Early help and social care

Early help

Early help is support that is given as soon as a problem emerges – at any stage in a child or young person’s life.

Early help services can be delivered to parents, children or whole families. But their main focus is to improve outcomes for children.

Contact details

Children and young people may need effective support at any stage of their lives. Early help is designed to provide timely, targeted support before issues escalate.

We work closely with local organisations and agencies to:

Identify children and families who may benefit from early help
Assess their needs to determine the right support
Deliver tailored services that aim to improve outcomes for children and their families

Certain groups of children may be more likely to need early help, including those who:

Have been excluded from school
Have special educational needs
Are disabled
Are in care or preparing to leave care
Are young carers
Are young parents or expecting a child
Are experiencing housing difficulties

The Children’s Multi Agency Resilience and Safeguarding (MARS) arrangements aim to:

Co-produce services with children, young people, and families by building on their strengths and assets to meet individual needs
Make safeguarding personal and responsive, helping children stay within their families and in education
Strengthen the resilience of children, young people, and their families

Early help services are part of a wider continuum of support, designed to respond to varying levels of need among children and families.

For more information, see the Helping Children and Families (Threshold Document), which outlines the five levels of need in North Lincolnshire.

We are committed to offering early help at the earliest opportunity and at the lowest level of intervention needed to improve outcomes for children.

Our local approach to early help is guided by key principles that focus on empowering families and building strong community connections. These include:

Helping children and families find their own solutions and build support networks within their community
Listening to the views and experiences of children and families, focusing on solutions, and building on their strengths to help them become independent of services
Being clear about the intended outcomes of our support and working collaboratively to achieve them

Support for children and families through Early Help is guided by the procedures outlined in the Children’s MARS Board Policy and Procedure.

Early help is the support provided to a child or family as soon as a problem emerges or to prevent further problems in the future. The main aim is to improve children's lives.Help is available to everyone such as from health professionals, schools or from family hubs and community centres, this is called universal help and anyone can access it.

When a family needs more help or help from a number of professionals then an early help plan can be useful to help coordinate this support. The Early Help Assessment is the form used to record the conversation we have with families about the help they need, and using it to agree the approach needed and actions to be taken to improve things.

To record an Early Help Assessment and start the early help process please use the link below:

Record Early Help online form.

You can download the following forms and guidance from the CMARS website:

Early Help Assessment Form
Practitioner Guidance for completing the form
A guide for children, young people and their families
Quality Assurance checklist
Assessment Review form
Process overview for completing an assessment
Early Help Users View Form

North Lincolnshire’s Early Help Offer provides a summary of the impact and effectiveness of Early Help in North Lincolnshire. This summary includes:

An overview of the Early Help offer for children and families
Key outcomes achieved in 2021/2022
Priorities for transformation during 2021/2022

In North Lincolnshire, the council and its partners share a strong ambition: that children thrive in their families, succeed in school, and feel connected to their communities.

We work together with faith groups, voluntary organisations, and community partners to ensure families receive the support they need — from pregnancy through the teenage years and beyond. This includes help for adults within the family too.

For more information, view the Children and family offer on the North Lincolnshire Council website.

Assessments for early help and social care

Early help is support for children of all ages that improves a family’s resilience and outcomes or reduces the chance of a problem getting worse.

When early help is needed, we know that families want help from people and professionals that they know and trust.

Useful links

The One Family Approach enables professionals—including those supporting adult family members to act early and offer timely help.

Professionals should support families to build on their strengths, find solutions, and reduce dependence on services. They need to know:

When to create a plan for a child and family
When to seek support from managers or partner agencies
When to refer to Children’s Services, as outlined in the Helping Children and Families document

According to Working Together 2023, safeguarding partners and local agencies must:

Identify families needing early help
Assess the need for early help
Provide targeted support to improve outcomes

For details on requesting an Early Help Assessment, visit CMARS | Early Help. You can also share this early help video with families—it explains what early help is and how to access support.

Accessing Support from Children’s Services Single Point of Contact

If you believe a child or family would benefit from an Early Help Assessment, discuss and initiate it with the family’s agreement.

Seek advice from your manager or safeguarding lead, and refer to relevant policies, including the Helping Children and Families in North Lincolnshire document.

