ContactPoint
ContactPoint is a contacts list for practitioners (these are GPs, school teachers, nurses to name a few) who work with children and young people. It will provide them with a quick way to find out who else is working with the same child or young person, making it easier for them to work as a team and deliver more coordinated support.
This basic online directory will be available to authorised staff who will need it to do their jobs. It is a key part of the Every Child Matters programme and the Children’s Plan, to improve the health, well-being and safety of all children.
Why do we need ContactPoint?
The purpose of ContactPoint is to help improve services to children and young people with a strong emphasis on early intervention and prevention. Currently, practitioners can spend days trying to find out who else is working with the same child and therefore can unknowingly duplicate work that is already being carried out by another service. Better information sharing is a key change needed to minimise risk to children.
Lord Laming, who led the 2003 inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié has said "… I believe ContactPoint will be an important tool in supporting this practice, helping practitioners to know who else is working with a particular child, and therefore contributing to the number of measures that we need to support children's services in making sure children in England are safe and well."
ContactPoint has been designed to support the processes followed by those who work with children and supports Section 10 and 11 of the Children Act 2004 that is the duty to co-operate with each other to improve well-being, and the duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in England.
ContactPoint is also a legislative requirement of the Children Act 2004. The project is led nationally by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Working closely with organisations across the borough, the London Borough of Lambeth is one of 150 local authorities in England implementing ContactPoint locally.
What will the benefits be?
Local authority trailblazers have been piloting local directories (known as indexes). They demonstrated that this type of tool produces some key benefits:
- Improved service experience for children, young people and families through more coordinated service delivery,
- More timely response to their needs and reduced number of unnecessary repeat assessments and referrals,
- Faster and more effective intervention before problems become serious because practitioners can build a fuller picture of children and young people’s needs,
- Less unproductive time spent by practitioners trying to find out which other services are involved with a child and then trying to contact the right person.
An essential requirement identified in the early stages of development was that ContactPoint must be a national system. This will ensure that it works for children who will receive services across, or move between, local authority boundaries.
What information will be held on ContactPoint?
ContactPoint will only hold the following basic information of all children in England up to the age of 18:
- name
- address
- gender
- date of birth
- identifying number.
It will also have name and contact details for:
- parents or carers
- educational setting (e.g. school)
- primary medical practitioner (e.g. GP practice)
- other services working with the child.
It will have the facility to indicate if a practitioner is the lead professional for a child or, if they have completed an assessment under the Common Assessment Framework.
"ContactPoint has the added benefit of being a system which enables information sharing to be managed in a way which does not generate additional workload or bureaucracy for the workforce" said Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT.
Explicit consent will be required to record contact details for sensitive services (defined as sexual health, mental health and substance abuse). Where these practitioner contact details are recorded, only an indication of an unspecified service would be visible to the majority of users.
Will ContactPoint have medical histories, and other information such as exam results?
ContactPoint cannot hold any case information. It will not contain any information such as case notes or details of any assessments, medical data or exam results. It will not hold subjective observations about a child or their family.
Section 12 of the Children Act 2004 and the supporting Regulations specifically prohibit the inclusion of any case information. ContactPoint can only hold the information specified in the Regulations.
How will it be updated?
Wherever possible, ContactPoint will be automatically updated from existing systems, so that practitioners will not need to enter the same information twice.
Who will have access?
Access to ContactPoint will be restricted to authorised users who need it as part of their work. This will include those working in education, health, social care, youth justice and some voluntary organisations.
Before they are granted access, all users will have completed mandatory ContactPoint training and other relevant training (such as information sharing). They must have security clearance, including enhanced Criminal Records Bureau disclosure, and will need a username, a PIN, a personal security token and a password.
Every access will be detailed in the audit trail, which will be reviewed regularly. Authorised users will be able to access ContactPoint through their case management systems, through a secure web link or through another authorised user. It will not be possible for any user to access a case management system held by another agency.
How will it be secure?
The security of ContactPoint is of paramount importance. Every organisation that connects to the scheme will run regular reports on all usage and will run special reports to determine if there has been any unusual activity. There will also be a full audit log of all users and searches. Auditing of the system, organisations, and users will continue during operation and be carried out on a regular basis.
Before professionals can use ContactPoint they must:
- Be trained to make sure they know how to use it properly and securely.
- Have passed strict security checks,
- Have their own user name, password, PIN and security token.
What is the legislative basis?
The Regulations, which came into force on 1 August 2007, provide the legal framework for ContactPoint under section 12 of the Children Act 2004.
Please view section 12 - Information Databases section of the Children Act 2004 Webpage or view the ECM ContactPoint Legislation Webpage, for more information on ContactPoint legislation.
When will ContactPoint be available?
ContactPoint will be made available to a managed number of practitioners in the Early Adopter areas in the North West of England in Spring/Summer 2009. Lambeth practitioners are expected to have access in 2010.
If you want more information about the ContactPoint project in Lambeth, please e-mail Contactpoint@lambeth.gov.uk or call 0207 926 0101.
ContactPoint includes the facility to hide or 'shield' certain data fields on the child records from other users of ContactPoint when criteria specified in this policy are met.