Common Assessment Framework (CAF)

The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is central to delivering services that are integrated and are focused around the needs of children and young people. CAF is a national standard approach to assessing the needs of children and young people  and deciding how such needs should be met. 

What is CAF?

The CAF enables practitioners from any organisation/establishment/team in any sector to work effectively with each other to assess any ‘additional’ and/or unmet needs a child/young person has/may have.

The Common Assessment Framework is at the heart of the Children’s Trust’s drive to ensure practitioners in Tameside more effectively assess children and young people's needs and co-ordinate the support they need to enable them to thrive, aspire and achieve.

The CAF is:

• A structured process for collecting information about the development, circumstances and/or behaviours of a child/young person.
• A form for recording this information, which is standard across all agencies and establishments in every local area throughout England.
• A way for practitioners to record their involvement and evaluate the impact of that involvement over time.

When should practitioners do a common assessment / CAF?

The Children’s Trust expects practitioners in any organisation/establishment/team in any sector in Tameside to use the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) if they believe that a child/ young person with whom they are working has/may have additional and/or unmet needs.

The Common Assessment Framework should be used where one or more of these circumstances occur:

• Two or more agencies are involved with a child, young person and/or their family;
• The child/young person’s needs are not clear, or they cut across different professional disciplines or different aspects of the child/young person’s life;
• The effectiveness of multi-agency interventions with a child, young person and their family would be improved by child-focused co-ordination.
  

The flowchart below gives you an idea of the processes when using a CAF

Click on the Image to view a larger version

Documents

• CAF Flowchart 46.13 KB  
• Common Processes Handbook 1.15 MB
• Vulnerable Young Person Flowchart 1.15 MB

CAF Forms

The following forms and guidance can be found at the Department for Education website  

• Guide to Definitions used in CAF Form 
• CAF pre-assessment checklist 
• CAF Form (February 2010) 
• CAF Consent Statement 
• CAF Form - Delivery plan and review only 
• CAF Form - Without delivery plan and review 
• CAF Managers Guide 
• CAF Practitioners Guide 

Suggested Protocol for the Transmission of completed CAF Forms

A completed Common Assessment Framework (CAF) contains information defined as both ‘Personal’ and ‘Personal, Sensitive’ by the Data Protection Act 1998. The 7th of the 8 Principles of the Act requires every establishment, agency and organisation in every sector to ensure that the ‘Personal’ and ‘Personal, Sensitive’ information it holds or creates is, “Secured against accidental loss, destruction or damage”.

Hints and tips

• Before completing a CAF check to see if a CAF already exists, by logging on JASPER or by speaking to the CAF Administrator for the locality where the child lives.
• The CAF process is voluntary and informed consent should be obtained from the child/young person and/or their parent/carer before undertaking the CAF.
• Once a CAF has been completed ensure all relevant parties sign the completed form and they fully understand the CAF process and its implications.
• Send a copy of the completed CAF to the CAF Administrators care of the following:
  
  EY Quality Development Centre, Manchester Road, Audenshaw M34 5GJ
  Tel: 0161 342 5422 Fax: 0161 342 5447
  Secure email: caf.admin@tameside.gcsx.gov.uk

Preferred transmission of completed CAFs would use one of the following:

1. Between secure email addresses. A secure e-mail address is a person’s name (e.g. j.bloggs or jo.bloggs followed by e.g. @tameside.gcsx.gov.uk, @nhs.net, @cjsm.net, @pnn.police.uk.
2. First or second class post, marked as ‘Private and Confidential’.
3. If you work for Tameside Council, use the internal post bag, marking the envelope as ‘Private and Confidential’.