For further advice, contact the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) at 01724 296500.

Family Support Services and One Family Hub – Request for Service

Use the request form if you believe additional support is needed from Family Support Services or the One Family Hub. This form is not a substitute for a referral to Children’s Services SPOC.

For guidance on reporting concerns about a child, visit the Children, Young People and Families page.

If the request is urgent, complete the form and discuss it with a Family Support Service Team Leader or the One Family Hub. Submit the completed form via email to fasst.enquiries@northlincs.gov.uk.

Children’s Social Care

Children’s Social Care plays a vital role in supporting families and safeguarding children.

Through early intervention and close collaboration with partner organisations, the team helps ensure every child has the opportunity to grow up safe, healthy, and supported.

Our Children’s Social Care team offers expert support and guidance to help keep children safe and ensure families receive the help they need to thrive.

By working closely with families and partner organisations, we provide tailored advice and services that promote the wellbeing and development of children and young people.

We support parents, carers, and young people early—before challenges escalate—offering practical help and compassionate guidance.

Children’s Social Care also works in partnership with a wide range of services and community groups, including education, health, housing, benefits agencies, and the police, ensuring families have access to the right support at the right time.

Learn more about the services available for children and young people by visiting the Services for Children and Young People webpage.

Children Safe in North Lincolnshire

Protecting children is a shared responsibility across North Lincolnshire.

Together with our safeguarding teams and community partners, we’re committed to identifying risks early and ensuring every child grows up safe, supported, and well.

The safety and wellbeing of every child in North Lincolnshire is our highest priority. Our dedicated safeguarding teams work closely with community partners to identify risks early, protect children, and provide timely, effective support.

We collaborate across services—including health, education, and housing—to ensure children and families receive the help they need when they need it most.

Visit the Keeping Children Safe in North Lincolnshire page on the North Lincolnshire Council website for more information.

Access resources for safeguarding disabled children on our Health and Wellbeing page.

Children's Disability Team

Our specialist multi-disciplinary team provides comprehensive support for children with disabilities and their families, bringing together expertise from social care and education.

We offer personalized services and support to help disabled children and young people achieve their potential and ensure families have access to the assistance they need.

Contact details

isdc@northlincs.gov.uk
01724 407988
Church Square House, 30-40 High Street, Scunthorpe, DN15 6NL

Children's Disability Services is a multi-disciplinary team from social care and education, supporting disabled children and their families.

The Disability Support Team includes:

Short Breaks and Support Services
Tree Tops (Short Breaks provision)
Specialist Social Work Team
Vision and Hearing Support Services
Physical Disability Service

We support families where a child’s disability impacts daily life or education, and when specialist multi-agency support is needed.

Access to universal/targeted services due to high needs
Risk of family breakdown due to care demands
Barriers to curriculum or school access
Complex health needs requiring coordinated care
Impaired welfare/development due to disability or parenting capacity
Need for protection with complex communication needs

We provide assessments and commission support, including short breaks and homecare services.

Consultation

Parents/carers are consulted through reviews, outreach events, and the North Lincs Parent Forum.

Children and young people are consulted during reviews, Short Breaks, and respite activities.

Accessing the Service

Referrals are made via a Children’s Services Assessment of Need.

For children with complex disabilities, contact the Integrated Multi Agency Partnership at 01724 296500.

If already involved with the service, speak to your worker or a known professional about an Early Help Assessment.

Short Breaks and Support Services for Disabled Children and Young People

Short breaks are for parents, carers and others with parental responsibility for disabled children and young people aged between 0 and 18 years old.

Short Breaks provide an opportunity for disabled children and young people to take part in fun activities.

Contact details

ISDC@northlincs.gov.uk
01724 407988
Children’s Disability, Church Square House, 30-40 High Street, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, DN15 6NL

A short break is a break arranged by the Local Authority for parents/carers of disabled young people to help them have a break from their caring role. It is also an opportunity for children and young people to take part in meaningful and fun activities. In line with the Short Breaks for Carers of Disabled Children Regulations 2011 and Short Breaks and the Support Services Matrix of Need.

