CAF Frequently Asked Questions

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Common Assessment Framework (CAF)

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers

1. What is a CAF?

CAF is the acronym for the Common Assessment Framework - a national, standard approach to assessing any additional/unmet needs a child or young person may have and for deciding how any such needs can be identified and should be met effectively.

The aims of CAF are to:

Provide an assessment tool which can be used by practitioners/professionals in any organisation, service, team or establishment in any sector to support earlier intervention with a child, young person and/or their parents/carers.
Improve joint working and communication between practitioners.
Improve co-ordination and consistency between assessments – which should lead to fewer and shorter specialist assessments - because information about the child, young person, their family and their situation, circumstances and behaviours has already been collected.
Provide more effective evidence-based referrals to targeted and specialist services.
Inform decisions about whether further specialist assessment of the child’s needs is necessary and, where appropriate provide information that can provide a foundation for such assessments.
Enable a picture of a child or young person’s needs to be built up over time and, with consent, shared amongst the professionals involved with the child, young person and family.

2. When should I do a CAF?

Tameside 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-focussed co-ordination.

Additional guidance can be found in the Children’s Needs Framework and the ‘Common Processes Handbook’ Section 3 pages 3 & 4 387.9 KB

3. Do I need consent to undertake a CAF?

Yes. Undertaking a common assessment requires consent. If you have concerns about the well being of the child/young person and consent is refused, you should follow the guidelines and procedures of your service/team.

4. What is the purpose of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF)?

The purpose of CAF is to develop a holistic ‘picture’ of a child/young person’s strengths and needs across all aspects of their life and to improve the effectiveness of any intervention that may be necessary to support their development. All of this is especially important in multi-agency working, where practitioners may be addressing a range of needs requiring input from a range of disciplines and agencies, all of whom need to share a common understanding of the diverse issues they are working to address.

5. What does a CAF involve?

All the practitioners who are involved, working with a child, young person and their parents/carers – using the national standard form - to record information about the child, young person, their parents/carers and their situation, circumstances and behaviours; identifying their strengths and needs; analysing the information that has been collected; plan the delivery of integrated services – and monitor and review the impact of the agreed delivery plan

6. Why do we have to do CAFs?

Using a CAF is important for three reasons:

Carrying out a CAF helps to effectively co-ordinate the support needed by children and young people who have additional needs. CAF is part of the Common Processes of Tameside’s Children’s Needs Framework – which were created to improve multi-agency working and communication.
Legal – The Children Act 2004 created duties for all public sector organisations in each local authority to co-operate to improve the well-being of children, area (Section 10 of the Act) and make arrangements that safeguard and promote the welfare of children (Section 11 of the Act).
The use of CAF by practitioners in every agency is one way of providing evidence to inspectors of how staffs in local organisations are working together to meeting the statutory duties of their employing organisation.

7. What are ‘additional needs’?

A child with additional needs is one who has needs that cannot be met within universal services, for example (note – the following offer examples, it is not an exclusive list):

Caring responsibilities (child/young person is a young carer)
pregnancy
emotional, social and/or behavioural difficulties (including anti-social and/
or pre-offending behaviour and/or whose behaviours exceed their parent’s parenting capacity)
school related difficulties (including extensive absence and/or repeated fixed term exclusions)
unaccompanied asylum seekers
where a parent is in a fragile tenancy
substance misuse
chronic non-specific illness
their parenting is compromised through parental substance misuse, mental health, disability and/or domestic violence

Tameside’s Children’s Needs Framework has been developed so that all agencies are working with consistent approach to additional needs. For more information, please refer to Section 1 of Tameside Children’s Needs Framework 603.01 KB and The Tameside Common Assessment (CAF) Flowchart 46.13 KB

8. How long does a CAF last?

A CAF should last as long as it is needed to support co-ordinated work by practitioners to meet the identified needs of a child/young person. If the services have been successful and the child no longer has additional needs the CAF should be closed. A copy should be retained in the case record about the child/young person held by each agency and in compliance with the data retention policy of that organisation. The CAF Administrator will hold an archive copy in line with regional and national guidelines.

Note: Please make sure you let the CAF Administrator know when a CAF has been closed (contact details provided in question 13).

