About this section

2A sets out what site readiness looks like for a Delivery Site using the Restitute Model.

It covers governance, model consistency, organisational readiness, referral readiness, leaflets, service descriptions, posters, webpages, referral information, welcome information and other approved public wording, early caseload build-up, business continuity, capacity-sharing and pausing or restricting delivery.

It does not set out the client pathway. The client pathway sits in Client Pathway Standards and Practice.

2A.1 Governance and accountability

1. A Delivery Site must have clear governance arrangements in place for delivery of the Restitute Model.
2. Governance must identify who is responsible for safe delivery, safeguarding oversight, supervision arrangements, worker readiness, recording, referral routes, quality assurance and model consistency.
3. Governance must be active before delivery starts and while delivery continues.
4. The governance lead or group must be able to act where delivery risks, quality concerns or movement away from the model are identified.
5. Where Restitute clients are also supported by other services, the Delivery Site must have a clear route for agreeing roles, information-sharing, escalation and coordination so that responsibilities are not duplicated, confused or left unaddressed.

2A.2 Model consistency and local delivery arrangements

1. A Delivery Site must have a governance route for checking that local delivery remains consistent with the Restitute Model.
2. Delivery Sites may adapt local delivery arrangements where needed to fit their setting. This may include referral routes, local safeguarding contacts, working location, staffing structure, job titles, supervision logistics, accessibility arrangements and local partnership information.
3. Local arrangements must still allow the site to meet the Core Standards, the Delivery Readiness and Assurance requirements and the client pathway.
4. Where a proposed local change may affect delivery of the Restitute Model, this must be discussed with the Restitute Core Team before the change is made.
5. Agreed changes must be recorded so the site, the Restitute Core Team and reviewers can understand what has changed, why it changed, who agreed it and when it should be reviewed.

2A.3 Organisational readiness

1. A Delivery Site must have organisational arrangements in place before client work begins, including any required agreement, insurance and ICO/data protection fee position.
2. External Delivery Sites must have a delivery agreement, licence, MoU or equivalent written arrangement in place before client work begins. The written arrangement must cover model use, governance, safeguarding, supervision, data, quality assurance, funding where relevant, and exit arrangements.
3. A Delivery Site must have insurance cover suitable for its legal structure, staffing arrangements, premises, equipment, data responsibilities and delivery of the Restitute Model before client work begins.
4. Insurance should include employers' liability where staff are employed, public liability, professional indemnity, cyber/data risk cover, equipment cover where relevant, and trustee, director or management liability where relevant.
5. A delivery organisation must be registered with the ICO or have paid the required data protection fee unless a valid exemption applies.

2A.4 Referral readiness

1. A Delivery Site must have referral arrangements in place before referrals are accepted.
2. Referral routes may be external, internal, or both.
3. Where the Restitute Model sits within a larger organisation, internal referral routes must be clearly defined. This is especially important where the wider organisation also supports direct survivors, people with mental health needs, domestic abuse clients, family support cases, people seeking counselling or people seeking legal advice.
4. Internal and external referrers must understand who the Restitute Model is for, who it is not for, how to refer, what information is needed, and what the model does and does not provide.
5. Referral arrangements must not widen eligibility by default or turn the Restitute Model into a different service.

2A.5 Leaflets, service descriptions and public information

1. Delivery Sites must have suitable leaflets, service descriptions, posters, webpages, referral information, welcome information and other approved public wording available before delivery starts.
2. Local information may be developed where needed to reflect local referral routes, safeguarding routes, accessibility needs, language needs, commissioning arrangements or host-organisation processes.
3. Local information must remain consistent with the Restitute Model.
4. Client-facing information must explain, in clear and accessible language, what the service offers, who it is for, confidentiality and its limits, how information is recorded and used, how reasonable adjustments can be requested, and how to raise a complaint or concern.

2A.6 Early caseload and review

1. The site must have an agreed approach for starting delivery at a manageable caseload level while workers, supervisors and the governance lead test that the required delivery arrangements are working safely.
2. For the first set of clients, each support worker should usually begin with between one and four clients, depending on their existing skills, qualifications, confidence and familiarity with the Restitute Model.
3. The Restitute Model does not set a fixed length for this initial period. The Delivery Site governance lead or group and supervisors must decide when the worker is ready to increase caseload.
4. That decision should be based on supervision, early case review, recording quality, worker confidence, client complexity, safeguarding or risk issues, workload and worker wellbeing.
5. No fixed maximum caseload is set in the Restitute Model. Capacity depends on where clients are in the support journey and how much active work each client currently needs.

2A.7 Business continuity, waiting-list pressure and capacity-sharing

1. A Delivery Site must have arrangements for managing continuity if delivery is disrupted, reduced or due to end.
2. Delivery disruption may include worker absence, worker departure, loss of supervision, loss of system access, safeguarding concerns, quality concerns, demand exceeding capacity, loss of funding, or withdrawal of permission to deliver the model.
3. If a site cannot continue delivery, decisions about active clients, waiting-list clients and transfer of support must be made with the Restitute Core Team.
4. A Delivery Site must not close, transfer or leave active cases without an agreed continuity plan.
5. Individual workers may be able to continue supporting existing clients under the Restitute Core Team supervision where this is safe, agreed and properly recorded.
6. Where a Delivery Site is at full capacity, waiting-list management must be discussed with the Restitute Core Team so that support from the Restitute Core Team or another Delivery Site can be considered.
7. Where a Delivery Site has spare capacity, it may offer or request to support additional clients from the Restitute Core Team or another Delivery Site.
8. Capacity-sharing or transfer arrangements must protect client safety, recording, supervision, safeguarding, data protection and model consistency. Funding should follow clients where applicable.

2A.8 Pausing or restricting delivery

1. The site must have a process for pausing or restricting delivery where the arrangements needed for safe, consistent Restitute Model delivery are not in place or cannot be maintained.
2. This may include problems with safeguarding, supervision, recording access, worker availability, client handover, serious quality gaps, client charging, licence or permission status, or movement away from the model.
3. Where delivery is paused or restricted, the site must record the reason, immediate safety actions, client continuity arrangements, corrective action, responsibility and review date.