Accessing Targeted Support

Early Help Assessments (EHAs) are also used as a gateway to access several other forms of support. An Early Help Assessment needs to be completed by a professional looking to access a Neurodevelopmental Assessment in both Peterborough and Cambridgeshire and the Early Support Pathway in both local authorities. In Peterborough, an EHA is required to access Targeted Support - a Family Worker, Young People's Worker, Specialist Sleep Support or sometimes a commissioned piece of work.

Peterborough has two citywide panels. The MASG panels are multi-agency groups of professionals that use their skills, knowledge and expertise to consider multi-agency interventions that will best meet the assessed needs of a child/family. Cases to be considered are usually where:

The needs are either unclear or such that additional resources are needed;
The family have been supported in the Community through an Early Help Assessment and Team around the Family (TAF) meetings but little progress has been made;
There have been difficulties in developing an effective multi-agency support plan;
A transition package of support may be required for a family who have recently been open to Children’s Social Care who need a range of co-ordinated targeted support to maintain and sustain progress;
Practitioners have identified the need for more specific, targeted and sometimes, funded pieces of work to more appropriately address the needs of a family.

Privacy notice

To effectively work with children, young people and families it will be important to share information with services who can help. As a Local Authority, we record all the Early Help Assessments completed on an electronic case management system called the Early Help Module. It is important that families know and record how we use their information.

Please read the Corporate Privacy Notice for more information.

The Early Help Assessment process is entirely voluntary. It is important that the professional who gathers the information for the assessment asks the family to confirm that they are consenting to the assessment and have been told about the Local Authority keeps and uses the information. This allows the information in the assessment to be shared with the services that can help.

Further information

Complex health needs

You can find information about support for children or young people with disabilities and complex health needs on our SEND Information Hub.

Child or young person with special educational needs

You can find information about support for children or young people with special educational needs on our SEND Information Hub.

Professionals - reporting safeguarding concerns

Make a referral for a child or young person in need, or where there is reason to suspect they are likely to suffer significant harm because of abuse or neglect. You can report a safeguarding concern from the Joint Peterborough and Cambridgeshire Safeguarding website and use the online form on this page to make a referral. There is also full supporting guidance, risk assessment tools and threshold information.