9. When I’ve completed the CAF what do I do next?

Record on JASPER (Joint Assessment System for Prevention and Early Referral) that you have carried out a CAF.
Once the CAF is completed, give a copy to: Parent / Carer; the young person; all professionals involved in the assessment; and send a copy to the CAF Administrator (contact details provided in question 13)

10. What makes a good CAF?

A good CAF is one which enables the practitioners involved with a child, young person and their parents/carers to work together effectively to identify and meet the needs of the child/young person and make a positive difference in the situation, circumstances and behaviours.

The CAF National Quality Framework published by the Department for Education indicates that an effective CAF should:

Record full details about the child, young person and their parents/ carers; record information about the assessment; summarise the strengths and needs of the child, young person and their parents/ carers; and accurately capture agreed solutions and actions and arrangements for review of the CAF.
Identify links with one or more of the 5 Every Child Matters outcomes.
Clearly demonstrate how the child, young person and their parents/ carers have been encouraged and enabled to participate in the CAF.

11. If I wanted to do a CAF on a young person, who I (and others working with them) deemed Fraser/Gillick competent and they gave consent but their parent refused could I still complete a CAF?

Yes – If a young person is deemed Fraser competent, guidance from the Department for Education indicates that their consent (or refusal of consent) takes precedence over the wishes of their parent/carers. Whether a young person is deemed Fraser competent is not a decision that should be taken by one practitioner, such a decision should involve the practitioner’s line manager and/or other practitioners working with the young person and their parent/carers.

Any difference in consent between a young person and their parent/carers will require sensitive, well-planned work by a practitioner (with support from their managers).

12. Once I’ve decided to do a CAF, is there a time limit in which it needs to be completed – as is the case for specialist assessments (for example, an Initial Assessment)?

Government Guidance does not specify a time limit. However Children’s Trusts across the North West have agreed that CAF’s should be completed within 20 working days from the date they were started.

13. How do I know if a child already has a CAF?

JASPER users should use the system to check whether a CAF has already been completed. If a CAF has been completed, JASPER users will also be able to find details of practitioners already working with the child.
If you aren’t a JASPER user, contact the CAF Administrator for the area where the child lives

Ashton COMPASS
Tel: 0161 343 2214
Fax: 0161 344 2694
Rosehill Children’s Centre
Rosehill Road
Ashton-Under-Lyne
OL6 8YG

Denton/ Droylsden/ Audenshaw COMPASS
Tel: 0161 342 4044
Fax: 0161 342 3936
Denton Centre
Acre Street
Denton M34 2BW

Hyde/Hattersley/Longdendale COMPASS
Newton Centre
Victoria Street
Tel: 0161 303 3285
Hyde SK14 4AA

Stalybridge/Dukinfield/Mossley COMPASS
Tel: 0161 338 8645
Ridgehill Children’s Centre
Ridgehill Primary School
School Crescent
Stalybridge
SK15 1EA

14. What do I do if parents/carers don’t consent to a CAF?

A CAF must not be undertaken without the consent of the parent/carer or the young person themselves (if deemed Fraser competent (see question 8).
Reasonable attempts should be made to obtain consent. So, it’s important for parents/carers and the young person understands the outcome of not giving consent to CAF could be that the child doesn’t receive additional support, particularly from non-statutory services.
Over time - and as trust and relationships strengthen - the views of parents/carers/young person may change, so it is worth seeking consent at a later date.
If you consent is refused keep a record on your own case management system.
If consent is refused, or seeking consent would increase risks to the child (or yourself) – ACT – promptly agree a course of action with your manager.

15. What is the relationship between JASPER, CAF, the Lead Professional and Information Sharing?

All of these are the individual parts/elements of Tameside Children’s Trust’s Children’s Needs Framework – also known as Tameside’s ‘common processes.

Effective sharing of information using JASPER is fundamental in helping children and young people in Tameside thrive, aspire and achieve:

Using JASPER will help practitioners who work with children, young people, families to identify each other and work together to identify and meet any needs a child/young person may have.
The CAF provides a process for assessing needs and bringing services together to meet those needs swiftly and effectively.
The Lead Professional provides the means for effective leadership and co-ordination of assessment, planning and delivery of services. The Lead Professional convenes a Child and Family meeting, draws up a plan and acts as a single point of contact for the child and family.

