Hampshire County Council
Schools Forum
Item 4
22nd October 2014
E
Early Help Update
Report of the Director of Children’s Services
Contact: Jayne Shelbourn-Barrow, 01962 845738;
jayne.shelbourn-barrow@hants.gov.uk
1
Summary
1.1
As agreed at the schools forum meeting on 16th December 2013, this paper
provides an update on the progress of the implementation of the early help
offer.
2
Background – the Hampshire model
2.1
Hampshire’s Children’s Trust is committed to redesigning early help services
in Hampshire, as identified in the 2012-2015 Children’s and Young People’s
Plan. Early help means ‘identifying as early as possible if a child or family
need support and helping them to access services, working together to ensure
that this has maximum impact. In other words, offering the right help at the
right time.’
2.2
The Hampshire model of early help is based on the following key principles:
2.3

Early help is a 0-19 offer.

Focussing on the child and family’s journey.

A seamless pathway of interventions as they move in and out of
services, step up / step down across the windscreen of need.

A range of effective, evidence-based services in place to address
assessed needs.

Practitioners need to understand their role both when providing a
service as a single agency (early help in response to an emerging
additional need) and as part of a multi-agency response (targeted
early help).
Central to the redesign is working alongside services who offer early help
across the 0-19 age range, including children’s centres, health, schools,
locality teams, youth provision, the voluntary sector, local and district borough
councils and social care.
2.4
The use of common language and terminology is key to ensure the success of
the redesign of early help services.
2.5
The redesign of early help services focuses on those children, young people
and families that fall below the threshold for children’s social care
interventions
3
Overview of progress – key areas of work
3.1
Governance arrangements
There are regular reports to Hampshire Safeguarding Children’s Board
(HSCB) and Hampshire Children’s Trust Board.
Discussions are underway in relation to the Local Children’s Partnerships
(LCPs) and future governance arrangements linked with the 10 early help
hubs model.
At a district level, short term working groups have been established, linked
with the LCPs to oversee the introduction of the early help hub, including the
hub venue, multi-agency launch event, hub representation and
communications with partner agencies.
Schools have been involved in the working groups for Gosport, Test Valley,
Basingstoke, Hart and Rushmoor, New Forest, Havant and East Hants.
Representation has been both Head teachers and Deputy Head teachers.
There is a county implementation board for early help chaired by the Deputy
Director, Children’s Services and a county roll out group to oversee the
implementation. Both of these groups are multi-agency.
3.2
Review of thresholds of need
In line with ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2013)’, a new
thresholds document, as approved by the Children’s Trust and HSCB, has
been produced that includes:
 How the provision of early help services form part of a continuum of
help and support to respond to the different levels of need of
individual children and families.
 The process for the early help assessment and the type and level of
early help services to be provided; and
 The criteria, including the level of need, for when a case should be
referred to local authority children’s social care for assessment and
for statutory services.
3.3
Early help assessment
Following a review of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF), a new
early help assessment tool has been produced allowing a range of agencies
to contribute to the assessment process. There is one assessment per family
leading to one family plan.
The early help assessment is being rolled out alongside the county roll out of
early help hubs. Following a 6 month review of the Eastleigh pilot, the early
help assessment paperwork is being reviewed and updated – this includes
bringing together one set of paperwork for both early help and the ‘Supporting
Families’ programme.
3.4
Performance and outcomes measures
The following measures have been identified as the most useful to collect to
monitor and measure the performance of the Early Help Hub and to evidence
the role of early help and the impact on the child and family,









Number of families being worked with at level 3
Number of early help assessments completed
Length of time open to the hub
Who is making the request for support to Level 3
Reason for request for support
Re-entry to level 3 hub from level 2 when stepped down in past
Number of cases stepped up from level 3 to 4
Number of cases stepped down from level 4 to 3
Who is undertaking the role of early help coordinator
In addition to these performance measures, individual hubs will be expected
to report the following;



Number of cases at level 2 being supported by level 3 (calls into
consultation line, issues raised, help and guidance offered, source of
call). This information will be collated and used to inform local
commissioning arrangements.
