National advocacy standards

1.1 Children and young people are in control of their relationship with an advocate. They are in charge of whether they get help from an advocate.

1.2 Children and young people should be informed of their right to an advocate – this information should be clear and there should be regular reminders.

1.3 Children and young people should have enough time, space and information to decide for themselves whether they want help from an advocate. They should be able to contact an advocacy service and ask for help themselves, if they want to do this (rather than, for example, having to ask a social worker or other adult to contact the service for them).

1.4 Advocates should make time to build a good relationship with the child or young person they are helping.

1.5 Advocates work to the instructions of the child or young person, with just two exceptions:

• When a child or young person’s rights are being protected through non-instructed advocacy.
• When the advocacy service has to take action to stop a child or young person, or a group of children and young people, suffering serious harm/abuse.

Advocates don’t push their own opinions and views. They don’t assume what a child or young person needs or wants. Their job is to give power to the child or young person’s views, wishes and feelings and to press for their rights to be respected.

1.6 Advocates are clear about what a child or young person wants to stop, start or change. They give the child or young person relevant information about their rights, and use words and language that the child or young person understands.

1.7 It is recommended that advocates and children and young people make an agreement about what the advocate is trying to help the child or young person stop, start or change (their advocacy goals). This agreement can be made by speaking, or it can be put into writing.

1.8 Where someone contacts an advocacy service on behalf of a child or young person, but the child or young person doesn’t know this, the advocacy service can ask them to inform the child or young person first. This is so the child or young person can make their own decision about receiving help from an advocate (or not). However, in situations where a child or young person seems to need an advocate urgently, the advocacy service will make contact with them, to avoid any delays.

1.9 Advocacy services have arrangements in place to make sure help is given quickly when this is necessary.

1.10 Everyone whose job includes letting children and young people know about advocacy should check regularly that the child or young person knows about their right to help from an advocate.

1.11 Children and young people should be promised that they will not be punished or treated negatively because they have an advocate helping them.

1.12 If a child is unable to give instructions to an advocate, then non-instructed advocacy is arranged for them.

1.13 If a child or young person has said in the past they didn’t want or need help from an advocate, they should still receive regular reminders of their right to advocacy.

1.14 As a general rule, advocates should attend meetings about a child or young person only when that child or young person has given them permission to attend. Advocates help children and young people get across their views, wishes and feelings in meetings.

1.15 As a general rule, advocates are completely open with children and young people about the information they have about them, and what they are doing to try and help the child or young person. Nothing should be hidden from the child or young person. There are two situations where this might not happen – when a child or young person is receiving non-instructed advocacy, and when an advocacy service is taking action to protect a child or young person, or groups of children and young people.

1.16 As a general rule, children and young people are able to choose who their advocate is. Once a child or young person and an advocate are working together, the advocacy service does its best to protect that relationship, unless the child or young person asks for a change.

1.17 Where an advocacy service is moving to a different organisation, everyone should do their best to minimise disruption for children and young people who already have an advocate.

2.1 Advocacy services regularly ask children and young people for their views on the service.

Children and young people help to run the service in different ways, including:

• Helping to choose staff.
• Helping new staff learn about their job and the service.
• Through being a member of a management group, or an advisory group.
• Helping to monitor and judge the service.
• Helping to promote the service through leaflets, posters and websites for example.

Advocacy services let children and young people know how their advice and help has been taken into account, and how it has improved the service.

Training and support are available for children and young people who are helping to improve the advocacy service. Children and young people from all different backgrounds and circumstances are able to help to improve the service. The help children and young people give is recognised through payment or other rewards.

2.2 Advocacy services have systems in place to make sure that children and young people’s views and feedback about the service lead to improvements. This also applies when a child or young person has made a complaint about the service.

2.3 Advocacy services support children and young people to help run training and other events about advocacy.

3.1 Advocacy services start with the belief that every child and young person can communicate their views, wishes and feelings. However, when this is not possible, the child or young person has the right to receive non-instructed advocacy.

