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Pre-Proceedings Letters & Meetings - The PLO Process

Boyd Carter and Vikram Kumar are solicitors and members of The Law Society Children Panel (Children and Adult Representatives) and are specialists in Care Proceedings.

HAB Law can assist and represent you in care cases in courts all over England.

The information set out below is a general guide to the procedures followed by Local Authorities when they have concerns for the care or safety of children and there is a risk that your child could be taken into care.

This information is for guidance only and is not a full statement of the law. You should get legal advice about your own situation from a qualified solicitor.

Continued below

1. Initial Concerns

The Local Authority social services department (children’s services) may invite you to a meeting to consider if your children should be made subject to a Child Protection Plan or a Child in Need Plan. You should always attend those meetings but before the meeting takes place you should seek some advice from a solicitor who is experienced in these sorts of cases to ensure that the Local Authority is acting appropriately in making their decisions, especially in relation to the terms of any Written Agreement that they may ask you to sign. Your solicitor is unlikely to be able to attend these meetings with you.

Here’s what you need to know:

You will receive a letter if your local authority is very worried that your child is not being looked after properly or is out of control and the local authority is thinking about whether to ask a court if your child should be taken into care. The letter also invites you to attend a meeting to talk about the way you look after your child. If you do not follow the instructions in this letter, you may have to go to court and your child could be taken into care.

What you need to do

If you want to reduce the risk of your child being removed from your care, it’s up to you to work with your local authority to deal with their concerns. You must show them that you understand why they are worried and that you will do something about it. You should try to get a solicitor now to help you.

Don’t forget: if you ignore the letter, your local authority will probably take further steps and that may include asking a court to take your child into care.

YOU SHOULD SEE A SOLICITOR NOW  - contact HAB Law immediately.

2. The Public Law Outline (PLO) process – Overview

PLO Letter before proceedings 

Local authorities send a PLO letter before court proceedings when they are worried about how a child is being looked after. It is often sent after the local authority has drawn up a plan for your child to be kept safe and well cared for but they are still concerned. The letter is a final notice for parents. If you don’t follow its instructions, you may have to go to court and your child could be taken into care.

When you receive the letter YOU SHOULD SEE A SOLICITOR as a matter of urgency  - contact HAB Law immediately.

PLO meeting 

The letter asks you to come to a PLO pre-proceedings meeting with your local authority to talk about the situation. At the meeting, you will talk about how to change the way you look after your child and how the local authority can support you to do this. If you agree some changes, these will be written down in a formal agreement that you and the local authority have to follow. If you don’t agree, your local authority will probably ask the court to take your child into care.

Keeping to the agreement 

You must keep to any agreement you make at the PLO pre-proceedings meeting and the local authority should keep to any agreements they make too. You will probably be asked to go to review meetings to check you are keeping to the agreement.

Going to court 

If you don’t keep to the agreement or there are still serious or new concerns, your local authority will apply to a court to start care proceedings. You will have to go to court – possibly several times until the court makes its decision about your child’s future.

If your local authority thinks your child’s situation is urgent, they may ask the court to make a decision about your child sooner, without going through all the PLO steps above. At the end of this process, one of these things will happen.

  • Your child stays with you under a new agreement about how you will look after them.

If you keep to the agreement, and the local authority is content that your child is safe in your care, your child should stay with you. If you don’t keep to it, you may have to go back to court and your child could be taken into care.

  • Your child moves in with a friend or family member.

This can be for a short time to help you make changes to your life so that you can look after your child better: or it can be permanent.

  • Your child goes into care.

If you don’t co-operate with the local authority or you can’t agree how you will change the way you look after your child and there’s no suitable friend or family member, the court will tell your local authority to find a place for your child to live. This will be either with a foster family or in a children’s home. This could be for a long time, possibly many months, until the court decides whether your child can return to live with you or needs to live with someone else permanently.