Distance travelled data - the distance travelled tool is used by the
practitioner. The top priority areas will be agreed with the family as
part of the early help plan. The practitioner will complete the tool
Feedback from the family – this will be collated from both the young
person and the parent/carer and will include views on the contact
received, involvement in the assessment and plan, the interventions
and the outcomes of the interventions.
See Appendix 2 for data from hubs at 31.7.14.
3.5
Communications and Training
The multi-agency launch events have been well attended with representation
across both statutory and voluntary services. All schools and education
settings have been invited to their launch event. Representation has been as
follows:
Infant
Junior
Primary
Secondary
Special
Ed Centre
Eastleigh
7
6
12
6
Gosport
23
8
8
6
Test
Valley
6
4
19
9
3
B’stoke
13
8
5
16
2
1
Hart &
Rushmoor
13
10
11
9
2
1
New
Forest
10
7
3
11
Havant
6
7
10
5
1
1
3
Following the launch event there are opportunities to attend early help
assessment training – this has predominantly been attended by locality
teams, children’s centre staff, health visitors and schools.
A hub workshop is held prior to the commencement of the hub to discuss
practicalities around how the hub will operate; this includes agreement around
a memorandum of understanding in respect of information sharing.
A training needs analysis is undertaken with hub members after
approximately 4-6 weeks of meetings. Strengths are identified as well as
gaps to inform training needs.
The early help web pages are in development and will include county and
local hub information.
4
The Early Help Hub – update on implementation
4.1
As of 08.09.14, there are seven hubs operational – Eastleigh, Gosport, Test
Valley, Basingstoke, Hart & Rushmoor, New Forest and Havant. All 10 hubs
will be operational by the end of November. Appendix 1 shows the roll out
plan and contact information.
4.2
The early help hub operates at level 3 and provide interventions with children
and families that meet the level 3 threshold, both step up from level 2 and
step down from level 4.
4.3
The early help hub is managed by an early help hub manager, (formerly
locality manager) and provides a daily consultation line 08.30-12.30. The
consultation line provides support to schools and practitioners around the
early help offer, assessment, services etc.
4.4
There is a weekly hub meeting which a range of practitioners attend:
Agencies / services signed up to the hub provision to date include:















Hampshire County Council Locality team, including Youth Crime
Prevention and link with Legal Intervention Team
Children’s Centres
Community Development Facilitator role within Youth Support
Commissioning
Adult Social Care – Substance Misuse Team
CAMHS – Primary Mental Health Worker
Health Visiting
School Nursing
Young People’s Substance Misuse service
NEET provision / post 14 work
Police
Housing
Domestic abuse
Young carers
Sexual Health Services
Ethnic Minority Service Traveller Service
A register of attendance is kept and forms part of the quarterly report to the
local Multi-Agency Safeguarding Forum.
There are discussions underway with GP’s in relation to their involvement in
the early help pathway and there is currently a gap in relation to Adult Social
Care, Adult Mental Health and Adult Learning Disability.
There is close alignment with the Supporting Troubled Families programme at
a county level and each hub area is working closely with Supporting Troubled
Families to look at working arrangements.
4.5
The purpose of the weekly hub meeting is to discuss and allocate families that
have been identified as requiring Level 3 targeted early help. Each ‘family’ will
be discussed at the meeting following the completion of the early help
assessment – this assessment is commenced at Level 2. A decision will be
made at the meeting who will take on the role of early help coordinator linked
to each child and family plan who will ensure regular reviews of the plan and
progress. The early help coordinator role can be undertaken by a range of
practitioners, determined by the needs of the child and family. To date this
role has been undertaken by children’s centre family support worker, locality
team family support worker, parent support advisor, school nurse, health
visitor and Transform (Supporting Troubled Families programme).
4.6
Schools engagement in the weekly hub meetings.
