This chapter sets out when a local authority will be required to undertake a child in need assessment under section 17 of the Children Act 1989.

5.1 Timeframe

The local authority must decide within one working day of receiving a referral whether it is necessary to proceed with a statutory assessment of need.

The statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children states:

153. Within one working day of a referral being received, local authority children’s social care should acknowledge receipt to the referrer and a social work qualified practice supervisor or manager should decide next steps and the type of response required. This will include determining whether:

• the child requires immediate protection and urgent action is required

• the child is in need and should be assessed under section 17 of the Children Act 1989

• there is reasonable cause to suspect that the child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm, and whether enquiries must be made, and the child assessed under section 47 of the Children Act 1989

• any immediate services are required urgently by the child and family and what type of services

• further specialist assessments are required to help the local authority to decide what further action to take

• to see the child as soon as possible if the decision is taken that the referral requires further assessment

5.2 Threshold to undertake a needs assessment

When it appears that there is a child in need in its area, the local authority must undertake an assessment under section 17 of the Children Act. (See: R (G) v Barnet LBC [2003] 3 WLR 1194.)

The threshold for undertaking a child in need assessment is low and will usually be met when a family does not appear to have adequate accommodation or has insufficient income to meet the child’s basic needs because of the parent’s inability to access benefits, or, in some cases, employment. When the threshold is met, a child in need assessment must be undertaken. (See: R (AM) v London Borough of Havering and London Borough of Tower Hamlets [2015] EWHC 1004.)

Section 17(1)(a) of the Children Act specifies that:

It shall be the general duty of every local authority… to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need.

Schedule 2 states that:

1(1) Every local authority shall take reasonable steps to identify the extent to which there are children in need within their area.
…
3 Where it appears to a local authority that a child within their area is in need, the authority may assess his needs for the purposes of this Act at the same time as any assessment of his needs…

The definition of a ‘child in need’ is set out at section 6.1 of this guidance.

Families with no recourse to public funds often approach children’s social care for assistance when they are already, or are about to become, homeless. However, the assessment threshold can also be met in other circumstances.

For example, an assessment will be required when a child:

• Is homeless or about to become homeless
• Is living in accommodation that is unsuitable for the child due to overcrowding or disrepair, or gives rise to safeguarding risks
• Has adequate accommodation but the parent has insufficient income to meet their basic needs, such as food, heating and clothing
• Has experienced a lengthy period of instability involving frequent moves between accommodation or areas that may have affected their development
• Is disabled

5.3 Which authority is responsible for assessing need?

Generally, the local authority in which the child is physically present will be responsible for undertaking the child in need assessment. This is usually where the child is living but could be where they are attending school.

In a case involving a family that was found to be intentionally homeless and was subsequently referred to children’s social care for section 17 support, the court found that the duty to assess under section 17(1)(a) is triggered by the physical presence of a child in need in the local authority’s area. (See: R (Stewart) v London Borough of Wandsworth & Ors [2001] EWHC 709)

When a child has been present in a local authority’s area for a short time in comparison to the area where they had previously resided, their current local authority will have a duty to undertake an assessment if the child appears to be in need.

In R (BC) v Birmingham City Council [2016] EWHC 3156, a mother with no recourse to public funds and her son had been living with the mother’s partner in the London Borough of Bromley. The relationship broke down in early July 2016 and the mother moved in with her cousin in Birmingham. Her son stayed with a friend in London until October, when he joined his mother in Birmingham. A few days later, the family requested assistance from Birmingham City Council.

Birmingham City Council did not initially undertake a child in need assessment, instead offering the family transport back to London, asserting that Bromley was responsible because the family were originally living in that area. The Court found that, as the child had been living in Birmingham, the child’s physical presence was sufficient to establish that it fell to Birmingham City Council to assess the child’s needs under section 17, and the authority had acted unlawfully by asserting that the family’s claim for support should be made to the London Borough of Bromley. The Court noted that, although a local authority would be responsible for assessing need that arose whilst the child was living in its area, this does not mean that a second local authority would have no responsibility should the family move into its area.

More than one local authority can have a duty to undertake a child in need assessment and, in such cases, must co-operate in order to exercise their duties in relation to support for children and families in order to comply with section 27 of the Children Act 1989 and section 10 of the Children Act 2004.

In R (Stewart) v London Borough of Wandsworth, the child was attending school in a different local authority area to where they were living. The Court found that the duty to undertake an assessment was found to apply to both local authorities. In such circumstances, the Court suggested that it would not be necessary for both to assess need, although potentially the costs of meeting the child’s needs could be shared:

…in a case where more than one authority is under a duty to assess the needs of the child, there is clearly no reason for more than one authority to in fact assess a child’s needs and there is a manifest case for co-operation under section 27 of the Children Act and a sharing of burden by the authorities. (Paragraph 28.)

It is advisable to consult with the local authority’s legal department if there is uncertainty regarding responsibility for meeting a child’s needs under section 17. However, when responsibility for undertaking an assessment or providing services is being disputed by two local authorities, a child’s needs should be met first and a redistribution of resources should, if necessary, take place afterwards. (See: R (M) v LB Barking & Dagenham & Westminster City Council [2002] EWHC 2663 & R (AM) v London Borough of Havering [2015] EWHC 1004)

5.4 Reassessing need

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of a child in need remains an ongoing duty and a family’s circumstances may change after an initial needs assessment has been concluded. When there is a change of circumstances or new information is made available after a family has been refused support under section 17 following a child in need assessment, the local authority may need to review the child in need assessment rather than relying on the decision that was made when the family originally presented.

‘Working together to safeguard children’, at paragraph 162, that the assessment must be:

..a dynamic process, not an event, analysing and responding to the changing nature and level of need and/or risk faced by the child from within and outside their family.

When a local authority is made aware of new information after the initial needs assessment has been concluded, or further material information comes to light which suggests that a child may be in need, the local authority must make inquiries in order to decide whether a reassessment is required. (See: R (U & U) v Milton Keynes Council [2017] EWHC 3050, paragraphs 27 & 38.)

When a reassessment is carried out, the local authority must consider all new relevant information. A reassessment does not need to be an entirely new document but must be a fresh assessment taking into account the totality of the evidence. (See: R (AA) v The London Borough of Southwark [2020] EWHC 2487 (Admin).)