16. If a child is already accessing specialist services should a CAF be completed retrospectively?

There is no need to complete a CAF retrospectively. However, if the child/young person’s needs or circumstances change then a Common Assessment provides a useful tool to assess and identify those new needs and determine what actions may be is needed.

17. If a CAF has already been carried out on a child and they move out of Tameside, what should we do with it?

Liaise with CAF administrators (contact details, see question 13) about forwarding the CAF to the new local authority.

18. In Social Care, will the CAF replace the Initial Assessment?

The CAF cannot currently replace the Initial Assessment. An initial assessment remains a statutory duty where the local authority decides to investigate whether the situation/circumstances of a child/young person constitute a risk of significant harm. However, where a CAF has already been completed it can be used to inform the completion of the initial assessment - avoiding duplication.

19. Where can I get a copy of the CAF form?

http://www.tameside.gov.uk/cypp/caf

20. Can the CAF be used to assess the needs of unborn babies?

Yes. If the unborn baby has or is likely to have ‘additional’ and/or ‘unmet’ needs, the midwife is likely to be actively involved in the CAF process.

Some of the fields in the CAF form won’t be relevant – so they should be left blank. In the box for the name of the child/young person, put ‘unborn baby of’ and use the mothers name (e.g. ‘unborn baby of Sammy Smith’).

21. What happens if consent is withdrawn after it has been given - and the child/young person’s needs are not at the level of child protection or other statutory exception (prevention of crime, prevention of harm (including self harm, etc).

In these circumstances the practitioner co-ordinating the CAF would need to speak to all the practitioners involved and tell them that consent has been withdrawn. The practitioners will need to decide and agree what action they need to take next.

22. How do colleagues in services for adults use CAF?

Colleagues working with adults in a household where there are children may be best placed to identify any ‘additional’ and/or ‘unmet’ needs that a child/young person may have. So, it is particularly important for colleagues working in these services to initiate a CAF when it is appropriate. In such situations practitioners in adult services need to initiate a CAF process (with consent) and engage appropriate children’s services staff in supporting the child/young person, for example:

A housing officer may see the living conditions of a child/young person before any other practitioner.
A Probation Officer may identify worries about the impact of a parent’s imprisonment or sentencing on a child/young person.
A Community Psychiatric Nurse may be able to identify additional needs arising out of a parent’s mental health condition.

23. How often should CAF reviews be conducted?

It is important that reviews of the CAF and action plan are carried out, although national guidance does not specify a timescale. A review provides an opportunity for practitioners involved to decide whether the services they agreed have been provided and whether those services are effective in meeting the identified needs of the child/young person.

As a minimum, a review of the CAF and action plan should take place within two months. Review periods will depend on the scale and complexity of the child/young person’s needs. If the child/young person and/or family have lots of needs or there are a lot of services involved, it may be appropriate to hold a review a few weeks after the CAF has been completed. If the needs of the child, young person and/or family are less complex a review could be held two months after the CAF has been completed.

24. If a child/young person is receiving services in another borough (Local Authority area), how does the CAF work?

CAF is a national process that is being adopted in every local authority area in England. Whilst all areas are using CAF, different areas are at different stages in the implementation of CAF.
Oldham, Stockport and Manchester are using the standard CAF form.
If you have difficulties in using CAF where a child/young person lives or accesses services in another Local Authority area please contact the ISA Project manager (0161 342 2730)

25. Doesn’t CAF just add a layer of bureaucracy?

No. CAF was implemented to support early intervention by practitioners – to prevent children’s needs getting worse. The aim of CAF is to have a single, straightforward record about any needs that a child/young person may have – this will avoid duplication (different agencies assessing the same child) and reduce the bureaucratic burden on children, young people and families.

