Launch of the Early Help Single Assessment
Single Assessment, Single Plan is the new approach to be taken across the children’s workforce in Warwickshire.
In April 2016 the Early Help and Safeguarding Teams in Warwickshire County Council merged to create the Children and Families Business Unit.
As part of this merger the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) was reviewed and the decision taken to redesign the assessment so that it had a similar look to the Single Assessment used by the children’s teams. This will allow a more seamless approach by providing only one system of assessment within the business unit and meaning parents, carers and children/young people don’t need to keep repeating their story.
To reflect these changes the CAF has now been replaced with the Early Help Single Assessment which went live on 15 December 2016. Alongside this is a newly formatted Family Support Meeting Record. The rest of the process remains the same.
Warwickshire have also introduced the Pre and Post Early Help assessment action plan. These plans are for agencies to use internally to record the early help support they offer outside what was the CAF arena.
Practitioners can access a new library of documents from the Early Help website, www.warwickshire.gov.uk/earlyhelp. The library includes:
- Early Help Single Assessment Consent Form
- Single Assessment Template
- Early Help Family Support Meeting Record
- Early Help Closure Form
- Pre and Post Early Help Assessment Action Plan
Please ensure your staff familiarise themselves with these documents and replace the CAF documents previously used.
Please note your CAF Officers will now be your Early Help Officers.
The Early Help Officers are running some briefing sessions for staff to help them to understand and implement these changes. The dates for these briefings are:
25th Jan at 15.30pm, Outwoods Primary, North Warwickshire
27th Jan 9.30am and 1.30pm at Kings House, Bedworth
31st Jan and 7th March 3pm at Avon Valley School, Rugby
14th and 28th February 3pm South; venue to be confirmed
Booking is not required. If you have any questions please contact your Early Help Officers or call 01926 414147 for more information.