Contacts and Referrals
Scope of this chapter
This chapter includes actions that will be undertaken both when contacts are received regarding a child/young person who is receiving services and also in respect of a child/young person who is not currently receiving services from Children and Families and Specialist Services.
All those in contact with children, young people and families in a professional capacity will consult the Continuum of need for children and young people to obtain information regarding the types of services available for a child/young person they are supporting. They will contact Hertfordshire Children's Services via telephone - 0300 123 4043 in an emergency or via the Online referral form Portal where a child/young person:
- Is suffering or has suffered harm through abuse and / or neglect;
- Is likely to suffer harm through abuse and / or neglect; or
- (With agreement of a person with parental responsibility) would be likely to benefit from family support services.
IF YOU HAVE SAFEGUARDING CONCERNS ABOUT A CHILD/YOUNG PERSON YOU HAVE A DUTY TO CONTACT CHILDREN'S SERVICES
Related guidance
- Pre-Birth Protocol, Procedure and Guidance for Pre-Birth Assessment
- Children Moving Across Local Authority Boundaries
- DfE, Information Sharing: Advice for Practitioners Providing Safeguarding Services
- Continuum of need for children and young people
- Referring a CYP to Children's Services - Sharing of Information and obtaining consent to refer with parent or overriding consent
- Multi-agency Child in Need / Child Protection Referral Form for Professionals
- HSCP Child Protection Procedures
Amendment
This chapter was refreshed in November 2025.
Contact - A 'Contact' is where a member of the public or a professional in any capacity makes contact with Children's Services about a child/young person who may be a Child in Need of support or protection, and where there is a request for information or a service.
Referrer - The 'Referrer' is the member of the public or professional in any capacity making contact with Children's Services.
Referral - For this procedure, a 'Referral' is a possible outcome of a Contact, where a social worker or manager considers a statutory response may be required. In some instances, it may be identified that a child/young person may be better supported via other services such as Early Help or Universal Services (e.g. health, schools, family centres, etc).
CSC - Customer Service Centre
LCS/EHM - Children's Services online recording system
See: Section 47 enquiry.
The belief or suspicion about significant harm may be based on information which comes from different sources.
- It may arise in the context of the Family Assessment where the Lead Professional becomes concerned about the extent of the child's unmet needs and the risk of harm to the child/young person;
- It may come from a member of the public, the child/young person concerned, another child, young person, a family member or other professional staff;
- It may relate to a single incident of significant harm as per Children Act 1989 or an accumulation of lower level concerns;
- The information may also relate to harm caused by another child/young person, in which case details of both children/young people, must be sent to Children's Services;
- The suspicion or allegation may relate to a parent or professional or volunteer caring for or working with the child/young person - see Managing Allegations Against People who work with Children and Young People Procedure.
Where a child/young person's support intervention is already open to Children's Services - concerns/information should be sent to the allocated social worker. If you have information which suggests an urgent child protection matter, please speak to the allocated social worker or their team manager without delay.
If there is an immediate concern or new concern, even if the support intervention is already open then a new referral/sharing of information to be submitted to bring about a prompt response with the level of urgency required by the new circumstances.
If there is an immediate safeguarding concern where the child/young person is not already having an open referral to Children's Services, or, if you do not know the name of the allocated social worker, you should contact the Customer Services Centre directly to make a new referral/share information. Customer Service Centre - Tel: 0300 123 4043.
Where a professional is unsure about contacting Children's Services - schools, family centres and health agencies all have designated (or named) professionals responsible for safeguarding children/young people within their organisations and these professionals should be your first point of contact. Ask your manager if you are not sure of your agency's designated safeguarding lead or named professional.
Lead Professional of an open Family Assessment
If you are a Lead Professional of an open Family Assessment and you become concerned about the extent of the child/ren's unmet needs and the risk of harm to the child/ren but you are unsure whether to complete a child protection request for support, you can seek advice from your local Senior Families First Coordinator Families First.
