Athena Social Work Services can carry out end-to-end Care Act assessments and support planning and all ancillary tasks such as capacity assessments, DOLS, safeguards and risk assessments.  Athena Social Work Services has a proven assessment process which is evidence based and holistic enabling individual wellbeing to be maximised while ensuring support packages are cost efficient making full use of informal networks and universal provision.

Workflow Management – Athena Social Work Services has supported a London borough to complete a back log of 300 Tier 2 Children Reviews on time and to a set cost. Safeguards were raised and packages adjusted as required. Athena Social Work Services has now been commissioned to provide ongoing support and we are now in our third year of supporting the local authority.

Transition Cases – Athena Social Work Services is supporting a local authority to carry out transition planning for children from the age of 14. This ensures no child is lost during the transition process. This has resulted in children who were placed nationally in residential educational establishments being brought back into borough often at a reduced cost. It has also allowed the council to plan and develop the local care market 5+ years in advance.

Direct Payments – Athena Social Work Services is currently completing 250 Direct Payment Reviews for a council. To date its workers have identified cases of fraud, non-compliance with the DP agreement and ensured that assessed client contributions are being paid where they were not. To date this has achieved £125,000 in savings, £91,000 of which will be recurring savings for the council.

Project Work – Athena Social Work Services was commissioned to review a 16-bed wheelchair accessible sheltered housing scheme and provide an options report to a council. The report findings were accepted and implemented in full by the council. In addition, due to concerns identified through the assessment process Athena Social Work Services raised concerns with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) regarding two tenants. Following investigation by the OPG the PoA held by family members was withdrawn and one adult with care and support needs regained legal entitlement to a share of a family property.

COVID-19 - Athena Social Work Services was able to provide additional social work support to a London borough during the crisis which included ongoing welfare calls on over 500 vulnerable adults. Each vulnerable adult was screened, risk rated tracked and supported throughout the pandemic.

Mental Capacity Assessments – Athena Social Work Services provides independent assessments of an individual’s mental capacity. This can be in relation to managing finances, making a Will, entering into litigation, and can assist in the completion of paperwork regarding Court of Protection applications (COP3).