Issue - meetings

The Children Act 2004 and the Care Act 2014 place responsibilities on the Council with regard to the safeguarding of children, young people and adults with needs of care and support. This report brings to the attention of Cabinet the update of the Council’s Safeguarding Policy and Procedures.

Purpose of report

The Children Act 2004 and the Care Act 2014 placed responsibilities on the Council with regard to the safeguarding of children, young people and adults with needs of care and support. This report brought to the attention of Cabinet the update of the Council’s Safeguarding Policy and Procedures.

Decision

That Cabinet approves the 2024-2027 Safeguarding Policy and Procedures.

Alternative options considered and rejected

The Council could retain its existing Safeguarding Policy but in doing so would operate outside of updated legislation and in isolation of other the District Councils of Lincolnshire.

Reasons for decision

By adopting the Safeguarding Policy 2024-2-27 the Council would continue to have consistency with its District partners whilst maintaining the requirements of the Children Act 2004 and the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Partnership and the Care Act 2014 and the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Adult Board.

The Policy was valid for three years but it would be reviewed annually or as frequently as required.

Amendments have been made to a number of chapters of the Policy:

·         Updates to the policy relate to changes in legislation and statutory guidance and included amendments throughout Chapter 3 Safeguarding Children and Young People to reflect updates to statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children

·         The chapters relating to Domestic Abuse (Chapter 5) and Prevent (Chapter 6) have been updated in relation to the introduction of, or changes to, the law.

·         Amendments have been made to Chapter 11 – Transient Families. This chapter was previous called ‘Mobile Families’ and was adapted from Transient Families Guidance produced by the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Partnership.

·         Appendix B – Training Structure and Programmes had been updated to meet the requirements of the 6 year training pathways of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (LSCP) and the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Adults Board (LSAB) to ensure the Authority continued to meet national competency standards.

The link to the Council’s modern slavery statement was now on the front page of the Council’s website. Safeguarding was the responsibility of everyone.

Senior officers within the Council brought monthly reports to the Stautory Officers’ Group and had also recently led on the Council’s Section 11 response.