The following are potential, although less secure, methods for the transmission of completed CAFs

1. Non-secure email.

• Sending or receiving emails between establishments/organisations using non-secure e-mail addresses means that the information is vulnerable to interception (‘hacking’).
• A completed CAF could be transmitted between non-secure e-mail addresses provided that the following safeguards are put in place:
  • Do not put ‘Personal’ or ‘Personal, Sensitive’ information in the body of the email.
  • Password protect the completed CAF.
  • Transmit the completed CAF to recipients (including the CAF Administrator for the area where the child lives).
  • In a separate e-mail send the password to recipients
    • It is suggested that - for ease of operation - a common password for all completed CAFs from one school could be allocated to each school.
    • For help with password protecting your document and allocation of password please speak to your CAF Administrator/IT).

Please post a hard copy of the dated/signed page showing parent has given consent for sharing information to the CAF Administrator for the area where the child lives. (Currently CAF Admin based at EY Quality Development Centre, Manchester Road, Audenshaw M34 5GJ)

• Fax. If a completed CAF is transmitted by fax; please phone the recipient before sending the fax to let them know and always ask the recipient to acknowledge receipt of the CAF. Fax cover sheet should contain the standard disclaimer of the agency/organisation and should be titled Strictly Confidential

Frequently Asked Questions

For more information regarding the CAF and its processes please view the frequently asked questions or see the Department for Education Website

Training and awareness raising resources

Feedback suggests that staff/practitioners can feel unclear about matching the situations; circumstances and behaviours of the children, young people and families with whom they are working to the levels of need set out in the Children’s Trust’s Children’s Needs Framework 603.01 KB .

Matching the situations, circumstances and behaviours of children, young people and families against the Framework’s levels of needs is crucial in staff/practitioners working effectively with colleagues from other agencies to enable children and young people to thrive, aspire and achieve and to safeguard them from harm.

The goal of the Children’s Trust in providing these resources is so that managers can use them in briefings and in-service workshops and enable staff/practitioners in their establishment/agency to:

• Make sense of the different levels of need used in the Children’s Needs Framework’s; and
• Match the situations, circumstances and behaviours of children, young people and families with whom they are working against the levels of need set out in the Framework.

The resources comprise:

Three presentations containing:

• An Introduction – Setting the scene about how the ‘common processes’ of Tameside Children’s Trust Children’s Needs Framework are integral to integrated working and early intervention.
• CAF and the outcomes of Early Intervention – a slide set created by Research in Practice (Dartington Research Institute) on the findings from the Local Authorities Research Consortium study (LARC 2) of the use of CAF to support early Intervention.
• Making Sense of the Levels of Need – A short input intended to both ‘set the scene’ for the scenarios/case studies (see below) and summarise six key messages.

Introduction 62.51 KB

CAF and the outcomes of Early Intervention 395.16 KB

Making Sense of the Levels of Need 278.33 KB

A set of scenarios/case studies intended to provide a catalyst for discussion

• The set of scenarios/case studies include a range of situations, circumstances and behaviours - of children, young people and their families.
• Note: The scenarios/case studies do not in any way represent the circumstances of any child, young person or family living in Tameside. Any resemblance between the information provided in one of the scenarios/case studies and the circumstances of any child, young person or family currently living in Tameside is coincidental.

Scenario 1 24.14 KB	Scenario 6 23.56 KB	Scenario 11 23.44 KB
Scenario 2 24.17 KB	Scenario 7 24.8 KB	Scenario 12 24.06 KB
Scenario 12 24.06 KB	Scenario 8 24.51 KB	Scenario 13 24.57 KB
Scenario 4 24.24 KB	Scenario 9 23.26 KB	Scenario 14 23.61 KB
Scenario 5 23.93 KB	Scenario 10 24.63 KB	Scenario 15 24.15 KB

Further Information

If you require further information and/or advice, please contact the CAF administrator for your area below:

Ashton - 0161 343 5482
Hyde, Hattersley, Longdendale - 0161 303 3285
Stalybridge, Dukinfield, Mossley - 0161 338 8645
Denton, Droylsden, Audenshaw - 0161 342 4377

or send a message to:

Contact Information
Send us a Message	Tameside MBC Council Offices Wellington Road Ashton under Lyne OL6 6DL  View local map
0161 342 3254