By 
Family law guide
Part of: Complaining About Social Services: How to Challenge Them
The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 sets out how Welsh councils must support and protect children and families. Its main parts came into force on 6 April 2016 (commencement order, art. 2). If a social worker is working with your child in Wales, this Act decides what help the council must offer.
Parents, relatives caring for a child and young people in or leaving care each meet the Act at a different point. It governs the well-being duty, needs assessments, care and support plans, safeguarding, looked-after children and complaints. If the council asks the family court for a care or supervision order, the judge still applies the Children Act 1989, so one family can be dealing with both Acts at once.
Key takeaways
- Anyone carrying out functions under the Act must seek to promote the well-being of people who need care and support (s.5). For a child, well-being includes their development and their welfare (s.2(3)).
- A council must assess a child who may need care and support beyond what the family gives. The level of need and the family’s money make no difference to that duty (s.21(1) and (3)).
- If the needs are eligible, or meeting them is necessary to protect the child from harm, the council must meet them (s.37). It must then keep a care and support plan (s.54).
- Care and supervision orders in Wales still come from the Children Act 1989. The judge applies the same significant harm test as in England (s.31(2)).
- You usually have 12 months to complain. At the formal stage, the council must send a written response within 25 working days of finalising the written record of your complaint (representations regulations, regs 13, 18 and 20).
Has a social worker asked to assess your child, or asked you to agree to a plan? You can book a free initial consultation with one of our family law specialists before the next meeting.
What is the Social Services and Well-being Act?
It is the Welsh law that governs social services for children, adults and carers. Councils in Wales use it to decide who needs care and support and what they must provide.
The Welsh Government names five principles behind the Social Services and Well-being Act (gov.wales). They are well-being, prevention, co-production, multi-agency working, and voice and control. In plain terms, social workers should ask what matters to your family and plan the answer with you. The Act has 11 parts, and six of them do most of the work for families.
| Part of the Act | What it covers for a family | Main sections |
|---|---|---|
| Part 2: General functions | The well-being duty, listening to the child and the family, preventative services, and information and advice | ss.5 to 7, 15 and 17 |
| Part 3: Assessing the needs of individuals | Needs assessments for a child, and for a carer of a disabled child or an adult | ss.21 and 24 |
| Part 4: Meeting needs | Eligibility, the duty to meet a child’s needs, family contact, and care and support plans | ss.32, 37, 39 and 54 |
| Part 6: Looked after and accommodated children | Accommodation, the council’s duties to a child in its care, contact with family, and support after care | ss.74 to 118 |
| Part 7: Safeguarding | The duty on partner agencies to report a child at risk | s.130 |
| Part 10: Complaints and advocacy | Complaints, concerns raised by or about a child, and help from an advocate | ss.171 to 181 |
What does well-being mean for a child?
For a child, well-being covers the same ground as for anyone, including physical and mental health, protection from abuse and neglect, education, family relationships and a suitable home (s.2(2)). It also includes the child’s physical, intellectual, emotional, social and behavioural development, and their welfare in the sense the Children Act 1989 uses (s.2(3)).
Section 5 turns that definition into a duty. Anyone working under the Act must seek to promote the well-being of people who need care and support. Section 6 then sets out how. Social workers must find out and consider a person’s views, wishes and feelings, as far as is reasonably practicable (s.6(2)). They must also take account of the person’s characteristics, culture and beliefs, including language.
Two further rules matter most to parents. First, social workers must have regard to the importance of a child growing up in their own family (s.6(4)(a)). That applies so far as it is consistent with the child’s well-being. Second, for a child under 16, they must find out the views of everyone with parental responsibility (s.6(4)(b)). They must then have regard to those views, where that is consistent with the child’s well-being and reasonably practicable. The Social Services and Well-being Act also requires due regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (s.7(2)).
How does a needs assessment for a child work?
The council must assess a child whenever it thinks the child may need care and support beyond what the family provides, whatever the level of need or the family’s money (s.21(1) and (3)). The assessment looks at the child’s developmental needs and the outcomes that the child and the people with parental responsibility want, and the council must involve all of them (s.21(4) and (5)).
The law presumes that a disabled child needs care and support (s.21(7)). How detailed the assessment is depends on what the council considers proportionate (s.21(6)). This duty does not cover a child the council already looks after (s.21(8)). Part 6 deals with those children instead.