3.2 Non-instructed advocacy is about a child or young person’s rights, views, wishes and feelings. The advocate does not work for anyone else in the child or young person’s life.

3.3 Advocacy services should have at least one advocate who is trained to provide non-instructed advocacy.

3.4 Particular attention is given to the needs of disabled children and young people, including those who are very young and those who have lots of different needs.

3.5 Everyone understands that there may be times when a child or young person can give instructions, and times when they cannot. This means that decisions about non-instructed advocacy are not linked to a person’s age but to their situation at a particular time.

3.6 As a general rule, advocates meet and spend time with a child or young person for whom they are providing non-instructed advocacy. Advocates try to take instructions from a child or young person; they only provide non-instructed advocacy when it is not possible for the child or young person to give instructions.

3.7 Advocates spot which rights are relevant in which situation, and then they do their best to make sure these rights are respected for the child or young person.

3.8 When a child or young person is definitely unable at a particular time to give instructions, and the advocate thinks they need non-instructed advocacy, as a general rule, the advocate should write down their reasons for providing non-instructed advocacy.

3.9 Advocates who provide non-instructed advocacy have the training and support they need to get to know a child or young person well, and to work out which of their rights need protecting.

3.10 Adults in a child or young person’s life are given information about non-instructed advocacy. There are systems in place for permission to be given for a child or young person to receive non-instructed advocacy without delay. This permission could be given by a parent, or a social worker, or a manager for example.

3.11 Advocates are able to obtain information about a child or young person to help them protect their rights.

3.12 Where it is not possible for a child or young person to take part in a meeting about their life, their advocate who is providing non-instructed advocacy can attend for them.

3.13 [There is a little mistake in the government document; this section repeats the words in 3.11].

3.14 Advocacy services ensure that children and young people who are receiving non-instructed advocacy can get help from lawyers when this is necessary.

3.15 When a child or young person is unable to instruct a solicitor, advocacy services know how to contact the Official Solicitor. This is an organisation that takes legal action on behalf of children and adults who cannot give instructions to lawyers.

Advocacy services support advocates to act as litigation friends for children and young people when they have a relationship, and there is no-one else to do this. A litigation friend is a person appointed by a court to make decisions for a child or young person about a court case.

4.1 Organisations that are not advocacy services make sure that their staff understand what advocates do, and how they are different from other adults that work with and for children and young people. The importance of advocacy is understood. All adults that work with and for children and young people should know how to contact advocacy services. They should encourage children and young people to ask for help from an advocacy service as soon as they feel like their views, wishes and feelings are not being taken seriously, or their other rights are under threat.

4.2 Advocates use all different ways to find out children and young people’s views, wishes and feelings.

4.3 Advocates respect and support children and young people to communicate in ways that are best for them. They help children and young people to speak up for themselves.

4.4 As a general rule, when advocates attend a meeting on behalf of a child or young person they make a written note of what was decided about the thing or things the child or young person wants to stop, start or change. Advocates also try to make sure other adults in the child or young person’s life give information about decisions that have been made.

4.5 Interpreting services are available to children and young people – either as part of the service, or through the service having funds to pay for an interpreter when a child or young person needs one.

4.6 Advocates help children and young people decide how their views, wishes and feelings are going to be communicated. This could be through, for example, the child or young person speaking and the advocate backing them up. Or it could be the advocate speaking for the child or young person. It could also be a mix of both the child or young person and the advocate speaking.

4.7 As a general rule, the advocacy service publicises the changes it has helped bring about. It does this without sharing private information about children and young people.

4.8 Advocates understand the importance of, and are confident using, complaints procedures to try and protect the rights of children and young people. This includes complaints procedures run by organisations like the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, which looks at complaints relating to education and social care.

4.9 Advocacy services have systems in place to help children and young people obtain help from a lawyer when this is necessary.

4.10 Advocacy services have links with a good range of solicitors, whose work covers different rights and situations.

4.11 Advocacy services publish easy-to-understand information about the rights of children and young people. They also let children and young people know where they can get information about their rights.

