officer (“IRO”) for each looked after child;
the IRO’s functions; and
an associated provision enabling the functions of CAFCASS officers and Welsh family proceedings officers to be extended.
62.Sections 25A(1) to (3) have the effect that when a child first becomes looked after, a named individual must be appointed by the local authority as the IRO for the child. The appointment must be made before the child’s case is first reviewed (i.e. within four weeks of the date on which the child begins to be looked after) and the local authority must appoint another IRO if a vacancy should arise. The intention is that each looked after child should have a named IRO, to provide continuity in the oversight of the case and to enable the IRO to develop a relationship with the child.
63.Section 25A(4) replaces the power of the appropriate national authority to require, by regulation, the IRO to be of a prescribed description.
64.Section 25B(1) set out the functions of the IRO which replaces section 26(2A) of the 1989 Act, adding the following new functions:
Section 25B(1)(a) introduces a duty on the IRO to monitor the local authority’s performance of its functions in relation to the child’s case. This duty will extend the IRO’s existing monitoring role which is currently confined to the authority’s functions in respect of the review;
Section 25B(1)(c)introduces a requirement for the IRO to ensure that the local authority give due consideration to any views expressed by the child, which is intended to reinforce the local authority’s duty under section 22(4) and (5) of the 1989 Act to ascertain and give due consideration to the wishes and feelings of the child when making any decision with respect to the child.
65.Section 25B(2) replaces the regulation making power in section 26(2)(k) of the 1989 Act, enabling the appropriate national authority to prescribe the manner in which the IRO functions are to be performed. In addition, it gives a new power to the appropriate national authority to issue guidance to which IROs must have regard in relation to the discharge of their functions. Section 25B(4)imposes a new duty on the local authority to cooperate with the IRO and take all reasonable steps to enable the IRO to perform his functions.
66.Sections 25B(3)and 25C(1) and (2) replace section 26(2A)(c) and (2C) which relate to the IRO’s existing function of referring the child’s case to an officer of CAFCASS or the equivalent in Wales, if he considers it appropriate to do so. The original provisions were inserted in the 1989 Act by the Adoption and Children Act 2002 in response to a House of Lords judgment in the conjoined appeals of Re S and Re W [2002] UKHL 10, [2002] 2 AC 291 (previously known as Re W, W and B) which concerned the respective roles of the courts and local authorities in care planning. The judgement concluded that the courts have no general power to monitor the discharge of the local authority’s functions but that a local authority that failed in its duties to a child could be challenged under the Human Rights Act 1998. However the judgement also expressed concern that some children with no adult to act on their behalf may not have any effective means to initiate such a challenge. The IRO’s power to refer the child’s case to a CAFCASS officer provides a remedy for this problem.
67.The intention is that these changes to the statutory framework will enable the IRO to have a more effective independent oversight of the child’s case and ensure that the child’s interests are protected.