There have been discussions in each district in relation to schools
involvement in the weekly hub meetings. Schools are always invited to attend
to discuss a family where a request for support at Level 3 has been made –
however, attendance is not mandatory and the work will be discussed and
allocated as per the process if the school do not attend. To date there is
consensus that weekly representation at the meeting is beneficial as it brings
a level of expertise and challenge to the multi-agency group. Schools in Test
Valley have proposed a rota linked with schools clusters to enable school
representation on a weekly basis. There are similar discussions underway in
other areas.
Discussions are also underway in each district with regards to how schools
and schools clusters link with the early help hub. An example of this is
agreement that the hub manager will attend cluster meetings for discussion
and feedback.
5.
The Level 2 Early Help Offer
5.1
The early help hub supports the on-going development of the locality early
help offer at level 2 by:




Providing expertise and consultation via a telephone duty system,
8.30 – 12.30 Monday to Friday.
Signposting to services
Providing support and challenge to agencies re their involvement at
Level 2 and 3
Access to training opportunities
5.2
The local service directory information is being collated. This is a shared
project with Supporting Troubled Families. There has been a delay in
securing IT capacity to develop the web pages.
There is further developmental work to undertake around the level 2 offer.
6.
Eastleigh Early Help Pilot
6.1
Between 21.1.14 and 31.07.14, there were 40 ‘new’ early help assessments
involving 99 children and young people. This figure does not include the level
3 cases already open to locality teams at the commencement of the hub
arrangements. It also does not include the step down cases form level 4.
6.2
Attendance at the weekly meetings has been consistent and members have
particularly welcomed the regular contribution of Adult Social care substance
misuse, CAMHS and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
6.3
The early help assessment form has been amended in light of the pilot and a
review workshop was held in September.
6.4
A 6 month review hub meeting was held in July to get feedback from partner
agencies and look at areas for development.
7.
Finance
7.1
The estimated cost of the 10 hubs is £3.3m, approximately £330,000 per hub,
made up of the following elements:
£000
Strategic Early Help & Partnerships Manager
Early Help Hub Manager x 8
Assistant Early Help Hub Manager x 2
Early Help Social Workers x 8
Family Support Workers x 48
Family Support Worker (youth lead) x 10
Administration support x 9
Youth Crime Prevention Officers x 18
Total staff costs
Non staff costs, including building, IT, phones, mileage, support
funds for families
Total costs
67
384
77
309
1,440
300
216
340
3,133
197
3,330
8.
8.1
Recommendations:
Schools forum note the progress of the implementation of the early help offer
8.2
Schools forum suggest ways forward in relation to the future engagement of
schools in relation to the development of the offer.
Appendix 1: Early Help Hub contacts – version 1st September 2014
Hub
Manager
Hub start
Email address
Eastleigh
Julie
Alden
21.01.14
Gosport
Steph
Morley
Test Valley
Julie
Lawrence
Basingstoke Rebekah
Kundi
venue
Weekly
allocation
meeting
eastleigh.EarlyHelpHub@hants.gov.uk
Consultation
line (not to be
given to
parents)
02380 624728
Chamberlayne
Children's Centre,
Chamberlayne
Road, Eastleigh
Hampshire SO50
5JL
Wednesday
1000 - 1200
28.04.14
Gosport.EarlyHelpHub@hants.gov.uk
02392 572677
Tuesday
0930-1200
19.05.14
testvalley.ehh@hants.gov.uk
01264 387453
02.06.14
basingstoke.earlyhelp@hants.gov.uk
01256 776146
Rowner Children's
Centre,
Nimrod Dr,
Gosport,
Hampshire PO13
8AA
Water Meadow
Children's Centre,
Old London Rd,
Stockbridge,
Hampshire SO20
6EJ
(consultation line
not from there
currently)
Pebbles Children's
Centre,
Shakespeare
Road, Popley,
Thursday
1300 - 1500
Thursday
0930 - 1130
Hart &
Rushmoor
Fiona
Wraith
16.06.14
hartandrushmoor.earlyhelp@hants.gov
.uk
01252 796324
New Forest
Debra
Cusack
07.07.14
newforest.earlyhelp@hants.gov.uk
02380 627735
Havant
Andy
Kennedy
08.09.14
havant.earlyhelp@hants.gov.uk
023 9247 5503
East Hants
Sharon
Davies
tbc –
03.11.14
Work flow not switched locality to early
help yet
sharon.davies@hants.gov.uk
Fareham
Steph
Morley
tbc
10.11.14
Winchester
Julie
Alden
tbc
17.11.14
Work flow not switched locality to early
help yet
Stephanie.morley@hants.gov.uk
Work flow not switched locality to early
help yet
julie.alden@hants.gov.uk
Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG24
9BP
Rushmoor Borough
Council,
Farnborough Rd,
Farnborough,
Hampshire GU14
7JU
Cadland Children's
Centre,
Whitefield Road,
Holbury,
Southampton
SO45, 2HW
Public Service
Plaza
Civic Centre Road
Havant
PO9 2AX
Tuesday
1300 - 1500
Thursday
0930 - 1130
Wednesday
0930 - 1130
Appendix 2: Data from operational hubs at 31.07.14
Note: hubs have been operational for varying lengths of time so direct
comparisons not possible.
