Local Protocols for
Assessment
Clarifying expectations about the processes for
assessment to improve inter-agency working
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Introduction
This Warwickshire “Local Protocols for Assessment” document is designed
to assist professionals in understanding the arrangements for undertaking
assessments in order to improve inter-agency working.
It should be read in conjunction with the WSCB Thresholds for Services
document and the WCC Single Assessment procedure.
Working Together 2015 requires all Local Safeguarding Children Boards
(LSCBs) to develop a Local Protocol for Assessment which should set out
clear arrangements for how cases will be managed once a child is referred
into local authority children’s social care, and be consistent with the
requirements of Working Together 2015.
The protocol should set out and clarify how statutory social care
assessments will be informed by, and inform, other specialist assessments
and will involve information sharing with professionals known to the child
and their family.
The local authority is publicly accountable for this protocol and all
organisations and agencies have a responsibility to understand their local
protocol and how it relates to their agency.
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THRESHOLDS FOR SERVICES
Early Help Single
Assessment
The windscreen is a visual representation of the 4 tiers of needs.
They are as follows:
Threshold descriptions
Level 1
Children and young people with no additional
needs
Services Universal Services
All children and young people require universal services at Tier 1 such as
maternity services at birth, health visiting and Children’s Centre in early
years, school and youth services for older children.
Universal Services seek, together with parents, carers and families to
meet all the needs of children and young people so that they are happy
and healthy and able to learn and develop securely. Universal services are
provided as of right to all children including those with additional and
intensive needs.
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The Family Information Service can provide information on the
range of services available in your area
http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/fis
01926 742274 or 0845 0
Level 2
Children and young people with Additional
Needs
Services
Universal Services plus some additional help and
support from Early Help
Many children and young people require some additional support.
Parent(s)/carer(s) usually access these services for their children by
applying directly to them or by asking the relevant universal service to
help them. Some services can be accessed directly by young people.
Children with ‘
additional’ needs are best supported by those who already
work with them, such as Children’s Centres or schools, organising
additional support with local partners as needed.
Where the needs are such that there are a number of services involved it
will be advisable to assess the child or young person’s needs under Early
Help Single Assessment with an appointed Lead Professional.
It would be expected that the additional needs are at such a level that
they are moving towards more complex and risk doing so without
intervention at this Level
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Level 3
Children and young people with Complex Needs
Services
Universal Services plus Early Help, Targeted and Enhanced
Support
Some children and young people and their families have more complex needs
requiring the provision of targeted and enhanced services following an Early Help
Single Assessment or in some circumstances a Social Work Single Assessment.
Where targeted or enhanced services are required, a Lead Professional will co-
ordinate the child’s plan, to support the child, young person and parent(s).
Level 4
Children and Young People with Acute or Severe
Needs
Services
Universal plus Early Help, Targeted, Enhanced and
Specialist Services
Specialist services are where the needs of the child are so great that
statutory and/or specialist intervention is required to keep them safe or to
ensure their continued development. This will usually include Children’s
Social Care, Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Tier 3 & 4
or Youth Offending Service.
By working together effectively with children with additional needs and by
providing co-ordinated multi-disciplinary/agency support and services for
those with intensive needs, we seek to prevent more children and young
people requiring statutory interventions and reactive specialist services.
Where Social Care is involved the allocated Social Worker will take the
role of lead professional in co-ordinating the multi-agency plan to support
the parent(s)/carer(s) which may include services delivered by Early Help
to ensure that children and young people are receiving the services they
need. This will be through the child’s plan as ‘in need’, in ‘need of
protection’ or as a Child Looked After
Within assessment practitioners should be able to describe areas of risk,
and harm as well as need, strengths and resilience factors within the
child’s circumstances
It is important that children, young people have access to services at the
right time and are able to move between the levels of service including
stepping down when the levels of need or risk diminish. Equally important
in safeguarding children and young people are practitioners who work
collaboratively and are able to keep their judgments under constant
critical review being willing to respond and challenge new information
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Early Decision-Making about Levels of Concern
Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)
MASH offers a dedicated information gathering and safeguarding
risk assessment service. MASH has put in place processes to provide
the local safeguarding partnership with the capacity and confidence
to share information effectively and appropriately to provide
improved outcomes for children.
MASH is a co-located multi-agency team which includes Social Care,
Health, Police, Education, Probation, Housing and Youth Offending
service, with a remit to work collaboratively to collect and interpret
information and assess risk
Principles of a Good Assessment
Strengthening the “voice” of the child through the assessment
so that it is possible for anyone reading the assessment to
understand the lived experience of the child, within their family.
