Safeguarding Early Adopters Facilitator

The project aims to understand and analyse the key challenges and opportunities emerging from the reform of local multi-agency safeguarding detailed in the Children & Social Work Act 2017.

The appointed facilitator will work with 'early adopter' local areas to gather evidence which can inform the effective implementation of new safeguarding arrangements; and bring together nationally applicable lessons in an accessible format.

The facilitator will help the Government to promote the uptake of these lessons through a series of regional events and other media, such as (for example) online discussion groups, and a final comprehensive publication.

The objectives of the project are to:

• identify solutions to common implementation challenges and draw out lessons for both policy-makers and practitioners

• undertake in-depth analysis on a number of specific themes to be addressed by early adopters, including the involvement of schools in multi-agency arrangements, independent scrutiny, local reviews, approaches to multi-agency funding and information sharing

• assess the approaches taken to implementing the new multi-agency arrangements (including any innovative models) and identify key principles for taking advantage of the additional flexibility provided by the reforms

• help to disseminate the lessons in an accessible format to local safeguarding and child death review partners across England.

We also expect the project to provide the new What Works Centre for Children's Social Care with information to inform their work and priorities, including an assessment of best practice principles when establishing multi-agency arrangements.