A young girl has her arms outstretched, she is looking upwards and smiling.

Report a concern about a child or young person

If you are worried that a child or young person is at risk of harm or is a child in need, you should contact the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) in York.

The MASH is a multi agency team including Social Care, Police, Education, Probation, Health and Targeted Early Help professionals. It acts as the single point of contact for safeguarding concerns that meet the threshold for statutory intervention and ensures that children at risk receive a timely and proportionate response.

Most children and families will have needs that can and should be met through universal services and Early Help support.

Professionals should:

  • Work with the family to identify needs early and provide support within their own service
  • Follow the City of York Continuum of Need and Threshold Guidance to determine the appropriate level of intervention
  • Use Early Help assessment tool and planning tools to coordinate support
  • Seek advice from their designated safeguarding lead where needed

MASH should be contacted when:

  • There is reasonable cause to suspect significant harm, or
  • The child’s needs have escalated beyond what Early Help and universal services can safely meet

Submitting referrals that do not meet threshold can delay responses to children who are at greatest risk.

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If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 999.

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Where the threshold for statutory intervention is met, professionals should complete the MASH referral form and email it to: [email protected].

Referrals must include:

  • Clear evidence of risk and concerns
  • Details of what support has already been provided
  • Outlines your best hopes for interventions from Children’s Services
  • Copies of any Early Help Assessments, plans and reviews
  • Confirmation of consent, or a clear rationale where consent has not been obtained

Your safeguarding responsibility does not end once a referral is made. You should continue to support the child and family and remain involved as appropriate.

If your concerns require an immediate response, MASH can be contacted on 01904 551900 during office hours. Out of hours Emergency Duty can be contacted on 0300 131 2131.

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Before contacting MASH, practitioners are expected to use partnership guidance and tools to support decision-making, including:

These resources are designed to ensure children and families receive the right help, at the right time, from the right service.

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Early Help is a shared responsibility across all services — it is not a single service.

All partners who work with families, including schools, health visitors, General Practitioners, education, early years, Police, voluntary sector and community organisations, are expected to:

  • Work collaboratively with families
  • Take ownership of meeting needs at the earliest opportunity
  • Coordinate support without unnecessary escalation

Strong Early Help practice reduces the need for statutory intervention and leads to better outcomes for children and families.

If you have completed an early help assessment and submitting a referral to MASH, please include your completed early help assessment and family plan within your email referral to MASH.

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In York, practitioners are expected to work with families, not do to them. This means engaging children, young people and their families early, being open and transparent, and seeking informed consent wherever possible.

Consent means the family:

  • Understands what support is being offered
  • Knows what information will be shared, with whom, and why
  • Agrees to the involvement of other services

A refusal to engage or to give consent is not, on its own, a reason to escalate concerns to MASH. Practitioners should continue to work with the family and use professional judgement to understand and address any barriers to engagement.

There are situations where consent is not required. These include where:

  • Seeking consent would place a child or others at increased risk of harm
  • It could undermine the investigation of a serious crime
  • A delay in gaining consent would increase risk to the child

Where practitioners share information without consent, they must:

  • Clearly record the reasons for doing so
  • Follow safeguarding procedures and relevant guidance
  • Inform the family that information has been shared and explain why, unless doing so would increase risk

This includes working in line with specific safeguarding protocols, such as those relating to exploitation, fabricated or induced illness (FII), and unborn or non mobile babies.

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  • telephone: 01904 551900
  • email: [email protected]
  • address:
    MASH, West Offices, Station Rise, York, YO1 6GA

Out of hours: Emergency Duty Team – 0300 131 2131.

Members of the public can also contact MASH if they are worried about a child.

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The information you provide is shared to the MASH.

MASH is a multi-agency team made up of representatives from a range of services, including:

  • Social Care
  • Targeted Early Help
  • Education
  • Police
  • Health Professionals
  • Youth Justice Service
  • Any other relevant agencies involved in the child’s life

Following contacting them, the MASH team come together to review and share information sent to them, using Signs of Safety approach. They use their professional judgement and continuum of need, to make a decision within 1 working day of the best next steps for a child and their family. This partnership approach will make it easier to get children, young people and families to get the right level of support as quickly as possible.

In order for MASH to efficiently make decision, you must ensure that all relevant information, including parental consent or clear reasons why this has not been obtained, is provided to ensure that the referral can be progressed as effectively as possible.

You'll be notified via email of the outcome of your referral via a MASH providing a rationale for decision making.

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