Eastleigh
21.01.14 – 31.07.14
Measure
Comment
Number of families Cases open 121 – involving 54 families
being worked with
at level 3
Step down from social care – 63
Step up from schools and agencies – 58
Closed cases 35 – due to move out of area, step up to level
4, support no longer being required.
40 completed which involves 99 children/young people. In
addition
1 CAF assessment received.
On average between 6 weeks and 5 months
Number of Early
help assessments
completed
Length of time
open to the hub
Who is making the Schools for majority of cases reflected in authoring of Early
request for support Help Assessments on 28 occasions, YOT, primary Behaviour
to Level 3
Support, CAMHS 2, Health Visitor 4, Portage Service 1, PSA
1, Nursery 1
Reason for
Behaviour issues, lower level neglect, additional needs such
request for support as child with special needs, attendance, domestic abuse,
adults with mental health issues, financial issues, parenting,
housing, self harm, child/young person with mental health
issues, vulnerability/risk taking behaviour.
Re-entry to level 3 1 case involving 3 children. Early Help Assessment had
hub from level 2
previously been completed by school with only identified need
when stepped
as being behaviour. Subsequent assessment completed by
down in past
Portage Service which identified additional needs – financial
issues, risk of relationship breakdown
Number of cases
2 cases.
stepped up from
level 3 to 4
Number of cases
73 cases = 36 families.
stepped down
from level 4 to 3
Who is
1 X PSA, 13 x FSW Locality Team, 2 x Children’s Centre,
undertaking the
Health Visitor/Children’s Centre x 2 and Health Visitor/FSW
role of Early help
Locality Team x 2, Transform x 1.
Coordinator
Step down cases primarily are being held by Children’s
Centres and FSW in Locality Team.
Number of cases
80 calls recorded but data not 100% accurate due to lost data
at level 2 being
after spreadsheet information had to be restored.
supported by level Majority of calls from schools. Main outcome was to signpost
3
to other services/single agency referral needed. In 5 cases
there was a request to start the Early Help Assessment.
What has to be noted that when the Hub went live child
details were not able to be recorded initially so information is
not as robust as currently or when other hubs have
subsequently gone live.
Of the 11 Early Help Assessments identified as being level 2
signposting, advice and guidance offered – referral to YCP for
inclusion in Fairthorne Project, School Nursing for help with
health needs, bereavement support information sent, request
for CAMHS referral to be made to ascertain whether there is
any organic cause to behaviour, and information pertaining to
parenting groups given.
Distance travelled 11 making progress. Subsequent cases are too early in the
data
intervention timescales to confirm progress.
Feedback from the We are only now at the point where feedback is to be gained
family
for cases where closure is being planned or plans for step
down to level 2 is being arranged.
We will be piloting the Early Help feedback form rather than
‘So How Did We Do’.
Feedback generally sought at TAF meetings, which has been
positive about the process and support being offered. One
Early Help Coordinator change at the request of the parent.
