ContactPoint

ContactPoint will help people working with children to quickly find out who else is supporting the same child. This will make it easier for them to work as a team and will help to make sure a child gets all the support and help they need no matter what problems they face.

ContactPoint will be an online directory of every child in England between the ages of 0-18. It is a key part of the Every Child Matters agenda to improve outcomes for children.

Only basic information will be held on ContactPoint. This will include:

Name, address, gender and date of birth of everyone in England up to their 18th birthday
Name and address of each child’s parents or carers
Contact details for any other services working with a child as a minimum, educational setting (e.g. school) and GP practice, but also other services where appropriate.
A means to indicate whether a practitioner is a lead professional and if they have undertaken an assessment under the common assessment framework.

Those providing a sensitive service (in the fields of sexual health, mental health and substance abuse) will be required to seek informed, explicit consent before recording their contact details on ContactPoint. Where they are recorded, only an indication of an unspecified service would be visible.

Informed, explicit consent will also be required for care leavers or those with learning difficulties to remain on ContactPoint up to age 25, to facilitate the transition to adult services.

There will be no assessment or case information held on ContactPoint.

The information that can be held on ContactPoint is limited by law as provided by Section 12 of the Children Act 2004 and the supporting Regulations.

Who will access ContactPoint?

Authorised staff from social care, health, Connexions, education, youth offending team, police, fire and rescue and some voluntary sector organisations. Decisions regarding who in these organisations can have access to ContactPoint will be made on a role by role basis.

Security

In order for practitioners to be able to access ContactPoint they must receive training in the use of ContactPoint, be the subject of enhanced CRB checks, access ContactPoint by a secure means (token and password).

When will ContactPoint start to be used in Warrington?

Warrington Borough Council will receive their part of ContactPoint data in early 2009. A limited amount of authorised practitioners will have access to the data on ContactPoint between March and October 2009. Other (authorised) practitioners across Warrington's children's workforce will be trained on a rolling basis from approximately October 2009 onwards.

If you have any further questions please write, email or telephone using the contact details below.

Publications and leaflets: