1.2 Referrals

1. Introduction

Anyone who has concerns about a child's welfare should consider whether a referral needs to be made to Children's Social Care and should do so immediately if there is a concern that the child is suffering significant harm or is likely to do so. A referral should also be made to Children’s Social Care when a child is admitted to a mental health facility. Referrals can come from the child themselves, practitioners such as teachers, early years providers, the police, probation service, GPs and health visitors as well as family members and members of the public. Contact details should be signposted clearly so that children, parents, other family members and community partners are aware of who they can contact if they wish to make a referral, require advice or support.

All practitioners working with children and families, including those in universal services and those providing services to adults with children, need to ensure that they:

Know when to share information with other practitioners and what action to take to support early identification and assessment;
Are able to identify and recognise all forms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation;
Have an understanding of domestic and sexual abuse, including controlling and coercive behaviour as well as parental conflict that is frequent, intense, and unresolved;
Are aware of new and emerging threats, including online harm, grooming, sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation, radicalisation, and the role of technology and social media in presenting harm; and
Are aware that a child and their family may be experiencing multiple needs at the same time.

Contacts from practitioners to Children's Social Care services usually fall into three categories:

Requests for information from Children's Social Care;
Provision of information such as notifications about a child or their family;
Requests for services for a child which will be in the form of a referral.

Children's Social Care has the responsibility to clarify with the referrer the nature of the concerns and how and why they have arisen.

The local Threshold Document (Local Resources) provides guidance about the criteria for making and receiving referrals. However, Working Together to Safeguard Children highlights that practitioners should be aware to the potential need for Early Help for a child who:

Is disabled;
Has special educational needs (whether or not they have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan);
Is a young carer;
Is bereaved;
Is showing signs of being drawn into anti-social or criminal behaviour, including being affected by gangs and county lines and organised crime groups and/or serious violence, including knife crime;
Is frequently missing/goes missing from care or from home;
Is at risk of modern slavery, trafficking, sexual and/or criminal exploitation;
Is at risk of being radicalised;
Is viewing problematic and/or inappropriate online content (for example, linked to violence), or developing inappropriate relationships online;
Is in a family circumstance presenting challenges for the child, such as drug and alcohol misuse, adult mental health issues and domestic abuse;
Is misusing drugs or alcohol themselves;
Is suffering from mental ill health;
Has returned home to their family from care;
Is a privately fostered child;
Has a parent or carer in custody;
Is missing education, or persistently absent from school, or not in receipt of full-time education;
Has experienced multiple suspensions and is at risk of, or has been permanently excluded.

2. The Duty to Refer

All practitioners have a responsibility to refer a child to Children's Social Care under section 11 of the Children Act 2004 if they believe or suspect that the child:

Has suffered significant harm;
Is likely to suffer significant harm;
Has a disability, developmental and welfare needs which are likely only to be met through the provision of family support services (with the agreement of the child's parent) under the Children Act 1989;
Is a Child in Need whose development would be likely to be impaired without the provision of services.

3. Making a Referral

The multi-agency referral form can be accessed here.

When practitioners refer a child, they should include any information they have about the child's developmental needs, the capacity of their parents, carers or family network to meet those needs and any external factors that may be undermining their capacity to parent. This information may be included in any assessment, including an Early Help assessment, which may have been carried out prior to a referral into the local authority Children’s Social Care. An Early Help assessment is not a prerequisite for a referral but where one has been undertaken, it should be used to support the referral.

New referrals and referrals on closed cases should be made to the Children's Social Care duty social worker. Referrals on open cases should be made to the child's allocated social worker (or in their absence their manager or the duty social worker).

The referrer will be asked for information about some of the following:

Full names (including aliases and spelling variations), date of birth and gender of all child/ren in the household;
Family address and (where relevant) school/nursery attended;
Identity of those with parental responsibility and any other significant adults who may be involved in caring for the child such as grandparents;
Names and date of birth of all household members, if available;
Where available, the child's NHS number and education UPN number;
Ethnicity, first language and religion of children and parents;
Any special needs of children or parents;
The capacity of the child’s parents, carers, or family network to meet the needs of the child and any external factors that may be undermining their capacity to parent;
Any significant/important recent or historical events/incidents in the child or family's life;
Cause for concern including details of any allegations, their sources, timing and location;
Child's current location and emotional and physical condition;
Whether the child needs immediate protection;
Details of the alleged perpetrator, if relevant;
Referrer's relationship and knowledge of child and parents;
Known involvement of other agencies/practitioners (e.g. GP);
Information regarding parental knowledge of, and agreement to, the referral;
The child's views and wishes, if known.

Other information may be relevant and some information may not be available at the time of making the referral. However, there should not be a delay in order to collect information if the delay may place the child at risk of significant harm.

When sharing information about a child or family with Children's Social Care, it is good practice for practitioners to be transparent about their concerns and to seek to work cooperatively with parents or carers. Practitioners should therefore usually inform parents or carers (and the child depending on their age and level of understanding) that they are going to make a referral.

However, referrals should be made without first informing parents or carers where to do so would place a child at risk.

Where a practitioner makes a referral without informing the parents or carers this should be recorded in the child's file with reasons and confirmed in the referral to Children's Social Care.

As good practice, all referrals from practitioners should be confirmed in writing, by the referrer, within 48 hours. If the referrer has not received an acknowledgement within three working days, they should contact Children's Social Care again.