One case client refused to have (CSD) FSW Locality Worker
involved any longer as too challenging and not accepting of
the concerns being raised. Case supported by Children’s
Centre.
GOSPORT
24.4.14 to 29.7.14
Measure
Comment
Number of families 52 Families = 136 children
being worked with
at level 3
Closed -4 Families (8 Children) refused to engage and they
came from Social Care as part of step down.
Number of Early
17 EHA
help assessments 35 C&F Assessments from social care
completed
Length of time
On- going apart from the 4 families who refused to engage
open to the hub
Who is making the Social Care, Parents, Schools ,Health, Childrens Centre,
request for support Motiv8
to Level 3
Reason for
Parenting, post abuse, finance, behaviour/attendance, DV,
request for support Mediation/Family relationship, home conditions,
Re-entry to level 3 13 cases
hub from level 2
when stepped
down in past
Number of cases
stepped up from
level 3 to 4
Number of cases
stepped down
from level 4 to 3
Who is
undertaking the
role of Early help
Coordinator
5 families = 15 cases
They have now returned to Hub for further support after 2
months.
101 cases (children) = 35 families
Children Families
Locality
92
36
Schools
13
3
Motiv8
12
4
Children C 10
5
Transform
7
3
Health visitor 2
1
Number of cases
at level 2 being
supported by level
3
Distance travelled
data
Feedback from the
family
13 cases have gone to Level 3.
Calls have been around information gathering on the EHA,
Home education, What the hub is about, cases progressing to
level 3 once EHA received and completed
currently all open cases to the hub support ongoing
TEST VALLEY
19 May 2014 – 31st July 2014
4 cases closed as part of step down from social care - felt
support no longer required.
Measure
Comment
Number of families Cases open 145 – 105 Locality and 40 Other. (some of these
being worked with cases were carried over from service prior to hub)
at level 3
24 cases closed since Hub commenced on 19/5/14 (some of
these cases were opened prior to hub commencing)
Escalated to social care – 5
Family did not engage – 4
Family withdrew consent - 4
Family moved out of area – 1
Plan outcomes met - 10
Number of Early
In respect of 39 children
help assessments
completed
Length of time
Cases open since 19/5 and remain open.
open to the hub
Who is making the Schools, Children’s Centre,
request for support R & A, CIN and housing
to Level 3
Reason for
request for support
Re-entry to level 3
hub from level 2
when stepped
down in past
Number of cases
stepped up from
level 3 to 4
Number of cases
stepped down
from level 4 to 3
Who is
undertaking the
role of Early help
Coordinator
Number of cases
at level 2 being
supported by level
3
Distance travelled
data
Feedback from the
family
Main issues are parental mental health impacting on parenting;
child mental health/emotional health; domestic abuse; housing
0
5
41
Locality Team, Schools, Children’s Centre, Young Carers,
55 request through hub at level 2, via phone, email. Advice
guidance provided, signposting to services, co-authoring of
assessments, recommended LIT referrals, recommended call to
CRT as child/young person concerns.
Detail of the number of cases held that are making progress =
105
“Feel that we are together as a family, don’t think that would have
happened without Ali’s help”
“Like school more and everyone seems happier, we know we are going to
stay together and that dad has some help now”
“Less worried, feel I can talk to Dad more”.
“My emotional state has improved. Things within the family are going
really well. I wasn’t in a good place when I started working with Kelly
and she really helped me get a sense of things so I could sort my head
out. Things within my family are running smoother which means less
arguments. Working with Kelly has brought me out of a dark place.
Now I feel safer from myself. I feel a lot happier and I am so much more
emotionally stable. My mum has also made a difference as she knows
how to deal with me when I am naughty. She also doesn’t have to worry
about me”.
BASINGSTOKE &
DEANE
Measure
Number of families
being worked with
at level 3
2.6.14 – 31.7.14
Comment
41 families open (77 children), 3 families have been closed
These do not include cases that were open to HCC locality
teams prior to the hub commencement.