Eligibility and the care and support plan
After the assessment, the council decides whether the needs meet the eligibility criteria. If they do not, it must still ask whether meeting them is necessary to protect the child from harm (s.32(1)). Where either applies, it must meet the needs, unless the family or a carer is already meeting them (s.37).
Meeting needs comes with a written care and support plan (s.54). The council must keep the plan under review and revise it if circumstances change. If you care for a disabled child, the council may also need to assess your own needs as a carer (s.24). Our child law specialists advise parents at each of these stages.
What happens if someone thinks a child is at risk?
Partner agencies such as the police, Local Health Boards, NHS trusts and youth offending teams must tell the council if they have reasonable cause to suspect a child is at risk (s.130). The council then makes enquiries under section 47 of the Children Act 1989 if it has reasonable cause to suspect the child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm (s.47(1)).
A child is at risk if they are experiencing, or are at risk of, abuse, neglect or other harm, and have needs for care and support (s.130(4)). Part 7 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 deals with safeguarding, and section 130 is its main rule for children. The investigation itself still runs under the 1989 Act, as section 130 says (s.130(6)). In Wales, those enquiries must also ask whether the council should use its powers under the 2014 Act (s.47(3)(a)(iv)).
Our guides to section 47 enquiries, a social services investigation and the child protection conference explain what usually happens next. Keep every letter and a dated note of what each person told you. If an enquiry leads to a plan, ask for a copy and check that it records your views.
Does the Children Act 1989 still apply in Wales?
Yes, for court orders and for child protection enquiries. Care and supervision orders in Wales come from section 31 of the 1989 Act (s.31). The judge asks whether the child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm (s.31(2)). The harm must come from care that is not what it would be reasonable to expect a parent to give, or from the child being beyond parental control.
What changed in 2016 was the everyday support councils give. Part 3 of the 1989 Act now covers support from councils in England (Part 3 heading, from 6 April 2016). That part includes section 17 on children in need and section 20 on accommodation. In Wales, the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 does those jobs instead. Our guides to interim and final care orders and the supervision order explain the court side.
When the council offers to accommodate your child
A child may need a place to live if their carer cannot look after them, or if nobody has parental responsibility. In Wales, the council then provides accommodation under section 76 (s.76(1)). A person with parental responsibility can object (s.76(4)). If they are willing and able to provide or arrange accommodation, the council may not use section 76. That person may also remove the child at any time (s.76(5)).
These rules do not apply while a child aged 16 or over agrees to the accommodation (s.76(8)). They also do not apply while a special guardian, or a person a child arrangements order says the child lives with, agrees (s.76(6)). None of this applies once a court has made a care order. The council then shares parental responsibility and can limit how a parent uses theirs (Children Act 1989, s.33(3)). Our guide to section 20 and voluntary accommodation covers the English version. If the council moves towards court, our guide to the pre-proceedings letter explains that stage.
What does Part 6 say about looked-after children and life after care?
Part 6 requires a council looking after a child to safeguard and promote the child’s well-being, including their education, and to promote contact with family and friends where that is practicable and consistent with the child’s well-being (s.78 and s.95(1)). Support can also continue after a young person leaves care, in some cases until 25 (s.104).
Every looked-after child must have a care and support plan (s.83). For most children, the plan includes a personal education plan. Before any decision, the council must consider the views of people it thinks relevant (s.78(3)). It must also consider the child’s religion, racial origin, culture and language. As far as is reasonably practicable, it must keep parents informed of where the child is living (s.95(2)).
Section 104 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 sets out six categories of young people who qualify for that support, depending on age and time in care. A young person in category 4 who is in, or wants to start, education or training can keep support until 25 (s.104(2)).
If you are a relative or friend caring for a child, check early how the council sees the arrangement. Is the child looked after and placed with you, or living with you privately? The answer changes the support you can ask for. Our guides to kinship care and special guardianship orders explain the options. Special guardians can also raise concerns about support through the council’s procedure for children (s.174(4)).
How do complaints and advocacy work in Wales?
Complaints about how the council deals with a child go through a two-stage representations procedure, an offer to talk it through and then a formal investigation, and you usually have 12 months from the matter, or from when you learned of it (reg 13). Children can also raise concerns themselves, and the council must arrange help for them (s.178).
