Using this Portal

This page provides a summary of how to use the Adult Social Care Policy Portal, including its main features.

Contents

• Finding your way around the Portal
• Accessibility Options
• Using the APPP Resource on Smartphones and Tablets
• Adding Shortcuts to the APPP
• Resources
• ePractice
• Reading Confirmation
• Quick Reads and Audio Summaries
• Amendments
• Search
• Register with Us
• Print
• Copyright

Finding your way around the Portal

The APPP contains a number of different sections. On the homepage there are nine tiles. Some of these are open access, but others are are for Calderdale Council staff only and you will need a password to see the content:

‘Adult Social Care Policies and Resources’ contains the main policies for Calderdale Adult Social Care.

‘Procedures and Guidance for Staff’ additional procedures and guidance specifically for Adult Social Care staff in Calderdale, including Standard Operating Procedures.

‘Induction and Professional Development‘ information on induction, practice education, social work progression, supervision and workload management

‘Care Quality Commission’ information on the Care Quality Commission assessments of local authority adult social care.

‘Mental Capacity Act Resources’ practice guidance and resources for staff with regard to Mental Capacity, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and Court of Protection.

‘Occupational Therapy Resources‘ occupational Therapy information, including Accessible Homes and Handypersons Service, Assistive Technology and Manual Handling.

‘Brokerage, Direct Payments and Financial Assessments Pathway‘ information and resources for use by adult social care staff with regards to brokerage, direct payments and when carrying out financial assessments.

‘Templates and Essential Resources‘ templates for assessments, letters and forms and other essential resources for adult social care staff.

‘Strategies and Frameworks‘ Adult Social Care and Wellbeing Directorate strategies and frameworks.

When you are in the main policies section, the tabs on the left hand side of the screen can be used to move around the Portal:

• Using this APPP Portal (which is this page);
• Register with Us to receive notification when the Portal is updated.
• Contents contains the main policies for Adult Social Care staff.
• Resources links to additional practitioner resources including case law, case studies and legislation.
• Contact contains local contact details for teams, services and partner organisations. It also has a contact form, for people to send a message, comment or suggestion about the Portal.

Accessibility Options

This portal has a number of different options to aid online reading. Using the ‘Accessibility’ drop-down menu on the left-side of the screen, you can change to green, blue or pink backgrounds, yellow text on a black background or you can return to the default setting.

You can also resize the website by pressing CTRL and + together to make the site larger, you can keep pressing this to increase the zoom level. Pressing CTRL and – together makes the site smaller. This is a feature built into your web browser, known as in-browser zooming, and so depending on the browser you’re using the controls may be different.

In addition, the portal is designed to be accessible for users of text only and screen reader software programs which allow blind or visually impaired users to read the text that is displayed on the computer screen with a speech synthesizer or braille display. Our content is consistently structured, including headings, which makes using the software on our site easier. Also, when viewed through screen reader software, every page has a ‘Skip to main content’ link which allows software users to go straight to the main content of that page instead of receiving the full navigation options every time. Please share this information with blind or visually impaired colleagues.

To view the content in a language other than English, use the ‘select language’ drop-down menu on the left-side of the screen and select the language you require. Translations in the Calderdale Portal are provided using Google Translate.

Google Translate is a free translation service that provides instant translations between different languages. However, Google Translate may not provide an exact translation from English to the required language. Also, it cannot translate all types of documents.

Policy Partners Project Ltd and Calderdale Council cannot therefore guarantee the accuracy of the translation. However, this service may be useful when working with people who do not have English as their first language, but please bear these points in mind when using translated information.

Using the APPP Resource on Smartphones and Tablets

This resource works well on smartphones and tablets. When used on mobile device, the website will immediately convert into a mobile friendly version, where the tabs sit behind the Menu button.