Designated Safeguarding Leads within Schools
Children's Services have implemented a single Consultation Hub for schools. The Consultation Hub is operated by the Child Protection School Liaison Service and is available to Designated Safeguarding Leads (including deputies) within education settings within Hertfordshire, including all maintained, academy, free, community, independent, education support centres, colleges and early years nurseries within a maintained school. Education settings based outside of Hertfordshire who have children on roll who reside within Hertfordshire may also access the Consultation Hub.
The Consultation Hub is not available to wider members of school staff for example pastoral or SENCOs, school staff must seek advice from their Designated Safeguarding Leads; their names and contact should be readily available on school site or within their child protection policy.
The purpose of the Consultation Hub is for schools to be able to seek solution focused advice when they have safeguarding concerns about a child/young person and are not sure of their next steps, and/or which level in the continuum of need or referral pathway would be suitable to provide support and address risks.
Designated Safeguarding Leads are expected to have consulted the Continuum of Need and the Child Protection School Liaison Officer prior to the call and provide the Child Protection School Liaison Officer with a succinct overview of their concerns, any previous history and support offered and their view on the current risks and impact to the child/ren. It is preferred that the Designated Safeguarding Lead has sought the views of parents/carers and where possible the views of the child/ren.
If the Designated Safeguarding Lead is confident in how the child and family can be supported and/or that their concerns warrant a request for support to the Local Authority for Early help or Child Protection, they should progress these in line with procedures. Schools DO NOT need to call the Consultation Hub to ratify their decision making to make referrals, it is available to assist when they are unsure.
Designated Safeguarding Leads are not required to have gained consent from parents/carers prior to accessing the Consultation Hub. However in line with Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children's Partnership's principles to work in collaboration and partnership with children and families, it is expected that, where appropriate, all possible attempts are made to engage parents/carers in conversations about your concerns and to ensure they are aware of the actions you intend to take to seek advice. Following a consultation, you may be advised to make a referral. All referrals made will be triaged and sent to the most appropriate team within Children's Services.
The advice provided during the call will act as guidance only based on the information shared at the time of the call, ensuring the Designated Safeguarding Lead is equipped as much as possible with information about local multi-agency procedures, thresholds and practice expectations in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024.
The Designated Safeguarding Lead will be responsible for any decision making and actions taken after the call. Where a recommendation is made to consider a request for support into Children's Services, the Designated Safeguarding Lead is expected to follow local procedures including seeking consent, where appropriate from parents/carers.
The Designated Safeguarding Lead remains responsible for ensuring that a succinct written record of the call is added to their internal safeguarding files for the specific child, as applicable, including a clear overview of the recommendations, any actions they identify and the outcomes. The child/ren's file should already contain a written record of the Designated Safeguarding Lead's concerns and decision to access the Consultation Hub as an action.
The Child Protection School Liaison Officer will make a brief record of the call on Children's Services Early Help Module (EHM) with an overview of the concerns shared and recommended actions for auditing purposes. These records are open to disclosure as part of any Subject Access Request to the Local Authority made by the child/family.
Full information regarding the Consultation Hub can be found at Hertfordshire Grid for Learning.
The Consultation Hub is available Monday - Thursday 9am - 5pm and Friday 9am - 4pm term time only The line is not available during a lunch hour from 1.30-2.30pm.
At peak times, the Consultation Hub can become very busy. Callers should not set their phone to repeat dial, email CPSLO admin (cpsloadmin@hertfordshire.gov.uk) requesting a call back or call 03001234043 for advice. At these times callers are advised to wait a few minutes before calling back.
If you have any safeguarding concerns outside of these hours, please follow the guidance of the Continuum of Need.
The Consultation Hub should not be contacted
For emergencies or concerns of an urgent nature. If school believes matters require an immediate response by Children's Services or the Police, the relevant child protection pathways should be followed and not delayed by accessing the Consultation Hub.
