About this section

Purpose and scope

1. 3F covers contact and involvement after active Restitute support has ended.
2. It covers long-term follow-up, outcome evidence, the long-term research project, ad hoc research requests, feedback, client voice, lived-experience consultation, co-production, volunteering, fundraising, speaking, campaigning and helping shape future resources.
3. 3F is not part of active support. It must not be used to keep a support relationship open informally after closure.
4. 3F should be read alongside 3E, because bounce-back and re-referral remain the routes where a former client needs support again.
5. Research, evaluation, long-term follow-up and outcome reporting are governed through 2F. Client contribution, events, fundraising and public involvement are governed through 2G.

Section-specific standards

1. Any involvement after support has ended must be optional.
2. Former clients must not feel expected to give something back because Restitute supported them.
3. Declining long-term follow-up, research, consultation, volunteering, fundraising, speaking or campaigning must not affect future access to support, bounce-back or re-referral.
4. Consent must be specific to the activity being offered. Consent to long-term follow-up is not consent to research participation, public contribution, volunteering or fundraising.
5. The person must understand what they are being asked to do, why they are being asked, what information may be used, whether their identity could be known, and how to decline or withdraw where withdrawal is possible.
6. Post-support involvement must not create role confusion, dependency, public exposure, emotional harm, safeguarding risk or pressure on the former client.
7. Where contact identifies a need for support, the response must move to the relevant 3E bounce-back, re-referral, safeguarding or crisis route. Research or contribution contact must not become support by stealth.

Functions used in this section

1. Client Pathway Standards set the general rule on functional responsibilities. The functions below are the functions needed to operate 3F.
2. A Delivery Site must assign the administration, safeguarding, supervision and client voice/contribution functions needed for any post-support contact or involvement it carries out.
3. The Delivery Site must record the client’s ‘contact after exit’ consent in Lamplight before closure, covering long-term assessments, additional research activity and in-person activities, and must check it before any post-support contact is made.
4. The Restitute Core Team is responsible for sending long-term follow-up assessments and managing central research/evaluation contact linked to the Restitute Model, unless a different arrangement has been agreed in writing.
5. The client voice/contribution function means the person or team responsible for feedback, lived-experience consultation, co-production, volunteering, fundraising, speaking, campaigning or other contribution opportunities.
6. The safeguarding function means the person or team responsible for safeguarding advice, escalation and oversight where post-support contact raises risk, safeguarding or safety concerns.
7. The supervision function means the person or team responsible for oversight where post-support involvement creates uncertainty, role confusion, boundary concerns, worker impact or safeguarding/risk concerns.

3F.1 Long-term follow-up and outcome evidence

1. Long-term follow-up is used to understand whether changes made during Restitute support are sustained after support ends.
2. Long-term follow-up is separate from active support.
3. Before closure, the Delivery Site must explain long-term follow-up and record the client’s decision in the Lamplight ‘contact after exit’ section.
4. The client must be told that long-term follow-up is optional.
5. A client can decline long-term follow-up without this affecting their support, closure, bounce-back contact or future re-referral.
6. The Restitute Core Team is responsible for sending long-term follow-up assessments linked to the Restitute Model, unless a different arrangement has been agreed in writing.
7. Long-term follow-up contact must only be made where the relevant consent has been recorded in Lamplight.
8. Long-term follow-up contact should not reopen support unless the former client asks for help or the contact identifies risk, safeguarding concern or a clear need for re-referral.
9. If a former client does not respond to long-term follow-up contact, repeated uncontrolled contact attempts must not be made.
10. Where long-term follow-up contact identifies distress, safeguarding, risk, urgent concern or a request for support, the Restitute Core Team must follow the agreed safeguarding, escalation, re-referral or support route, including involving the Delivery Site where local action is needed.
11. Long-term follow-up contact, response, non-response, assessment completion and any safeguarding, re-referral or support action must be recorded in Lamplight.

3F.2 Consent to future contact

1. The Lamplight ‘contact after exit’ section must be checked before closure and before any post-support contact, and updated whenever the client’s consent decision or contact arrangements change.
2. The Delivery Site must record which types of post-support contact the client has agreed to.
3. The ‘contact after exit’ section must record separately whether the client agrees to long-term assessments, additional research activity and in-person activities such as training or events.
4. The client may agree to one type of post-support contact and decline another.
5. Safe contact routes and any restrictions on communication route or timing must be recorded.
6. Where a person withdraws consent, this must be recorded in Lamplight and respected.
7. If the Delivery Site is uncertain whether it is safe or suitable for a former client to be contacted after exit, the concern must be recorded in Lamplight and advice must be sought from the Restitute Core Team before contact is made.

3F.3 Long-term research project

1. The long-term research project is separate from active support.
2. Participation in the long-term research project must be voluntary and separately consented.
3. Before or at closure, the Delivery Site must record the client’s decision about long-term research assessments in the Lamplight ‘contact after exit’ section.
4. The Restitute Core Team is responsible for managing long-term research contact linked to the Restitute Model, unless a different arrangement has been agreed in writing.
5. The invitation to take part in the long-term research project must explain the purpose of the research, what participation involves, how information will be used, whether the person can withdraw, and who to contact with questions.
6. The invitation must make clear that taking part, declining or withdrawing will not affect future access to Restitute support.
7. Where research contact raises distress, safeguarding, risk, urgent concern or a request for support, the Restitute Core Team must follow the agreed safeguarding, escalation, re-referral or support route rather than continuing as if it is only a research interaction.
8. Research contact, participation decisions, withdrawal of consent and any safeguarding, re-referral or support action must be recorded in Lamplight.

