3 March 1988

Dear Sir/Madam

MENTAL HEALTH (SCOTLAND) ACT 1984

MENTAL HEALTH OFFICERS - DIRECTIONS BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE

Summary

1. The purpose of the Circular is to provide local authorities with further directions which the Secretary of State has found it necessary to make in respect of the appointment of mental health officers under section 9(1) of the 1984 Act.

Background

2. Circular SW9/1986 of 19 December 1986 conveyed directions which revoked those set out in Circular SW2/1985 on 29 March 1985. This change was necessary because of the difficulties which had arisen for authorities in appointing a sufficient number of persons with the appropriate training to act as mental health officers by the due date of 31 March 1987 mentioned in the original directions.

3. Paragraph 13 of SW9/1986 intimated the Secretary of State’s intention to make additional directions to cover the position of persons appointed after 31 March 1988. The opportunity is being taken at the same time to recast the directions in a form which is unlikely to require any further amendment in the future. This Circular accordingly conveys to authorities the new directions recast so as to provide a comprehensive statement of the Secretary of State’s requirements in relation to persons appointed before and on or after 1 April 1988 respectively. It also summarises their practical effect and repeats a number of matters dealt with in the previous Circular, which is now cancelled.

4. The Department’s monitoring of progress made by authorities in the training of mental health officers since the issue of circular SW9/1986 and of their timetable for the completion of further training arrangements suggests that good progress has been made but that numbers of mental health officers which authorities expect to have appointed by 31 March 1988 are likely to fall somewhat short of the original targets in most areas, and substantially short in some. The Secretary of State is anxious, if at all possible, to avoid any alteration of the revised timetable indicated in SW9/1986 for the completion of raining and demonstration of competence by mental health officers appointed before 1 April 1986 and in the period since then. He recognises, however, that it will only be possible to maintain 31 March 1988 as the general deadline for the completion of these requirements if certain exceptions are built in to the arrangements.

Purpose and effect of new directions

5. Having regard to all the circumstances, the Secretary of State has therefore decided to confirm 31 March 1988 as the cut-off data after which it will not be possible for local authorities to make appointments of persons who have not completed the approved training programme referred to in the directions. Before appointing persons to act as mental health officers on or after 1 April 1988, local authorities will require to ensure that such training has been completed and competence shown.

6. The practical effect in relation to different appointment dates is as follows:

a. persons appointed before 1 April 1986 who were the subject of paragraph 3 of the December 1986 directions are still required to have completed training and demonstrated competency by 31 March 1988 as in the previous directions. An exception is however allowed where the local authority, seeing that this will not be possible in the time remaining before that date, re-appoints them on a temporary basis as from 1 April 1988;

b. persons appointed on or after 1 April 1986 remain subject to the provisions originally forming paragraph 1 of the December 1986 directions. As explained in paragraph 9 of SW9/1986 they are not formally required to carry out training or demonstrate competence. This is because of the difficulty of imposing new requirements on persons who had already been appointed when the December 1986 directions were made. Paragraph 2 of the previous directions indicated the desirability of these persons meeting the full requirements and this remains the position;

c. persons re-appointed on a temporary basis under a. above may be further appointed as mental health officers on a substantive basis under the same conditions as those newly appointed on or after 1 April 1988.

Detailed Provisions

7. The directions are framed so as to cover mental health officer appointments made before and on/after 1 April 1986 in 2 separate paragraphs in accordance with the separate powers of direction contained in sections 9(4) and 9(3) of the 1984 Act respectively.

8. Direction 1 deals with appointments made on/after 1 April 1986 and applies equally to persons appointed after 1 April 1988. It indicates the requirements relating to the qualifications, experience, training and competence on which a local authority must be satisfied before appointing a mental health officer. The provision in the last five lines of the direction maintains the flexibility included in the previous directions and thus enables a local authority to appoint a mental health officer between 1 April 1986 and 31 March 1988 who does not meet the full requirements of the directions on training at the outset so long as the authority has regard to the desirability of the person completing such training in due course: there is nothing in the directions which would cause such appointments to lapse automatically

where the persons convened have not fulfilled these requirements by a given date. Authorities will therefore need to consider other means of achieving these objectives a quickly as they can in the prevailing circumstances.

9. Direction 2 states that mental health officers appointed before 1 April 1986 have to met the full requirements, experience, training and competence by 31 March 1988 if their appointments are to continue. There is a proviso, however, to take account of the position of persons who may yet have to complete a training course and/or demonstrate competence: in such cases the local authority has the opportunity of making a temporary re-appointment pending the completion of an approved training programme and the local authority satisfying itself on the question of competence. The proviso at the end of paragraph 8 does not apply to officers who are re-appointed for this purpose: authorities will need to consider carefully the basis of any such re-appointments so as to ensure that substantive appointments are made once again as soon as possible.

Further Arrangements

10. A number of matters came to the Secretary of State’s attention during the preparation of the legislation resulting in the 1984 Act and subsequently which he concluded should not be made the subject of formal directions. He felt these should nevertheless be considered by local authorities in the exercise of their own discretion having regard to the way in which mental health services are organised within their respective areas. These were mentioned in paragraph 11 of SW9/1986 and are as follows:

i. the need to appoint a sufficient number of mental health officers according to the geographical characteristics, population densities and patterns in practice in different areas, the way in which mental health services are organised locally and the fact that mental health officers should be readily accessible both in and out of duty hours;

ii. the desirability for periodic reviews of the number of mental health officers to take account of changes in the services, patterns of practice, and experience gained in applying the 1984 legislation;

iii. the importance of developing the skills of mental health officers so that they will be able to apply the requirements of the legislation as effectively as possible and contribute positively to services in the wider field of provision for the mentally disordered.

