Sheffield City Council has set up two new teams to support young people with the transition from children’s to adult social care services.

• The Preparation for Adulthood Team (PAT) consists of eight workers from children’s social care. It supports young people aged 14-18 years.
• The Transitions Team consists of seven workers from adult social care. It supports young people aged 18-25 years.

The teams operate as one service. They only support young people who are in education with an Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan.

The Transitions team is currently working hard to address the backlog of cases of young people aged 18+ who are still waiting to make the transition to adult social care.

The Preparation for Adulthood 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.

It is important for parents to be aware that there is no automatic referral into either 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, allocated children’s social care worker (from MAST, SNIPS, Children with Disabilities Team), education provider or other 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 be aware if a referral has been made.

How to request a referral as a parent:

• If your young person is under 18, call the Safeguarding Hub on 0114 273 4855 and ask for a referral to the Preparation for Adulthood team.
• If your young person is over 18, call First Contact on 0114 273 4908. State that you believe that your young person will need support from adult social care and that you would like to request a referral to the Transitions Team. Please note, the Transitions Team will only get involved if your young person is still in education and has an EHC Plan. If that’s not the case, your request will be dealt with by another social care team.