Lead Professional

The Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme is working to ensure that children and young people who have additional needs achieve better outcomes and have a better experience of services through the provision of integrated support.

The lead professional is a key element of integrated support.

They take the lead to coordinate provision and act as a single point of contact for a child and their family when a range of services are involved and an integrated response is required.

Appointing a lead professional is central to the effective frontline delivery of services for children with a range of additional needs. When the role is delivered in the context of multi-agency assessment and planning, underpinned by the Common Assessment Framework or relevant specialist assessments, it ensures that professional involvement is rationalised, coordinated and achieves the intended outcomes.