Safeguarding Annual Review For 2016 Sonia Furzeland – Safeguarding Lead Lisa Redwood – Safeguarding and Mental Health Specialist

Overview There were 84 internal alerts raised in 2016, this was lower than 2015’s figure of 117. This is felt appropriate as staff are utilising the support of the Safeguarding and Mental Health Specialist by making calls and emailing prior to completing an alert for to gauge the appropriateness of doing so, which is reducing the amount of inappropriate external referrals. It is also felt that the new training courses delivered specific to Local Authorities that staff work in have seen an improvement in staff skills at identifying what constitutes as abuse and what is mental health or unwise decision making. Survey sent out and all who completed an alert or external referral asked to complete, there were 64 responses. It could be assumed that those who did not respond are staff that no longer work for the organisation

Action Plan 2016 Target Date Initial Progress Develop e-learning for Safeguarding Children September 2016 Package developed by Barnardos, testing in August Deliver bespoke training for WoE & Somerset November 2016 3 Somerset Sessions delivered, 2 WoE sessions planned for August Extend current mental health advice offer to increase hours October 2016 SCC agreed additional funding for service but will need to include other housing providers and One Teams Review alert paperwork to reflect importance of consent December 2016 Not started Develop reporting for staff training

Abuse by category

2016 – 84 Alerts

Alerts by Local Authority

Alerts by Team

% of Alerts that met Local Authority Threshold

It has been noted that although there are still a number of alerts which are raised which do not meet the Local Authority threshold, these are no longer going any further than the internal channels. There is still a need for improved understanding for staff around mental health and also mental capacity and peoples right to make unwise decisions.

Staff Survey – Before sending the internal alert had you already raised a formal alert with the Local Authority?

Did you discuss the alert form with your manager before raising it with the Local Authority?

Did you feel that the Safeguarding Lead provided you with a sufficiently prompt response?

If further actions were recommended, did you think they were appropriate?

Do you feel that you have been given sufficient training in safeguarding adults?

Do you feel that you have been given enough training in safeguarding children?

Learning from Internal Management Reviews There have been some Internal Management Reviews (IMRs) carried out in 2016, carried out due to ongoing concerns that staff have raised. These reviews have found fairly consistently that staff are increasingly being challenged by more complex customers, mostly by way of their mental health needs. Staff are also finding other agencies more challenging to work with. Agencies have increasingly high thresholds and appear hesitant to support those that have been identified as needing support. This has led to staff taking on more work than their job role. The Safeguarding and Mental Health Specialist has been working with teams as a result of these IMRs to assist and support staff to be more confident in their approach with agencies.

Learning from reviews There has also been some learning published as a result of Serious Case Reviews for which we carried out an IMR. Key learning as identified by Knightstone was included in the single agency recommendation. Continuity of care was seen as once again an example of what is good, but once again the role of housing and the possibility of housing staff being the lead professional was overlooked. We have implemented the learning from this and are supporting staff to become more confident with their approach with other agencies.

Training overview Training packages available to staff have been improved. All staff have to complete the e-learning on adults and soon e-learning will be available for children. Face to face training includes a very full day of staff exploring their own role within safeguarding as well as educating staff on issues such as Early Help, Domestic Abuse, PREVENT and Mental Capacity. Free training has been posted on Yammer for staff to access regarding Child Sexual Exploitation and Female Genital Mutilation. Policy and Procedures are also covered within the training and posted on Yammer as soon as there has been a review.

Deep Dive Review In October 2016 a Safeguarding Deep Dive Review was commissioned with Nina Murphy Associates to provide external scrutiny to the systems and processes which underpin Knightstone’s approach to safeguarding. It was acknowledged that a considerable amount of work has been undertaken to establish a coherent approach to safeguarding. That the work of the Safeguarding Lead and Safeguarding and Mental Health Specialist provides a strong bedrock on which to build and good evidence of achievement. This review has produced an action plan which we aim to have completed by October 2017.

Action Plan 2017 Deep Dive Review action points Training review to ensure learning More emphasis required on making safeguarding personal and gaining consent Launch Barnardos training Better follow up to ensure outcomes are achieved Increased mental health awareness as still a lot of confusion around this Measure external response and multi-agency working Safeguarding and Mental Health Specialist to meet with teams to discuss alerts raised and any other issues Comprehensive monitoring of number of alerts coming through to ensure that the numbers are a true refection