Early Help Guidance

Early Help Process

Guidance for using the Early Help toolkit

Before you begin working with a child, young person or family
  • When considering undertaking Wigan Early Help with a child or young person, it is essential that you explore if Early Help is currently in place and which agencies or professionals are working with the child and family. To do this you can consult the Patchwork system if you have access. If you need to arrange access email . If you d not have access, the EIP Referral Team must be contacted to check current and previous CAF/Early Help history. There may be a current lead professional with whom you should work jointly wherever possible.Tel: 01942 486262
  • Consent to share information can be recorded on the Early Help Part 1 – Assessment. This should be in place before any forms are shared. Once consent is in place.
  • All completed forms must be sent to:-
EIP Referral Team, Progress House, Westwood Park Drive, Wigan, WN3 4HH. Email - x - 01942 486213
  • Agencies are responsible for checking the security of their email systems prior to emailing to ensure this is done safely. All primary schools and some secondary schools are secure.
  • Email to request Early Help forms

Early Help Part 1 – Assessment
Section 1: Details of the child or young person
  • An Early Help number will be given to you when you register the Early Help Part 1 – Assessment with the EIP Referral Team.
  • Additional children who are being given Early Help support should always have their own assessment. This prevents a breach of data protection guidelines and also ensures their needs are individually addressed.
  • Additional children living at the main address and not receiving Early Help support should be added in Section 2
Section 2: Details of parent(s) / carer(s)
  • Both parents, where applicable, should be recorded and clarity about parental responsibility should be obtained. Use section 8 for the second parent/main carer if necessary.
  • Significant adults should be recorded on page 2, e.g. grandparents who give significant amounts of childcare, step parents who live at main address.
  • With consent, adult date of birth is now required in order to ensure families identified as Confident Families can be identified and supported more effectively.
Section 4: Agencies or services already involved
  • Agencies and services already involved should be included in the assessment. It is essential that you consult Patchwork or ring the EIP Referral Team to check who is involved and if Early Help is in place at this stage if you have not already done so.
  • To register for Patchwork email
Section 6: Assessment
  • This section should be used to record the strengths and goals of the family.
  • If an agency has a similar holistic assessment document this could be used instead or to replace parts of section 6. With consent, include this when logging with the EIP Referral Team.
  • Detailed support guidance is available in Appendix B to help you to complete a good quality assessment of needs and strengths.
    The strength score should indicate the areas that need the most Early Help input.
1 – excellent – no issues, family/YP has many strengths and no input needed
2 – good – family/YP accessing universal services
3 – Early Help needed – this will require referred services to be involved
4 – Intensive Early Help needed.
  • The outcomes that indicate success should provide the family with a clear goal of what is required to end Early Help
  • At the end of assessment it should be clear who has contributed to the information gathered including any management oversight. It should also be clear whether a multi – agency response or single agency response is required and the appropriate action should be indicated in the Next Steps box.
Section 7: Reasons and thresholds
  • If agencies feel that service involvement is needed above Early Help (Safeguarding Threshold levels 1 – 3) or there has been intensive support given and no improvements made in the child or young persons life, consider the need tostep up to social care.
  • For further information on the revised thresholds follow the link below

  • One main reason for Early Help should be selected, but additional reasons can also be submitted. See Appendix A for a list of reasons.
  • Cases that have stepped down from social care should be recorded appropriately.
  • For further information on Confident Families telephone01942 489680
Section 8: Additional Information
  • Additional children or young people in the family also receiving Early Help must have a separate assessment to prevent an information sharing breach and to focus on their specific needs. Do not record their details here.
  • Try to ensure all parents/main carers are captured in the form using section 8 in addition to section 2 where required.
  • Use this section for any further relevant information
Section 9: Consent
  • Consent must be obtained before sharing the information with the EIP referral team
  • When sending forms electronically it is acceptable to hold the original signed copy on file and state ‘signature held on original’ on the electronic version submitted to the EIP Referral Team
What to do next
  • It is hoped that practitioners will be able to engage with families in a way that movement to multi agency Early Help is a natural progression of their work with the family and be shown to be of benefit to the family to work in this way when necessary.
  • With consent, all forms must be sent to the EIP Referral Team.This reduces risk by collating information about the Early Help a family is receiving in one place. This can help to indicate if needs are more complex than they may appear to a single agency. The information will then be available if another practitioner telephones the EIP Referral Team before starting work with a child or family and this may save valuable time and effort.