Proactive and genuine involvement of children and families in
the process to inform decisions and commissioning intentions.
Helping the child and family to think about what they want and
need, now and in the future.
Getting all the important people who support the child and
family to work together to help make things happen in a
proactive manner.
When planning with the child being assessed, the child’s wishes
and aspirations must be central to the assessment and decision-
making.
Listening to the child about what they want for their life when
they leave school.
Use of ordinary language and ensuring the printed assessment is
accessible and family-friendly to read and understand.
Active identification of the child, young person and family’s
strengths as well as needs/risks.
Takes into account historical and current information known
about the child(ren) and family that may impact on the current
and future needs of the child.
The assessment should be a dynamic process which analyses
and responds to the changing nature and level of need and/or
risk faced by the child.
Should be seamless across the different tiers of services.
Early Help Assessments (tiers 2 & 3
) In Warwickshire early help assessments are undertaken using the
single assessment by a range of professionals known to the child and
family (eg health visitors, teachers, children’s centre staff).
An assessment is undertaken involving the whole family to piece
together a picture of a child’s circumstances and functioning in order
to coordinate an offer of early help to prevent problems arising or
worsening in future.
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This will include information held by agencies known to the child and
family to enable a fuller understanding of needs.
Lead professionals undertaking an early help single assessment may
complete an assessment where there has been a decision that the level of
risk and need is at the early Help and Targeted Support level.
Such assessments should ordinarily result in a Family Support Plan
unless the assessed level of risk and need indicates a higher or lower
level of response is appropriate.
Early help support from universal services will not be delayed if it is
obvious before the end of the assessment that particular services will
help support a child’s safety and stability. More targeted support is
triggered once the assessment is allocated to an Early Help Officer who
will then broker this.
The Family Support Plan will be regularly reviewed with the family and
professionals to ensure that the identified needs are being addressed
and that any changes in the child’s circumstances are being taken into
account.
Social Care Assessments (tiers 3 & 4)
The Single Assessment is the tool used to assess the holistic needs of the
child and will be used as the assessment of a child’s needs. Whilst the
assessment is led by Children’s Social Care, it will involve other agencies
or independent professionals, who will provide information they hold
about the child or parents, contribute specialist knowledge and/or give
advice/undertake specialist assessments. The assessment should be
undertaken with the consent of and in partnership with the child and his
or her parents/carers. The only exception is where a
Section 47 Enquiry is
conducted as part of an assessment. (The full single assessment
procedures can be found here:
http://intranet.warwickshire.gov.uk/helpingyouwork/PGGP/CSCGP/Referra
lsandAssessments)
Each Single Assessment will be completed by a qualified social worker who
is supervised by a Team Manager using the assessment framework.
Where a child has a disability, the assessment will be undertaken by a
social worker in the SEND Social Care Team.
The assessment should be completed with an appropriate depth and
quality to reflect the circumstances of the situation and the urgency of the
situation.
Within one working day of a referral being received, Children’s Duty
Teams will make a decision about the type of response that is required.
Once the decision is made to undertake a Single Assessment, the
maximum timeframe for the assessment to be completed and authorised
will be forty-five days from the point of referral. Warwickshire’s aim is to
complete all Single Assessments within thirty-five days. Only in
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exceptional circumstances should assessments be allowed to go over this
timescale.
Once the Local Authority Children’s Team initiate a Single Assessment, the
lead professional role falls to the Social Worker. The referrer and all other
involved professionals should continue their provision of services during
the course of the Single Assessment. The Social Worker should inform all
relevant professionals of their role as lead professional, give opportunities
where appropriate for professionals to contribute towards the assessment
and agree with each professional their ongoing role and responsibilities.
This may include amending intervention during the assessment process to
ensure needs and risks are addressed. Where this occurs the interim plan
of intervention must be clearly shared, agreed and recorded by all
professionals. Following the completion of the Single Assessment, the
Social Worker must inform all professionals in a timely manner of the
outcome of the assessment. The Social Worker will retain the lead
professional role until the assessment is complete and
a clear plan for
ongoing services is agreed with other professionals.
All Social Workers should aim to visit and see the child or young person,
preferably alone within five days from receipt of the referral. There is a
requirement within the Single Assessment to state when the child or
young person was seen and whether this was alone or not.
Managers, normally the Team Manager, will review all Single Assessments
at ten days, twenty-five days, thirty-five and forty-five days following the
commencement of any assessment to ensure it will be or is being
completed in a timely manner in accordance with the individual needs of
the child(ren).
