West Midlands Placement Portal

The key differences between the current and new portal are set out below. A summary is provided alongside more detailed explanations to support understanding and ensure users are fully aware of how the changes affect the end-to-end process.

Summary of Changes

Detailed Change Description

1. E-Mail Notifications

Old Portal: When a Local Authority uploads a referral, the provider receives an email to inform them that a relevant referral has been received through the portal. 

New Portal: Email notifications will not be available in the new portal until July 2026. This means that, before that time, you will NOT receive an email notification from the new portal when a referral is available. It is therefore vitally important that you stay logged in and check the new Portal daily. You will see notifications within the portal when you have referrals and at various milestone through the offer process, so please check regularly.

We will be trialling a manual email notification process during the Pilot phase that will aim to inform you when a referral is available. But this is designed to be simply a reminder and not a substitute for regularly checking the Portal.

2. Creating accounts on the portal

Old Portal: In some organisations, multiple users create accounts with the same email address rather than an individual email address.

New Portal: Due to data protection and the portals security features, all users within an organisation must use unique email addresses to create an account.

3. Referrals page view

Old Portal: Referral information is sent from the Local Authority to the provider within a word document, sent as an attachment. Local Authorities have different referral form templates. 

New Portal: The referral is directly entered into the portal by Local Authorities, so providers can view a summary of the referral information at a glance. Local Authorities will continue to send their local referral forms as an attachment which you can download and forward to others in your organisation. Click here to view guidance on Viewing Referrals.

4. Compulsory documentation required when Making an Offer

Old Portal: When a Provider makes an offer, compulsory documentation is manually attached to the offer.

New Portal: All compulsory documentation is automatically attached to the offer and pulled through from your Provider Profile. This will reduce the workload involved in making an offer.

When making an offer, if your documentation expires in less than 30 days, you will receive a notification asking you to update your provider profile. This handy feature will ensure your offers are processed quicker and your provider profile is kept up to date in the new portal.

Non-compulsory documentation can be manually attached to your offer. All documentation can be downloaded by Local Authorities. Click here to view guidance on Offers.

5. Local Authority Accepting an Offer

Old Portal: After an LA accepts an offer, the details of the offer can be changed at any time.

New Portal: After an LA accepts an offer, some details within the offer cannot be changed, including home details and costs. This information is locked as it automatically populates the Individual Placement Agreement (IPA). It is very important that the relevant checks are completed before the offer is accepted to ensure the process does not have to be repeated.   The offer can be edited before it is accepted, and the in-portal message function can be used to ensure all details are correct. Click here to view guidance on Offers.

6. Local Authority Creating a Draft Individual Placement Agreement (IPA)

Old Portal: Once a local authority (LA) creates a draft IPA, all details within the agreement can be amended at any stage.

New Portal: After an LA creates a draft IPA, certain details become locked and cannot be edited. These unchangeable details are automatically populated from the offer document (see 5. Local Authority Accepting an Offer).

While the IPA remains in draft status, specific information such as the child’s details and key contacts can still be updated. Providers will receive an in-portal notification once the draft IPA is ready for review. Please make sure to verify all information, as no further changes can be made once the IPA is ready for signature.

7. Signing an IPA

Old Portal: IPA documents are downloaded from the portal, manually signed, and uploaded back into the portal. A new IPA can be created if information changes.

New Portal: IPA’s will be digitally signed within the portal. The IPA can be exported from the portal as a pdf but cannot be manually signed and uploaded back into the portal. Please ensure that the person responsible for signing IPA’s has the correct access to the new portal by completing this form.

When the LA initially creates a draft IPA, some information can be amended but the information which is pulled through from the offer cannot. Once the Local Authority enables the IPA for signing, no information can be changed. It is important that you carry out due diligence to ensure that all the information in the IPA is correct before it is enabled for signing. Click here to view guidance on Signing an IPA.

8. Updating Provider Profile

Old Portal: Providers can update the information in their profile at any time.

New Portal: Providers cannot make changes to their profile until June 2026, when the edit function within the new portal has been fully developed.