Community MARAC Terms of reference

CMARAC member's responsibilities

All core group members are responsible for:

• attending each meeting
• being the point of contact for their agency in relation to all enquiries
• making their staff aware of the CMARAC referral process and referring cases to the CMARAC
• bringing any information, involvement, actions or case work carried out with a victim, witness or perpetrator to the CMARAC
• If there is an allocated professional working directly with any person referred to the CMARAC , then it is the responsibility of the representative agency to obtain necessary relevant information and bring it to the meeting
• adherence to and completion of set actions for the relevant agencies prior to the next meeting
• encouraging staff to make referrals to the CMARAC
• appointing a deputy (of the necessary management level) to attend if the lead is absent
• the lead is responsible for informing the Chairs who will be deputising for them in advance if unable to attend
• members will ensure that there is an identified pathway to escalate actions within their service where senior management input is required to problem solve and agree actions
• members will be responsible for communicating and progressing actions across teams within their service.

CMARAC meetings regularity

The CMARAC will hold its meetings on the second Wednesday of every month.

The CMARAC process not only provides a structure but promotes strong networks being formulated across agencies.

CMARAC members should not wait for a monthly CMARAC meeting to intervene in urgent cases/incidents.

Smaller case conferences may be identified as an action from CMARAC where necessary these can be reviewed at the next CMARAC meeting.

Urgent CMARAC meetings will only be called if the risk to the individual is significantly high. The agency requesting the meeting will contact their CMARAC to highlight the urgency of the case. If agreed, the CMARAC will then arrange a meeting as early as possible.

Observers can also attend the CMARAC, however prior agreement from both chairs would need to be sought.

Referring cases to the CMARAC

Referrals would be made through the agency’s representative, who will then provide details to the Chairs for inclusion at the next CMARAC meeting.

All referral forms should be completed using the Community Risk MARAC referral form and must include the completed Risk Check list

Referrals should be made to the CMARAC a minimum of 14 days before the meeting takes place. This allows the CMARAC co-ordinator to gather information from core members to inform a triage meeting held one week before the CMARAC.

If your case is not accepted to CMARAC we will refer your case back to you with a signposting onto another more appropriate forum for discussion or with actions identified jointly by the panel for you to take forward.

Chairs will distribute the referrals to other members in order to allow them to research and bring any work carried out with the victim, perpetrator, or witness, or any other case information to the meeting.

Cases can be submitted outside the timescales in exceptional circumstances, where there is evidence of significant risk or escalation.