Out of Hours Care Emergency

The Social Care Emergency Team (SCET) provides emergency social work services outwith normal office hours. The team works in co-operation with other council services, such as the out-of-hours homeless officer, and also with the emergency services.

The staff work a shift rota providing cover midweek, at weekends and on public holidays. On any shift there will be a duty manager, a social worker and an emergency care worker. After 2.00am each day (1.00am on Fridays), a manager works on standby from home until 8.30am and in an emergency can be contacted on the telephone numbers shown below.

The team's priorities are child and adult protection, statutory mental health assessments and family or care breakdowns.

What we will do:

  • We will deal with telephone enquiries from the public and other agencies
  • We will deal with emergencies outwith normal office hours to the same standard as all other social work services
  • We will pass on information to the relevant social worker on the next working day and provide support to social work units, staff and carers when their managers are not available

Operational hours

  • Monday to Thursday - 4.30pm until 2.00am then on standby service until 8.30am
  • Friday - 3.45pm until 1.00am then on standby service until 8.00am
  • Saturday/Sunday - 8.00am until 2.00am then on standby service until 8.00am
  • Public Holiday cover is provided from 8.30am

In an emergency situation, the preferred method of contacting us is by using the telephone numbers below:

Tel. 01506 281028 or 01506 281029
email: SCETReferrals@westlothian.gov.uk