These plans belong to the placing authority. ARC holds them; it does not author them. What you record here is the document's reference, its key dates, and the named social worker and IRO — so the home can evidence what it was working to and when it received it.

That is the opposite of Plans, which are the home's own documents, written in ARC.

Open the young person, then Statutory care planning under Care, health & education. The page reads "LA-held plans and LAC review timescales. ARC holds these; it does not author them."

The plan types

Care Plan
Placement Plan / Placement Information Record
Pathway Plan (16+)
Chronology / child's history
Risk assessment — the local authority's own, not one written in ARC
Contact arrangements
DoLS / Deprivation of Liberty order
Delegation of authority

The type is fixed once the record is saved — the picker is disabled when you reopen an existing record.

Record a plan

Select Record plan under Local authority plans & documents. The modal is headed Record Statutory Plan. Fill in what you have:

Field	Notes
Plan Type	Required
Document Reference	The LA's own reference, e.g. `LA-CP-2026-001`
Version / Revision	e.g. `v2`
Date Issued by LA, Date Received by Home
Next Review Due
Social Worker Name / Email, IRO Name / Email
Home Notes	The home's contribution or notes against this plan
Delegated Authority Scope	Placement Plan only

Everything except the type is optional. Then Record plan. On an existing record the modal is headed Edit Statutory Plan and saves with Save changes.

The saved record shows the type, the reference, the version, the received date, the next review date, and the social worker and IRO. Where nothing has been recorded yet the page says: "Nothing recorded yet. Record the Care Plan, Placement Plan, Pathway Plan, chronology, risk assessments, contact arrangements, DoLS, or delegation of authority as they arrive from the LA."

Delegated authority

Delegated Authority Scope appears only on a Placement Plan / Placement Information Record, with the note "Record the scope of authority the LA has delegated to the home in this placement plan. This feeds into standing consent records."

Write the actual scope, e.g. "Home may consent to routine medical treatment, dental check-ups, and school trips under £50." It shows on the plan card in a Delegated authority: block.

Recording it here does not create a consent. Copying it across to a standing consent is a separate step — see Consents.

The document itself

This record holds the plan's details, not the PDF. Upload the LA's document under the young person's documents and keep the reference here matching it.

Manager sign-off

A manager sees Sign off on any plan not already signed off. It confirms the home has received and reviewed the plan. It can only be done once — ARC refuses a repeat with "This plan has already been signed off." — and the record then carries a green Signed off badge.

Anyone else is refused with "Only managers can sign off statutory care plans."

If the plan changed after the manager opened it, ARC refuses and asks them to reload: "This record has changed since you opened it. Reload to see the latest version before you sign it off or send it back."

Sending a plan back, or undoing a sign-off

A manager has two more buttons on a held plan.

Send back — opens Send back to staff. The manager chooses Send to (a member of the home; the person who created the record is pre-selected) and writes What is needed?. Both are required. That person gets an email, a notification and a dashboard alert, and the alert stays until they resubmit. They edit the plan and select Submit for review again. While it is with them it cannot be sent back again. The note is shown to the person it was sent to and to managers, not to other staff.
Undo sign-off — opens Undo sign-off and asks Why are you undoing the sign-off? (required). The plan goes back to awaiting review, and the signed-off version is kept in its version history.

Send back is offered on a plan that is not signed off; Undo sign-off on one that is. ARC refuses a send-back on a signed-off record ("This record is signed off. Undo the sign-off first, then send it back."). The person it was sent to, or a manager, can resubmit it.

Nothing signed is overwritten: each step is recorded as a version with who did it and why. Edits made after a sign-off are allowed, and managers see "Edited since it was signed off — the changes are in its version history."

Who can record

Any member of the home can record and update a held plan. Only sign-off is reserved for the manager.