3F.4 Ad hoc research requests

1. Ad hoc research requests must not be treated as routine follow-up.
2. Each request must be considered separately by the Restitute Core Team before any former client is approached.
3. The review must consider purpose, relevance, ethical risk, consent, confidentiality, burden on former clients, potential public exposure, safeguarding issues and whether the request fits Restitute’s values and role.
4. Former clients must not be approached about ad hoc research where the request is unclear, extractive, unsafe, unnecessarily intrusive or likely to cause harm.
5. Former clients must not be approached unless the Lamplight ‘contact after exit’ section confirms consent to additional research activity.
6. Where an ad hoc research request is approved, the invitation must make clear that involvement is optional and separate from support.
7. Taking part, declining or withdrawing must not affect future access to Restitute support.
8. The decision to approve, decline or pause an ad hoc research request must be recorded by the Restitute Core Team.
9. If a former client is approached, the contact, response, participation decision, withdrawal of consent and any safeguarding, risk, re-referral or support action must be recorded in Lamplight.

3F.5 When not to invite or when to pause involvement

1. Restitute should not invite or should pause post-support involvement where there is reason to believe the activity may be unsafe, overwhelming, coercive, confusing or harmful for the former client.
2. This may include current crisis, safeguarding concerns, unstable housing, serious mental health deterioration, ongoing coercive control, fear of public exposure, unresolved legal risk, recent bereavement, dependency on the worker or uncertainty about whether the person understands the role being offered.
3. The fact that someone wants to contribute does not remove Restitute’s responsibility to consider safety, boundaries and role clarity.
4. Where there is uncertainty, the decision should be discussed in supervision or through the relevant safeguarding/research governance route before the person is invited or involvement continues.

3F.6 Feedback and client voice

1. Feedback and client voice activity can help Restitute improve the model, training, resources, evaluation and commissioning evidence.
2. Feedback should be invited in a way that is clear, proportionate and safe.
3. Former clients should be able to give feedback anonymously where the activity allows this.
4. Feedback should not require the person to retell traumatic detail unless that is necessary, consented to and safely held.
5. Where feedback identifies a safeguarding concern, complaint, quality issue or request for support, it must be routed through the relevant process.

3F.7 Lived-experience consultation and co-production

1. Lived-experience consultation and co-production should be purposeful, boundaried and respectful.
2. The person should know what they are being asked to comment on, how their input will be used, whether they will be named, whether payment or expenses apply, and what support or preparation is available.
3. Consultation should not rely on the person disclosing more than they want to share.
4. Where the activity may involve group work, public material or professional audiences, risks around identification, emotional impact, safeguarding, legal sensitivity and family privacy must be considered before involvement is agreed.

3F.8 Volunteering, fundraising, speaking and campaigning

1. Volunteering, fundraising, speaking, campaigning or public contribution must not be presented as part of recovery or closure.
2. Former clients may be offered information about contribution opportunities only where this is safe, optional and separate from support.
3. Role descriptions, boundaries, safeguarding requirements, confidentiality, expenses, payment, supervision or support arrangements must be clear before involvement starts.
4. Public speaking, media, campaigning or identifiable storytelling requires particular care because it may create public exposure, family impact, legal sensitivity, online abuse, safeguarding risks or later regret.
5. No former client should be asked to speak publicly or take part in identifiable campaigning without a specific safety, consent and preparation process.

3F.9 Role boundaries and future access to support

1. A former client who contributes to Restitute must still be able to ask for support in future where they meet the criteria.
2. Contribution must not make the person feel unable to return as a client or make workers treat them as part of the organisation rather than a person who may need support again.
3. Where a contributor asks for support, the relevant 3E bounce-back or re-referral route should be used.
4. Where role boundaries become unclear, the issue must be discussed in supervision or through the agreed research/evaluation or client contribution governance route.

3F.10 Recording requirements

1. Records should show the type and purpose of post-support contact, the relevant ‘contact after exit’ consent, the safe contact route, information shared, response, any withdrawal of consent, safeguarding or risk issues, and any decision to route the person back to support.
2. Research participation records should be held in the agreed research/evaluation system managed or approved by the Restitute Core Team, and linked to the client record only where the agreed governance process requires this. Client support records must not be used casually as a research or contribution database.
3. Where contact leads to bounce-back, re-referral, safeguarding action or a complaint, this must be recorded through the relevant pathway.

3F.11 Appendix references

1. Appendix C contains example 3F wording for long-term follow-up, research invitations and contribution or event contact.
2. Any additional 3F communication template should include clear consent, purpose, voluntary participation, withdrawal and safety wording.
3. 3F communication must not imply that participation is expected, therapeutic, required for future support, or a way to give back after receiving help.

3F.12 What must stay the same and what can change locally

1. The Restitute Model needs to be delivered consistently, even when it is used in different places.
2. Local Delivery Sites may adapt local contribution arrangements where this does not change the safeguards.
3. Local research/evaluation arrangements may only vary where this has been agreed with the Restitute Core Team and does not change the consent, safeguarding, recording or role-boundary requirements. Local changes must not create pressure to participate, weaken consent, blur support and research roles, bypass safeguarding, create public exposure without safety planning, or affect future access to support.

3F.13 Audit and spot-check resource

1. The Client Pathway Standards and Practice Audit and Spot-Check Pack should include 3F checks.
2. 3F audit checks should cover relevant ‘contact after exit’ consent, safe contact, voluntary participation, research governance, safeguarding, role boundaries, public exposure, withdrawal of consent and correct routing of any request for support.
3. Audit checks are not completed for every former client. They may be used for research/evaluation governance, client voice review, client contribution/public involvement review, quality assurance or learning after a concern, complaint, safeguarding issue or pathway breakdown.