Core groups

The Core Group are those who have direct and on-going involvement with the child and/or family. They are responsible for implementing, monitoring and reviewing the Child Protection Plan, in partnership with children and parents.

Core groups are important forums for working and supporting children, families and wider family networks.  Where there are conflicts between family members and the work of the core group the child’s best interests must always take precedence.

When a child is subject to a child protection plan a qualified social worker must be appointed as the lead professional. The lead professional has responsibility for coordinating the child protection plan.

Membership of the Core Group will be provisionally agreed at the CPPM. The first core group should be arranged within 15 days of the CPPM, thereafter core groups should be every four weeks.

Who is responsible for convening and chairing the Core Group?

Social work services are responsibility for convening and chairing the meeting. The meeting will be chaired by the senior social worker.

Invites and timescales

The first core group will be arranged at the end of the CPPM and held within 15 days of the CPPM. Invites to the core group should be sent electronically where partners have secure email addresses.

The CPPM will determine the membership of the core group and should include only those professionals who will be working directly with the child and their parents/carers.

Consideration should be given to inviting the following –

• The child
• Parents, carers and family members including all those with parental responsibility
• Support person or advocate for the child and/or family
• Social worker and other social work practitioners essential to the formation of the plan
• Police should continue to be involved if there is continuing police involvement in the case
• Foster Carers – carers may require to be supported to attend
• Early learning and child care staff or most appropriate education professional
• Primary and acute health professionals, or child and adolescent mental health services if appropriate
• Adult mental health services/addiction services where appropriate
• Third sector organisations supporting children and families
• Housing/support workers
• Representative of the Armed Forces, in cases where there is a service connection

After the initial core group meetings should be held 4 weekly. However, if the level of risk is assessed as requiring more regular meetings these should take place to ensure robust oversight of the child protection plan.

Members of the core group have joint responsibility for:

• collecting, analysing information to inform the assessment of need and risk
• the formulation and implementation of the detailed child protection plan, specifying who should do what, by when
• implementing the child protection plan and agreeing what resources will be required to ensure the effectiveness of the plan 
• ensuring progress against specified outcomes for the child as identified in the child protection plan
• making recommendations to subsequent CPPM’s about future protection plans in line with the child's needs
• attending core group meetings and reviewing progress to ensure that there is no drift in achieving the aims of the Child Protection Plan
• coordinating the contacts and the frequency of visits specified in the child protection plan
• ongoing analysis of the risk of harm to the child and information shared with all core group members
• core group members are responsible for keeping a record of the outcome of the meeting within their own agency recording systems
• core group members have responsibility individually and collectively to identify any escalating concerns and put in place contingency plans when required. Core group Chair must convey any significant changes to the CPPM Chair immediately or at the latest within 3 calendar days for next steps to be agreed

Core group members are responsible for reviewing the progress of the outcomes set out in the child protection plan and consider whether any changes need to be made to the plan. Members need to ensure that contingency plans are in place should there be concern about the child’s safety or wellbeing.

Participants of the Core Group need to contribute to the assessment and analysis of risk and make a recommendation to the CPPM on the need for the Child’s name to remain or be removed from the Child Protection register. Where there is no consensus the Core Group chair will bring this to the attention of the chair of the CPPM.

The child protection plan should be updated after each core group to reflect changes in the child’s circumstances. 

Reports from the core group for the CPPM

An updated child’s plan will be complied for the review CPPM meeting which will include up to date information provided by the core group. The review report will be completed by the lead professional. 

Core Group Record

A record of the core group will be completed after each meeting with a record of key decisions and an updated child protection plan. This will also provide a recommendation to the review CPPM regarding whether a further period of child protection registration may be required.