5.1 The recruitment and training of advocates should make sure advocates can do their job well.

5.2 Advocacy services should have systems in place that keeps away people who would harm children and young people. These systems include:

• Checking whether people who want to be advocates have committed offences that would make them unsafe around children or young people.
• Checking what people who want to be advocates have said online, to make sure they have the right attitudes for this kind of work.
• Carefully checking previous work histories.
• Having a period of time after a person starts being an advocate to check that they are right for the job.

5.3 Advocates have written descriptions of what their job involves, and what their responsibilities are. When they first join the advocacy service, they have a well-organised introduction to the service and to their job.

5.4 Advocates have managers who have the experience and training necessary for advocacy services.

5.5 Advocacy services arrange training for advocates. This could include training around:

• Following children and young people’s instructions;
• Carrying out non-instructed advocacy;
• Understanding the different needs of children and young people;
• Recognising when children and young people need help with their mental health;
• Ways of helping children and young people to speak out for themselves;
• Including everyone and being committed to the equal rights and dignity of every child and young person;
• All the different rights that children and young people have, how these rights can be protected and the ways in which children and young people can be compensated when their rights have been broken;
• Respecting confidentiality, as well as understanding when information needs to be shared in order to protect children and young people;
• Recognising and knowing what to do when there are safeguarding / abuse concerns;
• Helping children and young people obtain help and support from other professionals;
• Promoting fairness and challenging discrimination;
• Respecting children and young people’s privacy.

5.6 Advocacy services keep records of the training received by advocates, as well as the help and support advocates receive from their managers.

5.7 Volunteers and trainee advocates only carry out work that matches their knowledge, skills and experience. When a child or young person has a right in law to receive advocacy, volunteers and trainee advocates can help, but they cannot do the job of an employed, experienced advocate.

5.8 Advocates are encouraged to join different support groups.

6.1 Advocacy services try their best to recruit advocates from all different backgrounds.

6.2 Advocates have the funds and training they need to help all different children and young people, including very young children and those receiving non-instructed advocacy.

6.3 Advocacy services check that children and young people who have the right to use their service are receiving this help. If they are not, then the advocacy service does its best to make sure these children and young people can use the service.

6.4 Advocacy services get information out to as many different children and young people about the help that’s available from the service. Advocacy services can publicise their help through, for example, videos, podcasts, Makaton and using different languages.

6.5 No child or young person is stopped from using the service because of unfair treatment connected to disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. (These are the protected characteristics in a law called the Equality Act 2010. A person with any of these characteristics is protected from discrimination).

An example of protection from unfair treatment is the advocacy service visiting children and young people in a place that they choose when they are unable to visit the advocacy service’s office.

6.6 When advocacy services ask for feedback and help from children and young people about improving the service, they try their best to connect with lots of different children and young people, including those who have learning difficulties.

7.1 Advocacy services are very well-publicised, including online (though the online part doesn’t apply to places where children and young people are locked up). Publicity materials should be suitable for all different children and young people.

7.2 Systems are in place to make sure that children and young people who don’t live in their home local authority can still have an advocate.

7.3 As a general rule, children and young people who live in places like children’s homes, residential special schools and supported accommodation should not have the same advocate. This is to make sure everyone’s advocate acts just for them, and that children and young people know the help they receive is confidential.

7.4 Before a child or young person receives help from an advocate, they are informed about the advocacy service’s approach to confidentiality. This information is given in a clear, understandable way.

7.5 Advocacy services have systems in place to give help quickly. When a child or young person needs help, they should be first contacted by the service within 1-3 days (24-72 hours). If the matter is urgent, the child or young person should be contacted within 2 days (48 hours).

7.6 If an advocacy service cannot give urgent help when this is needed, the service must do its best to make sure the child or young person receives help from elsewhere.

7.7 As a general rule, advocacy services operate in places that are inviting, convenient, safe and private for children and young people. If advocacy help is given online, care should be taken to make sure the child or young person has the space and privacy to express themselves freely.

If a child or young person cannot travel to the advocacy service, advocates do their best to arrange comfortable and private places to meet elsewhere.

