Contacting Early Help

You are considering a referral to Early Help to support a family. Here is the link for the Early Help Assessment Form –

1. Early Help Assessment (EHA) Meeting to take place with the referrer & parents, consent must be gained if a referral for support is wanted. However, sometimes this is not appropriate.

2. The usual step would be for school to complete an Early Help Assessment form with parents in a meeting. You can request the Early Help Consultant to attend this meeting via TEAMs for support.

3. Ensure that section A to F on the form have been completed, paying attention to section E – Next steps. Evidence on next steps what is already in place, existing support and also what you are asking of the Early Help Service. The referrer does not complete Section G.

4. After the meeting the referrer contacts the Early Help Consultant via email, phone or Teams, if they have not attended the meeting to discuss the referral and the Consultant will ensure the form is completed correctly and complete section G on the form to highlight to MAST that the action plan has been discussed and agreed. (If the EHC attends the meeting this can be done in step 1)

5. The referrer then sends the Early Help Assessment to children&families@northyorks.gov.uk to be looked over by Multi Agency Screening Team (MAST) and a decision will be made. You will be notified of the decision via email. If the above process is not followed MAST will send the form back to an Early Help Consultant to ask the referrer to complete the Early Help Assessment and the above would need to be followed.

Call your local hub office for the number of your local Early Help Consultant 01609 534842