If you think a child or an adult with care and support needs is in immediate danger, phone 999.

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.

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.

Children Services

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.

Adult Services

If you are unable to use the online referral form for Adults, please complete the old paper Referral form for Safeguarding Adults and email to referral.centre-adults@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Peterborough City Council:

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.

Graded Care Profile Tool

3.39 MB 148 Downloads

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

For more information