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Introduction
Statutory social work teams lead statutory safeguarding responses, including section 47 enquiries, child protection assessments and child protection planning. While the Families First Partnership model in England aims for continuity of assessment and support, statutory duties require specific processes which sit outside Family Help. This aligns with current practice in Wales, where proportionate assessments determine the level of care, support and (where required) protection.
Where a family is already receiving Family Help support in England, or care and support in Wales, statutory social work teams will build on the existing Family Help assessment, adding investigative components required under statutory guidance (e.g. for a section 47 enquiry). This avoids duplication while ensuring that statutory obligations are met.
Statutory social work teams lead Child in Need plans (in England) or care and support plans (in Wales) where these meet the legal definition under section 17 of the Children Act or Part 3 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014.
Where Family Help practitioners have already undertaken assessment activity, statutory teams will draw on this information before initiating additional statutory enquiries.
Why sharing information on child sexual abuse is important for social workers
Watch this short video by Isabelle Trowler, Chief Social Worker for Children and Families, who explains why sharing information from across different agencies is so important when there are concerns about child sexual abuse.
The Child and Family Assessment is used by children’s social workers to understand a child or family’s presenting issues and the impact on the child(ren) in the context of the whole family. Nationally, this is known as a Single Assessment.
As noted in the UK Government guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children and the Welsh Government’s Working Together to Safeguard People, Volume 5, the purposes of statutory social work assessments are to gather important information about a child and family; analyse their needs and/or the nature and level of any risk and harm being suffered by the child, including where harm or risk is from outside the home; provide support to address those needs, improve their welfare and ensure they are safe; and identify support from within the family network.
The assessment typically includes:
- a clear description of the concerns prompting statutory involvement
- detailed analysis of the child’s developmental needs, presentation, and daily lived experience
- parent/carer capacity, including supervision, emotional availability, and ability to protect from harm
- a full family history and an updated chronology
- contributions from police, health, schools, and any specialist services involved
- observations from announced and unannounced home visits
- the child’s wishes and feelings, captured through direct work, conversations and/or play
- professional judgement regarding risk, protective factors and required interventions.
In situations where there are concerns of child sexual abuse, the assessment may also draw on information from Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) interviews, paediatric medical assessments, police intelligence, and any known concerns about risks posed by specific individuals around the child. The assessment provides the basis for decisions about ongoing intervention, safety planning and thresholds for child protection.
Following assessment, statutory social work teams develop and oversee formal multi-agency plans. These plans detail what needs to change, how safety will be maintained, and which agencies will take which actions.
Plans typically include:
- clear outcomes for the child and family
- specific actions for each practitioner and for the parent(s)/carer(s)
- timescales, expected progress and review points
- regular updates from schools, health, early years settings and police
- observations from social work visits
- immediate and ongoing safety actions (e.g. supervision arrangements, prohibitions on contact, safety planning)
- work to support the child’s emotional and psychological wellbeing
- any signs or indicators of possible harm in the child’s behaviour or physical presentation
- any new intelligence from partner agencies
- anything the child has said about their experiences
- decisions from strategy meetings or legal planning meetings
- indicators of escalating or decreasing risk.
Because these plans are monitored through Child in Need meetings, child protection conferences, core group meetings and statutory social work visits, they provide the most up-to-date multi-agency understanding of risk.
Statutory social work teams also hold records from all section 47 child protection enquiries, strategy discussions, legal planning meetings and, where required, court proceedings. This information can include:
- multi-agency analysis of identified risks
- police information about suspects, networks or ongoing investigations
- findings from a paediatric medical assessment, and any other medical reports on the child
- legal advice, documents from the Public Law Outline (a legal framework that guides English local authorities when they are considering court proceedings for care or supervision orders), and court reports
- expert assessments commissioned during court proceedings.