Safeguarding audits

Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 places duties on a range of organisations and individuals to ensure their functions, any services they deliver, and any services that they contract out to others, are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. 

It is a key responsibility of LSCP’s to seek assurance from partner organisations on this. The IOWSCP conducts this through a self-assessment audit aligned with the safeguarding standards outlined in Section 11 of the Children Act 2004. The audit process supports agencies to:
 

• scrutinise and reflect on their safeguarding governance, processes, and practice, and to identify how arrangements could be strengthened.
• highlight areas of good practice where positive outcomes for children can be evidenced.
• provide a feedback mechanism to the safeguarding children partnerships on progress against areas for improvement, including any barriers to partnership working.

 

The audit process reflects a two-year cycle of self-assessment (year 1) followed by monitoring and tracking of action plans (year 2).

Which organisations does this effect?

Section 11 places a duty on:

• Local authorities and district councils that provide children’s and other types of services, including children’s services and adult social care, public health, housing, sport, culture and leisure services, licensing authorities and youth services;
• NHS organisations, including the NHS England, Integrated Care Boards, NHS Trusts and NHS Foundation Trusts; and general practitioners
• The police, including Police and Crime Commissioners and the chief officer of each police force in England and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime where they exist;
• The British Transport Police;
• The Probation Service;
• Governors/Directors of Prisons and Young Offender Institutions;
• Directors of Secure Training Centres; and
• Youth Offending Teams/Services

What should these organisations have in place?

• a clear line of accountability for the commissioning and/or provision of services designed to safeguard and promote the welfare of children
• a senior board level lead with the required knowledge, skills, and expertise or sufficiently qualified and experienced to take leadership responsibility for the organisations or agency’s safeguarding arrangements
• a culture of listening to children and taking account of their wishes and feelings, both in individual decisions and the development of services
• Section 11 of the Children Act 2004
• clear whistleblowing procedures, which reflect the principles in Sir Robert Francis’ ‘Freedom to Speak Up Review’ and are suitably referenced in staff training and codes of conduct, and a culture that enables issues about safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children to be addressed
• clear escalation policies for staff to follow when their child safeguarding concerns are not being addressed within their organisation or by other agencies arrangements which set out clearly the processes for sharing information, with other practitioners and with safeguarding partners
• a designated practitioner (or, for health provider organisations/agencies, named practitioners). Please see Health Practitioners with Specific Duties for more detail) for child safeguarding. Their role is to support other practitioners in their organisations and agencies to recognise the needs of children, including protection from possible abuse or neglect. Designated practitioner roles should always be explicitly defined in job descriptions. Practitioners should be given sufficient time, funding, supervision, and support to fulfil their child welfare and safeguarding responsibilities effectively
• safe recruitment practices and ongoing safe working practices for individuals whom the organisation or agency permit to work regularly with children, including policies on when to obtain a criminal record check
• appropriate supervision and support for staff, including undertaking safeguarding training
• creating a culture of safety, equality, and protection within the services they provide

In addition:

• employers are responsible for ensuring that their staff are competent to carry out their responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and creating an environment where staff feel able to raise concerns and feel supported in their safeguarding role
• staff should be given a mandatory induction, which includes familiarisation with child protection responsibilities and the procedures to be followed if anyone has any concerns about a child’s safety or welfare
• all practitioners should have regular reviews of their own practice to ensure they  have knowledge, skills and expertise that improve over time

School governing bodies, local education authorities and further education institutions are required to carry out an annual review of their safeguarding practice and to provide information to the Local Authority and Local Safeguarding Children Partnership about how the duties have been discharged.

The Isle of Wight Safeguarding Children Partnership uses the annual Safeguarding in Education self-assessment audit return to ensure that all educational establishments across the Isle of Wight are meeting their safeguarding requirements, as set out in  Keeping Children Safe in Education  statutory guidance.

Under section 14B of the Children Act 2004, the local safeguarding children partnership (LSCP) can require a school or college to supply information so that the LSCP can perform its quality assurance function.

Step 1 – Complete the self-assessment audit tool

The  self-assessment audit tool  is for internal use by your establishment only and provides the basis for answers to the annual self-assessment audit return form. All the questions are based on national or local guidance which can be found in the  audit guidance document  .

The tool can be completed by the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) by themselves or with the governor, management committee member or proprietor with a safeguarding lead.

The self-assessment audit tool may have changes from previous year versions, so please be aware of this before completing it.

Step 2 - Present the self-assessment audit tool

Present the self-assessment audit tool to the relevant accountable body (governing body, management committee or board) with the findings evidenced. The accountable body may find the audit guidance document useful to understand why the question is important and why it has been asked.
Once the tool has been presented, agree the areas for development and what action will be taken to address any gaps.

Step 3 – Complete the self-assessment audit return form

The  self-assessment audit return form  should be completed by the date provided by the IOWSCP (the self-assessment tool is for  internal use  only).

Step 4 - After the self-assessment audit

Following the completion of the self-assessment audit, the progress against action plan should be reviewed by the appropriate body, as part of the ‘challenge’ function that they hold.
The data from the returned forms is collected and reported back to the Local Safeguarding Children Partnership. As part of the assurance process, each year a number of schools will be selected for verification visits.

Self-assessment audit tool
Audit guidance document

Themed multi-agency audits are commissioned by the IOWSCP’s Performance and Quality Assurance subgroup as part of the Partnership’s broader scrutiny and quality assurance work.

They are led by a multi-agency panel, chaired by a Service Lead and practitioners involved in the children’s cases participate in an open reflection of the work undertaken, arriving at agreed strengths and areas for further development in practice.

Recommendations from audits are progressed by agency representatives and monitored through the Performance and Quality Assurance subgroup until completion. The learning identified is shared with the partnership through subgroups, training, newsletters, safeguarding practice weeks, practitioner guides and safeguarding theme overview packs to ensure key messages are delivered to frontline professionals. Key findings and effective practice from audits are available on the resource library page .

The Partnership has created a safeguarding children’s checklist to support community groups and voluntary sector organisations with their safeguarding practices. It is an opportunity to reflect and identify process and resources to support you to work towards safeguarding requirements. Voluntary and community organisations are not expected to have everything listed in place.

The Safeguarding Checklist should be worked through and areas for development identified. An action plan should then be created detailing what improvements will be made, who will be responsible and when they should be completed by. A short Microsoft Form should then be completed and submitted to the Partnership.

From the submitted safeguarding checklists, the partnership team will develop an annual briefing for the voluntary and community sector which highlights good practice and signposts to further support and resources to help enable voluntary and community organisations to further improve their response to safeguarding. 

Safeguarding Checklist Supporting Guidance
Voluntary and community safeguarding checklist