Common Assessment Framework

The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is a way of working out what extra support your child may need.

It involves meeting with practitioners to make sure you only have to tell your story once and that help is provided as quickly and effectively as possible.

With your approval, practitioners will work with you to identify your child's needs. 

They’ll make an assessment to find out:

• what's going well for your family
• what extra support you need
• which practitioners can help

You’ll then agree on an action plan. You can help decide which worker puts together your action plan. 

Your action plan

The plan brings together all the people working with you. 

These people may include:

• your health visitor
• your child's teacher
• the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) at the school
• a speech and language therapist
• any other practitioners who work with children and families

This way of working together is called a Team Around the Child or Team Around the Family. 

We'll work with you to find solutions and meet your needs.

Safeguarding

For some families, there are specific problems or safeguarding concerns which make it necessary for a referral to be made to Children's Social Care. In that case, a social worker will be allocated.

Tell us about your experiences with CAF as a parent so we can continue providing quality support to children and families in Southwark. Young people can fill in a survey to share their feedback.

Contact us

You can contact us by:

• calling 020 7525 2714
• emailing earlyhelp@southwark.gov.uk

For material in other languages, including the surveys, email icss@southwark.gov.uk. 

We publish them in Arabic, Bengali, French, Portuguese, Somali, Spanish and Yoruba.