The Social Worker must on all assessments set out a proposed plan of
intervention, making it clear what the purpose of intervention is and what
changes are being sought. Planning and establishing intervention requires
the Social Worker to involve the family, to reflect upon the information
gathered through the assessment. By completing an Action Plan with the
family everyone focuses on planning what action is needed so that the
family can achieve their full potential. The plan should clearly state the
goals for the child/young person and family, and what steps are going to
be taken to ensure change occurs.
The outcomes of an Assessment may include:
No further action with advice and signposting to other agencies;
Referral to other agency or services including early help services;
Provision of services under Section 17 of the 1989 Children Act,
within a
Child in Need Plan;
Further specialist assessment;
A
Child Protection Investigation Section 47 or Child
Protection Plan when presented to a Child Protection
Conference;
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A decision that the child should be
Looked After either under
Section 20, Children Act 1989 or by seeking
Police Protection
Powers and an application to
Court in situations where the child is
assessed as at immediate risk of significant harm.
Note that services may be put in place or commissioned before the Single
Assessment is completed. The Social Worker with their manager must
ensure that actions and services recommended in the assessment are
provided and in place in a reasonable timescale to ensure needs are met
and any risks reduced.
Arrangements for the Assessments of Specified Groups
Children with Special Educational Needs
Warwickshire has dedicated teams of specialist teachers who will provide
assessments and advice following a referral from a SENCO to the Manager
of the team. The referral process differs between teams (see local offers).
These referrals cannot be made without the consent of parents.
The existing teams who cover the North, East and Central/South areas of
Warwickshire include:
Educational Psychology
*;
IDS (Integrated Disability Team – Pre-school, Autism, Visually
Impaired, Hearing Impaired, Physical Disability, Complex Learning
and Specific & Language Team);
E.I.S (Early Intervention Service)
* – Learning and/or Social,
Emotional and Mental Health.
*Note - These assessments are an additional cost to schools/colleges.
These services can be accessed by nurseries (not EIS) schools or colleges.
Request for Statutory Assessment/Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC)
If a Statutory Assessment is considered appropriate the SENCO/school will
complete a referral and forward it to SENDAR, Saltisford, Warwick.
Parents also have a right to make a direct request to the SENDAR Team.
The assessment and planning process must comply with Code of Practice
2014 guidelines.
No more than 20 weeks should pass from the point of the request until
the final EHC plan is issued.
The referral will only be considered with the completion of both a family
and pupil interview.
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Warwickshire schools are also asked to complete a Provision Matrix in
order to demonstrate their full implementation of the Assess, Plan, Do,
Review cycle.
The school referral will also include details and assessments from relevant
professionals.
Following receipt of a referral, representatives from the school (SENCO or
Head), will be invited to present the case to a panel. The panel consists of
Heads, SENCO’s, SENDAR and representatives from Agencies and is held
weekly. The panel will make a decision whether to proceed to statutory
assessment or not.
The LA must respond to any request for statutory assessment within a
maximum of six weeks.
If the LA decides following the assessment that it is not appropriate to
issue an EHC plan, it must inform the parents or young person within a
maximum of 16 weeks from the request of the assessment.
However, if a Draft EHC plan is drawn up, the parent or the young person
must be given at least 15 days to consider and provide views and to
request a particular school or other establishment to be named on it.
(Further guidance for both parents and professionals is available on the
local offer.)
Young Carers
Warwickshire County Council provides a dedicated service for the
assessment of young carers.
It is anticipated that young carers will be identified and directed to the
service by self-referral or parental referral, or referral by a range of
professionals.
A full assessment of all young carers who are under 18 is offered. The
assessment is undertaken using the MACA (Multi-Dimensional Assessment
of Caring Activities) and PANOC (Positive and Negative Outcomes of
Caring) assessment tools underpinned by the following principles:
A whole Family approach will be taken in assessing and meeting the
needs of young carers, and so relatives, including those being cared
for, will be actively involved and consulted with in relation to the
support provided to customers as appropriate.
More strategically, young carers will be involved in service
development, design and review. The views of children and young
people are paramount, and they must be supported to feel that
their views are valued, understood, and recognised.
Young carers should be supported to achieve a balance between
their caring responsibilities and their life outside of caring, enabling
them to achieve their own aspirations.
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Young carers eligible for targeted support will be initially contacted within
five days of the assessment having been undertaken.
A support plan is devised to meet the assessed needs, within four weeks
of assessment which includes involvement from the other agencies
involved with the young carer and will be reviewed at a minimum of six
monthly intervals.
The provider will ensure that young carers referred for targeted support
receive appropriate follow-up provision and their support plans are
updated as required (minimum six monthly review).