Number of Early
help assessments
completed
Length of time
open to the hub
Who is making the
request for support
to Level 3
Reason for
request for support
Re-entry to level 3
hub from level 2
when stepped
down in past
Number of cases
stepped up from
level 3 to 4
Number of cases
stepped down
from level 4 to 3
Who is
undertaking the
role of Early help
Coordinator
Number of cases
at level 2 being
supported by level
3
Of the cases closed, 1 escalated, 1 moved out of the area, 1
disengaged with services offered
20 assessments completed
The hub as been operational for 2 months
Majority from Schools & school nurses. Also health visitors,
CAMHS
Parenting support (majority), adult mental health issues,
substance misuse, self harm
None
Two
1 was attempted but MASH didn’t feel it was level 4 and came
back to the hub, the other has escalated to R&A for an
assessment
21 families (44 children)
Locality FSW’S, Children Centre FSW’s, Stoneham workers,
School Nurses, CAMHS workers, Domestic Abuse outreach
workers, schools
20 calls into consultation line.
Calls have come from different professionals including, schools,
health visitors, school nurses, Voluntary services. Majority have
been from schools and health services.
Support has been to suggest a referral to CRT and or
signposting to agencies.
As yet we have no data
Distance travelled
data
Feedback from the As yet we don’t have any data
family
HART &
RUSHMOOR
16.6.14 – 31.7.14
Measure
Comment
Number of families 28 families have been discussed at EEH meetings = 63 children
being worked with
at level 3
Number of Early
help assessments
completed
3 Early Help Assessments have been heard
We have had two EH assessments from health visitors and one
from a school. Unfortunately they were not of good quality in
terms of reflecting what the assessment is supposed to be used
for.
View of hub members is that the timing of the hub launch was
not helpful to reflect the work that usually get from schools. Now
that the hub is up and running and we can report to schools
what is being heard at the hubs, I am hoping that we can
positively promote the early help assessments.
The dates of this data is between 16th June and the 30th July, so
relatively new data
Most of the cases are step down cases from the Referral and
Assessment Team. We have had two EH assessments from
health visiting service and one from a school. We have had one
step down from a CiN team
Reason for
Mostly step down, behaviour, marital discord, abusive
request for support relationships, housing and parenting
Re-entry to level 3
hub from level 2
when stepped
down in past
Number of cases
3 families
stepped up from
level 3 to 4
Number of cases
24
stepped down
from level 4 to 3
Who is
In most cases it is either the family support workers in the Early
undertaking the
Help Hub or the local Children’s Centres. We have had two
role of Early help
cases that have stuck with the health visitors.
Coordinator
Number of cases
20 calls received by duty. 17 originated from schools, 1 from a
at level 2
neighbour, 1 from a parent and 1 from a GP.
In 10 cases a EHH Assessment was advised – 2 have been
received.
4 callers were provided help and guidance regarding health and
attendance concerns, 4 regarding school attendance, 1
regarding housing and benefits and 1 regarding behaviour. 1 call
not resolved due to school closures.
Distance travelled We have completed distance travelled forms but as yet cannot
data
report on progress.
Feedback from the None yet
family
Length of time
open to the hub
Who is making the
request for support
to Level 3
New Forest
Launch event 10 June 2014
Hub commenced 10 July 2014 and weekly meetings initially held at Childrens
Centre. Current venue does not have WiFi and there are potential issues getting
installed – the hub meetings have temporarily moved to HCC building in Totton and
further discussions are needed. Early Help Hub Manager was off sick June –
September. Therefore other hub managers and HCC managers have covered hub.
Attendance has been good form agencies and despite the issues around venue and
lack of manager, it is progressing.
Havant
Launch event 4th July 2014
Following the Hub Launch event on the 4th of July, the location of the Hub has now
been confirmed as the Public Service Plaza in Havant. The Hub will commence
operation on the 8th of September, with weekly allocation meetings to take place at
the Plaza on Wednesday mornings. The process has been well supported by partner
agencies both at the workshop events and in more informal queries regarding the
start of the Hub’s work in September.