If your child goes into care, the local authority will continue to try to work with you so that your child can return home, but a time will come when decisions have to be made about the future of your child. If your child cannot return home to you the other options are that they stay in long term fostering; go to live with a friend or another family member under a child arrangements ‘live with’ order or special guardianship order, go to live in a children’s home or be adopted.

If your local authority tells you that it is going to start care proceedings, you need to see a solicitor as a matter of urgency. Contact HAB Law immediately.

3. PLO Letter before proceedings – The Essentials

What you need to know 

The PLO letter before proceedings is a formal letter. It asks you to come to a PLO meeting with your local authority to talk about the care of your child because they are worried that your child is not being looked after properly or is out of control. The letter explains why your local authority thinks this. If you don’t agree with the local authority, the meeting is your opportunity to say why you disagree. The local authority has already tried other ways to make sure your child isn’t at risk of harm, through your child’s social worker. If you don’t come to the PLO meeting, your local authority is very likely to go to court about your child. This could mean he or she is taken into care. Remember, you are entitled to free legal help.

What you need to do 

Read the letter carefully to make sure you understand what the local authority has said it is worried about and what they want you to do to make things better. Make an appointment now to see a solicitor. Take the letter with you as this will help the solicitor to understand the situation better. If there are things you don’t understand, the solicitor can explain them. The solicitor will go with you to the PLO meeting with the local authority and help you get your views across. You won’t have to pay for the solicitor’s help if you have parental responsibility. You may also want to take a friend or supporter with you, to help remember what was said and what you need to do. If at any stage you do not understand something, you MUST tell your solicitor or the social worker. Check when the meeting is and make sure you can go. If you really can’t make it, then contact your child’s social worker straight away to arrange a different date. The phone number to call is on the letter.

Don’t forget: If you ignore the PLO letter, your local authority will probably ask a court to take your child into care.

If you’ve got any questions about the PLO letter before proceedings that you would like to ask your solicitor, keep a note of them. If at any stage you do not understand something, you MUST tell your solicitor or the social worker. Make a note of it.

4. PLO Letter before proceedings – The details

Why has my local authority sent me a letter before proceedings?

If you get a PLO letter before proceedings, it’s because your local authority thinks your child is not being looked after properly or is out of control, and they are considering asking the court if they can take your child into care. The letter explains why they think this. In every case, the reasons will be different. Sometimes it might be to do with your lifestyle. Sometimes it is because of your child’s health or because they are not going to school. Focus on what the letter tells you – not on other things that you think might be problems.

What happens if I don’t follow the instructions in the PLO letter?

If you don’t go to the PLO meeting that the letter asks you to go to, your local authority will almost certainly apply to the court to start care proceedings.

What are care proceedings?

Care proceedings are a formal process where a local authority asks a court to have your child taken into care. This would mean they would live with someone else. This can be for just a few weeks or until the court makes a final decision, which could be many months, and; gives the local authority “parental responsibility” for your child – this means that the local authority gets the legal right to make decisions about your child’s life, like whether they get medical treatment or where they go to school.

If I get a PLO letter before proceedings, does it automatically mean my child will be taken into care?

No. It gives you a last chance to show your local authority that you are willing to agree to make changes to the way you look after your child. If you don’t take this chance, then your local authority will almost certainly start care proceedings.

Why are local authorities allowed to do this?

Local authorities have a legal duty to “safeguard, protect and promote the welfare of children” in their area. If a local authority thinks that a child is at risk of harm or neglect, it has to take action. Your child’s social worker will explain why your local authority thinks your child is not being looked after properly or is out of control and what you can do about it. They will suggest things you can do to change the way you look after your child. If your local authority thinks you are not changing the way you look after your child, it will send a PLO letter before proceedings.

What do I have to do next?

