Safeguarding Procedures
Welcome to the Multi-agency Safeguarding Procedures directory for the Wirral Safeguarding Children Partnership. You can access all of our safeguarding procedures from this page. Each procedure will open in a new tab.
See also: Wirral Children’s Services Procedures Manual
Please Note: on the 1st September 2019 the Wirral Safeguarding Children Partnership (WSCP) replaced the Wirral Safeguarding Children Board (WSCB). All policy and procedure documents have transferred to the new partnership and all remain valid.
- Policy Framework
- The WSCP and Roles and Responsibilities
- Thresholds and the Continuum of Need (links to main page)
- Supporting Families Enhancing Futures (links to main page)
- Managing Individual Cases
- Children in Specific Circumstances
- Learning and Improvement Framework and Case Reviews (links to main page)
- Child Death Overview Panel and Process (links to main page)
- Individuals who Pose a Risk to Children
- Complaints and Multi-agency Escalations
- Multi-agency Protocols and Practice Guidance
- Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018
Chapter One – Policy Framework
1.1 Policy, Principles and Values
1.2 Recognition of Significant Harm
1.3 Information Sharing and Confidentiality
1.4 Step Up/ Step Down Process
1.5 Family Group Conferences (links to LA Children’s Services Page)
1.6 Legal Framework for Child Protection
1.7 Race, Ethnicity and Culture
1.8 Use of Interpreters, Signers or Others with Communication Skills
1.9 Safer Recruitment Guidance
Chapter Two – The WSCP and Roles and Responsibilities
2.2 Agency Roles and Responsibilities
Chapter Three – Thresholds and the Continuum of Need – links to main page
3.1 WSCP-Thresholds-Document-April-2024
Chapter Four – Supporting Families Enhancing Futures (SFEF) – links to main page
4.1 Multi-agency Practice Guidance
4.3 Prompt Sheets for Practitionersv2
4.4 SFEF On a Page
Chapter Five – Managing Individual Cases
5.2 Single Assessment Policy and Guidance (links to LA Children’s Services Procedure)
5.4 Initial Child Protection Conferences
5.5 Deciding and Recording that a Child Should be Subject to a Child Protection Plan
5.6 Implementation of the Child Protection Plan – Lead Social Worker and Core Group Responsibilities
5.7 Child Protection Review Conferences
5.8 Multi-agency Standards for Child Protection
5.9 Multi-agency Standards for Child in Need (S.17)
5.10 North-west Protocol for Standards in Supervision of Children and Families Social Workers
5.11 LADO and Managing Allegations against Staff (links to main page)
5.12 NW Procedure for Children on a CP Plan Moving across LA Boundaries
Chapter Six – Children in Specific Circumstances
6.1 Safeguarding Children from Abuse Linked to a Belief in Spirit Possession
6.2 Abuse of Disabled Children
6.3 Children and Young People who Display Sexually Inappropriate and Harmful Behaviour
6.4 Working with Young People Engaged in Sexual Activity
6.5 Bullying in Children and Young People’s Settings
6.6 E-Safety: Safeguarding Children and Young People using Digital and Interactive Technology
6.7 pan Merseyside Missing Protocol March 2022
6.8 Children at Risk of Not Receiving a Suitable Education
6.9 Children Living Away from Home (including Children and Families Living in Temporary Accommodation)
6.10 Private Fostering (links to LA Children’s Services Procedure)
6.11 Management of Children and Young People in Need who are Medically Fit for Discharge
6.12 Children in Need Moving In and Out of Wirral
6.13 North-west Children in Need Moving across Local Authority Boundaries Protocol
6.14 Complex (Organised or Multiple) Abuse
6.15 Children Visiting Psychiatric Wards and Facilities
6.17 Pre-birth Procedure
6.19 Dangerous Dogs and Safeguarding Children (links to main page)
6.20 Perplexing Presentations and Fabricated or Induced Illness (new Sept 21)
6.22 Merseyside Honour Based Violence and Forced Marriage Protocol
6.22i Merseyside FGM Protocol
6.23 Safeguarding Children from Abroad (including Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children)
6.24 Modern Slavery
6.25 Safeguarding Children and Young People who may have been Trafficked
6.26 Guidance on Safeguarding Children for Faith Groups in Wirral
