NELLIE SUPPORTS
Nellie Supports delivers independent assessment, reporting and advocacy within an agreed professional scope. Mental capacity and social-care services cover England and Wales; CHC and EHCP support concerns England. Our work is relied upon by families, solicitors, professional deputies, local authorities and other professionals where statutory compliance, evidential clarity, professional independence and court-ready reasoning matter.
Nellie Supports delivers independent assessment, reporting and advocacy within an agreed professional scope. Mental capacity and social-care services cover England and Wales; CHC and EHCP support concerns England.
Our work is relied upon by families, solicitors, professional deputies, local authorities and other professionals where statutory compliance, evidential clarity, professional independence and court-ready reasoning matter.
The correct question. The right evidence. Reasoning that can be followed and scrutinised.
Assessments completed: 11,000+
Every report: Peer reviewed
Social workers: Registered
Professional team: Multidisciplinary
The professional controls behind every instruction.
Visible and traceable
Question before template
Clear and transparent
Peer review
Opinion follows evidence
The Nellie Standard™ is our framework for evidence-led assessment, reporting and advocacy. It defines what professional work should contain before families, solicitors, deputies, local authorities, NHS bodies, tribunals or courts are asked to rely on it.
We do not treat assessments, appeals or reports as form-filling exercises. The work is identifying the correct question, gathering the right evidence, supporting participation, applying the relevant legal or procedural test and explaining the conclusion clearly.
A professional conclusion should be evidenced, test-specific, clearly reasoned and capable of scrutiny.
Ben holds a First Class Honours degree in Social Work from the University of Lincoln and has worked exclusively within adult social care since qualification. His experience includes statutory assessment, mental capacity, safeguarding, social care legislation and NHS Continuing Healthcare. He leads professional standards, evidential methodology and strategic direction across the practice.
Kerry applies structured scientific methods to life expectancy reporting, biological profiling and evidence analysis in litigation contexts. She also oversees client liaison and case coordination, supporting clear communication, structured onboarding and timely progression from instruction to report delivery.
Louise specialises in adult social care legislation, mental capacity law, professional supervision and evidence-led practice. She provides supervision, methodological oversight, quality assurance, statutory compliance support, practice education and professional development across Nellie Supports and Little Nellies.
Relevant registration, accreditation, training and experience are identified for the practitioner completing the work.
Social workers need the registration relevant to where they practise: Social Work England in England and Social Care Wales in Wales. HCPC registration applies to its regulated professions and protected titles. Check the named practitioner’s actual registration and role; not every team member has the same professional status.
Relevant memberships and affiliations include the British Psychological Society, Royal Anthropological Institute, Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences and Advance HE.
The team includes practitioners trained or accredited in MoCA cognitive screening and the Lichtenberg approach to financial decision-making, vulnerability and undue influence. Training in a tool is distinct from professional registration and does not replace the applicable legal test or professional reasoning.
Relevant experience includes Mental Capacity Act assessment, COP3 and Court of Protection reporting, civil expert evidence within CPR Part 35 where applicable, and England’s NHS Continuing Healthcare and Decision Support Tool processes. The framework must fit the actual instruction.
The right expertise depends on the question. Work may draw on social work, psychology, forensic science, care funding, safeguarding, education or evidential analysis without implying every case needs every discipline.
It is Nellie Supports' internal framework for evidence-led assessment, reporting and advocacy. It defines how the correct question, evidence, reasoning, conclusion and quality assurance should fit together.
No. It is a proprietary practice framework. It operates alongside, and does not replace, the law, statutory guidance, professional registration requirements or court rules relevant to each instruction.
No. Registration and professional membership depend on the practitioner's discipline and role. Relevant qualifications, registrations, memberships, training and experience are identified where appropriate.
Peer review does not mean repeating the assessment. It means another suitably qualified professional checks the report's structure, evidence, application of the relevant test, reasoning and clarity of conclusion before issue.
It may be appropriate where capacity is contested, family members disagree, a decision is high value, presentation fluctuates, undue influence or safeguarding is alleged, the analysis is retrospective, or litigation or appeal is likely.
Version 1.3 may be viewed, downloaded and shared for personal, educational, academic and professional reference if it is not altered, misrepresented or commercially resold. It may not be copied into another commercial methodology, accreditation framework, training product or assessment system without written permission from Nellie Supports Ltd. © Nellie Supports Ltd.
How professional role, competence, decision complexity and the purpose of the report affect who should complete an assessment.
What a clear instruction should identify, including the decision, relevant information, evidence, risks and required report format.
A fuller evidential process for complex, high-value, contested, fluctuating or undue-influence cases.
Independent analysis of whether an existing assessment applies the correct legal test and supports its conclusion with evidence.
Court-focused capacity, care, life expectancy and expert evidence services for solicitors, deputies and litigation teams.
Explore our services, people and published fees.
