Intensive Family SupportTeams

Procedure for requesting support

What is Intensive Family Support?

There are five Intensive Family Support Teams(IFSTs) with a remit to provide intensive support (up to 3 contacts a week) to families with multiple and complex needs, as part of early help. Being an early help service, families must consent to be supported.

IFSTs work with families to make sure they get the right support from the right people at the right time. The help we provide depends on each family's situation, but examples of issues IFSTscan help with include:

  • parenting skills
  • improving school attendance
  • accessing training to help find a job
  • housing problems
  • managing money and debt

IFSTs will adopt the Families First model of support: using Families First Assessments, adopting Lead Practitioner role to co-ordinate support on behalf of the family and chair Team Around the Family meetings.

Who isIFST aimed at supporting?

There is no age focus for the service, as long as there is a dependent child (under 18) in the family. The focus instead is to provide practical support to the whole family, when there is evidence of four of the following presenting issues being a concern to professionals across more than one family member, or the family are identified as requiring intensive whole family support which no other services are available to provide:

  • parents or children involved in crime or anti-social behaviour
  • children who have not been attending school regularly
  • children who need help
  • adults out of work or at risk of financial exclusion or young people at risk of worklessness
  • families affected by domestic violence and abuse
  • parents or children with a range of health problems

When considering a request for service, please consider the following paragraphs and if necessary refer to the detailed criteria on page5, including:

Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour in the last 12 months: Crime or ASB in the family within the last 12 months, including any proven criminal offences, ASB sanctions or anyone who has been subject to restorative justice, licence, community order, suspended sentence or supervision in the community.

School Attendance problems in the last 3 school terms:Significant attendance problems (over 10% absence) across the whole of the last 3 school terms, including permanent or multiple fixed term exclusions, absence levels across the last year, children who aren’t on the school roll or being educated in an alternative setting (for the purpose of the Troubled Families Outcomes Plan, Elective Home Education is also included as alternative education), or who are supported by an ESC.

Children assessed as needing help in the last 12 months: Any Families First Assessment, eCAF, MASH, Child & Family Assessment or other type of professional assessment that has been completed in the last 12 months (6 months for a Child & Family Assessment).

Current Worklessness / Risk of Financial Exclusion: Includes:

any adult currently receiving out of work benefits or claiming Universal Credit subject to work-related conditions

young people aged 16-18 who have currently been NEET for 3 months or more, or who are due to leave school and have few qualifications and/or no plans for further training or employment

any current significant (3 months or more) rent arrears, debts or financial problems that impact on the family’s ability to meet basic needs (e.g. food, clothing, accommodation).

Families Affected by Domestic Abuse in the last 12 months: Any domestic abuse which is current or experienced in the last 12 months, or any young person or adult in the family who has been identified by professionals as a perpetrator of domestic abuse in the last 12 months. Except when primary concern is young person’s (13+) assault on someone in the household and / or parents unable to keep younger siblings safe- TYSS should be considered in the first instance for these families.

Current Health Issues: Any current mental health, substance misuse or other health issues, including unhealthy behaviours which result in problems like obesity, malnutrition or diabetes. Except when primary concern is young person’s (13+) mental health and or drug and or alcohol misuse- TYSS should be considered in the first instance for these families.

IFST will NOT accept any cases where there are children subject to either a Child In Need Plan or a Child Protection Plan.

How can families access this support?

Pathway 1 – self-referrals

A family can request the service themselves, if they feel they would benefit from this

service they need to call HCC Customer Service Centre: 0300 123 4043. CSC will consider whether or not the family could be supported by the service and if they do then the caller could be transferred to the relevant IFST, for the team to consider meeting with the family to obtain a consent form. If this option does not appear viable the CSCwill discuss alternative support routes with the family.

