NAIRO (National Association of Independent Reviewing Officers)

NAIRO is the professional national association for Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs).  We represent the interests of IROs and the significance of their duties for children who are looked after by Local Authorities.

We raise awareness of the legal duties and role of IROs through:

• Representation on behalf of IROs to parliamentary committees
• Awareness raising and campaigning, most notably in opposition to the Exemption Clause in the 2017 Children & Social Work Act
• Liaising with key agencies such as Cafcass, ADCS, Coram, Article 39  about the role of IROs and advocacy for children in care
• Sharing and debating issues faced by IROs through our membership google group
• Training and development

There are about 75,000 children in care in England and Wales. Each of them has a care plan, which must be reviewed on a periodic basis by an independent person. That independent person is an Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO). The IRO must scrutinise the local authority’s care plan for the child and listen carefully to the views of the child and others about the plan. They must challenge the local authority if they believe the plan is not in the best interests of the child.