- For clear child protection concerns - Schools should consult the Hertfordshire Continuum of Need document to ascertain if the concern meets threshold for safeguarding and discuss with the Designated Safeguarding Lead within the School. If it is felt that threshold is met for an urgent safeguarding referral to be made using the Online Referral Portal;
- If the referral is not considered urgent but felt to meet threshold for a safeguarding response, an Online request for support Referral Form should be completed via the online portal;
- When there is current Children's Services involvement with a family, including looked after children. The named worker should be contacted with your concerns;
- To have concerns 'noted or logged' on a system. Internal School Systems should be used for these concerns;
- By Lead Professionals of an open Family Assessment. If a child/young person within your school has an open Family Assessment, advice should be sought from your local Senior Families First Coordinator;
- When there is an open Family Assessment to another agency. Schools should contact the named Lead Professional;
- If schools have been unable to contact a professional within the Local Authority allocated to a child in their school. Schools must contact the Lead Professional directly, in their absence their line manager or call 03001234043 who can leave a message or connect to the duty worker in the team, where applicable.
Early Years and Childcare (excluding early years within mainstream schools)
If you are not a school or a Lead Professional providing Families First support, please use the Continuum of Needs and/or seek advice from your agency designated safeguarding lead.
Early years providers have a duty under section 40 of the Childcare Act 2006 to comply with the welfare requirements of the early years foundation stage (EYFS)44. Early years providers must ensure that:
- They are alert to any issues of concern in the child/young person's life;
- They have and implement a policy and procedures to safeguard children/young people. This must include an explanation of the action to be taken when there are safeguarding concerns about a child/young person and in the event of an allegation being made against a member of staff. The policy must also cover the use of mobile phones and cameras in the setting, that staff complete safeguarding training that enables them to understand their safeguarding policy and procedures, have up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding issues, and recognise signs of potential abuse and neglect;
- They have a practitioner who is designated to take lead responsibility for safeguarding children/young person within each early years setting and who must liaise with local statutory Children's Services as appropriate. This lead must also complete child protection training.
Where professionals are concerned that a child or young person may be at imminent risk of significant harm, please call 999.
The Child Protection Referral can be filled in online via the online portal. Report Concerns About a Child or Request Support.
WHEN IN DOUBT, CONCERNS MUST BE SHARED APPROPRIATELY.
When members of the public are concerned about the welfare of a child/young person or an unborn baby, they will contact the Customer Services Centre (0300 123 4043), who will pass the information to the appropriate Children's Services Team.
The Police and the NSPCC help lines offer an alternative means of reporting concerns and they will then inform Children's Services of any child protection concerns accordingly.
If a member of the public has immediate concerns for the safety and wellbeing of a child/young person, they should call the Police by calling 999.
Professionals wishing to make a referral should use the online referral form via the online portal - Report concerns about a child or request support, Hertfordshire County Council. Professionals must create an account if they do not already have one.
Any professional from another agency receiving a child protection (request) from a member of the public will:
- Advise them to refer directly to Children's Services via the Customer Service Centre on 0300 123 4043;
- Inform Children's Services of the details of the concern via online referral form;
- Note details of the concern and the communication.
Professionals will, in general, seek to discuss any concerns with the family and where possible seek their agreement to make contact with Children's Services.
If informing the parents/carers or seeking agreement will place a child/young person at increased likelihood of harm, having a discussion with parents/carers or seeking agreement will not be required. Professionals can seek further information at Report concerns about a child or request support | Hertfordshire County Council.
The referrer will keep a written record of:
- Discussions with child/young person;
- Discussions with parent/carer;
- Discussions with managers;
- Information provided to Children's Services;
- Decisions taken (clearly timed, dated and signed).
Contacts to Children's Services outside normal Customer Service Centre hours (08.30 - 17-30 Monday - Friday) are diverted to the Safeguarding Out of Hours Service. Call 0300 123 4043 for urgent out of hours safeguarding support.