If you accept the offer to talk, the discussion must usually take place within 10 working days of the council’s acknowledgement (reg 17(3) and (4)). The clock starts later if you asked for an advocate. At the formal stage, the council writes up your complaint and asks you to check it is accurate (reg 18(2)). It must then send a written response within 25 working days of finalising that record (reg 20(1) and (2)). The response must explain your right to complain to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales. Our guide on complaining about social services covers how to put a complaint together.
Help for a child who wants to raise a concern
A looked-after child, or a child who may need care and support, can raise concerns directly (s.174(3)). A parent, anyone with parental responsibility or a foster parent can do the same. So can anyone else the council accepts has a sufficient interest in the child’s welfare.
The help the council arranges must include someone to speak for the child (s.178(3)). Section 181 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 lets regulations require wider advocacy services too (s.181).
We advised a grandmother who took in her two grandchildren when a social worker asked her to help. Months later, she still did not know if the council was looking after the children. She had also had no assessment and no support. We suggested she put three questions to the council in writing. What was the children’s legal status? Had anyone assessed their needs? What plan was in place? The council confirmed the position in writing and began an assessment of the children’s needs. She then had the facts she needed to decide whether to apply for an order of her own. What happens in any case turns on its own facts.
Social Services and Well-being Act check: which part applies to your family?
Three answers show which part of the Act is most likely to apply next. You will also see a common mistake at that stage. Nothing you choose leaves this page.
0 of 3 answered
Answer all three to see which part of the Act applies
- What the council must doThe duty that applies at this stage.
- A common mistake hereWhere people in your position often slip.
- Your next stepWhat to do before the next meeting.
The call this check cannot make Whether the council has got it right.
Expert Tip
Ask for every assessment and plan in writing. Read the part that records your views before you agree to anything. For a child under 16, the council must find out the views of everyone with parental responsibility. If yours are missing or wrong, say so in writing and keep a copy. After each meeting, send a short email setting out what you understood the meeting agreed. That note is often the most useful record you will have if the case later reaches court.
Hannah Overton, Complex Children Specialist & Client Support
Social Services and Well-being Act: frequently asked questions
What are the five principles of the Act?
The Welsh Government lists them as well-being, prevention, co-production, multi-agency working, and voice and control (gov.wales). Together they describe early help, decisions made with the people they affect, and agencies working together.
When did the Social Services and Well-being Act come into force?
Its main provisions came into force on 6 April 2016 (commencement order, art. 2). From that date, Part 3 of the Children Act 1989 has covered support from councils in England. In Wales, the 2014 Act took over that role.
Can I stop the council accommodating my child?
Usually, yes, if the council is accommodating your child under section 76, you have parental responsibility and you can provide or arrange somewhere for your child to live (s.76(4)). You can also remove your child at any time (s.76(5)). That changes if your child is 16 or over and agrees to stay, or if a special guardian, or a person a child arrangements order says your child lives with, agrees (s.76(6) and (8)). These rights do not apply under a care order, because the council then shares parental responsibility (Children Act 1989, s.33(3)).
Can a child complain about social services themselves?
Yes. A looked-after child, or a child who may need care and support, can raise concerns with the council directly (s.174(3)(a)). The council must arrange help for them, including someone to speak for them (s.178).
Does the Act apply to adults as well?
Yes. The well-being duty also covers adults who need care and support, and carers who need support (s.5). The Act has separate safeguarding rules for adults at risk (ss.126 to 128). This guide focuses on the parts that matter most for children and families.
Social services assessing your child? Get advice before the next meeting
A parent agrees to a plan at an early meeting, and nobody writes down their views. Months later, if the case reaches court, the council's records may be the main account of what happened. The Social Services and Well-being Act requires the council to find out your views if you have parental responsibility for a child under 16. You can ask to see the record of them.
A free initial consultation is a conversation with a specialist. They give you initial advice tailored to your circumstances, including what to ask the council for before the next meeting. It does not include drafting or reviewing documents.
Book a free initial consultation or call 0330 094 5880.
You can also read our guide to kinship care, or return to our child lawyer page.
General information about the law that applies in Wales, not advice on your circumstances.
