CHARMS-Portal

CHARMS Live Search and Referrals System

Portal usage

75,000+

Documents shared securely through the portal in 2018 alone.

200+

Documents shared securely each day.

13,000+

Registered users.

9,000+

Of which are from over 300 local authorities.

140+

Agencies are sharing vacancies through the Charms Portal, securely and in real time.

The CHARMS Live Search is used, free of charge, by scores of local authority commissioning teams to find vacancies for their children needing care.

The ICHA and CHARMS are now joining forces to provide the Interactive ICHA Handbook online and accessible through the ICHA website and the secure CHARMS-Portal.

The Interactive ICHA Handbook will allow providers to update their entries on an ongoing basis and to keep their vacancy information up-to-date, all the time. The providers will be in control of their own information.

We are aiming for a launch in early Summer 2018.

Secure Referrals and Dynamic Purchasing System

A number of contract groups, across the UK, are implementing the CHARMS-Portal to manage referrals, securely, to those same providers.

Across all children’s services this ground-breaking system will enable the most effective and secure matching service for children requiring a care and support placement.

Providers still retain complete control as they can decide which carers to display and exactly what information they wish to present to commissioners.

Providers do not need to be CHARMS users - the CHARMS Live Search is simply a window (a secure window) in to the vacancy information held in CHARMS but equally non CHARMS users can upload their vacancies to the secure CHARMS-Portal. That too is free of charge.

Notes for Editors :

CHARMS was first developed in the late 1990s to help the Greater Manchester Adoption And Fostering Consortium share adopter/carer and children information to facilitate the best possible matches and placements in a timely fashion. GMAFC became Adoption 22.

CHARMS is now used across the UK and Ireland to help the adoption, fostering and children’s residential community to manage all of the case files associated with children’s services.

CHARMS now has some 30,000+ individual users, across some 700 sites – social workers, carer workers, admin staff, managers, panel members, foster carers, IROs…

Social Care Network Solutions Limited is a social enterprise and remains privately owned and run.

For further information please contact Jim Moores at jim.moores@socialcarenetwork.com or on 0161 237 1872.