Sheffield City Council has a dedicated social care team to support young people with the transition into adulthood. The Preparation for Adulthood (PfA) team consists of 15 workers and two managers. It is part of the Adult Future Options Service, the social care service that supports people with disabilities and additional needs.  The PfA team was previously split into the Preparation for Adulthood (PAT) Team and the Transitions Team, but merged in August 2023.

The PfA team supports young people aged 16-25 years who are likely to have eligible care needs as an adult, as a result of a diagnosed disability. There are other teams who support young people if their primary need isn’t due to a disability (e.g. significant mental health needs, drug/alcohol addiction, childhood trauma or other vulnerabilities).

In order to ensure a smooth transition into adulthood, the PfA team is starting to attend annual review meetings of 17-year-olds who have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan and an identified social care need. When capacity allows, they will extend this service to teens aged 16 and 15 years where appropriate.

The team works on a priority system and considers each person’s individual situation, informal support and other services that may be working with them. This may mean that some people wait longer than others before being allocated a worker. It also means that a worker cannot always respond to contacts immediately, if someone else is experiencing a crisis and requires more immediate support. Young people and their families will have involvement from the team for different periods of time, depending on their individual situation.

It is important for parents to be aware that there is no automatic referral into the team, even if a young person is known to children’s social care. Referrals can be made by the young person, their parent or carer, their allocated children’s social care worker (from MAST, SNIPS, Children with Disabilities Team), their education provider or another health or social care worker. Consent from the young person (or their parent or carer if they are unable to consent) is required, so you should always be aware if a referral has been made.

 How to request a referral as a parent:

• You can email pfa@sheffield.gov.uk – this is the team email address and a worker is available to respond to emails every day (9am-5pm).
• You can telephone the team on 0114 205 7288 where their business support team will take details and ask a duty worker to call you back (9am-5pm).
• You can refer online by completing a form on the Sheffield City Council website. Please be aware that whilst referrals can be made at any time via the portal, they will only be looked at during office hours, so please don’t use this in a crisis or when immediate contact is needed.