11. More generally, the Secretary of State is anxious that all agencies concerned should bear in the mind the need to ensure close co-operation among statutory and voluntary organisations in order to achieve the most effective service for people suffering mental disorder and for their relatives and carers.

Summary

12. The new directions represent an extension with amendments, of those made in December 1986. Their effect (retrospective and prospective) in chronological sequence of appointments is as follows:

a. for mental health officers appointed before 1 April 1986 -

i. an immediate requirement that they should comply with direction 2a and 2b (on qualifications and experience); and either

ii(a) a requirement that by 31 March 1988 they should have completed the approved training programme and demonstrated requisite competence; or (where this is not possible in the time available),

ii(b) a requirement to comply with the directions on training and competence at a later date at which point they could be re-appointed on a substantive basis and any temporary appointment made in terms of the proviso to direction 2 could be terminated.

b. for mental health officers appointed on or after 1 April 1986 but before 1 April 1988 -

an immediate requirement to comply with directions 1a and 1b (on qualifications and experience), and a need (subject to the decision of the local authority in accordance with the proviso to the direction as a whole) for completion of training and demonstration of competence;

c. for mental health officers appointed on or after 1 April 1988 -

an immediate requirement that they should meet the full criteria on qualifications, experience, training and competence contained in directions 1a to 1d.

13. Further copies of this Circular may be obtained from Mr F Stewart, Social Work Services Group, Room 52, James Craig Walk, Edinburgh EH1 3BA

(telephone 0131 244 5460).

14. Please note that this Circular is being extensively revised.

Yours faithfully

GAVIN ANDERSON

Annex to Circular SWSG5/88

MENTAL HEALTH (SCOTLAND) ACT 1984

APPOINTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH OFFICERS

Directions by the Secretary of State

1. In exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 9(3) of the 1984 Act the Secretary of State hereby directs that the qualifications, experience and competence required of persons in order that they may be appointed or re-appointed to act as mental health officers on or after 1 April 1986 shall be as follows:

a. the person shall hold the Certificate of Qualification in Social Work or a qualification recognised as equivalent by the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work;

b. the person shall have completed a minimum of 2 years’ experience as a social worker after obtaining such qualification. Except in cases where abnormal circumstances make it impossible this experience shall include social work with people suffering mental disorder;

c. the person shall have completed either -

i. a training programme approved by the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work in relation to the requirements of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984; or

ii. a training programme which is accepted by the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work as broadly comparable with a programme approved by the Council under sub-paragraph c.i. above but which commenced prior to the giving of any such approval;

d. the person shall have demonstrated to the satisfaction of the local authority concerned -

i. a proper understanding of mental disorder and of the roles and functions of those with responsibilities for mental health services;

ii. the capacity to apply knowledge and skills in social work in order to identify needs and to plan, implement and evaluate work with those suffering from mental disorder;

provided that sub-paragraph c. above shall not apply in respect of any person appointed to act as a mental health officer on or after 1 April 1986 and before 1 April 1988 but the local authority shall have regard to the desirability of the person completing such a training programme as is mentioned in that paragraph.

2. In exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 9(4) of the 1984 Act the Secretary of State directs that the qualifications, experience and competence required of persons appointed to act as mental health officers before 1 April 1986 and continuing so to act after that date shall be as follows:

(a) the person shall hold the Certificate of Qualification in Social Work or a qualification recognised as equivalent by the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work;

(b) the person shall have completed a minimum of 2 years’ experience as a social worker after obtaining such qualification. Except in cases where abnormal circumstances make it impossible, this experience shall include social work with people suffering from mental disorder;

(c) the person shall, on or before 31 March 1988, have completed either -

i. a training programme approved by the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work in relation to the requirements of the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984; or

ii. a training programme which is accepted by the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work as broadly comparable with a programme approved by the Council under sub-paragraph i. above but which commenced prior to the giving of any such approval;

(d) the person shall, on or before 31 March 1988, have demonstrated to the satisfaction of the local authority concerned -

i. a proper understanding of mental disorder and of the roles and functions of those with responsibilities for mental health services;

ii. the capacity to apply knowledge and skills in social work in order to identify needs and to plan, implement and evaluate work with those suffering from mental disorder;

provided that sub-paragraphs (c) and (d) above shall not apply to a person who has been re-appointed before 1 April 1988 on a temporary basis pending completion of an approved training course as described in sub-paragraph (c) and the local authority being satisfied of the matters described in sub-paragraph (d).

3. In further exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 9(3) of the 1984 Act, the Secretary of State also directs that mental health officers moving from one employing authority in Scotland to another shall, in respect of their appointment as mental health officers by the new authority, satisfy the requirements for appointment specified in these directions. Approved social workers moving from other parts of the United Kingdom shall, in order to be appointed to act as mental health officers by a local authority in Scotland, undertake such additional training as the local authority considers necessary to enable them to meet fully the requirements of these directions.

4. These directions shall take effect from 3 March 1988.

5. The directions given by the Secretary of State on 19 December 1986 under section 9(3) and (4) of the 1984 Act are hereby revoked.

Social Work Services Group

43 Jeffrey Street

Edinburgh

3 March 1988