If you think a child or an adult with care and support needs is in immediate danger, phone 999.
Making a Referral – Members of the Public
If you are concerned about a child or an adult at risk, you can call the relevant Services on:
CHILDREN SERVICES
Cambridgeshire County Council: 0345 045 5203 or complete a referral online Report abuse of a child – Cambridgeshire County Council
Peterborough City Council: 0345 045 5203 or complete a referral online Report abuse of a child – Peterborough City Council
Emergency Duty Team (Out of Hours) 01733 234724.
Adult Services
Cambridgeshire County Council: 0345 045 5202 or complete a referral online: Report concerns about an Adult at Risk – Cambridgeshire County Council
Peterborough City Council: 01733 747474
Emergency Duty Team (Out of Hours) 01733 234724.
Making a Referral – Professionals
If you have a concern about a child or an adult and wish to make a safeguarding referral, you will need to use the relevant online Safeguarding Referral Form (child or adult).
When making a referral it is important that:
- All basic details are completed on the referral form (correct names and spellings, family members, date of birth, addresses, ethnicity, first language, disabilities etc). You will not be able to move forward to the next section of a form until all the mandatory fields are completed and you will not be able to save an incomplete form and complete it later.
- Consent should always be sought from the family before passing information about them to Social Care, unless seeking consent would place them at increased risk of immediate and significant harm or may lead to the loss of evidence for example destroying evidence of a crime or influencing about a disclosure made. If someone is at immediate risk of significant harm, a referral to Social Care should not be delayed whilst consent is sought.
- The referral must clearly identify the concerns and the impact on the child/adult at risk as well as what support has been provided previously to help address these concerns and what strengths/resilience is within the family.
- Referrals should set out what the referrer wants to see happen as a result of the referral, and should include the views of the family and, where appropriate, the child or young person.
- The more information that is provided, the easier it is for the MASH to make a decision about the best course of action to take.
How to make an online referral
Professionals should use the new online referral form to submit safeguarding concerns to Children’s Services. This is a much more secure and efficient way of submitting a referral and will also give you a reference number on submission. The online form should be used instead of Word or PDF versions of the form.
CHILDREN SERVICES
Cambridgeshire County Council: Professional reporting of child abuse – Cambridgeshire County Council
Peterborough City Council: Professional reporting of child abuse – Peterborough City Council
Adult Services
Cambridgeshire County Council: Practitioner reporting of concerns about an Adult at Risk – Cambridgeshire county Council
Please note: the online form will timeout after 60 minutes from starting the referral. You are unable to save the form and return at a later time so it is recommended to have all relevant information ready before commencing. Any information that is entered into the online form will not be shared until after you have clicked on the submit button at the end. Prior to submitting the form you have the option to download or print a copy of the referral form. If you wish to retain a copy of the form, please ensure that you download and save or print the form prior to submitting it. The option to download / print will not be available to you once you have submitted it. Following submission you will be provided with an online form reference number.
If you are unable to use the online referral form for Adults, please complete the old paper referral form and email to referral.centre-adults@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
Peterborough City Council: Please complete the referral form and email to adultsocialcare@peterborough.gov.uk
Thresholds of need
Before submitting the online form, please refer to the Effective Support Document webpage – this provides the relevant part of the Thresholds and Pathways guidance that helps you to identify the child’s level of risk and an appropriate level of support.
Once you are sure that a referral is appropriate, you can complete the online referral form.
Saving a copy
If you wish to save a PDF copy of the form you must do it by clicking the button on the acknowledgement page. Once you leave the acknowledgement page you will not be able to return to it to print a copy of your form.
Assessment Tools
Below are links to some of the assessment tools in order to make a professional judgement about the level of risk to the child or young person.
Self-Neglect & Hoarding
If you are concerned an adult is at significant risk of harm due to self-neglect or hoarding you can use the following risk assessments with a safeguarding adults referral
For more information on Self-Neglect and Hoarding visit
Prevent & Radicalisation
If you have a concern that a child or young person is at risk of illegal extremist activity you should still complete the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Safeguarding Children Referral Form. The form will ask you to identify this concern as “Prevent (Violent Extremism)”
Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) Referrals
If you have concerns about an adult working with a child under the age of 18 that you would like to report, please access the LADO page for more information
