Emergency Duty Service

1. The Remit of the Emergency Duty Service

The Emergency Duty Service (EDS) provides support for safeguarding emergencies and crisis issues which occur outside of normal working hours and cannot wait until the next working day.

EDS is run on behalf of the 6 Berkshire Unitary authorities and is available to:

  1. Respond to emergencies where immediate social care intervention is required to safeguard a vulnerable adult or child;
  2. Provide crisis intervention where there are significant welfare concerns that cannot wait until the next working day;
  3. Respond to all statutory emergency referrals to the unitary authorities;
  4. To offer single point of access;
  5. To undertake initial screening for those individuals who find themselves in need of emergency accommodation.

The Emergency Duty Service (EDS) can only deal with referrals which occur out of office hours and are genuine emergencies.

Referrals made during the day to local social services and housing departments should be resolved by the respective office.

Non-urgent enquiries and issues will be raised to the respective office, which should be resolved the next working day.

2. EDS Procedures and Processes

All current Emergency Duty Service procedures and processes can be found on the intranet.