7.8 As a general rule, advocacy services have opening times that work well for children and young people. When there is no-one in the office, the service has a 24-hour contact point – such as text messaging or voicemail or online information which lets children and young people know where else they can get help, and how long they might have to wait for someone to get back to them.

7.9 Those that arrange for advocacy services to be available for children and young people, and the advocacy services themselves, strongly encourage everyone that comes into contact with children and young people to:

• Inform them about the advocacy service;
• Encourage them to use the advocacy service; and
• Help them to contact the advocacy service.

7.10 Those that arrange for advocacy services to be available for children and young people make sure that adults who are required by law to let children and young people know about advocacy actually do this. This includes, for example, those who handle complaints in children’s social care, and independent reviewing officers.

Adults who work in children’s services are told about the rights of children and young people’s have help from an advocate – when they first start working in a place, when they discuss their work with their managers, and when they go on training.

Written agreements about advocacy services match what the law says about children and young people receiving help from an advocate.

7.11 Advocacy services have clear confidentiality rules which are understood by lots of different people, including children and young people who use the service, those who work in the advocacy service, and others who work in children’s services.

7.12 The advocacy service’s confidentiality policy is discussed with a child or young person right at the very start – before they explain why they have come to the service. A summary of the policy, written in a clear way, is given to the child or young person.

7.13 Advocates keep confidential records of the work they do for a child or young person. The child or young person can see this record at any time. The information is stored in a secure place.

7.14 No information about a child or young person is shared by an advocate or the advocacy service without the child or young person’s permission, unless there are serious concerns about their safety or abuse. Even when there are concerns about a child or young person’s safety or abuse, only relevant information can be shared.

7.15 The confidentiality a child or young person has with their advocate also applies to the advocacy service generally. Advocates can discuss things with their manager if there are difficult confidential matters that need to be sorted.

7.16 Advocacy services are, as much as possible, funded and managed in a way that allows them to operate completely separate from other services. This is so children and young people have confidence that their advocates act for them and not the other services.

7.17 Advocates are trained to show in their behaviour how they are separate from other services. They should feel comfortable and have the confidence to challenge professionals when this is necessary.

7.18 Advocacy services write an ‘independence statement’ which explains how it is separate from other services. The statement is clearly written so that everyone can understand it.

7.19 Those that arrange for advocacy services to be available for children and young people respect that these services are separate from everything else. They do not interfere in how the advocacy service is run. If there are problems with how the service is running, these are sorted without weaking the independence of the advocacy service.

7.20 Those that arrange for advocacy services to be available for children and young people promote the use of complaints procedures and children and young people receiving help from a lawyer.

7.21 As far as possible, advocacy services have their own private space. Advocates do not usually share office space with other services and adults involved in the child or young person’s life. Advocates ID cards and materials about the service show that they are completely separate from other services.

7.22 Advocacy services understand the risks of advocates building relationships with people and places they visit often. They help advocates to keep their independence, and to show to children and young people that they are keeping their independence.

7.23 Advocacy services don’t use money that comes from the council or another public organisation (like the government) to try and influence the work of government or the Houses of Parliament in London. They don’t use their funds to try and influence the law or the work of bodies like Ofsted or the Care Quality Commission that inspect places where children live, and they don’t use their funds try and receive more money for the advocacy service.

8.1 Advocacy services make it easy for children and young people to say if they have concerns about the service. They have information for children and young people on what to do if they are not happy with the advocacy service. This information is sent to lots of different places and is available online too.

8.2 The advocacy service’s complaints procedure has agreed timescales that must be followed. It has a quick and straightforward way for concerns to be sorted, as well as a more thorough way when things cannot be sorted easily.

8.3 Children and young people know to whom they can make a complaint, and that they can speak about their complaint as well as make a written complaint.

8.4 A person separate from the advocacy service investigates complaints. They make sure the child or young person knows how long things will take, that they receive information about the result of their complaint, and they know what to do if they are not happy with the result of their complaint.

8.5 Advocacy services make sure that solutions to complaints are put into practice straightaway or as quickly as possible. They record all complaints and review them all together every year – so that they learn from the complaints and take the action they need to.