4. Receiving a Referral and the Lead Practitioner

Once a referral has been accepted by the local authority Children’s Social Care, a social work qualified Practice Supervisor or manager should decide, with partners where appropriate, who the most appropriate Lead Practitioner will be and with the Lead Practitioner’s agreement allocate them.

The Lead Practitioner role can be held by a range of people, including social workers. When allocating the Lead Practitioner, local authorities and their partners should consider the needs of the child and their family to ensure the Lead Practitioner has the time required to undertake the role. The Lead Practitioner should have the skills, knowledge, competence, and experience to work effectively with the child and their family.

The Lead Practitioner should always be a social worker for child protection enquiries.

Lead Practitioners should have access to high-quality supervision. Effective supervision can play a critical role in ensuring a clear focus on a child’s welfare and support practitioners to reflect critically on the impact of their decisions on the child and their family. All Lead Practitioners should also continue to receive appropriate supervision and support for continuing professional development and to maintain professional registration, where appropriate, within their existing line management arrangements.

The responsibility for providing support and services remains with the local authority. Decision-making responsibilities, including the Lead Practitioner and social work qualified Practice Supervisor or manager, should be set out in the local protocols.

In response to the referral, the Lead Practitioner should:

Clarify with the referrer, when known, the nature of the concerns and how and why they have arisen;
Make clear to children and families how the assessment will be carried out and when they can expect a decision on next steps;
Inform the child and family of the action to be taken, unless a decision is taken on the basis that this may jeopardise a police investigation or place the child at risk of significant harm.

The speed with which an assessment is carried out after a child’s case has been referred into the local authority Children’s Social Care should be determined by the needs of the individual child and the nature and level of any risk of harm they face. This will require judgements to be made by a social work qualified Practice Supervisor or manager on each individual case. Adult assessments, for example, parent carer or non-parent carer assessments, should also be carried out in a timely manner.

Within one working day of a referral being received, local authority Children’s Social Care should acknowledge receipt to the referrer and a social work qualified Practice Supervisor or manager should decide the next steps and the type of response required. This will include determining whether:

The child requires immediate protection and urgent action is required;
The child is in need and should be assessed under section 17 of the Children Act 1989;
There is reasonable cause to suspect that the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, and whether enquiries must be made, and the child assessed under section 47 of the Children Act 1989;
Any immediate services are required urgently by the child and family and what type of services;
Further specialist assessments are required to help the local authority to decide what further action to take;
To see the child as soon as possible if the decision is taken that the referral requires further assessment.

For children in need of immediate protection, action must be taken by the local authority or the police. This should happen as soon as possible after the referral has been made to the local authority Children’s Social Care. The police should assist other agencies to carry out their responsibilities, where there are concerns about the child's welfare, whether or not a crime has been committed.

If the child and/or family are known to other agencies or the facts clearly indicate that a Section 47 Enquiry is required, Children's Social Care should initiate a strategy meeting/discussion immediately, and together with other agencies determine how to proceed.

A decision to discuss the referral with other agencies without parental knowledge should be authorised by a Children's Social Care Practice Supervisor or manager, and the reasons recorded.

This checking and information-gathering stage should involve an immediate assessment of any concerns about either the child's health and development, or actual and/or potential harm, which justify further enquiries, assessments and/or interventions.

Interviews with the child, where possible on their own, if appropriate, should take place in a safe environment. All interviews with the child and family members should be undertaken in their preferred language and where appropriate for some people by using non-verbal communication methods.

5. Concluding a Referral

At the end of the referral discussion, the referrer and Children's Social Care should be clear about the proposed action, who will be taking it, timescales and whether no further action will be taken.

Decisions on the nature and level of the child’s needs, and the level of actual or likely significant harm, if any, should be reviewed by a social work qualified Practice Supervisor or manager.

Referral outcomes about a child, where there may be concerns, typically fall into four categories and pathways:

No further action, which may include information to signpost to other agencies;
Early Help - referrals for intervention and prevention services;
Child in Need services - assessment to be undertaken under Children's Social Care (Section 17 Children Act 1989). This will be led by the Lead Practitioner;
Child Protection services – assessment and child protection enquiries to be undertaken by Children's Social Care (Section 47 CA 1989) with active involvement of other agencies such as the police.

Feedback should be given by local authority Children’s Social Care to the referrer on the decisions taken. Where appropriate, this feedback should include the reasons why a case may not meet the statutory threshold and offer suggestions for other sources of more suitable support. Practitioners should always follow up on their concerns if they are not satisfied with the local authority Children’s Social Care response and should escalate their concerns in line with local procedures if they remain dissatisfied under the local Complaint Procedure or raise the matter under the Effective Challenge and Escalation Procedure.

In the case of referrals from members of the public, feedback must be consistent with the rights to confidentiality of the child and their family.

The social worker should inform, in writing, all the relevant agencies and the child, if appropriate, and family of their decisions and, if the child is a Child in Need, of the plan for providing support.

The child and parents should, as good practice, be routinely informed about local procedures for raising complaints, if they wish to, and local advocacy services.

Where the outcome of the referral leads to a Children's Social Care Assessment, see: Assessment Procedure.

Flowchart 1: Action Taken When a Child is Referred to Local Authority Children’s Social Care