1. Shaun McLurg Assistant Director Safeguarding and Looked After Children Jon Doyle Implementation Manager: The Children's Hub

2. Background to the project The project was developed based on findings from Serious Case Reviews, inspections and research. These activities consistently find that agencies need to improve information sharing and the way they work together to share risk assessments and make decisions to improve children’s lives.

3. The Children’s Hub is being hosted by Hartlepool Borough Council on behalf of the partner agencies. It will be going ‘live’ on the 1 st June 2016 and is replacing Stockton’s current First Contact Children team. All new enquiries relating the Children’s Social Care will be considered by The Children’s Hub.

4. A shared threshold document has been developed as part of the project and this will be used to consider the most appropriate outcome for all new enquiries received into The Children’s Hub. The new document is called: ‘Providing the right support to meet a child’s needs in Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees’

6. Co-located and ‘virtual’ partners Key Partners (Co-located): Hartlepool Borough Council (host) Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council Cleveland Police North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Trust Virtual Partners: Thirteen Group National Probation Service Community Rehabilitation Company Adult Mental Health Commissioned Service: Harbour – Domestic Violence

7. Benefits The main benefit of a multi-agency approach is strengthened and timely decision making which results in better outcomes for children and the delivery of the right services at the right time. Improved information sharing and a multi-agency approach to the application of thresholds for intervention should lead to increased confidence amongst partners with decisions and outcomes

8. Benefits Co-location means that when a Child Protection Strategy Meeting is needed on a new referral, all key partners will be able to attend and the meeting will be able to take place in a timely way. Video-conference facilities in Stirling House mean that Stockton staff will not need to spend time travelling to the meetings.

9. Tier 3 Manager – Head of Service Team Manager (Social Worker) Assistant Team Manager (Social Worker) 6 x Social Workers LADO Education Designated Officer Police Decision Maker – 2 x Police Staff – 1 x Operation Encompass Senior Nurse Child Protection CAMHS – CAMHS Clerk Harbour Advice and Guidance Hub Manager Senior Children’s Hub Officer 12 x Children’s Hub Officers 2 x Admin Assistants 1 x Modern Apprentice Business Support Officer Planning and Information Officer FNE Officer

10. Pathways and Handover Points People who use The Children’s Hub (including Stockton’s residents) will notice very little difference. People will contact The Children’s Hub in the same way they contact our current First Contact Children Team: – Email – Telephone – Letter – In person (if a customer attends one of the Customer Service centres they will be connected to The Children’s Hub via free-phone)

11. Pathways and Handover Points All enquiries (Either Stockton or Hartlepool) will be dealt with in the same way with the customer receiving the same level of service. Multi-agency knowledge and expertise will be used to direct enquiries to the most appropriate service if they do not meet the threshold for an Early Help Assessment or a Social Work Assessment Strong links are established with receiving services in Stockton such as: – The Early Help Assessment Team – Social Work Teams – particularly the Assessment Team as this team will receive most of the Social Care referrals from The Children’s Hub The Children’s Hub will not be responsible for any assessment work. Assessments and any Child Protection Enquiries will be the responsibility of the receiving team or service.

12. New Contact / Referral Filtered by Children’s Hub Officer Reviewed and prioritised by Manager Multi – Agency information sharing, discussion and decision making Manger signs off final decision No further action Refer to another agency Refer for an Early Help Assessment Refer for Social Work assessment Strategy Meeting

13. Success Factors Effective pathways and proportionate responses for children and their families Timely decision making and less delay associated with information gathering Reduction in the number of re-referrals Increase in the number of children identified within households affected by domestic abuse receiving appropriate support Increase in the number of children supported through an Early Help Assessment Increased police engagement in strategy meetings Services judged to be ‘GOOD’ through external scrutiny