You must go to the PLO meeting your local authority has asked you to attend. The PLO letter tells you when and where it is. It may be possible to change the meeting time or date to enable your chosen solicitor to be there with you. At the PLO meeting, you can have your say about how your child should be looked after and put your side of the story across. Read carefully what your local authority has said in the PLO letter about why they think your child is not being looked after properly and decide whether or not you agree with them. If you agree, think about what you could do to change. If you don’t agree, you will need to say why. Before that PLO meeting, you also need to get help from a solicitor and ask them to come to the PLO meeting with you.

Why do I need a solicitor?

You need a solicitor for two reasons:

  1. Your solicitor will listen to what you say and help explain your point of view to your local authority.
  2. The law about when a child can be taken into care is very complicated.

Your solicitor can explain it to you and make sure your local authority is following the law.

At the PLO pre-proceedings meeting, your local authority will have their solicitor with them.

How do I choose a solicitor? 

You need a solicitor that specialises in child care law. This is because it is a very complicated subject. So, even if you have used a different solicitor in other situations, you should find someone who knows this area of the law.

Boyd Carter and Vikram Kumar at HAB Law are members of The Law Society Children Panel and specialists in Care Proceedings. We can help you no matter where in the country you are located.

How much will a solicitor cost?

If you contact us at HAB Law, it will be free. We will not charge you for advising you in the PLO process and you won’t have to pay for the solicitor attending the PLO meeting with you.

You may also be entitled to free legal advice from other solicitors with contracts with the Legal Aid Agency.

What information will I need to give my solicitor?

Your solicitor might also ask you for other information apart from the PLO letter before proceedings and your ID – such as documents that your child’s social worker has given you, school reports or medical information. If you have the information the solicitor asks for, you should give it to them. Remember your solicitor is there to help you, so give them as much information as possible.

I don’t agree with what the PLO letter says – what can I do?

If you disagree with what the PLO letter says, you will have a chance to say why at the meeting. Tell your solicitor what you disagree with. They can help you explain your point.

Do I have to tell anyone about this?

No, but it’s often best to talk to your child’s other parent or a friend or family member you trust about the fact that you’ve had this letter. It can be difficult to talk about it, but they can support you and listen to you. They can also help you come up with ideas of how to change the way you look after your children. Remember, getting a letter before proceedings does not mean your child will automatically go into care. You need to show to your local authority that you are willing to work with them to take steps to change the way you look after your child.

5. PLO Meeting – The Essentials

What you need to know

The PLO pre-proceedings meeting is NOT just another meeting with children’s services or a social worker. It’s a really important part of the process the local authority uses to decide whether or not to go to court about your child. The aim of the meeting is to discuss what you can do to look after your child better and what help your local authority will give you. If you agree some changes, these will be written down in a formal agreement that you and the local authority have to follow. You will have a chance to give your side of the story and say what you think is the best way to look after your child. If you can’t agree on how to look after your child better, your local authority will probably ask a court to take your child into care. Make a list of anything the local authority has asked you to bring to the PLO meeting so you don’t forget it on the day. The aim of the PLO meeting is to make a formal agreement of things you will do to look after your child better and things that your local authority must do to help you. Make a note of the things you have to do.

What you need to do

Attend the PLO meeting and take anything the local authority has asked you to bring. Before the PLO meeting, think about what the local authority wrote in the letter. If you don’t agree or you have ideas about what you could do to change the way you look after your child, tell your solicitor about them.

You could also ask for a family group conference which is a meeting of your whole family to help you all to take the lead in making a safe plan for your child.

How is it different from other meetings? 

It’s different because if you don’t agree any changes to how your child is looked after, the local authority is very likely to ask a court for permission to take your child into care. Who will be there? At the meeting, there will be:

  • Several people from the local authority
  • Your child’s social worker
  • The manager of your local authority’s children’s services
  • A local authority solicitor
  • You
  • Your child’s other parent - if they do not have a separate meeting.
  • Your solicitor should be there with you

You should not take your child to the PLO meeting. Ask someone you trust to look after your child while you are at the PLO meeting. If you do not know someone suitable to look after your child, tell your local authority as soon as possible. They may be able to find someone to help.