Adding Shortcuts to the Portal

You can easily access the APPP by installing a shortcut on your device, which will directly open up your internet browser to the APPP site. You can do so using the following methods:

• on desktop / laptops: go to the homepage of the APPP website in your internet browser, then bookmark it using your browser’s bookmark feature. Open your browser’s list of bookmarked websites and drag the APPP bookmark onto the desktop of your device.
• on smartphones / tablets: go to the homepage of the APPP website in your internet browser, and do the following:

• • On Android devices – click the three dots, and select ‘add to home screen‘.
  • On iOS / Apple – click the share icon , scroll down the page and select ‘add to home screen‘

Resources

The Resources section contains a number of links and documents to supplement the information in chapters. It includes

• Briefings – written by the Policy Partners to reflect current issues or recently released research reports;
• Care and Support Statutory Guidance – links to the Care and Support Statutory Guidance;
• Case Law and LGSCO Reports – information about case law and key reports in relation to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigations into complaints against local authorities;
• Case Studies – contains case studies from the Care and Support Statutory Guidance;
• Easy Reads – links to easy read information for people with care and support needs;
• ePractice – quizzes which you can complete to test your understanding of key policies;
• Glossary – definitions and key terms used throughout the policies;
• Legislation – links to relevant legislation;
• National Guidance – links to national guidance, particularly from ADASS, LGA and SCIE;
• Organisations – links to websites for relevant national organisations;
• Provider Resources – links to guidance and other information and national organisations who provide services and support to provider services;
• Quick Reads and Audios – summary versions of chapters, in audio and text formats.
• Safeguarding Adults Review Reports and Inquiry Reports – links to significant SARs and reports from major inquiries.

ePractice

Some key chapters in this APPP site have ePractice questions at the end, which help you test your understanding of the subject and provide evidence for your continuing professional development. Click here to find the full list of ePractice chapters.

At the top of the questions are some fields about who you are (name and email address). It also asks for your manager’s email address, but the email that goes to them will not tell them anything about your results, or a pass / fail status, only that you have recently completed the questions.

The questions are straightforward to answer. Some will only allow for a single choice of answer, for example true or false, and others have checkboxes which allow you to tick as many as you feel apply.

Once you reach the end just click on the blue’ Submit’ button to send in your answers. All questions must be answered before you can do this. You will automatically be taken to a detailed results page, showing you how you did and explaining the answers further. You’ll also receive a copy of those results via email, as well as a certificate of completion should you pass.

Reading Confirmation

This form enables Adult Social Care staff to confirm they have read specific chapters in this Portal. This can be useful for newly employed staff as part of their induction, for supervision, CPD and for team discussions for example.

Quick Reads and Audio Summaries

Some chapters have summaries (Quick Reads) and Audios which provide key information for staff who do not need to know the full detail of the chapter. They can be found at the top of the relevant chapter. A full list can be found in Quick Reads and Audios, in Resources.

Amendments

February 2025

October 2024

July 2024

May 2024

April 2024

Search

On the home screen, type in the word or phrase you are looking for in the ‘Search’ facility and press ‘Enter’ It will bring up a list of all the chapters where it appears. Click on the one you want. The word / phrase will be highlighted in the chapter.

To help the the search results reflect what you are looking for, you can add inverted commas (also known as speech marks) to the word or term you are looking for, for example “safeguarding” or “adult safeguarding”.

If you want to search for specific text within a chapter or a pdf document, you can also press ‘Ctrl’ and ‘f’ together. A box will appear in the top right of your screen. Type in the word / phrase you want to find and press ‘Enter’. The number of times it appears in the chapter will be displayed next to your word. Use the up and down arrows next to it to find all the references.

Register with Us

We recommend you ‘Register with Us‘. This enables us to notify you that your APPP resource has been updated. By submitting this information, you will only receive email notifications from us in relation to APPP updates and your information will not be given to any third parties.

Print

This resource has been designed to be used online. If you print a chapter, for example to take to a meeting, please note it is valid for 72 hours only from the date it was printed. Whilst APPP resources are usually updated every six months, there may be occasions when they are updated urgently as a result of a Safeguarding Adults Review or inspection recommendation, so it is important to be sure that you are using the most recent copy. This is why we recommend that if you have to print a chapter, you no longer refer to it after that time.

Please remember that the resource can be also accessed on smartphones and tablets (see Using the APPP Resource on Smartphones and Tablets).

Copyright

The chapter content in this resource can be accessed, downloaded and printed unchanged, on a temporary basis. Any content printed or downloaded may not be sold, licensed, transferred, copied or reproduced in part or in whole in any manner or format without the prior written permission of Policy Partners Project Ltd.