Barnet's Local Assessment Protocol and Continuum of Help & Support Threshold Document

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Most children and young people living in Barnet have basic needs that are met well by their parents, wider family, support networks and universal services such as health, children’s centres and schools.  All families can face difficulties from time to time, and some children need more help to achieve their potential.

Working Together 2023 sets out that local authorities, with their partners, should develop and publish local protocols for assessment. Barnet’s updated and refreshed Local Assessment Protocol sets out clear arrangements for children referred to the local authority for support and as such is a ‘handbook’ that describes what the local authority will do and how the child will move through the journey of assessment and planning. The Local Assessment Protocol aims to secure cooperative working across agencies, and with parents/carers, children and young people that places the child at the centre of decision making both in Early Help and when a child requires a statutory social work assessment by Children’s Social Care Services.

Underpinning the Local Assessment Protocol is the Barnet Continuum of Help and Support Threshold Document. This provides a framework for practitioners who are working with children and  families in Barnet and aims to help identify when a child may need additional levels of support to achieve their full potential. It provides information on the levels of need and gives examples of some of the indicators that a child may need additional support. The London Safeguarding Children Partnership's Editorial Board will review the Continuum of Help & Support Quarterly and we will update the local version accordingly. For further contextual information please visit the London Safeguarding Children Procedures

Barnet Child & Family Early Help Services[1] is not a single service but a network of multi-agency services and professionals who work separately and together to provide support when children and their family’s need it.  Children with special educational needs and disabilities may need additional support to help them thrive and achieve. The service aims to ensure that help is provided early, in the right places at the right time.[2]  “Early intervention means identifying and providing effective early support to children and young people who are at risk of poor outcomes. Effective early intervention works to prevent problems occurring, or to tackle them head-on when they do, before problems get worse. It also helps to foster a whole set of personal strengths and skills that prepare a child for adult life” (Early Intervention Foundation, 2020).[3]

Keeping children at the centre of what we do, is a key priority for the safeguarding partnership, so that their lived experience is understood, their voices are heard and their outcomes improved through services based on a clear understanding of their needs and views of the individual child in their family and community context.

[1] Early help for children, young people and families | Barnet Council

[2] Barnet Local Offer :: Home

[3] Home | Early Intervention Foundation (eif.org.uk)

We will be updating and refreshing these documents so please do not print, but instead use the online version.