5.1 Children and Families Core Assessment is at the heart of the child’s care process. Core Assessment needs to be expressed concisely but still ensure that important evidence is not neglected.

5.2 The key is the relationship between information recorded and the analysis made possible by the Core Assessment to support judgments about seriousness, desirable outcomes and necessary services.

5.3 Each of the Local Authorities has their own Core Assessment proforma and completion procedure that should be followed, but the following will give general advice on the process.

5.4 Where compression of the information on the proforma is felt to be too great, (for example, where there is more than one child in a family) a separate report may be submitted, but it must follow the structure and sequence of the Core Assessment form.

5.5 A Core Assessment must be completed for all cases that progress beyond an Initial Assessment within 35 working days. Where an independent specialist assessment has been commissioned it should be completed within 42 working days. The Core Assessment start date should be the date the Core Assessment allocation decision was taken.

5.6 The key features of the assessment are:

• To gather information about levels and types of needs to inform decision making about service provision and other forms of support
• To identify what the service user, their family, providers and other agencies will do to support the situation
• To identify the need for specialist assessments
• To enable needs led and evidence based assessment
• To achieve consistency of approach across Local Authority areas
• To ensure clear channels of accountability
• To record the assessing worker’s professional analysis and judgement of the situation

5.7 It is expected that the majority of Core Assessments will lead on to the provision of ongoing services. Therefore a Care Plan needs to be completed:

• Whenever the assessment outcome leads to the provision of ongoing services
• Following all reviews

5.8 A review should be completed:

• On the agreed date as set out in the Care Plan
• Prior to transfer from Personal Care Management to Care Co-ordination or Self Care Management

5.9 Where the Core Assessment form incorporates a new or amended Care Plan, it is essential that services be recorded clearly with a start date and unit cost. Services closed following a review should also be clearly recorded with the appropriate end date.

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