Pathway 2 – partners request the service on behalf of the family

If a practitioner feels that a family they are already working withrequires an intensive family support service, the practitioner needs to complete three forms:

  1. Single Service Request formand
  2. A Family consent formsigned by the family

All theseforms are located on the Families First Portal (

For practitioners in external (non HCC) agencies, all three forms must be sent together to one of the following:

  • (non GCSX email users)
  • (GCSX email users)
  • Customer Service Centre, P.O.Box 153, Stevenage, Herts, SG1 2GH

It must be noted that for service requests coming through the Customer Service Centre, IFST will NOT be notified of the service request until all forms have been received.

For practitioners in HCC, all three completed forms must be sent together to the relevant local team email inbox:

Dacorum & St Albans / IFST.dacorum&
East Herts & Broxbourne / IFST.eh&
Stevenage & North Herts / IFST.stevenage&
Watford & Three Rivers / IFST.watford&
Welwyn Hatfield & Hertsmere / IFST.welwynhatfield&

Pathway 3 – MASH and Early Help desk

If MASHor the Early Help Team Manager identifies a family may be eligible for IFST support they need to follow MASH and Early Help operational guidance, which will include the CIAOs and / or IFST Early Help desk duty staff contacting the family and key partners to confirm the family’s needs and putting the case into the IFST group IES tray. This pathway may require the IFST operational team gaining written consent from the family.

Pathway 4 - Step-down cases

If the case meets IFST criteria the social worker within Safeguarding & Specialist Services needs to speak with their relevant district IFST manager (contact details below) so that a direct referral into the service can happen and this will avoid any delay, this is achieved by sending an HCC consent formAND a Service Request Form, as outlined on the IFST area of the Families First Portal.

If it is unclear if the case meets IFST criteria the social workercompletes a Request for Targeted Service Form (see “Step Down to TF Guidance”) together with the HCC consent form and send to the relevant IFST email inbox, after which the following process is agreed:

  • S&SS allocated worker will keep the case open on LCS pending the decision from the IFST Manager
  • IFST Support Officer sends an email, within 24 working hours of receiving the paperwork, to the allocated S&SS worker an email to acknowledge that the referral has been received and advises them of the date of the allocations meeting
  • IFST allocations meeting considers the case as a priority at the next team allocations meeting (usually within 5 working days of receiving the referral) and one of the following decisions is made: accepted and allocated, accepted and waiting to be allocated or not accepted.
  • IFST sends an email to the referrer to advise of the above decision within 24 hours of the allocations meeting. If the decision was accepted but not allocated, IFST will include a sentence to advise the referrer of the approximate allocation date. If the decisions was that the case is not accepted, clear reasons will be included in the email as well as ideas for alternative early help support solutions.
  • S&SS allocated worker closes the case on LCS when they have received the above allocations decision email and a discussion has taken place around how the transfer of services will happen for the family.

Case acceptance decisions are based on the presenting information in the step down paperwork. However, on occasions it is useful to see the C&F assessment and check LCS history, so IFST managers will need to consider the need to refer to this additional information before making a final decision and responding to the referrer.

In order to prevent a delay for a family accessing IFST, agencies are responsible for ensuring all three forms are correctly completed and sent to the correct email inbox.

What happens next?

All forms must be completed and received as a collective, before IFST support can begin for the family. Each IFST has a weekly decisions and allocations meeting, so once the team (either directly or via the CSC) receives all three forms they will:

  • send an email to the family/ agency requesting the service, within six working days of the completed IFST service request being received, to inform them of the decision or request further information to inform the decision.
  • contact the family within 5 working days of this meeting, if the case was allocated at the meeting, to commence direct support.

Any concerns partners have regarding this procedure need to be raised with the appropriate IFST Manager at the earliest opportunity.

When IFST ends support to a family, all partners involved with the family will receive a partner service feedback form to complete and return to IFST to inform service improvement planning.

