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4.2.7 Statewide Relieving Team

Last Modified: 19-Feb-2024 Review Date: N/A

Legislation
Overview

​The purpose of this entry is to provide an overview of the Statewide Relieving Team (SRT) and referral processes for its different support teams.  

The SRT is managed by the Child Protection Practice and Support Stream, within the Statewide Services Directorate. The SRT is deployed across the state to support child protection districts with identified high workload demands, staff vacancies and to assist in strengthening specific areas of practice. 

The SRT also responds to critical incidents and are often deployed at short notice to support districts experiencing crisis. The SRT deployments are based upon the presence and severity of risk factors which impact upon a district and/or regions' functions.   

The SRT works flexibly and can provide desktop support from Perth where a physical deployment is not feasible. The Perth-based support enables SRT workers to undertake child protection work in the metropolitan area for cases allocated to the regions, which would otherwise be impracticable for regional locations.

The SRT comprises of three different support teams:

  • The Statewide Team
  • The Rapid Response Team
  • The Regional Relief Team.

All requests for support from the SRT are triaged using a risk assessment tool [SK1] [OW2] and responses are prioritised in relation to operational risk as determined by the SRT Team Leader.

Operational risk refers to the risk of flawed or failed processes, policies, systems or events that disrupts child protection business operations.

The SRT workers are deployed on a two-week rotation to the regions and then return to undertake two weeks in the metropolitan area. There may be instances where the team will work outside of their usual pattern to meet operational requirements.

Information and Instructions

  • Rapid Response Team
  • Statewide Team
  • Regional Relief Team
  • Referral Pathways

    • Rapid Response Team

    ​The Rapid Response Team are deployed as a Unit to manage a crisis, including, but not limited to: 

    • Critical workforce or workload situation.
    • Natural disaster which requires typical workforce to be utilised elsewhere.

    • Significant issue such as a child death or Ministerial/Executive directed deployment.

       


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    Statewide Team

    ​The Statewide Team are dedicated staff whose deployments are based upon risk assessed by the SRT and confirmed in advance. 


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    Regional Relief Team

    • Given ongoing challenges in recruitment and retention, multiple regions have provided FTE to the SRT. These FTE are dedicated to supporting the respective regions through the Regional Relief Team. 

    • The Regional Relief Team work within Perth and the region on a rotational basis.

    • District Directors determine how these positions will be utilised, based on operational need.

    • To assist workload management workers in this team can carry cases as required, unlike the positions within the Statewide and Rapid Response Teams.

    • Regions may continue to request deployments from other teams within SRT to provide relieving staff for other roles as needed. 

    • Regional Relief Team staff can rotate between regions. 

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    Referral Pathways

    Referrals that are not able to be met will not be waitlisted. Please continue to submit referrals if you are not successful and these will continue to be prioritised and responded to in line with an assessment of operational risk. 

    Statewide Team

    • Support from the Statewide Team can be requested via referral form at Statewide Relieving Team (sharepoint.com)
    • Referrals for support from the Statewide Team need to be requested by the relevant Assistant Director following District Director consultation. The consultation date should be recorded in the 'Other Information' section of the SharePoint referral form. 

    Rapid Response Team

    • District Director approval is required to request support from the Rapid Response Team.
    • Support from the Rapid Response Team can be requested via referral form at Statewide Relieving Team (sharepoint.com)
    • All referrals will be triaged using the SRT risk assessment tool. If multiple referrals are received, the Rapid Response Team allocation will be guided by operational risk. 
    • The team of six will be deployed for a period of two weeks with possible desktop follow up depending on the Teams' capacity in line with state-wide priorities.
    • If another priority arises during the Rapid Response Team deployment, team members may be redeployed based upon operational needs.

    NOTE:  The Regional Relief Team does not accept referrals. p>​
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