Nottinghamshire Common Assessment Framework Handbook

Stage 3: The Audit of the CAF Process
The objective of the audit is to explore how far each stage of the CAF process has been
carried out effectively. When first implementing this quality framework or during the early
stages of implementing the CAF, it is recommended that one in every ten closed CAF
episodes should be audited. The paperwork the Auditors should review in undertaking
this function are: the CAF assessment form; all the CAF delivery plans and review forms
completed during the CAF process; and any feedback forms from the family.
You may be approached by a member of the Nottinghamshire CAF Team to advise you
that a CAF you have completed is being audited. The CAF quality assurance process
respects the confidentiality of the CAF form and associated paperwork. A member of
the CAF team will know the name of any child/young person selected for audit, but will
not pass this information on to anyone else. All identifying information will be removed
before the CAF form and any associated paperwork is reviewed by the CAF Quality
Assurance Group.
The audit process should record:
n the quality of the CAF process records;
n the participation of the child/young person and/or parents/carers in the process
and their satisfaction with the process and services provided; and
n the effectiveness of the actions taken in meeting the aims identified.
The Audit must not be carried out by any person who has had any involvement in the
particular assessment being audited.
Tools: Quality Review Form. In Nottinghamshire we are utilising the nationally developed
checklist (Appendix O).
Stage 4: The Evaluation of the Audit Results
The evaluation process will be conducted by a multi-agency CAF Quality Assurance
Group, which includes CAF Auditors and the local authority CAF lead. A bi-monthly
evaluation meeting will take place to ensure that the lessons learnt are built into
workforce development and service improvement.
Line Managers (and by definition practitioners from all children’s services) are able to
feed their views/concerns into this forum through their representative on the group or via
a member of the CAF team (e.g. difficulties engaging a service, a service does not exist
to meet the needs identified, suggested improvements for training, etc). Additionally any
statistics (e.g. who is undertaking CAFs, who has been trained, who is taking on the lead
professional role, etc.) or surveys will be fed into this meeting by the CAF team.
The CAF Quality Assurance Group will also be provided with the scores from the audited
CAFs identified by service areas. If any scores fall below a pre-determined figure, set by
the CAF Quality Assurance Group, the reasons should be investigated by the CAF Quality
Assurance Group and corrective action agreed, implemented and reviewed.
The CAF Quality Assurance Group will decide on appropriate action to take in the
case of persistent poor quality of assessment completions and limited improvement in
outcomes for the child or young person concerned. Additionally, where a cross authority
CAF has been audited and has been identified as either poor quality and/or with limited
outcomes, the two authorities should consider how more effective cross authority working
can be achieved.
Stage 5: Feedback & Workforce Development Recommendations
Stage 5: Feedback & Workforce Development Recommendations
The CAF Quality Assurance Group should feed back the results of the evaluation process
to the local authority’s Early Intervention Working Group.
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