Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Common assessment framework definition

What does Common assessment framework mean? An inter-agency early help assessment and planning process to identify a child’s health, development and welfare needs and coordinate support where there are concerns below the child protection threshold. It is a practice term rather than a statutory definition. In England and Wales it originated as the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) under government guidance; many areas now use the Early Help Assessment (EHA), but CAF remains a recognised descriptor in safeguarding and education practice. Key features include: a single, holistic assessment; parental/young person consent to information sharing unless there is a safeguarding risk; appointment of a lead professional; a multi-agency plan...

Early Help via the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) in England: consent, information sharing, lead professional, multi-agency co-ordination, thresholds for safeguarding referrals, challenges, funding and monitoring

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Practice notes

This Practice Note sets out what the common assessment framework (CAF) is and how it operates, co-ordinating voluntary support for children and their families across multiple services. It explains when a CAF is suitable and when more formal intervention is needed.

What is a Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and when is it used?

A CAF is a shared assessment and planning framework used across all children’s services and in every local area in England. The aims and objectives of the CAF are to:

help practitioners working with children, young people and families to identify and assess additional needs
provide earlier, more effective help to prevent, where possible, formal intervention
develop a common understanding of needs and how to work together to meet them

A core aim is to recognise needs early and arrange multi-agency support to prevent matters reaching crisis point. This is vital given the stretched resources of social care, health care and the court system.

The assessment covers three areas:

development of the child or young person
parents and carers
family and environment...

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Rebecca Davies

Field Court Chambers

Rebecca works across all areas of family law, including child abduction, relocation, matrimonial finance, and public and private children law. Before coming to the bar, Rebecca worked on death-row cases as an intern for the Gulf Region Advocacy Centre in Houston, Texas. She has worked in different jurisdictions, including as an intern in Vietnam, and a judicial marshall in Hong Kong.Rebecca enjoys travelling and watching all forms of sport, and loves to combine the two!...

Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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