Early Help Assessment Tool
Contents
- What is an Early Help Assessment?
- What the professionals will do
- Confidentiality
- What you need to do
- Practical support
- Documents and downloads
Early help means taking action to support a child, young person, or their family with a problem as soon as it emerges.
Help might be needed at any stage in a child's life, from pre-birth to adulthood, and applies to any problem or need that the family cannot deal with or meet on their own.
The Early Help Assessment Tool (EHAT) should be used where multi-agency support is required.
Access the Early Help Assessment Tool
If you need help, please refer to our user guides.
If you have any questions or problems using the Early Help Assessment Tool, please email gateway.admin@plymouth.gov.uk
What is an Early Help Assessment?
The Early Help Assessment is a voluntary process for families to share information with a range of local services to help them plan together and get the right support.
Professionals across the city will work together to ensure you:
- Get the right support at the right time
- Only have to tell your story once
- Are listened to and given appropriate advice
- Can learn about opportunities available to you and your family
- Identify your strengths as well as your needs
You will be designated a Lead Professional who will develop a plan with you, arrange support and meetings with other services that can help you, and review the progress of the plan with you, as appropriate.
What the professionals will do
- Professional commitment to support families to make positive change
- Create a clear plan with you and update you on progress regularly through meetings and information
- Be accountable, open, honest and transparent with you
- Be honest about what support they can give you
Confidentiality
The information you and your family provide will only be shared with those people/services that need to know, and we will ask your permission before sharing anything with them.
However, there may be times when people working with you need to share information, such as:
- when there are concerns that a child/young person is at risk of, or is suffering abuse or neglect
- when an adult is at risk of harm
- to help prevent or detect a serious crime
What you need to do
- Be honest and share information and concerns so your family can get the right support
- Attend meetings with relevant services and family meetings as needed
- Commit to achieving the outcomes as agreed with you in your family plan
- Work together with professionals to achieve positive ways forward
- Consent to sharing information to help your lead professional to access services that can help.
Practical support
An Early Help Assessment can help support you in a number of ways, ranging from advice and guidance to more intensive family support.
This could include support on issues such as:
- Schools and education
- Offending and anti-social behaviour
- Housing
- Supporting adults into work and learning
- Advice about money
- Parenting skills
- Special Educational Needs
- Domestic abuse
- Alcohol and drug misuse
- Parental Conflict
- Mental health and general wellbeing
- Coordinating other services and referrals and those
Documents and downloads
- Early Help Assessment guide for parents (PDF) [361KB]
- Early Help Assessment guide for professionals (PDF) [387KB]
- Early Help Assessment poster (PDF) [250KB]
Links to external websites
- Plymouth Information, Advice and Support for SEND
- SEND guide for parents and carers - GOV.UK
- SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years - GOV.UK
Continue reading
- Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) for your child
- Submit a request for an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) assessment
- How to appeal an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)
- Annual reviews for children with special educational needs
- Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) flowchart
- Early Help Assessment Tool
- Education, Health and Care Plan frequently asked questions
- Plymouth Early Help and SEND Advice Line
Plymouth's Local Offer is organised into four main categories covering the following age ranges:
- Early years (0 to 5 years old)
- Primary (5 to 11 years old)
- Secondary (11 to 18 years old)
- Preparing for adulthood
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