Working Together to Safeguard Children 2013 provides statutory guidance for organizations and individuals to work together to safeguard children. It replaces previous guidance and aims to provide a more flexible approach to assessment based on professional judgement. Key changes include streamlining the assessment process, increasing the independence of Local Safeguarding Children Boards, and conducting transparent Serious Case Reviews focused on learning lessons to improve services.

1. Working Together
to Safeguard
Children 2013
Nathan Loynes

2. What is ‘Working Together’
• This statutory guidance sets out how organisations and individuals
should work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of
children and how practitioners should conduct the assessment of
children.
• This guidance replaces Working Together to Safeguard Children
(2010); The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and
their Families (2000); and statutory guidance on making
arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children
under section 11 of the Children Act 2004 (2007).
• All relevant professionals should read and follow this guidance so that
they can respond to individual children’s needs appropriately.

3. Aims of this session
• To provide an overview of the Guidance.
• To outline key points in sections:
• Assessing & Helping (Chapter 1)
• What agencies must do (Chapter2)
• Local Safeguarding Children Boards’ organisation, accountabilities and
governance (Chapter 3)
• Reviewing, learning & improving (Chapters 4 & 5).

4. Overview
• The new working together needs to be seen as part of the reforms identified
within Professor Eileen Munro’s independent review of the child protection
system, and it is consistent with the Government’s “localism” agenda.
• It is statutory multi-agency guidance, with a focus on legal requirement. The
non-statutory, supplementary guidance documents are removed, although all
are listed in appendix C.
• It requires local authorities, with their partners, to develop and publish local
protocols for assessment, which have been agreed with the LSCB.
• The development of sector led professional guidance and local innovation is
encouraged.

5. Overview
• The principles of “The Framework for the Assessment of Children In Need”
(2000) are upheld but in a more succinct and less defined manner.
• Effective safeguarding arrangements are underpinned by two key principles.
• Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.
• Safeguarding requires a clear child centred approach.
• There is a new definition of safeguarding to include “taking action to enable all
children to have the best outcomes”.

6. Assessing need and providing help
1.
Providing early help is more effective in promoting the welfare of children than reacting later.
2.
Early help assessment should be undertaken by lead professionals who could be e.g. Health visitor, teacher, general
practitioner.
3.
What ever section of the Children Act 1989 a child is assessed under the purpose of the assessment is always.
• Gathering information.
• Analysing that information.
• Deciding whether the child is in need and what those needs are.
• Providing Services.
4.
Effective sharing of information between professionals and agencies is essential for effective identification of need and
service provision.
5.
WTSC 2013 re-emphasises this need. It does not introduce any additional barriers.

7. The Local Authority Assessment Process
1. Assessment should be a dynamic process and should be
reviewed on a regular basis.
2. A good assessment is one which looks at the following
three domains as a minimum.
a. The child’s developmental needs.
b. The parents or carers capacity to respond to those needs.
c. The impact and influence of the wider family.
3. Every assessment should be focused on outcomes deciding
which services and support to provide to improve the
child’s welfare

8. The Local Authority Assessment Process
4. The timeliness of an assessment remains a critical
element
• Within one working day of a referral being received a Local
Authority should make a decision about the type of response
required.
• For children who are in need of immediate protection action must
be taken as soon as possible after the referral has been made.
• The maximum time frame for an assessment to conclude should be
no longer than forty five working days from the point of referral.

9. The Local Authority Assessment Process
5. To assist continuity and consistency there is no longer a
requirement to conduct separate initial and core assessments.
6. Social Workers should not wait until the assessment reaches a
conclusion before commissioning services to support the child.
7. Social Workers should make clear to families how the
assessment will be carried out and when they can expect a
decision.

10. Local Safeguarding Children Boards
Chapter 3 sets out the objectives & functions of LSCBs:
1. Co-ordinate what is done by each person or body represented on
the Board for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the
welfare of children in the area; and
2. Ensure the effectiveness of what is done by each such person or
body for these purposes.
(Section 14 of CA 2004).

11. Chapters 4 & 5: Reviewing, Learning & Improving
Serious Case Reviews are undertaken to learn and improve services
when abuse or neglect of a child is known or suspected; and either :
(i) the child has died; or
(ii) the child has been seriously harmed and there is cause for concern
as to the way in which the authority, their Board partners or other
relevant persons have worked together to safeguard the child.

12. Summary: Key Changes
• Does not radically alter existing good practice.
• Core statutory guidance and reduced prescription
• More flexible approach to assessment and heightened role of professional judgement and local practice
• Increased independence of LSCBs
• Transparency of Serious Case reviews based on key Munro principles
• Full version available at: http://www.workingtogetheronline.co.uk/index.html