26. Do I need to do a common assessment on every child on my caseload?

No - there is no need to do a Common Assessment for every child you work with, only those who have (or may have) additional needs
Children who are making good progress, or have needs that are already being met, do not need a CAF.
If you think that the child is at risk of significant harm, you must follow Tameside Safeguarding Children Board child protection procedures

27. What information can I access that explains the CAF process?

Flowchart CAF46.13 KB - The CAF Flowchart provides a useful summary of the steps you should follow. Tameside Children's Trust Common Processes Handbook 387.9 KB
Managers Guide CAF
Practitioners Guide CAF

28. Can parents complete a CAF?

However, if a parent or carer thinks their child has ‘additional needs’ and feels that a CAF would be helpful, they need to talk to a practitioner/professional who is currently providing a service with their child. This may be a Health Visitor, a teacher or someone working in a children’s centre. It is important for practitioners to listen to parents who believe that their child may have additional needs, and actively involve them in making a decision about whether completing a CAF could help their child.

29. Can a parent demand that I carry out a CAF on their child?

No. However, parents spend a lot of time with their child and are best placed to see any developing problems, so their views (and those of the child/young person) need to be taken seriously. Whilst parents (and the child/young person) should always be included and involved in the process there is no entitlement to a common assessment on demand.

30. Do I need to send a copy of a completed Common Assessment to the CAF Administrator?

Yes

When a CAF has been completed, a copy must always be provided to:

Members of the family.
Practitioners involved with the child/young person and their parents – and with consent to agencies from whom the practitioners wish to request services.
CAF Administrator (contact details provided in question 13)

31. If a child is moving to another authority do I automatically fill in a CAF?

No. You only need to complete a CAF if one does not already exist and the move may lead to the child or young person having additional needs - which will require services to support him or her in their new home. A CAF would inform services in the new authority about the child’s needs and will provide a tool for requesting agencies involvement as well as sharing information about the child or young persons’ situation or circumstances.

32. I’m a drugs worker – how can I co-ordinate and deal with issues about housing, health, education aspirations, benefits and mental health, etc?

It isn’t realistic for any one practitioner to provide all the services which are identified in a Common Assessment. If the practitioner is Lead Professional then he or she should involve colleagues from relevant services. A Child and Family meeting and the multi-agency support plan created at the meeting will provide a framework for co-ordinated actions to meet the child or young person’s identified needs. Regular review will enable progress against the plan to be monitored and any emerging issues to be addressed.

33. Do I have to fill in all the boxes on the CAF form?

No, but you should carefully consider each of the boxes on the CAF form and whether you have, or anyone else involved with the child, young person or family has any information for that box which is relevant to the child/young person’s behaviour/situation or circumstances.

So, you only need to provide information in those boxes on the form where you (and the family and others working with the family) have information which is relevant to meeting the needs of the child/young person and family.

34. What do I do if I’m unsure whether a CAF is needed?

Guidance on when to complete a CAF can be found in Tameside Children’s Needs Framework 603.01 KB :

If you remain unsure you should talk to your manager, or contact the CAF Administrator who will be happy to talk through the child’s needs with you and advise whether a CAF will be appropriate.
The CAF pre-assessment checklist might also be helpful in reaching a decision.
The CAF process provides an opportunity to have a structured discussion with the parents/young person about their situation/circumstances. This discussion is likely to either remove or confirm your concerns and help all those involved decide on how to best meet the child’s needs

35. How can I find out about services to support children and young people in the borough?

Tameside Service Information Directory (SID) Link to External Website is an online directory for parents, children, young people and those working with them to find services and activities available in Tameside. It includes information on services such as childcare, youth clubs, schools, health care, voluntary organisations and services for children with special needs.

You can also speak to The Families Information Service on: 0161 342 5430.

36. How do I work with very young children when completing a CAF?

Observe the ways in which young children interact with other children (siblings and in other settings e.g. a nursery playgroup).
Observe how a young child interacts with adults – different members of their family and with people who are not known to them.
Use play to create opportunities to develop views on the child’s concepts and ideas about the things around them.

37. Why does the family or young person need to have a copy of the CAF?

The whole CAF process is intended to be open and transparent. The success of the process is dependent on the agreement, participation and co-operation of the child, young person and their parent/carer. So, it’s important that whoever has given consent to the CAF is provided with a copy of the information, analysis and action plan as it is recorded on the CAF. Encouraging and enabling participation of the child, young person and their parents increases the chances of achieving the goals of the CAF.