Children Returning Home from Care
Return home from care will be perceived as a positive option as long as
the return home step is assessed as safe and where, for older young
people, the risk associated with a return home is outweighed by the
risk associated with placement in care.
A single assessment should be undertaken of the child’s needs and the
parents’ ability to meet them, including:
The nature and level of the harm that triggered entry to care is
fully understood in the present.
The nature of any change, since entry to care, in family or
extended family composition and functioning is understood in
relation to past harm.
The child’s level of resilience and ability to self-protect is
understood in relation to the past harm.
The nature and level of any future danger is understood.
The proven willingness, ability, and motivation to make and
sustain changed behaviour in parents and family networks is
understood.
The proven willingness to engage honestly with protective and
supportive services on the part of the parents in the future is
understood.
A plan has been developed that includes the views of the child,
parent(s) and other significant adults, and has been shared with
the family, the child, and key professional networks.
Birth parent(s) agree in writing to support the planned contact
arrangements between the child and protective adults and
professionals outside the family.
In the majority of circumstances, the child’s placement with his or her
parent must be part of the Care Plan upon the recommendation of a
Looked After Review. However, where the child’s name is or has previously been subject to a
Child Protection Plan it is good practice that a Child Protection Conference
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will reassess the risk factors and make recommendations to be
incorporated in the Care Plan.
Where the Dual Status Policy has not been invoked and the children have
remained subject to separate Child Protection Plans, the Review
conference will be bought forward in order to discuss the change of Care
Plan and reassess the risk factors.
The completed assessment will provide both the report for the Child
Protection Conference and assessment required under Regulation 17
.
Before the placement is made, approval must be obtained from the
Service Manager – Children and Families who will require evidence that
the consultation, enquiries, assessment and checks required under this
procedure have been carried out. For this purpose, he or she will require a
copy of the:
Assessment;
Minutes from the Looked After Review that considered the proposed
plan;
Minutes of the Child Protection Conference or Review Conference
where applicable;
A copy of the amended Care Plan and Placement Plan to be signed
by the parent including any specific agreements relating to the
proposed placement;
A copy of the Placement with Parent’s Placement Plan that has been
drawn up and signed by the parent who will be caring for the child
that will include details of support services provided and the
monitoring arrangements required.
Regulation 19 permits the district Service Manager to approve an
immediate placement of children with their parent. This applies to
exceptional circumstances where the assessment under Regulation 17 has
not been completed.
Once the Service Manager has approved the proposed placement, all
agencies that have been consulted are to be informed in writing by the
child’s Social Worker of the approved plan and proposed placement date.
Warwickshire Youth Justice Service (WYJS
)
Assessments are carried out by qualified staff using the national
assessment framework AssetPlus. As a multi-agency service those
assessments benefit from specialist knowledge within the service from a
range of disciplines.
Desistance (from offending) requires engagement with the young person
and their family, and takes into account factors in the young person’s
community. All assessments therefore engage the young person,
family/carer(s) and take account of information from a range of sources,
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for example, schools, police, and health in order to develop a systemic
understanding of the child or young person’s offending and the multiple
factors that contribute to it.
An assessment of the parent/carer’s ability to support a change in their
child, and to safeguard them is included as part of the assessment, as is
their ability to protect others from harm by their child.
Assessments are also undertaken with victims of the young person’s
offending in order to assess the harm caused by the offending and to
determine whether a restorative justice intervention can be provided
which will support the needs of the victim such interventions also reduce
the likelihood of the young person re-offending.
The information gathered from these assessments is used to support
magistrates and judges in their sentencing and to plan the intervention
which forms part of the statutory order placed upon the young person at
court (or by the police in the case of an ‘out of court disposal’).
An intervention plan is developed from this assessment that takes into
account the nature and extent of the offending and factors that will
support desistance of that offending in the future. These include amongst
others:
The young person’s personal, family and social circumstances;
Their health, education, attitudes, beliefs, strengths and any factors
affecting desistance;
Factors associated with their ability and motivation to change.
Each young person’s plan is therefore unique and aims to provide support
to them in order to reduce their likelihood of offending, and to protect
others against harm from them.
Where a parenting assessment indicates that support is required to build
their capacity as parents to safeguard and protect their child, a parenting
intervention is also offered. If this assessment suggests that parenting is
a significant factor in the child or young person’s misbehaviour and they
are not willing to engage in a voluntary intervention, a parenting order
can be proposed to the court and managed by WYJS, with the aim of
improving their parenting and improving their ability to safeguard and
improve the wellbeing of their child.
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