2.1 Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements
Our Vision:
“Every child and young person in Sefton should be able to grow up free from fear of abuse or neglect. We are committed to improving the safety of all children and young people in Sefton. If children are not safe, they cannot be healthy, happy, achieve or reach their full potential. We recognise and strongly promote that keeping children safe is everybody’s responsibility.”
Sefton safeguarding partners are extremely committed to working together to ensure we safeguard children and young people and that our work with families helps to improve children’s life outcomes.
There is a shared responsibility between organisations and agencies to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in a local area. As set out in chapter 2, Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023, many local organisations and agencies have a duty under section 11 of the Children Act 2004 to ensure that they consider the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children when carrying out their functions. The responsibility for this join-up locally rests with the three safeguarding partners who have a shared and equal duty to work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in a local area.
Safeguarding Partners
A safeguarding partner in relation to a local authority area in England is defined under the Children Act 2004 (as amended by the Children and Social Work Act, 2017) as:
(a) the local authority
(b) An Integrated Care Board (ICB) for an area any part of which falls within the local authority area
(c) the chief officer of police for an area any part of which falls within the local authority area
Sefton Council Chief Executive, Chief Officer for Merseyside Police and Director of Integrated Care Board (ICB) for NHS Cheshire & Merseyside are committed to ensuring that agencies continue to work effectively together at a strategic leadership level.
The key players responsible for ensuring that agencies continue to work effectively together at a strategic leadership level is delegated to:
- Director of Children’s Services - Sefton Council
- Associate Director from Sefton’s Integrated Care Board (ICB)
- Superintendent for Merseyside Police Force, responsible for Sefton.
The purpose of these local arrangements is to support and enable local organisations and agencies to work together in a system where:
- children are safeguarded and their welfare promoted
- partner organisations and agencies collaborate, share and co-own the vision for how to achieve improved outcomes for vulnerable children
- organisations and agencies challenge appropriately and hold one another to account effectively
- there is early identification and analysis of new safeguarding issues and emerging threats
- learning is promoted and embedded in a way that local services for children and families can become more reflective and implement changes to practice
- information is shared effectively to facilitate more accurate and timely decision making for children and families
In order to work together effectively, the safeguarding partners with other local organisations and agencies will continue to develop processes that:
- facilitate and drive action beyond usual institutional and agency constraints and boundaries
- ensure the effective protection of children is founded on practitioners developing lasting and trusting relationships with children and their families
To be effective, these arrangements should link to other strategic partnership work happening locally to support children and families. This will include other public boards including Health and Wellbeing Boards, Adults Safeguarding Boards, Channel Panels, Improvement Boards, Community Safety Partnerships, the Local Family Justice Board and MAPPAs.
For more information see Sefton's published Sefton SCP Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements (MASA)