38. What happens if different practitioners can’t agree on an appropriate response in supporting a child or young person?

At all times the needs of the child are paramount - the best interests of a child/young person must be at the heart of the CAF process. It is unavoidable that there may be differences of opinion at different times amongst practitioners from different disciplines and agencies. However, each of the practitioners involved has a responsibility to work professionally with others to try and address the needs of the child/young person – and the Lead Professional will have a particularly important role. If agreement cannot be reached, all the involved practitioners should escalate the matter to their line managers for resolution. If agreement cannot be reached between the line managers of those involved they should contact the ISA Project manager (0161 342 2730).

39. What happens if the CAF highlights competing needs of a teenage parent and their baby? How do we resolve that tension?

In such a situation there would need to be separate CAFs for the teenage parent and for their baby, so that the most appropriate support is identified for each person in their own right. The needs of one individual (the teenage mother) must not blur approaches intended to identify the needs of another individual (the unborn or new born baby). The reviews and action plans for the teenage parent(s) and the baby would need to be complementary and if there were two different Lead Professionals, they would work very closely together. Practitioners will need to use their experience and judgement about the amount/level of information about the baby which is recorded on the CAF for the parent (s) and vice versa.

40. Could what I record on a CAF ever be submitted to court as part of legal proceedings?

If the circumstances/situation of a child or young person (or their family) were to require intervention through the courts, any records (including CAF’s) could be called into court by any of the parties - as evidence of assessments undertaken with the family and services which have been provided. Information on a CAF may also need to be declared as ‘unused evidence’ in a prosecution – for example in the case of a prosecution for non-attendance at school. In all of these circumstances it is important that a CAF contains accurate, objective information and the names/contact details of all practitioners who have contributed to the assessment.

41. At a recent Child and Family Meeting, someone referred to The Caldicott Principles. What are the Caldicott principles?

The Caldicott report set out general principles that should be used by practitioners working in health and social care in their use of personal information about service users/individual clients. The principles are:

Is the purpose for using personal information justified?
Personal information is only used when absolutely necessary.
Only the minimum amount of personal information required to achieve the purpose should be used.
Access to personal information should be on a strict need to know basis.
Everyone with access to personal information must be aware of his/her responsibilities. Everyone with access to personal information must understand and comply with legislation that governs personal information.

Tameside’s Children’s Needs Framework and Information sharing approaches are fully compatible with all legislation and guidance on sharing information.

42. What happens if I search for a child and find they are not on JASPER?

Contact the JASPER Management Information Systems Officer on 0161 342 3753.

43. What is a Lead Professional?

A lead professional is someone who takes the lead to co-ordinate the services with the child/young person and family. This practitioner acts as the single point of contact for the family and the services involved with that child/young person and family.

44. Who can be a Lead Professional?

The Lead Professional can be anyone and is usually identified from amongst the group of practitioners working with the child/young person and family. They are chosen through a process of discussion and agreement with the family.

45. In families where more than one child has a CAF does the Lead Professional have to be the same for all the children?

No. A Lead Professional needs to be the practitioner who most appropriate to help the family understand the particular needs/strengths of each child in the household. This could mean that more than one Lead Professional would be appropriate - where different children of different ages have very different needs.

For example, a child under four with health needs may well have a Health Visitor as Lead Professional, their eight year old sister with multiple needs may have a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator as their Lead Professional and their fourteen year old brother who has attendance and behaviour difficulties may have an Education Welfare Officer as his Lead Professional. All the Lead Professionals would ensure they are aware of each other goals and aims to ensure they do not clash and confuse the family.

However, it may be that the children in the household are of a similar age and the same Lead Professional would be appropriate for all the children.

46. What if no one agrees to take the role of Lead Professional?

The practitioner who led the completion of the CAF (the CAF author) should follow Tameside’s escalation procedures. The matter should be discussed with their line manager, who will need to talk to the line managers of the other practitioners. If the managers cannot reach agreement then the matter should be escalated to: the ISA Project manager (0161 342 2730).

Page last updated: 24 January 2012