About our practice
A Permanent Employed Team, Working Nationally
Why the practice employs its practitioners rather than outsourcing, and what scale does for consistency
Employed, not outsourced
Most independent assessment providers operate a panel: work comes in, and a self-employed associate is booked to carry it out. Nellie Supports does not work that way. Practitioners are permanent employees of the practice, supervised internally, trained internally and reviewed internally. That decision costs more to run and it is the single thing that most changes what arrives at the end.
Plain English
For families and professionals
England and Wales
National coverage
Registered professionals
Written and reviewed
The team
The practice is social work led and multidisciplinary:
- Social workers registered with Social Work England or Social Care Wales
- A Chartered Psychologist registered with the British Psychological Society
- A lead practitioner responsible for allocation, supervision and quality
- A client liaison team that scopes instructions and confirms fees in writing
- Directors who take escalations on conflict, safeguarding and scope
National coverage in practice
We work across England and Wales, with a head office in Grantham and regional administrative offices. In practice that means:
- Assessments carried out in the person's own home, a care home, a hospital or a prison, as the case requires
- Remote assessment where it is appropriate to the decision and the person
- Welsh instructions handled with reference to Social Care Wales registration and Welsh health board structures
- No geographic waiting list, because capacity is spread across an employed team
Questions worth asking any national provider
- Is the assessor employed by you, or booked for this case?
- Who supervises them, and how often?
- Who reviews the report, and did they see the underlying material?
- If the assessor becomes unavailable, what happens to the instruction?
- How many assessments of this decision type has your practice completed?
- Is the assessor employed by you, or booked for this case?
- Who supervises them, and how often?
- Who reviews the report, and did they see the underlying material?
- If the assessor becomes unavailable, what happens to the instruction?
- How many assessments of this decision type has your practice completed?
What scale adds
1. Pattern recognition. Over 11,000 completed assessments and reports means most decision types have been assessed many times before, and the questions the court asks are already known.
2. Cover. A national employed team means an instruction does not stall because one person is unavailable.
3. Specialisation. Volume allows practitioners to develop depth in particular decision types rather than assessing everything occasionally.
4. Feedback. Where a report is challenged or tested in evidence, what is learned goes back into training for everyone rather than staying with one associate.
The claim, and the basis for it
We describe Nellie Supports as England and Wales' largest identified specialist private social work and mental capacity assessment practice. Identified is doing real work in that sentence: it means the largest we have been able to identify from public information about specialist private providers in this field, on the basis of team size and assessment volume. If a larger specialist practice exists and can be identified, we will change the wording.
Related pages
Frequently Asked Questions
Are your assessors employed?
Yes. Practitioners are permanent employees of the practice, not self-employed associates booked case by case.
How many assessments have you completed?
Over 11,000 formal assessments and reports across England and Wales.
Do you cover the whole of England and Wales?
Yes. The head office is in Grantham, with regional administrative offices, and practitioners work nationally.
What does largest identified mean?
It means the largest specialist private practice of this type that we have been able to identify from public information. It is a qualified claim, not an unqualified superlative.
Will the person who assesses write the report?
Yes. The assessing practitioner writes and signs the report, and a second qualified professional peer reviews it before delivery.
This page describes how Nellie Supports practises in England and Wales. It is general information about our practice and professional standards, not legal advice, and it does not create a professional relationship on its own.