1. Black Belt Advocacy , Report Writing
Report writing is an important skillset for every advocate. Not only is it an essential activity within the IMCA role, Care Act advocates are also required to write a report where they wish to challenge a decision that they feel does not promote a person’s wellbeing.
We are going to go one step further and suggest that advocates using Non Instructed Advocacy should always write a report. This is for two reasons. Firstly it frames your involvement in a person’s life: by writing a report you have something to aim towards, an outcome to follow (rather than drifting for months without a clear purpose). Secondly it provides robust evidence as to what matters to a person who lacks the capacity to clearly give instructions or make certain decisions. Writing a report can ensure that things are not overlooked and decision makers are able to easily base decisions on the person’s views (or likely views).
In this black belt advocacy piece, we highlight common problems within report writing that can turn reports into wishy washy statements that lack punch and bite. .
Bad reports usually have the following qualities that you should avoid:
Wordiness – some reports are poor because they are too brief and don’t give the reader enough information, but on the whole, reports often suffer from too much wordiness.
This might be because the writer likes to show off and show how clever they are, but more often
than not, it’s a simple case of using 200 words to say what you can say in 50. A good technique to avoid this is to read your report after you have written it and remove every single word that doesn’t earn in its place on the page.
Make every word count, every sentence succinct. Don’t lose key points in masses of text Don’t make the reader have to search for salient points”.
Lack of evidence – some reports are poor because they do not include evidence to support what is being expressed. This means that important statements can be missed by the reader or simply dismissed as unimportant.
Providing evidence can enhance your argument that something or someone is important to the person and make it harder for the decision maker to miss or not consider.
Providing evidence is also the best way to guard against accusations (fair or not) that the report is based on speculative opinion or simply represents the view of the advocate.
Turn over for some suggested Food for Thought discussion points
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“Make every word count, every sentence succinct. Don’t lose key points in masses of text. Don’t make the reader have to search for salient points”

2. Black Belt Advocacy , Food for Thought
The simplest way of ensuring you provide lots of evidence is by structuring your paragraph in three easy chunks.
1: Make your point. And when you make your point, make it a strong one. Don’t dilute it with phrases such as ‘it appears…’ or ‘it is likely…’. Make your point proudly and boldly. If you want to say that being able to see her 2 dogs is of the most utmost importance to Mrs Boyd, then say it.
2: Put forward your evidence (which to be honest, should be the easy bit). A good advocate will be able to say how they know what is important to the person. So name your source; is it because it is something the person told you, something you observed, something somebody else told you (in which case use their specific language and quote them).
3: Finish with a punchy statement about what you want the reader to do with this. If you want the reader to make a decision that reflects this view – then say this. Its okay to say ‘I would therefore ask for the decision on where Mrs Boyd lives to include a home that allows pets so she can be reunited with her dogs. If this is not possible then consideration must be given to how she can continue to enjoy her relationship with them’. Then if the decision goes against this, you are able to go back and ask why. If there are legitimate reasons then great. But if its just a case of the view being overlooked or money… then get ready to make the challenge.
No direction. The way reports are structured matters. Make sure you are clear about what you are writing and why.
Make sure your reports are not just a copy of your case notes that show what the advocate did – this is not what a report is. You need to make sure that the report is putting forward the persons views (or likely views if they cannot instruct you). It is not a story of what you did and why, it is a story of what is important to the person.
When you sit down to write your report, we would advise you take the newspaper headline approach. This means you identify what the key points you want to make are. Keep it very specific.
Lets consider Mrs Boyd. We know that one of the things that is most important to her are her dogs. So this is point number 1. Other things that are important to her include:
Listening to the radio
Being able to make hot drinks when she wants to (she hates the kitchen being locked)
She is sociable and enjoys visits out (her favourite places are Marks and Spencers and the café).
These key points should become the headlines in your report.
“A report is not a story of what you did and why. It is a story of what is important to the person”

3. Black Belt Advocacy , Food for Thought
There is no need to structure the report in terms of who you have spoken to. Remember, the aim of the report is not about capturing what you have done, nor should its primary focus be on how have you found things out. Do not feel you have justify your actions (your case notes fulfil this requirement). The primary aim of the IMCA report is to capture what is important to the person and put in down so the decision maker can incorporate these within the decision.
We believe one of the strongest black belt advocacy skill is that of honest reflection. We therefore offer these questions to stimulate group discussion within your team (during group supervision for instance) or for personal reflection.
What do you think makes a good IMCA report?
Pick up a colleagues last report and read it. Tell them what you think the key points were in the report. Are these the same as they intended?
Pick up your last report. How easy is it to find the key points you wanted to make?
What support do you need to improve on report writing?
Food for Thought