6.27 Working with Children and Families affected by Substance Misuse (links to WSCP Substance Misuse webpage)
6.29 Children Affected by Gang Activity and Youth Violence
6.30 Safeguarding Children in Licensed Premises
6.31 Safeguarding Children and Young People against Radicalisation and Violent Extremism
6.32 Cross-border Child Protection Cases under the Hague Convention
6.33 Sexual Health Policy and Guidance for Staff Working with Young People under 19 Years of Age
6.35 Working with Families who Display Disguised Compliance
6.36 Child Criminal Exploitation and County Lines
6.37 Child Exploitation Pan Merseyside Protocol
6.38i Wirral Joint Protocol for Meeting the Needs of 16 and 17 Year Olds
6.38ii Wirral Joint Pathway for 16 and 17 Year Olds who are Homeless
6.38iii Out of Hours Homeless Referral Pathway
6.38iv 16 and 17 Year Olds Homeless Pathway on a Page
6.38v Homeless 16 and 17 Year Olds Legal Status Consent Form
6.38vi Homeless 16 and 17 Year Olds – Your Rights
6.38vii Housing Leaflet for 16/17 Year Olds
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Chapter Seven – Learning and Improvement and Case Reviews – links to main page
7.1WSCB Learning and Improvement Framework December 2019
7.2 Reviewing Cases below the Serious Case Review Threshold
7.4 Notifiable Incidents Procedure
7.5 Learning from Serious Case and other Reviews (links to main page)
Chapter Eight – Child Death Overview Panel and Process – links to main page
8.1 pan-Merseyside Sudden Unexpected Deaths in Childhood (SUDiC) and Acute Life Threatening Event (ALTE) Protocols (updated May 2024)
8.2 Child Death Overview Panel, including information for professionals and parents (links to main page)
Chapter Nine – Individuals who Pose a Risk to Children
9.1 Managing Individuals Posing a Risk to Children
9.3 Multi-agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA)
9.6 Visiting of Prisons by Children
Chapter Ten – Complaints and Multi-agency Escalation Process
10.1 Child Protection Conferences Appeals Procedure
10.2 Multi-agency Escalation Procedure
10.3 Whistleblowing or Raising Concerns at Work
Chapter Eleven – Multi-agency Protocols, Practice Guidance and Strategies
11.2 Children Placed in Wirral – Notification Procedure
11.5 Wirral Domestic Abuse Multi-agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) Operating Protocol
11.6 Joint Local Protocol between Drug and Alcohol Partnerships and Children and Family Services (links to WSCP Substance Misuse webpage)
11.7 Bruising in Children who are Not Independently Mobile
11.8 Assessment of Sexual Abuse and multi-agency Care Pathway
11.9 Assessing Sexual Perpetrators with Learning Disabilities
11.10 Considerations of Sexual Abuse in Kinship Placements
11.11 Assessing Adult Female Sexual Perpetrators
11.12 Assessment of the Mother as a Protective Parent where a Child has been Abused
11.13 How to Respond if a Child Discloses Sexual Abuse
11.14 Assessment of the Sexually Abused Child
11.15 Assessing Children who Sexually Abuse
11.16 WSCP Cherish Strategy (neglect) 2023-26
11.17 Neglect and the Graded Care Profile (links to main page)
11.18 Safer Sleeping Guidance
11.19 Good Practice Guidance for Working with Children and Families Affected by Substance Misuse
11.20 Chronology Guidance for Professionals 2018
11.21i Police and Children’s Social Care Joint Working Protocol
11.21ii Police and Children’s Social Care Joint Working Protocol – Appendix One
11.22 WSCP Response to Police Critical Incidents
11.23 WSCP Safer Adolescence Strategy 2021 to 2023
11.24 Visitors to Schools Guidance
11.25 Operation Encompass
11.26 Pan Merseyside NRM Trafficking Exploitation Practice Guidance
11.27 Police Powers of Protection – Wirral Protocol
11.28 Pan Merseyside Multi-agency Response to Threat, Harm and Risk (MARTHR) Terms of Reference
11.29 Non therapeutic Male Circumcision Guidance
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Chapter Twelve – Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023
12.1 Working Together to Safeguard Children (2023)
12.2 Working Together 7 Minute Briefing
12.3 Children’s Social Care National Framework
12.4 Children’s Social Care National Framework Summary
12.6 Kinship Carers Strategy Summary