The child/young person can access a short break up to the age of 18, will have Special Educational Needs and/or Disability (SEND), regardless of whether the child/young person has a Special Educational Needs (SEN) Support Plan, or an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP). All children and young people must have a disability and live in North Lincolnshire.

Short breaks can be provided during the day, evening, overnight and on weekends. Short Breaks can take place in the child's own home, in a community setting, the home of an approved carer, or in an overnight setting. Short breaks should help contribute to the young person's inclusion within their own community and aid their personal development.

Access to ‘short breaks’ is through the Short Breaks Team. Therefore, we ask parents, carers and professionals to complete the registration form and upload proof of diagnosis/DLA by completing the form below.

Short Breaks Registration Form

If you are unable to complete the registration, please contact the Children’s Disability Team on 01724 407988 or email ISDC@northlincs.gov.uk to receive a paper copy.

Stay & Play Sessions – For Disabled Children and Their Families

Stay & Play sessions are organised and delivered by the Short Breaks & Support Services Team to provide bespoke, inclusive sessions for disabled children, young people, and their families.

These sessions offer families the opportunity to:

Have fun together in a safe and welcoming environment
Meet other families
Access information, advice, and guidance relating to SEND and available support services

Our Short Breaks Stay & Play sessions are held regularly and are open to all children and young people aged 0–18 years living in North Lincolnshire with a disability.

To find out more or book a place, please contact 01724 407988 or email isdc@northlincs.gov.uk.

These short breaks are for all children and young people with and without additional needs who can access activities and their local community independently or with minimal support. This allows them to them to take part in fun activities with their peers and to develop relationships within their local area.

Universal support is provided or routinely available to children, young people, and their families. Children and young people with SEND can access these opportunities if they require little or no support or where additional support and training has been provided. These opportunities can be found via:

Families can access most of these activities directly and without a referral from services. Universal short breaks may include:

Local youth groups
School holidays activities/groups
Scouting groups
After school clubs
Group based, drama, community, and sports activities

Children and young people where universal support has been considered and found not to be suitable or easily accessed due to the child/young person’s needs. There is an expectation that families will have accessed the universal offer before a Short Breaks registration form will be progressed.

All children and young people over the age of 5* who have a disability and live in North Lincolnshire are entitled to access our targeted support where universal support is not deemed suitable, this is our group-based activity programme. The programme contains activities within the community which young people take part in as a group, these take place on an evening, weekend and during school holidays.

Children and young people can access up to 1 session per week during term time and 2 sessions per week in the school holidays.

Transport to and from activities will need to be arranged by parents/carers, unless the team are able to consult with school transport to attend sessions following the school day or where there are extenuating circumstances.

Please book your child’s place via the online booking system at least four days before the activity. Your child will not be able to attend if you have not booked on, or if an ‘All About Me/Care Plan’ Form has not been completed and processed by staff.

Please Note: Links to the booking system will be sent to families who have returned an All About Me form that has been processed. When booking an activity please use your Child’s Name in the Name box.

We can provide a snack or cook and eat at sessions. We kindly ask for a contribution of 50p for a snack or £1 for cook and eat. Please let us know if you would like your child to have food upon booking the activity.

Under 8's

Please note that due to registration requirements children under the age of eight years of age are only able to stay at activities for up to two hours.

Saturday Sessions

Due to demand of sessions on a Saturday, children and young people can only book on to the morning session or the afternoon session.

Children and young people can access up to 1 session per week during term time and 2 sessions per week in the school holidays.

Short Breaks activity programme document is available in PDF format below.

Short Breaks Information leaflet and programme [3.07MB] PDF Short Breaks 2026 Holiday Programme [855KB] PDF

Disabled children and young people with more complex needs (or those children living in situations that are more complex) may require a higher level of short breaks. Therefore, more specialist support may be needed to meet their needs.

When this is the case an assessment of need will be required, this could be completed by any professional who knows the family well or a Children’s Services Assessment (CSA) which will be completed by a Specialist Social Worker. This will identify any unmet needs and help ascertain what package of support may be needed.

Where it is not possible for your child/young person to access the universal/targeted offer at all because of more complex needs then an individualised support package will be identified following assessment and presented at Resource Allocation Meeting (RAM) for consideration.

