Ask the Expert: Single assessments

We have introduced the “single assessment” process for vulnerable children and there is concern that performance that was only “okay” is now going to drop. The obvious solution is to set the timing of every assessment at the 45-day maximum.

That “obvious solution” can create as many problems as you expect to solve. If your workers are struggling to meet the previous statutory timescales, the chances are they lack the discipline to focus on the timeliness of assessments full stop.

You cannot set a time on some assessments until you know more about what is involved, have met the family and spoken to someone who already knows them. So be realistic. Try to set as little time as allows you to do a sensible assessment, but not so much time that you end up with far more information than you ever needed and defer meaningful intervention for a child who needs it.

And do not be afraid to revise it if you need to. Even the most vocal critics of time taken now accept that a quick assessment might be no use to anyone, whereas taking a little time to get it right is more appropriate.

Answered by Peter Lewis, a freelance providing interim local authority children’s services leadership, and a former DCS in Haringey

Email questions, marked “Experts”, to cypnow@markallengroup.com