Further information

If you are unsure whether or not a family is eligible for IFST support, please do call the relevant team to discuss. Normal working hours for the service are 9:00am – 5:30pm Monday – Thursday and 9:00am to 4:30pm Fridays. Team contact details are:

Team / Location / Manager / Contact details
Watford and Three Rivers / Otley Way Family Centre, Watford, WD19 7TB / Debbie Stone (interim) / 0208 428 5434
Broxbourne and East Herts / 126 Crossbrook Street, Cheshunt, EN8 8JH / Lorna Simpson / 01992 555 024
Stevenage and North Herts / Hertfordshire County Council, 1st Floor (Above the Library), 38 High Street, Stevenage, SG1 3EF / Sally Lee (interim) / 01438 845005
Welwyn Hatfield and Hertsmere / Unit 1, Mallow Park, Watchmead, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, AL7 1AP / Ola Sijuwade / 01438 845400
Dacorum and St Albans / Greenhills, Tenzing Road, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 4HS / Deirdre McHugh / 01442 453842

If there is risk of significant harm outside of these normal working hours, then agencies can contact the Out of Hours Service from 5:31pm Mondays – Thursdays and 4:31pm Fridays. Phone: 0300 123 4043

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Intensive Family Support Team Detailed Guidance

Agencies requesting IFSTsupport must ensure that at least ONE specific criteria is applicable for at least FOUR different presenting issues. IFST accept referrals for families requiring INTENSIVE support (3 or more contacts a week). IFST CANNOT accept any cases where there are children subject to either a Child In Need Plan or a Child Protection Plan. Detailed guidance issues in bold, supersede all other IFST criteria and for these issues, a referral to TYS should be considered.

Presenting Issues / Detailed Guidance
Crime and ASB
(behaviour) / Any family member with proven criminal or ASB sanctions within the last 12 months – except when primary concern is for a young person (aged 10+) with Out of Court Disposal or Court Order, then a referral to TYS should be considered in the first instance. / Any family member who has been subject to restorative justice, licence, community order, suspended sentence or supervision in the community
School Attendance / Any child withsignificant attendance problems across whole of the last 3 school terms, including permanent or multiple fixed term exclusions, absence levels across the last year / Any child who is not on the school roll / Any child who is being educated in an alternative setting, or who are supported by an ESC (including home educated).
Children who need help
(including neglect and family breakdown)
. / Any Families First Assessment, eCAF, Child & Family Assessment or other type of professional assessment that has been completed in the last 12 months (6 months for a Child & Family Assessment). / If the primary concern is for a 13+ year old who is at risk of CSE, a referral to TYS should be considered in the first instance. / If the primary concern for a young person (13+) is exhibiting high risk behaviour or harm that could lead to family breakdown or places the young person or community at significant risk, then a referral to TYS should be considered in the first instance. / If primary concern is for a homeless or imminently homeless 16/17 year old, a referral to TYS should be considered in first instance.
Adults out of work or at risk of financial exclusion or young people at risk of worklessness and/ or homelessness / Any adult in the family home receiving out of work benefits or claiming Universal Credit subject to work-related conditions / Young people aged 16-18 who have currently been NEET for 3 months or more / Young people aged 16-18 who are due to leave school and have few qualifications and/or no plans for further training or employment / Any significant (3 months or more) rent arrears, debts or financial problems that impact on the family’s ability to meet basic needs (e.g. food, clothing, accommodation).
Health Issues: Physical Health, Mental Health and / or drug or alcohol use / Any current mental health issue (diagnosed or not) for any member of the family - except when primary concern is young person’s (13+) suicide attempts and current self- harming then a referral to TYS should be considered in the first instance. / Any current substance misuse issue for any member of the family – except when primary concern is young person’s (13+) drug / alcohol use has led to offending / ASB then a referral to TYS should be considered in the first instance. / Any other current health issue including unhealthy behaviours which results in problems like obesity, malnutrition or diabetes
Physical abuse/ Chastisement/ Domestic Violence / Any domestic abuse which is current or experienced in the last 12 months - except when primary concern is young person’s (13+) assault on someone in the household and / or parents unable to keep younger siblings safe / Any young person or adult in the family who has been identified by professionals as a perpetrator of domestic abuse in the last 12 months- except when primary concern is young person’s (13+) as perpetrator then a referral to TYS should be considered in the first instance.

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