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Introduction
Family Help is part of the new Families First Partnership (FPP) framework in England, which provides multi‑agency support for families whose needs have not reached the threshold for statutory child protection intervention. Under the FFP model, Family Help operates within an integrated safeguarding system, but statutory child protection work remains the responsibility of statutory social work teams.
Family Help uses one evolving assessment, coordinated by the Family Help Lead Practitioner (FHLP). This assessment is not a statutory child protection assessment. If risk escalates, this assessment should be built upon, but statutory teams may add additional investigative activity.
Although the terminology is shifting under the Families First Partnership reforms, statutory Child in Need plans remain the responsibility of statutory social work teams, while Family Help provides multi‑agency support below the statutory threshold.
If concerns escalate to likely or actual significant harm, statutory social work teams lead the child protection response. The Family Help assessment and plan should transfer with the family and inform this statutory work.
The provision of Family Help should be led by Family Help lead practitioners (FHLPs), who may come from a range of different disciplines; what is important is that they have the right knowledge, skills and experience to support families who need help. Some will be social work qualified, and others will have alternative appropriate skills or qualifications. They may or may not be employed directly by the local authority, but will be integrated into multi-disciplinary Family Help teams with appropriate oversight set out in the safeguarding partners’ local protocol.
Practitioners involved in the multi-agency Family Help response will each hold different pieces of information depending on their involvement with, and knowledge of, the whole family. This information is typically gathered through assessments, direct work with children and parents, and observations from home visits. It may capture – often for the first time – early indicators of risk of child sexual abuse, and important details about family dynamics and patterns of behaviour, as well as any reports of harm or worries shared by the child or family.
The equivalent of a Family Help team in Wales is the Early Help Hub or Team Around the Family (TAF), which is usually accessed through local authority Families First teams. The Hub or TAF provides voluntary, tailored support for children and families to address needs early, before they require statutory social services
In Family Help, there should be one assessment (and one plan – see below) of a family’s needs and protective factors, and the risks facing them. This assessment will stay and evolve with the family, and will be accessed by all practitioners and organisations working with them. When any new information is obtained, this should be added to the Family Help assessment, rather than being the basis of a new assessment.
The assessment should cover any and all information related to the family’s needs; where appropriate, it should also build on help and support provided in universal or community-based services such as family hubs.
The assessment should include a chronology of concerns, the family’s own views, information about the abused or at-risk child’s development and wellbeing, details of any other children in the home, and any early indicators of harm such as changes in behaviour, concerns about supervision, or worries about relationships and boundaries.
This plan sets out what support will be provided, who will deliver it, and what change is expected, based on the needs, risks and protective factors identified in the Family Help assessment. It is a multi-agency document that records goals, actions, timescales, and each practitioner’s responsibilities. It may include ongoing concerns about safety or wellbeing, updates from schools and health services, and observations from home visits.
The plan should record safety actions (such as supervision arrangements or monitoring school attendance), how the child is being supported emotionally, and what further assessment or escalation might be required; this makes it a valuable source of information when there are concerns of child sexual abuse.
The plan is reviewed regularly through Team Around the Family/Child meetings, meaning it often holds the most up-to-date picture of need, risk and support across organisations.
The UK Government’s guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children makes clear that Family Help now brings together targeted early help and Section 17 support into a single, more seamless offer for children and families. It is designed to provide coordinated, multi‑disciplinary support earlier, with consistent practitioner relationships and a shared Family Help plan which follows the family across the continuum of need.
Under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, local authorities have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need. In the reformed system, Family Help is a key mechanism through which section 17 support is organised and delivered. Family Help practitioners therefore play an important role in identifying emerging concerns, coordinating assessments, and providing support at a stage when difficulties may not yet meet the threshold for statutory child protection. Working Together to Safeguard Children emphasises that assessment and support under section 17 must link back to the existing Family Help plan wherever possible, avoiding duplication and ensuring continuity for the child and family.
Part 3 (Assessing Needs) and Part 4 (Meeting Needs) of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 place duties on local authorities to identify, assess, and support children in need. Families in need of care and support will be offered this within non statutory services, unless child protection thresholds are met and the family is then supported through section 47 arrangements/children act/child protection planning.
Where concerns escalate and a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, local authorities must initiate enquiries under section 47. The 2026 guidance strengthens expectations for robust multi‑agency assessments, direct work with the child, and clear strategy discussions in cases of child sexual abuse and other forms of harm.
At this stage, statutory social work teams lead the child protection response. However, Working Together to Safeguard Children makes explicit that section 47 enquiries and subsequent child protection planning should draw directly on the Family Help assessment and plan wherever appropriate, reflecting what is already known and avoiding unnecessary reassessment.
This alignment ensures that when risks increase – particularly in relation to hidden harms such as child sexual abuse – practitioners already have a shared, multi‑agency understanding of the child’s context, enabling faster, safer, and more proportionate decision‑making.
Why is this especially important when there are concerns of child sexual abuse?
Child sexual abuse is a hidden form of harm, and signs and indicators of it are often missed, minimised or misunderstood – even when multiple practitioners are involved. The report of the national review into child sexual abuse within the family environment, “I Wanted Them All to Notice”, found that children had frequently shown clear signs of distress, fear or behavioural change, yet these had been misinterpreted, overlooked or not connected across safeguarding agencies, leaving children unheard and unprotected. Fragmented systems and missed warning signs meant that even when a person had already been known to pose a risk, a lack of coordinated assessment and information-sharing had left children exposed to ongoing harm.
This is why the strengthened relationship between Family Help (as the coordinated mechanism for section 17 support) and statutory social work teams responsible for section 47 enquiries is so important in improving identification and response to child sexual abuse. Early Family Help involvement often captures initial, low-level, or seemingly ambiguous indicators of sexual abuse – behaviours, interactions, patterns of supervision, parental vulnerabilities or children’s indirect communication – which do not surface anywhere else in the safeguarding system. If children later require a statutory child protection response, Working Together makes clear that section 47 enquiries should draw directly on the existing Family Help assessment and plan, ensuring that the statutory response does not start from scratch but instead builds upon the child’s earlier signals, lived experience and the cumulative picture already held by practitioners.
For more information about how to respond to concerns of child sexual abuse, please see the CSA Centre’s Child Sexual Abuse Response Pathway.