The short version
There are three broad levels of help for a child in England, and the threshold for each is set by law and by your local safeguarding partners:
- Universal services and community-based early help. Support from everyday services, including schools, with no statutory threshold.
- Family Help. Targeted early help for families with multiple or complex needs, and statutory child in need support under section 17 of the Children Act 1989.
- Child protection. Enquiries under section 47 of the Children Act 1989 when there is reasonable cause to suspect a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm.
The exact criteria for each level are in your local safeguarding partners’ threshold document. Working Together 2026 says they should publish one that is “transparent, evidence-based, accessible, and easily understood” (paragraph 125).
What changed in 2026
Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 replaced the 2023 edition. It brings targeted early help and child in need support together under the name Family Help, with a lead practitioner for each family who can stay with them if the child is later assessed as a child in need (paragraphs 122, 123 and 138). Keeping children safe in education 2026 uses the same terms. The legal tests in sections 17 and 47 have not changed.
Early help
Universal services and community-based early help is support for children of any age that “improves a family’s resilience and outcomes or reduces the chance of a problem getting worse” (Working Together 2026, paragraph 126). Schools are one of the universal services that provide it.
Targeted early help, delivered through Family Help, is for children and families with multiple or complex needs where statutory intervention isn’t needed. It is voluntary and needs the family’s consent (paragraphs 134 and 135). If a family says no, practitioners should try to understand why. If there is a concern about significant harm, a referral to children’s social care should be made straight away (paragraph 146).
Child in need: section 17
Section 17(10) of the Children Act 1989 says a child is in need if:
- they are unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development without local authority services,
- their health or development is likely to be significantly impaired, or further impaired, without those services, or
- they are disabled.
The local authority has a general duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need in its area by providing services (section 17(1)). Child in need support is part of Family Help, which Working Together 2026 describes as voluntary and needing the family’s consent (paragraph 135). The lead practitioner can be a social worker or someone else with the right skills, such as a practitioner who already worked with the family at the targeted early help stage (paragraphs 138 and 171).
Child protection: section 47
Under section 47(1), where a local authority has “reasonable cause to suspect that a child who lives, or is found, in their area is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm”, it must make the enquiries it needs to decide whether to act. Working Together 2026 calls significant harm “the threshold for child protection enquiries” (paragraph 242). It covers abuse, neglect and exploitation, inside or outside the home and online.
The main steps after a referral are:
- Decision within one working day. Children’s social care should acknowledge the referral and decide what happens next (paragraph 167; KCSIE 2026, paragraph 70).
- Strategy discussion. Children’s social care, the police and health, plus others such as the child’s school, share information and plan (Working Together 2026, chapter 3, section 4).
- Section 47 enquiries and assessment. The assessment should conclude within 45 working days of the referral (paragraph 169).
- Initial child protection conference. If concerns are substantiated, this should take place within 15 working days of the strategy discussion. It decides whether the child needs a child protection plan.
- Core group and reviews. The core group should meet within 10 working days of the conference. The first review is within three months, then at least every six months while the plan is in place.
When a child becomes the subject of a child protection plan, the lead practitioner should always be a social worker (paragraph 172).
The school’s role at each level
KCSIE 2026 sets out what school staff do (paragraphs 57 to 73):
- Any concern: act on it straight away, follow your child protection policy and speak to the DSL or a deputy. Don’t assume someone else will share it.
- Early help: the DSL usually leads the school’s part, working with other agencies. Staff may support the assessment or act as lead practitioner. The DSL should keep the case under review and consider a referral to children’s social care if things aren’t improving or are getting worse (paragraph 64).
- Child in need: support the assessment, share information and take part in the plan and its reviews.
- Child protection: where a child is suffering or likely to suffer harm, refer to children’s social care, and the police if appropriate, straight away, using the local referral process (paragraph 65). Then support the assessment, contribute to the strategy discussion and conference when asked, and play your part in the core group.
If, after a referral, the child’s situation doesn’t seem to be improving, the referrer should follow the local escalation procedures (KCSIE 2026, paragraph 73).
At every level, KCSIE expects all concerns, discussions and decisions, and the reasons for them, to be recorded in writing (paragraph 74).