Threshold Guidance

Thresholds for Assessment

Tameside Safeguarding Children Partnership (TSCP) has developed the Tameside’s Children Threshold document (Nov 23) to support decision making processes and to provide guidance to professionals across all agencies. It has been produced to help professionals, concerned with supporting and safeguarding children, understand how to identify the needs of children and young people and the actions required to meet those needs.

Statutory Assessment

Where practitioners have safeguarding concerns and think that levels 4 of the Thresholds have been met, they must report their concerns immediately to the Children’s Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub. It is not appropriate to initiate an Early Help Assessment (EHA) but if an EHA or other assessment, such as the Tameside Neglect Action PLan, has been completed practitioners will be expected to share that information. This will be help to determine whether the Threshold for Level 4 Statutory Child Protection intervention has been met.

If you wish to access help and support for children, young people and families that have identified needs at Level 1/2/3 you can ring the: Family Information Service on 0161 342 4260 for help and advice on Early Help Services available.

https://www.tameside.gov.uk/earlyhelp/neighbourhoods

Reporting a Safeguarding Concern

Safeguarding Concerns

All safeguarding concerns should be reported to the Children’s Hub using the Multi-Agency Request for Service Form (MARS).

Tameside Children's Multi-agency Safeguarding Hub should be contacted if you need support or advice on safeguarding children/young people and/or if you believe that a child/young person is at risk of significant harm on:

• Monday to Wednesday: 8:30am - 5pm
  Thursday: 8:30am - 4:30pm
  Friday: 8:30am - 4pm
  Telephone Contact Number: 0161 342 4101
   
• Monday to Friday outside of normal hours weekends and public holidays
  Telephone Contact Number: 0161 342 2222

The safeguarding functions within the Children’s Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub bring together all the multi-agency resources to provide a quick and robust response to safeguarding children at the front door. The Children’s Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub will ensure:

• Professional children’s social care management oversight.
• All contacts, which meet threshold for statutory children’s social care assessment, are provided with a response within 24 hours.
• All contacts, where there are potential or presenting safeguarding concerns are triaged from a whole-family perspective with the multi-agency team.
• A clear, transparent and informative response to professionals when dealing with safeguarding concerns.
• There is a clear step-up/step-down process in place.
• There is a clear multi-agency escalation process in place under the auspices of TSCP.
• Compliance with Working Together 2018 statutory guidance.

Decision Making

A Social Work Practice Manager makes the case management decision following triage within the MASH. When the threshold for children’s social care are met contacts are referred immediately (within 24 hours) in accordance with Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) guidance. The Social Work Practice Manager will advise and consult with other agencies regarding safeguarding concerns and managing risk.

Some safeguarding concerns reported to the Children’s Hub will not be deemed to have met the criteria for statutory intervention at levels 4 of the Thresholds. At this stage professionals may be advised to complete a EHA and work with other professionals to provide a coordinated multi-agency package of support. Tameside Families Together, Inspire, or other agencies might also be offered to support this process although work to assess, and support, the needs of the family should not wait until a worker from those services has been allocated.

Professional Disagreement & Respectful Challenge

Professionals that report safeguarding concerns often know the family well and together with their line manager, or safeguarding lead, have a carefully considered view on whether the concerns meet the criteria for statutory intervention at level 4 of the Thresholds.

In many cases, deemed not to meet the criteria for statutory intervention, it is reasonable for the Children’s Hub to advise professionals to complete an EHA and to support the family through other multi-agency support.

However, all professionals, regardless of their position or profession have the right and duty to challenge that decision if they disagree with it and believe the child to be at risk of harm.

Tameside's Professional Disagreements & Escalation Policy Flowchart

In these circumstances professionals should refer to the Greater Manchester Resolving Professional Disagreements/Escalation Policy.

Furthermore if professionals are not informed of the decision, at the point of contact or within 24 hours, they should contact the Children’s Hub to check what decision has been made. Professionals should never assume that by contacting the Children’s Hub and sharing their concerns they have fulfilled their responsibilities.