New MASH Portal

We wish to share an important update with you about the future of child safeguarding referrals to the MASH in Oxfordshire. From midday on 31st May 2024, the current online MASH referral form will be replaced with a new portal for safeguarding referrals. The portal will require professionals to create an account before being able to submit a referral. You will only need to create an account the first time you use this system, and then you will use the same log in credentials each time you need to make a child safeguarding referral. 

The portal referral will appear slightly different to the one you currently use; however, this enables us to match the information you provide to our systems more efficiently and should therefore improve our ability to respond to referrals more quickly. It is important you complete all sections as thoroughly as possible, so we do not have missing information about children and their families.

To make finding the portal as easy as possible, the link will be held in the same place as the current referral. Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) | Oxfordshire County Council

Please ensure you continue to use the Strength and Needs assessment to help identify how you and other community partners can support a child and their family’s needs and to evidence where this has not been successful and requires a child safeguarding referral to MASH. 

Currently, the MASH does not act on over half of referrals made. We would therefore like to take this opportunity to remind our partner agencies that referrals for children to MASH should only be made when there is evidence that a child’s welfare and development could be impaired without the provision of services by the Local Authority, and early help by you and other community partners has not been successful in achieving sustained change with the family. The Threshold of Need provides helpful guidance to professionals in determining threshold based on evidence available. 

If you require support with referrals or providing early help to the families you work with, please contact your local LCSS worker.Early Help and the Locality Community Support Service (LCSS) | Oxfordshire County Council

This communication will be sent across a variety of forums and networks to inform key agencies of the new portal. Please use your internal meetings and networks to cascade the portal change to all professionals across Oxfordshire. 

Scott Smith – Front Door Service Manager 

Delia Mann – Assistant Director – Early Help, Schools and Communities