MASH early help referral for attendance issues - what do they actually do ?

[Theconceptofluck]

If you work in this area or have received help what does ‘early help’ actually do when there are attendance difficulties? Nobody can give me a clear answer !

If I remember, I will let you know on Tuesday when I am meeting the Early Help worker to find out.

Thankyou I’m just confused as nobody has been able to give me a clear answer ! So I don’t know if it’s worth it or not as I don’t think they will be able to do much to help

In some places they have taken the place of Education Welfare Officers so they will just do what they used to do. They'll look at the reasons for the poor attendance of your child, and work with you, them and the school to try to find a solution.

In our LA there are separate attendance officers as we’ve been told it’s a referral to both but that early help is optional and when I asked ‘what do they do / can they do’ I haven’t had an answer other than ‘we think it’s a good idea and recommended it’ but no other information and I don’t want a load of pointless meetings and intrusion for nothing

@Theconceptofluck In our LA there are separate attendance officers as we’ve been told it’s a referral to both but that early help is optional and when I asked ‘what do they do / can they do’ I haven’t had an answer other than ‘we think it’s a good idea and recommended it’ but no other information and I don’t want a load of pointless meetings and intrusion for nothing.

Have you looked on your LA website? There may be a description of what your MASH team does,

If your child has Sen more than likely run a mile.

In our area then early help workers can completely tailor their input to each family which is why you might be struggling to get a clear answer. When the mash worker rings you, they can talk to you about what an effective plan would look like from your perspective and also who would be the best person to lead the plan as for some families, they're better run by a professional already involved, and also explore if you want a plan at all.

What Early Help does depends on the situation. They coordinate a number of targeted services (Education Welfare, CAMHS Getting Help teams, yp drug and substance misuse, parenting courses etc). With the aim of providing help early so the problem doesn't escalate.

For attendance issues, you might meet with an Education Welfare Officer, who will work with you to define the barriers to non/low attendance and take it from there. Low attendance can be for a number of reasons - family dynamics i.e. young carers, SEND inc anxiety/mental health, ineffective parenting. What happens next depends on the reason. In my LA they're pretty good and genuinely want to help.

I did and cant find anything specific about attendance except to make a referral as part of ‘phase 2’ but no other information about what they can do

They may try to support if there are any barriers to attendance (not suggesting there are with you, just in general). Barriers can vary massively including health, SEN through to transport, uniform etc.