Members of the public may prefer not to give their name to Children's Services or the NSPCC. Anonymous referrals from members of the public must be fully recorded and investigated thoroughly as possible by Children's Services.
If the referrer does not wish for their identity to be revealed, this will be recorded. Where possible, staff will respect a referrer's request for anonymity. However there are limitations to confidentiality in certain circumstances, for example, where their identity may have to be given e.g. to a court. This will always be explained to the referrer.
Professional referrals cannot be anonymous and should be made in the knowledge that during the course of enquiries it will be made clear which agency has originated the contact.
Children's Services will acknowledge contacts within one working day of receipt. Acknowledgement will be provided by an automated email via the online referral portal. If no acknowledgement is received within three working days, the referrer must contact Children's Services again to establish the current status of their contact. At this stage the feedback provided may consist of acknowledging receipt of the contact only. Once the screening process has been conducted and a decision as to the outcome of the contact has been made, the referrer will be contacted again with further information.
Referrers will in most circumstances be contacted directly and have the opportunity to discuss their concerns with the most relevant Children's Services team.
When making contact with Children's Services, if the following information is known to the referrer, please provide as much detail as possible:
- Full names, dates of birth and gender of children/young people (including surnames used);
- Family address (current and previous) and, where relevant, school/nursery attended;
- Identity of those with Parental Responsibility;
- Names and dates of birth of all members of the household (including all surnames used);
- Ethnicity, first language and religion of children/young people and parents/carers;
- Details of any extended family or community who are significant for the child/young person;
- Any additional needs of the children/young people including the means in which they communicate;
- Any significant / important recent or past events/incidents in the child/young person or family life, including previous concerns;
- Cause for concern/need including details of allegations, their sources, timing and location of incidences;
- The child/young person's current location and emotional and physical condition;
- Whether the child/young person needs immediate protection;
- Details of any alleged perpetrator;
- Referrer's relationship with and knowledge of the child/young person and their family;
- Known current or previous involvement of other agencies/professionals e.g. schools, GPs;
- Background information relevant to referral e.g. positive aspects of parents' care, previous concerns, pertinent parental issues e.g. mental health, domestic abuse, drug or alcohol abuse, threats and violence towards professionals;
- What support and/or immediate action the child/young person/family/professional think may be needed;
- The views of the child/young person/family about the contact;
- Whether consent has been obtained - if not what remit is met to override parental consent. The onus is on the referring agency to discuss the referral and gain consent where appropriate.
See:
Providing Parents with Information and Obtain Agreement to Share Information with Other Agencies
Information Sharing and Confidentiality Procedure
Flowchart of when and how to share information
Timescale for Making Initial Decision About a Contact
In accordance with Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 within one working day, the manager or social worker with delegated authority will, in most contacts, make a decision about the type of response that is required. This will include determining whether:
- The child/young person requires immediate protection and urgent action is required;
- The child/young person is in need, and should be assessed under Section 17 of the Children Act;
- There is reasonable cause to suspect that the child/young person is suffering, or likely to suffer, Significant Harm, and whether enquiries must be made and the child/young person assessed under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 (see Section 47 Enquiry Procedure);
- Any services are required by the child/young person and family and what type of services; and
- Further specialist assessments are required in order to help the local authority to decide what further action to take;
- To see the child/young person as soon as possible if the decision is taken that the contact requires further assessment.
If a child/young person is open to a Children's Services team, any requests for information or requests to view files will be processed by the allocated worker (Customer Service Centre will add documents to Livelink and add Case notes).
If a child/young person is closed, Customer Service Centre will open a Contact on EHM, and step up to LCS as applicable, and use the following guidance for processing the request.
If the request for information relates to an adult who was a former recipient of Children's Services, Customer Service Centre will open an Adult Contact on LCS to process the request.
If another Local Authority requests information due to a section 47 enquiry then Customer Service Centre can confirm this without consent. Confirmation should be sent by email to a GOV.UK e-mail address.
All other information requests from agencies require a copy of a consent form from the individual or someone with Parental Responsibility.
The enquirer should be informed by Customer Service Centre (telephone or email - 0300123 4043 or protectedreferrals.cs@hertfordshire.gov.uk) that they need to provide evidence of consent/their statutory role with the family before we can process their request. The current request will not be processed.
If a statutory agency (such as CAFCASS, SEND, Ofsted, Mental health services, Herts Young Homeless, police, probation, schools/free schools/academies, NHS and any other statutory agency not named in this list) ask whether a child/young person or their family is known to Children's Services, and if the requestor confirms that the information is required for the purpose of protecting and safeguarding the welfare of a child/young person, OR they have gained written consent from someone with Parental Responsibility the following action should be taken:
Customer Service Centre to confirm details such as whether the child/young person is known, whether the child/young person's support intervention is open or closed (if the Referral is Open to a Team this request would be sent via Case notes to the allocated worker to progress) and the dates, purpose and outcome of Children's Services involvement. Practitioners should check the dates and content of the following before recording on Enquiry Forms:
- LCS and EHM Forms tab: Contacts (including outcomes, only record if these have not been progressed to a Referral); Referrals (including outcomes); Assessments (including outcomes); S47 enquiries (including outcomes); CP conferences; Closures;
- LCS CP tab: Periods of Child Protection Plans and Reasons;
- LCS CLA tab: Periods of CLA history, Accommodation and Legal Status;
- LCS Chronology: Any Domestic Abuse incidents recorded on the child/young person's electronic record;
- IES Referrals tab: Any referrals progressed for Early Interventions/Help;
- EHM Forms tab: Closure records.
On some occasions, agencies such as Housing may request information. This may be due to a family having rent arrears. This information sharing would not be informing a possible safeguarding decision and should therefore not be given without signed parental consent.
The UK Visas and Immigration Agency may often request information that may inform the future plans for a child/young person, i.e. a child/young person being allowed to safely remain in the UK or safely return to their country of origin. For these requests for information on a child/young person Customer Service Centre can provide information without parental consent. All confirmation to UK Visas and Immigration Agency should be sent by email to a GOV.UK e-mail address.
Customer Service Centre will complete the initial CAFCASS Request for Information form.
If another Local Authority (OLA) or CAFCASS want detailed information about Hertfordshire's involvement with a child/young person/family (chronology, assessment etc.) then this will be processed by the team currently working with a child/young person (open families to all services) or the relevant Safeguarding or 0-25 team (closed families).
- The requests need to be clear why the information is being requested and the context/background to the request, otherwise, the Customer Service Centre will return the request asking for more information;
- Contact to be opened on EHM/LCS by Customer Service Centre and progressed to 'Info and Advice' (or open and closed as an Adult Contact on LCS if relating to adult former recipient of services);
- CIAO/Service Support to request paper files where appropriate and arrange with the OLA a date to view files;
- Support to be provided by Service Support/CIAO/Children's Practitioner to enable access to LCS (supervised at all times) ensuring that only child/young person and relevant family members' records are viewed;
- In some cases, where OLA is some distance from Hertfordshire, or the relevant information is limited (e.g. Contacts / Information Only records), CIAO or Children's Practitioner can cut and paste records/provide a chronology of relevant information and send this securely to the OLA. All relevant information will be included. If the OLA have asked specific questions, these will be answered as far as possible, or a reason provided if this is not possible. A Team Manager/CSW will oversee what is to be sent before it is sent. Information shared will be attached to either Livelink or case notes, so that subsequent requests may build on previously shared information;
- Legal advice to be sought regarding provision of copies of relevant documents to the Other Local Authority as applicable.
If a child/young person is open to Children's Services - case note to allocated worker and email to Child Litigation Unit Helpdesk; clu.helpdesk@hertfordshire.gov.uk.
