Price vs Cost

When assessing what is in the best interests of the vulnerable person, it is the cost of the service that is important as opposed to the price. There can be no monetary fee attached to the liberty and future of a vulnerable person.

If the vulnerable person is subjected to unnecessary delays whilst in custody, they could make a confession, based purely on the fact that they want to end the experience. This could all be due to the fact that an appropriate adult could not be found quickly enough, or there was a dispute as to whether to use a professional service because of the price involved. In such cases, the best interests of the vulnerable person have not been protected.

It will always be in the best interests of the detainee, who needs an appropriate adult, to have an independent representative, who is a fully trained, experienced and professional.

REMEMBER - A VOLUNTARY SCHEME IS NOT A FREE SCHEME.

Even in case where the voluntary based service is provided in-house, there are certain costs involved.

There will always be costs incurred both in time and monetary terms in training the volunteers. Often this cost is doubled or trebeled throughout the year if volunteers leave, or more need to be recruited.
At least one or two people will need to be employed to co-ordinate the service. Often these annual salaries combined can be more expensive than the yearly costs of our service.
Voluntary Organisations will charge a fixed annual rate for the provision of Appropriate Adult Services. This price is almost always more expensive than the use of our service.

The price of not using our service may be as follows:-

Emergency Duty Social workers are paged frequently throughout the night to attend police stations for juveniles or adults requiring appropriate adults. When they are finally able to answer the calls, they are then required to attend police stations and therefore are effectively out of action for a number of hours.
This in turn means that all the other emergency calls are not able to be dealt with. The only way to counteract this problem is to employ two emergency social workers. This will mean that two salaries are being paid. This does not represent true value for money when no appropriate adult is required. With our service you only pay for what you need.

The Appropriate Adult Service will not tie you in to any contract period, we can work on a completely ad-hoc basis. We require no retainer fees, and do not require any minimum levels of work. You can use us as much or as little as you require, and be safe in the knowledge that you will only be paying for the service when you use it.

We are one of the only Appropriate Adult Services to provide a fully comprehensive package. Our service operates twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for both adults and juveniles. This means that joint funding arrangements can be made to cover the price of the service.

All departments within social services, which could include EDT, Adult Service, Learning Disabilities Teams, Substance Misuse Teams and YOTS, can contribute, as we provide a service to all. There are few other schemes that can offer such a level of cover.

The cost of our service becomes even lower if we come to a sole provider agreement.

Price vs Cost

When assessing what is in the best interests of the vulnerable person, it is the cost of the service that is important as opposed to the price. There can be no monetary fee attached to the liberty and future of a vulnerable person.

REMEMBER - A VOLUNTARY SCHEME IS NOT A FREE SCHEME.

There is a hidden price in not using a professional service.

Voluntary Organisations will charge a fixed annual rate

The cost of our service becomes even lower if we come to a sole provider agreement