Early help and the role of locality teams within Hampshire Children’s Services

The Munro Review of child protection identifies the provision of early help to families as being crucial in building resilience, improving outcomes for children (including educational attainment) and preventing serious child protection concerns for children at later stages. The Government has accepted the recommendations of the Munro Review and is likely to strengthen the duty upon all agencies to ensure the provision of early help.

Hampshire Children’s Services has launched a consultation on changes to our Locality Teams structure and intervention strategy. We are suggesting ways in which existing resources available through locality teams, and elsewhere, can be best deployed to improve the co-ordinated response to children, young people and their families who are in need of help but not yet the subject of statutory intervention.

Consultation

A briefing paper outlines our proposals more fully and offers all agencies an opportunity to respond to the consultation.

Please send any responses to this consultation to localityteam@hants.gov.uk.

Consultation deadline

Schools have requested more time to consult further across their sectors and within their own cluster groups. It has therefore been decided to extend the consultation for a further two months. The consultation will now close end of June 2012 in order to give schools the chance to further consult with their colleagues.