Every service line, with scope, process and next steps.
The permanent multidisciplinary team behind our assessments, reports and support.
Published fees, VAT and travel information in one place.
All travel is charged separately at £48 per hour including VAT (£40 excluding VAT). The travel cost and any additional work are confirmed in your written quotation before booking.
Defined controls support consistent, independent and evidence-led work across the practice.
Practitioners have access to professional supervision and case discussion, including consideration of the referral question, statutory framework, evidence base and risks.
Reports are reviewed for reasoning, structure, evidential support and clarity of conclusion before they are issued.
We do not accept referral fees, guarantee outcomes or change professional conclusions to suit the preference of the person instructing us.
Contested, high-value, safeguarding, retrospective, fluctuating or otherwise complex matters are considered for a fuller evidential process and higher level of review.
Missing records, unavailable collateral evidence, uncertainty, remote-assessment limits and the need for specialist input are identified rather than concealed.
If a service model, report format or process does not meet the Nellie Standard, we may pause, redesign or withdraw it until it is sufficiently useful and robust.
Professional reporting can become too thin, too generic, too dependent on assertion or too disconnected from the legal or procedural test that actually matters. The Nellie Standard exists to prevent that.
The framework sets out the expectations used when defining an instruction, gathering evidence, supporting participation, explaining conclusions and reviewing reports. It should be read alongside the law, professional requirements and procedural rules applicable to the work.
We would rather decline, pause or redesign work than provide something that is not sufficiently evidenced, useful or robust.
What professional work must contain before another person, organisation, tribunal or court is asked to rely on it.
The evidence supporting a professional conclusion must be visible.
High-quality work starts with the question that actually has to be answered.
A report must answer the specific decision, issue, threshold or process involved.
People and families should understand the process and be supported to participate.
A good report should show its workings.
Where the evidence allows a conclusion, it should be stated plainly.
The work should be clear enough to be reviewed, questioned or tested by others.
Nellie Supports provides independent social work assessment, evidence and advocacy. We do not provide regulated legal advice, and where a legal remedy is needed we will say so and support your solicitor's work.
Identify the question, intended use, relevant framework and deadline. Ask who will carry out and review the work, what records are needed and how missing information or uncertainty will be addressed. For court evidence, confirm the relevant directions, permissions, declarations and report requirements before work begins.
We do not ask people to accept a conclusion simply because a professional has written it. A report should show what information was reviewed, what was observed, what others reported, what was missing and what evidence supports the conclusion.
Professional judgment remains important, but it must be connected to records, direct assessment, source material, observed presentation and the relevant statutory criteria.
For a decision governed by the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the framework is decision-specific and requires practicable support, functional evidence and any necessary impairment-causation analysis. Making a person’s own will uses the common-law testamentary-capacity test. Court evidence must fit the particular proceedings. CHC work in England addresses the National Framework and primary-health-need evidence, including the DST where appropriate.
In litigation-related matters, the report must address its legal purpose and any applicable expert evidence requirements. The test comes before the template.
A report should not merely describe a person's situation. It should answer the question being asked: for example, whether a person can make a particular decision, whether care needs meet a funding threshold or whether an existing assessment applies the correct legal test.
Generic professional commentary is rarely enough. The analysis must be specific to the decision and the evidence.
Support is not separate from quality. It can include explaining what records are required, clarifying the purpose of the work, identifying missing information, supporting participation and helping professionals frame the correct instruction.
A person-centred process and an evidence-led process are not opposites. Done properly, they strengthen each other.
The reader should be able to follow how the evidence led to the conclusion, including what information was relied upon, what was uncertain, what limitations existed and whether alternative explanations were considered.
Transparent reasoning makes professional opinion more useful, more accountable and easier to scrutinise.
A report should not leave the reader guessing what the professional opinion is. It should explain what the evidence shows, what it does not show and whether further information is needed.
Where the available evidence is insufficient to reach a reliable conclusion, that should also be said clearly.
Capable of scrutiny does not mean incapable of challenge. It means the reasoning is transparent enough for solicitors, deputies, NHS bodies, local authorities, tribunals, courts, counsel or another expert to examine it properly.
This is particularly important in contested, complex, high-value, safeguarding, litigation and appeal-related matters.
How standards are maintained
Professional quality is structured across the practice rather than left to one practitioner working in isolation.
Standards are applied through supervision, case discussion, evidence review and report quality assurance. Depending on the matter, this can include checking the referral question, the correct legal or procedural test, the sufficiency of the evidence, safeguarding or litigation risks, the report structure and the reasoning supporting the conclusion.
Where a service model, report format or support process does not meet the standard we expect people to be able to rely on, we may pause, redesign or withdraw it. Our aim is work that answers the correct question, is supported by evidence and can be understood and scrutinised.
A GOOD PLACE TO START
Tell us what is happening and what you need help with. We will listen, explain the options and help you find the right starting point.