In a Nutshell: The CAF - a useful tool for practitioners

What is the Common Assessment Framework (CAF)?
The CAF is a process for gathering and recording information about a child for whom a practitioner has concerns in a standard format, identifying the needs of the child and how those needs can best be met. It is a shared assessment and planning framework for use across all children’s services and all local areas in the UK. It helps to identify in the early stages the child’s additional needs and promotes co-ordinated service provision to meet them. The CAF consists of a pre-assessment checklist; a common assessment process; a standard form; a delivery; and a consent statement.

The pre-assessment checklist is based on the five key outcomes of Every Child Matters: for children to be healthy; stay safe; enjoy and achieve; make a positive contribution; and achieve economic wellbeing. The checklist helps determine whether a child is making the expected progress and if a child would benefit from a common assessment.

The common assessment process gathers all the information necessary for determining the child’s needs in four steps: identifying the needs early; assessing those needs; delivering integrated services; and reviewing progress. It provides a consistent way for recording the common assessment process, and any outcomes, and enables the information to be shared more easily with other services, if consent for this is given.

Who should use the CAF?
The CAF is focused on all potential needs of a child or young person, not just those of a particular service. It is intended to be used by those working in the education sector, the health sector, and in social care, to ensure they work together efficiently and effectively to improve outcomes for children and young people. The information gathered through a common assessment will build the picture of that child’s needs. Where permission is granted, information about the child will be shared to ensure an integrated approach. All practitioners undertaking common assessments must have an enhanced level Criminal Records Bureau check.

When should the CAF be used?
The purpose of the CAF is to ensure delivery of integrated frontline services focused around the needs of children. It is described as a common language for assessment purposes, which gives a consistent view for delivering ?the most appropriate response. The CAF is for children who have additional needs ?in one or more of three areas: their growth and development; additional educational requirements; and family and ?environmental issues and any specific needs of the parent/carer.

It is a voluntary assessment, and therefore any child or young person, and/or parent or carer, must give their consent at the start of the process with the full knowledge of what will happen. Once the assessment has been completed, the child or young person, and/or parent or carer must consent to the information being stored and shared with other services.



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