Individualised In-house:

An individualised in-house is delivered by our internal short breaks team with support being delivered across term time and school holidays. This could be support within a short break’s venue or in the community with trained staff who will support appropriate transitions.

Direct Payment:

A Direct Payment (DP) is a way of enabling you to purchase a package of support. For example, your child/young person may have been assessed as needing a support worker to engage with them and take them to a community activity of their choosing. You may choose to employ someone yourself, if this is a choice you make you will receive help and guidance from a direct payment support service.

Where a Direct Payment has been agreed to access an activity, this will be for a maximum of one activity per week to provide a Short Break.

Homecare Support:

This might be to support you where it is identified that the Moving & Handling of a child/young person is only safe with 2 people, and there is only one parent/carer available, either on an ongoing basis, or where a parent/carer has become significantly unwell and unable to continue in their caring role.

Where homecare support has been agreed the parent/carer would be the second source of support for the child/young person when needed, unless additional support has been assessed and agreed to meet the needs of the family.

Nursery:

It would be an expectation that families were accessing the government childcare offer up to the age of 5 before additional nursery hours would be considered.

Any additional nursery hours during the school holidays would need to be assessed and agreed. A Nursery allocation would only be agreed up to the age of 6 where appropriate, to support a child’s transition to alternative Short Breaks such as Group Based activities after the age of 5.

Overnight Short Breaks:

Following a Children’s Services Assessment (CSA), it may be identified that that there is a need for overnight short breaks. These could be delivered through a Short Breaks Plus foster carer, or it could be provided Tree Tops, our Short Breaks Home. Where overnight services are provided you will be allocated a Specialist Social Worker to support you with enabling your child/young person to be away from the family home.

Transport:

It would be an expectation that families transport their child/ young person to short breaks. Should families not have access to a vehicle it would be expected that other means of transport are sought including the use of mobility component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA), before alternative transport arrangements are considered.

With parents and carers

We consult with parents / carers on a regular basis through:

child and young person’s review of the service
working closely with the Parents in Participation (PIP Forum)
consulting through outreach events in the three networks in North Lincolnshire

With children and young people

We consult with children and young people using a variety of different communication methods, including:

during any statutory reviews
within their school setting during Short Break activities
during any respite provision

The Short Breaks and Support Services Information statement is available in PDF format below.

Parent & Carer Short Breaks Information Statement [948KB] PDF Young Persons Short Breaks Information Statement [660KB] PDF

The Short Breaks and Support Services Matrix of Need is available in PDF format below.

Short Breaks and Support Services Matrix of need [210KB] PDF

Family Hubs

Family Hubs are welcoming spaces in your local community where families can access a wide range of support services, advice, and activities all under one roof.

From early years support to health services and family activities, our Family Hubs bring together everything families need to thrive in convenient locations across North Lincolnshire.

Our Family Hubs are here for everyone to enjoy. Offering advice, help and sessions to support families within North Lincolnshire.

Our services are free of charge and activities are inclusive to all children, young people and parents/ guardians.

We provide a range of family support and activities from early years activities, family health, parenting, money matters, training, craft activities, messy play, baby yoga and baby massage, sensory play and story times.

Pop in to any of the Family Hubs to find out more.

North Lincolnshire Family Toolkit

This toolkit is intended to support families of children and young people with communication and interaction differences in the home. It will help you to:

Have a better understanding of why your child might do what they do
Identify things to try at home
Help you give information about your child’s strengths and challenges to others.

Families can use the toolkit directly or with support from an involved professional to identify areas they would like help with.

North Lincolnshire Family Toolkit [4.94MB] PDF

Information

Resources

About

Early help

Contact details

Assessments for early help and social care

Useful links

Accessing Support from Children’s Services Single Point of Contact

Family Support Services and One Family Hub – Request for Service

Children’s Social Care

Children Safe in North Lincolnshire

Children's Disability Team

Contact details

Consultation

Accessing the Service

Short Breaks and Support Services for Disabled Children and Young People

Contact details

Stay & Play Sessions – For Disabled Children and Their Families

Under 8's

Saturday Sessions

Individualised In-house:

Direct Payment:

Homecare Support:

Nursery:

Overnight Short Breaks:

Transport:

With parents and carers

With children and young people

Family Hubs

North Lincolnshire Family Toolkit