What do I have to do in the PLO meeting? 

In the PLO meeting, you will have to answer questions about the way you look after your child and be asked if you agree with the suggestions your local authority make about how to change the way you look after your child. Your solicitor will help you to answer some of the questions but usually cannot speak for you. They can also say how you want to change the way you look after your child and any other ideas you think will help. Try to keep calm and follow what is being said. It might be difficult but if you stick to the facts, you will help the PLO meeting to focus on your child.

How can I prepare for the PLO meeting? 

Your local authority will normally send you and your solicitor an agenda for the PLO meeting. This will say what the local authority wants to talk about. You can use this and the PLO letter before proceedings to help be ready. Read carefully what your local authority has said in the letter about why they think your child is not being looked after properly or is out of control. Check where the PLO meeting is and what time you need to be there. Work out how you will get there in plenty of time and who will look after your child during the PLO meeting.

6. After the PLO Meeting - Keeping to the PLO agreement

What you need to know

At the PLO pre-proceedings meeting, you may have agreed what you would do to change the way you looked after your child. This may be written down in a formal agreement. If you don’t keep to the agreement, your local authority will almost certainly ask the court if they can remove your child from your care. You will have to go to meetings with your local authority to show that you are keeping to the agreement.

What you need to do

Stick to your part of the agreement. That includes making sure you go to appointments arranged by your child’s social worker or other people like doctors, schools or support groups. Keep records of what you’ve done as your part of the agreement. It will help you when you go to PLO Review or other meetings with your local authority about the agreement. If you find it difficult to keep to any bits of the agreement, tell your child’s social worker as soon as possible. They may be able to change it or offer you extra help.

What is the agreement? 

The agreement is a document that says what you have agreed with the local authority needs to be done to look after your child and make sure that your child is protected. Although it is not legally binding, it is a formal record of what you agreed with your local authority at the PLO pre-proceedings meeting.

What can it include? 

An agreement can include all sorts of things. Some of these are things the parents must do. For example: make sure their child goes to school every day; take their child to a friend or family member when the parent goes to work or college; meet a health visitor every week to check on the child’s health; or see a drug and alcohol adviser. It might also include things that the child’s social worker must do, for example: ask a health visitor to visit the child or ask a drug and alcohol adviser to visit the parents. Make sure you understand exactly what you have to do as part of the agreement. Don’t agree to anything you can’t do.

What happens if I don’t keep to the agreement? 

If you don’t keep to the agreement, the local authority will almost certainly ask a court for permission to take your child into care.

How will my local authority check I’m keeping to it? 

You will have to go to regular meetings with your local authority. At the meetings, you will be asked about what you’ve done to keep to the agreement. The local authority will also ask people you had to meet, like health visitors, to tell them if you have met them, and what they think about your child’s situation.

How do I prove I’m keeping to it? 

You should keep notes about when you have done things that are part of the agreement.

My circumstances have changed and I can’t do something that was on the agreement. What can I do instead? 

If you have a good reason why you can’t do something that was on the agreement, you should tell your child’s social worker as soon as possible. They might be able to get the agreement changed or think of something else you could do instead to help your child. You should also tell your solicitor.

My child’s social worker was supposed to do something as part of the agreement, but they haven’t done it. What should I do? 

If your child’s social worker hasn’t done something they are supposed to do, you should call them and ask them why. If you think they are not helping you, you can ask to speak to the manager of children’s services at your local authority. You should also make a note of it and tell your solicitor.

What else can I do to help show the local authority I can look after my child well? 

One good way of showing the local authority you are looking after your child well is to do other positive things that aren’t part of the agreement. For example, you could let your child join an after-school club that they are interested in. Your child’s social worker might be able to suggest organisations that can help you. You could also ask family and friends to help you with child care now and again, if you feel you need a break. Don’t be afraid to ask for more help if you need it.

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