For Westmorland and Furness Practitioners Only
As part of developing and enhancing our services for Children, Westmorland and Furness’ Children’s Safeguarding Hub is in the process of developing and undergoing a transformation, ensuring that all children and young people get the right help at the right time from our services.
This process is incrementally moving to integrate family help and safeguarding services within the Hub to respond to requests for a service across help, support and protection. The aim is to develop a One Front Door approach to requesting services for children, as defined in the Continuum of Need.
The Multi-Agency Children’s Hub (MACH) is the newly created name that reflects the identity and purpose of a single point of contact for all children and young people. The first step to achieving this, is to roll out the new Single Contact Form creating clear accessible pathways into Family Help, Support and/or Protection.
Feedback from partners on our current Single Contact Form outlined that some found the form complicated, wordy and time consuming, often asking for information that is either not known or not deemed totally relevant at times.
Taking on board the feedback received and ensuring that the revised form fits with the developments taking place for the Hub, Westmorland and Furness Multi-Agency Partnerships have worked in collaboration to produce a new Single Contact Form. The partnership included representatives from the Police, Health, Social Care and Education and was sampled by a number of professionals who would routinely submit contacts to the Hub requesting a service.
The feedback on the trial use of the form has been entirely positive with professionals from all specialisms commenting that it has simplified routes into Family Help, Support and Protection Services. All found the form simple, straightforward and quicker to complete.
The new Single Contact Form can be submitted by:
- A parent or a child/young person seeking help and support or reporting a concern
- Professionals making a request for Early Help Assessment, Family Help Service or Child in Need
- Child Protection
- Child with disability assessment of need
There are four different referrer groups who can submit a Single Contact Form to the (MACH):
- A professional who works with children, young people and families
- An adult who is worried about a child
- A child who is worried about themselves or someone else
- A parent or carer requesting an assessment for a child from the Children with Disability Team
The new Westmorland & Furness Single Contact Form will go live on Monday 17 March 2025 and will be found on the CSCP website here
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