Early Help & Support for Families
What is Early Help?
Early help means providing support to potentially vulnerable children, young people and their families as soon as problems start to emerge. When a child, young person or family need some extra support, early help is often the first response. Early help is not a specific service or team, it can be provided by the services a child, young person or family are already in contact with. It is an approach to working that brings together people from a range of different services and teams who will work with the whole family to improve things for everyone.
Why is Early Help offered?
Early Help aims to build on a family's capacity and resources to manage their own dilemmas, resolve their own difficulties and prevent problems in the future. Early Help is a response offered by all services in Bath & North East Somerset who are in contact with children, young people and families when an unmet need is identified as outlined in Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023, which emphasises the crucial role of effective Early Help being a collective responsibility of all agencies to identify, assess and provide effective Early Help services:
“Providing Early Help is more effective in promoting the welfare of children than reacting later. Early Help means providing support as soon as a problem emerges, at any point in a child’s life, from the foundation years through to the teenage years.”
Who should offer Early Help?
Early Help should be offered by the professional identifying the issue. Every person working with or engaging with children and families, regardless of organisation, status or position, has a responsibility to support the delivery of Early Help.
Examples of different professionals that could offer Early Help:
- Early Years provider
- Health Visitor
- Schoolteacher
- School Nurse
- GP
Early Help Assessment (EHA)
An Early Help Assessment (EHA) helps professionals to consider the needs of a child or young person and their family, bringing together a team of professionals to support them all to achieve positive change.
Anyone who works with children and young people can start an EHA in partnership with the child or young person and their family with their consent. This process serves to:
- Undertake an assessment of the need for early help (see early help assessment). This will enable you to provide the right early help
service/intervention. If you know what service is required but are unable to deliver that yourself, please refer to an appropriate service
(see the Early Help App for a list of local services). If you are unclear as to what service is needed you can refer to EHAP (see below).
- Provide targeted early help services and interventions to address the identified needs of a child, young person and their families and
improve their outcomes.
- Identify a lead professional to support work with the child, young person or family.
Once an EHA has been carried out, a number of things will then happen:
- A team around the child or family (also known as TAC/TAF) meeting will be arranged, which includes the team who are already supporting the child or young person, as well as any new new professionals who can offer further support.
- During the meeting, an action plan is put together, which formalises the support being offered, and lets the child or young person and their family know exactly who is going to do what, and when - a lead professional will also be agreed.
- Review meetings will usually take place 8 to 12 weeks after the first meeting - they make sure the support being offered is working, and address any problems. It could be that further actions are added to support your child.
The EHA is a working document, and updates can be made at any time.
Find out more about the EHA and B&NES Council's Integrated Working Team on their web page, or call 01225 395448 to speak to one of the team.
Early Help Assessment Resources
Refer to Early Help Services
If you are a professional making a referral, please contact the service or organisation you think is best for the child, young person or family directly. Self-referrals are also accepted.
B&NES Council provide the following targeted early help services:
- Connecting Families team – who provide help and support to families with children and young people with multiple and sometimes complex needs (if eligible)
- Children's Centre services– who offer general family support for families who have at least one child under five years old, and provide personal and employment skills support, and home learning services
- Compass (part of the youth offending team)–crime prevention service that works with young people aged 8–17 years old who may be at risk of becoming involved in offending behaviour and crime
B&NES Council also commission other targeted early help services, such as:
If you don't know which service is best for you or your family, you can search our Live Well website - this is a directory of different services, groups and organisations within Bath and North East Somerset for children and families.
Live Well includes Ofsted-registered childcare, parenting support, information to support a child with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND), to list just a few.
Early Help Allocation Panel (EHAP)
If you have decided that a child, young person or family has multiple issues and needs intensive support, or you cannot locate the right service, you can make a referral to our Early Help Allocation Panel (EHAP) - a panel of local professionals with a wide range of experience who will try to recommend the right help.
Early Help App
Download the free Early Help app for details of all of the services (including the commissioned early help targeted support services) from the Apple or Android store, or by searching for 'B&NES Early Help'.
Download the Early Help app from the App Store
Download the Early Help app from Google Play store
The app is designed for professionals, but parents and carers may also find it helpful.
Early Help Resources
Early Help Offer and One Minute Guide
Early Help Toolkit and accompanying resources