8.6 Advocacy services put information in their yearly reports about the complaints they have received form children and young people, and how these were sorted.

9.1 Advocacy services should know how children’s social care, the police, health services and others work together to protect children.

9.2 Children and young people using advocacy services are informed about their right to be safe, and the responsibilities of the advocacy service to help keep them safe.

9.3 Advocacy services have very thorough systems in place to make sure the people they recruit as advocates (and other staff) are safe and suitable for working with children and young people.

9.4 Advocacy services have very thorough rules and systems connected to the safety of children and young people.

9.5 Advocacy services need to be clear when they will tell children’s social care they are worried about a child or young person. This includes when they contact social services without the permission of the child or young person.

9.6 Advocacy services contact children’s social care themselves when they are worried about a child or young person (they don’t leave this to others). They go to more senior levels of an organisation if their concerns are not dealt with properly.

9.7 Children and young people’s right to privacy and confidentiality can only be broken in situations where a child or young person is suffering, or is at risk of suffering, serious harm or abuse. In these situations, advocacy services ask children and young people for permission to share information (unless this would put them more at risk). If the child or young person hasn’t given their permission for information to be shared, but the advocacy service believes it must pass on the information, then the child or young person’s advocate will tell them why they are taking action without their permission. These reasons are recorded in writing.

Whether a child or young person gives permission or not for information to be shared, the advocacy service does its best to make sure the child or young person has as much control as possible over what happens to stop them suffering serious harm (or being at risk of serious harm).

9.8 Advocacy services have rules and systems in place which say when they will tell bodies like Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons about their concerns about children and young people. These concerns can be about children and young people’s safety and their other human rights. The advocacy service’s rules and systems are published and available to children and young people and others.

Advocacy services look for patterns in the concerns raised by children and young people, or by others on behalf of children and young people. Without giving away private information, they tell children’s services and those in charge of protecting children and young people about these patterns. They could tell others such as the Children’s Commissioner for England.

Advocacy services include information about the patterns they have noticed, and who they have told about them, in their yearly reports.

9.9 Advocates understand there are some places where children and young people may be more at risk of abuse, and they know what to do in these situations.

9.10 Advocacy services have well-publicised systems for people who work in the service to alert others when they think the service is not protecting children and young people, or is not doing the right thing for a child or young person (or groups of children and young people).

9.11 Advocacy services say in their yearly reports how they have learned from serious situations where a child or young person they were working with was harmed. This information is written in a way that doesn’t give away private information about a child or young person.

10.1 Those that arrange for advocacy services to be available for children and young people follow these standards. They avoid making agreements for an organisation to run an advocacy service only for a short time. This is to make sure there is stability for children and young people.

10.2 Those that arrange for advocacy services to be available for children and young people make sure advocacy services have enough funding to meet their responsibilities.

10.3 Advocacy services have very thorough ways of checking:

• That children and young people have received the help they asked for; and
• The service knows where it has to improve.

10.4 Information about the quality of the advocacy service is looked at every year as a minimum. Children and young people are involved in this. Areas for improvement are agreed, as well as any problems relating to the service’s ability to meet the needs of children and young people and the resources it has. This kind of information is included in the advocacy service’s yearly report.

10.5 Advocacy services show they use their money well. This is checked by someone outside the service every year.

10.6 Advocacy services say in their yearly reports what concerns children and young people asked advocates for help with. They say whether children and young people used complaints procedures and whether they received help from a lawyer. This information is written in a way that does not give away private information about children and young people.

Yearly reports say what else the advocacy service did to protect the rights of children and young people. They give information about children and young people generally – such as their age, sex, race and whether they have any disabilities – which shows whether the advocacy service helped children and young people from all different backgrounds.

Yearly reports are written in a way that everyone can understand. Copies are sent to children’s services and to children and young people’s groups (including Children in Care Councils) and to councillors and those who help to keep children and young people and adults safe in the local area.

These yearly reports should be used to:

• Check that the advocacy service is working well; and
• Show where children’s services and others need to improve.