- If a child/young person is closed - Contact to be opened on LCS and email to Child Litigation Unit helpdesk; clu.helpdesk@hertfordshire.gov.uk.
Where police (or another Government agency) make a request for information which is required for the prevention or detection of crime, the apprehension and prosecution of offenders or the assessment or collection of any tax or duty, should be referred to the Data Protection Team e-mail: data.protection@hertfordshire.gov.uk or tel: 01992 588099.
These requests for information are commonly called s.29 Requests (S.29 of the Data Protection Act 1998). These types of requests can only be made by organisations with an investigatory function such as the police, UK Visas and Immigration Agency, Probation and Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command and so on.
S.29 requests are routed through to the Data Protection Team and they will take the requestor though verification / justification to ensure the exemption is justifiable and then we invite the requester in to view the information.
The Data Protection Team will also progress Subject Access to Records Requests.
No other requests for information will be processed by the Data Protection Team.
IF IN DOUBT of Requestor identity or the legitimacy of the request.
If Customer Service Centre is IN DOUBT of requestor identity or the legitimacy of the request - Customer Service Centre should inform them that they need to provide evidence of their identity as a statutory agency (and consent from someone with Parental Responsibility unless there is a child protection risk) before providing any information. The request will not be processed in the interim.
If there are indications that a child/young person may be suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, the Team manager will consult with the Lead Child Protection Practitioner who in turn will consult with Multi Agency Child Protection Team partners and authorise whatever actions are necessary to protect the child/young person or others in the household from significant harm, which may result in the immediate provision of services.
If there is suspicion that a crime may have been committed including sexual or physical assault or neglect of the child/young person, the Police will be notified immediately.
On receipt of notification that a child/young person has been taken into Police Protection the Team Manager should alert the Lead Child Protection Practitioner to have a strategy discussion with multi agency partners. See Hertfordshire Social Work Procedures - Children Looked After and Care Leavers, Police Protection Guidance.
The initial outcome decision following a contact, which must be authorised by the Children's Services manager, may be:
Option 1: No Further Action / Information and Advice - The child/young person does not meet the statutory Child in Need criteria, therefore the provision of information, advice and sign-posting to another agency and/or no further action.
Option 2: Services provided at a targeted or universal level. The child/young person's need may be best met by a targeted or universal multi-agency response and may not require intervention under S17 or S47 of the Children Act 1989. The team responding to the contact will liaise with the relevant service to progress the action.
Option 3: Further Assessment. Where the child/young person appears to be a Child in Need, then an assessment will be completed. Where it is suspected that the child/young person is or is likely to suffer significant harm, an assessment will be completed with the consideration of a strategy discussion.
The child/young person will be seen as soon as possible if the decision is taken that the contact will progress to a referral requiring further assessment. See Hertfordshire Social Work Procedures Manual, Child and Family Assessments Procedure.
- The referrer will be notified of the outcome of the contact / referral including which team will be providing support via the online referral portal.
Following the gathering of further information if another service has been deemed more suitable to meet the child/young person's needs the receiving team will inform the referrer of where they have signposted their contact.
If the referrer made the referral on behalf of someone else or referred on information they received, they will be reminded that it is their responsibility to feed back the actions to the person they received the information from.
In the case of contacts from the public, feedback must be consistent with the rights to confidentiality of the child/young person and their family.
The holding team must actively respond to identification of risk or harm first, and satisfy themselves that there are protective factors in place. Feedback cannot be provided to anonymous referrers.
In instances where children, young people and families progress to further assessment, the following will apply:
See chapters on Family Assessment in the HSCP Manual or Child and Family Assessments within the Social Work Procedures Manual and Families First Assessment and Early Help page on the Hertfordshire Internet site.
Last Updated: November 5, 2025
v113
You can translate the content of this page by selecting a language in the select box.
Copyright © tri.x