Early Help Part 2 – Single Agency Action Plan
  • This is for use as a single agency action plan. If an agency has their own action plan and review mechanism this could be used instead of the EH2.
  • Actions should be reviewed regularly with the family and review date inserted.
  • Actions recorded should be Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Time Based (SMART)
  • At any point during this stage, the process could transfer to multi agency as other agencies start working with the family or if there is need for other services that are not currently being delivered. Use the Early Help Part 3 to record this if required.
  • Completed forms must be sent to the EIP Referral Team

Early Help Part 3 – Summary and Action Plan
  • This is the summary and delivery plan document for team around child (TAC) involvement.
  • This should be completed at first multi agency meeting – with family and partners agreeing actions and a review date set.
  • The lead professional should be agreed with the wishes of the child and family at the front of any decision making.
  • The thoughts and wishes of the child/young person/family must be sought as a priority when making decisions around actions and lead professional. This should be recorded on the form.
  • Actions recorded should be Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Time Based (SMART)
  • When completed all agencies and parents/carers should receive a copy and a copy should also be sent to the EIP Referral Team.

Early Help Part 4 – Review
  • Early Help Reviews do not need to have all the agencies involved in the review meeting. It could even be conducted by a single agency with the family. It is the responsibility of the Lead Professional to consult with the family regarding those they wish to attend and those they wish just to get updates/reports from.
  • Reviews should take place over an agreed time scale – no more than 6-8 weeks and should always focus on the end goal of closure.
  • Reviews of previous actions should take place and new actions should be recorded.
  • Actions recorded should be Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Time Based (SMART)
  • Where an Early Help Part 1 Assessment has been completed, strength scores should be revised to reflect progress against areas of need or further actions required to reduce risk. Detailed practitioner support guidance is available in Appendix B.
1 – excellent – no issues, family/YP has many strengths and no input needed
2 – good – family/YP accessing universal services
3 – Early Help needed – this will require referred services to be involved
4 – Intensive Early Help needed.
  • With the family, consideration should be given to who will continue to be the Lead Professional. As relationships and service delivery changes it may be more appropriate for a new lead to take over.
  • When completed all agencies and parents/carers should receive a copy and a copy should also be sent to the EIP Referral Team.

Early Help Part 5 –Summary and Closure
  • When the Early Help is ready to close this form needs to be completed and sent to the Early Help team to close the record.
  • Strength scores should be reviewed at closure. Detailed practitioner support guidance is available in Appendix B.
1 – excellent – no issues, family/YP has many strengths and no input needed
2 – good – family/YP accessing universal services
3 – Early Help needed – this will require referred services to be involved
4 – Intensive Early Help needed.
  • When completed all agencies and parents/carers should receive a copy and a copy should also be sent to the EIP Referral Team.

Appendix A for use with all forms

Ethnicity
British Gypsy/ Gypsy Roma / WBG / Any other Asian background / AAO
Bulgarian / WBU / Bangladeshi / ABA
Cornish / WCO / Indian / AIN
Czech / WCZ / Pakistani / APK
White Eastern European / WEA / Sri Lankan Other / ASR
English / WEN / Black Caribbean / BLB
White Western European / WES / African / BLF
French / WFR / Any other Black background / BLG
Greek Cypriot / WGC / Chinese / CHE
German / WGE / White/Black African / MBA
Greek / WGK / Any other Mixed background / MOT
Gypsy/Gypsy Roma from other / WGO / White/Asian / MWA
Any other White background / WHA / White/Black Caribbean / MWB
British / WHB / Info not obtained / NOT
Irish / WHR / Any other Ethnic Group / OEO
Traveller - Irish Heritage / WHT / Libyan / OLD
Hungarian / WHU / Other Ethnic Group / OOE
Latvian / WLA / Refused / REF
Lithuanian / WLI
Maltese / WMA
Montenegrin / WMO
New Age Traveller / WNA
Other white British / WOB
Occupational Traveller / WOC
Other Gypsy/ Gypsy Roma / WGR
Other Traveller / WOT
Other White / WOW
Polish / WPL
Romanian / WRM
Roma/Roma Gypsy / WRO
Russian / WRU
Scandinavian / WSA
Scottish / WSC
Slovenian / WSN
Spanish / WSP
Slovakian / WSV
Turkish Cypriot / WTC
Traveller of Irish Heritage / WTH
Turkish / WTK
Turkish/Turkish Cypriot / WTU
Ukrainian / WUK
Welsh / WWE

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General Health / Strength / Evidence
Registered with and uses GP? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Registered with and uses Health Visitor? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Registered with and uses Dentist? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Registered with and uses Optician? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Physical development/activity/fine & gross motor skills/vision & hearing/ mobility / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Disabilities? - management and implications, special arrangements, signer needed etc / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Speech, language and communication, listening and understanding / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Mental Health conditions? - management and implications / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Existing Physical conditions? – management and implications / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Growth/Weight in acceptable limits? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Nutrition/eating habits – satisfactory? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Young Person - Aware of healthy life choices? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Young Person - Aware of sexual health? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Additional Information

Appendix B

Early Help Part 1 Section 6 Practitioner Support Sheets - Assessment

Personal Development / Strength / Evidence
Does the child/young person have an appropriate awareness of danger /knowledge of possible risk situations? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Does the child/young person show affection/warmth/respond to affection/relate to significant adults confidently? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Does child/young person have appropriate friendships? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
How do they relate to their peer group? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Does the child/young person have a positive self image/ sense of what they are good at/does well, and pride in their own achievements? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Does child/young person show extreme challenging behaviour/pose a risk to self or others? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
What is the child’s understanding of their behaviour and do they adhere to guidance and boundaries? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Any unusual fears/worries which feel overwhelming? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Additional Information
Enjoying & Achieving / Strength / Evidence
Do parents/carers give individual time to child/young person e.g. joint activities? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Nursery/School/College - attendance pattern satisfactory? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do parents liaise with school/attend parent meetings? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Immigration status, language barriers / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Relationships/breakdown / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Any behavioural problems/exclusions? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Any truancy/bullying (either experienced or perpetrated)? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Educational achievements/college attendance/hopes for employment/work experience. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Opportunities to learn new skills and hobbies, socialising with age appropriate peer groups, attending other organised community activities - E.g Brownies/cubs, sports activities or Wigan Youth Zone. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Additional Information
Parenting / Strength / Evidence
Is the home warm and acceptably clean? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do parents/carers provide an adequate healthy diet? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do parents/carers ensure that medical needs are met? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do parents/carers provide appropriate supervision e.g. personal hygiene/appropriate clothing? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do they communicate readily with child/young person? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do parents/carers provide physical warmth/comfort/affection? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do they praise the child/young person, talk positively/negatively about them? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Are parents/carers sympathetic to child/young person feelings and have an understanding of their needs? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do parents/carers recognise dangers in the home and elsewhere / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do parents/carers protect child/young person from inappropriate adult issues e.g. TV viewing, violence? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do the parents/carers teach/encourage independence, safety? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do parents/carers always know where their child/young person is? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Does the child/young person have a history of missing from home? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do they have appropriate understanding of child/young person,s development needs / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Are their expectations for the child/young person realistic? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do parents/carers demonstrate and model appropriate behaviour and control of emotions? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do parent/carers provide the child/young person with a clear structure of rules and expectations of behaviour? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do parents/carers reward good behaviour/provide appropriate sanctions? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do parents/carers support social/educational difficulties? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Wider issues that could impact on parenting / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do parents/carers provide guidance in regard to sexual identity and behaviour? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Additional Information
Family Environment / Strength / Evidence
Are the family adequately housed? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Any issues with debt or financial difficulties? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do family members misuse substances/drugs/alcohol / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
If so, does the misuse affect income/ability to provide for needs / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Does the family access all of the benefits to which they may be entitled? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Has there been any significant change in the family e.g. bereavement/parental illness? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
If so, how has this impacted on the child/young person? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Are the family isolated within the community, in terms of ethnicity, age, geography etc? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Any issues around neighbour nuisance/vandalism/harassment? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do parents have a degree of support from family/friends? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Is there frequent contact with relatives/friends – any areas of stress? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Do parents/carers access local amenities? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Has previous help or support services produced change – either positive or negative? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Have there been multiple addresses for the family, historically or recently? / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Additional Information

Appendix C

Early Help Part 1 Section 6

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Alcohol Misuse - Adult

Alcohol Misuse - Child

Basic Care, Safety and Protection

Bullied – Child

Bullies or abuses peers or carers - Child

Challenging Behaviour – Child

Child Abuse / Child on Child Abuse

Child Sexual Exploitation

Risk of CSE

Community Issues

Crime or Anti-Social Behaviour including risk of custody Adult

Crime or Anti-Social Behaviour including risk of custody Child

Domestic Abuse

Substance Misuse - Adult

Substance Misuse - Child

Attendance

Exclusion

Emotional Health

Finances / Debt Issues

Guidance Boundaries and Stimulation

Housing Issues

Homeless

Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour –Child

Learning and Attainment

Learning Difficulty – Adult

Learning Difficulty – Child

Mental/Emotional Health including Self Harm - Adult

Mental/Emotional Health including Self Harm -Child

Neglect

Parenting Support

Physical Health or Disability - Adult

Physical Health or Disability - Child

Poor Home Conditions

missing from home

Social Dev / Identity – Adult

Social Dev / Identity - Child

Social Isolation – Adult

Social Isolation – Child

Service specific request

Teenage Pregnancy

Victim of/affected by crime

Wider Family Issues/Family History

Young Carer

Unknown Reason

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