To receive a report concerning referrals to the MASH from partners and agencies.

The committee received a report from the Director Children and Families concerning referral levels to the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH). The ADS&FS introduced the report and advised that it outlined when a referral should be made and the thresholds in place to require intervention. The outcomes of the Ofsted inspection were also raised which found that too many children were being referred to the Council. The report showed the high level of referrals from the Police and the high proportion that were judged to require no further action. The ADS&FS explained that she would be meeting with DCI Jonathan Roberts to discuss the current situation and measures to address the high referral rate. 

The Chairperson welcomed DCI Roberts to the meeting who was in attendance to address queries concerning referrals to the MASH originating from West Mercia Police.

The committee raised those points below in the discussion that followed:

·         The committee queried the mobile phone application in use to assist officers to make a judgement over safeguarding concerns. DCI Roberts explained that the application was a tool with general advice that was not specific to Herefordshire and safeguarding concerns were referred through the Harm Assessment Unit, a member of which was co-located in the MASH. DCI Roberts stated that the Police have a duty to refer every child considered to be at risk. It was recognised that the higher level of safeguarding risk was referred to the MASH and it was necessary to understand what processes were in place to report lower levels of risk. A meeting would be taking place with the ADS&FS shortly to discuss these issues.

·         It was queried whether some officers were more risk averse than others and if this had an impact on high referral rates. The committee considered whether greater levels of training and guidance could help to address such risk aversion? DCI Roberts explained that the front line officers did not refer directly to the MASH. There was a statutory requirement to address concerns about the welfare of children. The DCF explained that a visit was arranged to the harm assessment unit at the Police in order to examine what steps could be taken to address referrals deemed unnecessary. The issue was longstanding. Signposting to early help services would help to reduce the level of referrals. Other courses of action existed to signpost concerns and a link to the WISH website could be circulated. WISH had a range of information to support agencies to signpost to early help and preventative services.

·         Sally Halls, Chair of the Herefordshire Children Safeguarding Board (HSCB), explained that there was a statutory responsibility for anyone who had a concern about the welfare of a child to make a referral if that child was likely to suffer significant harm. There had been long running discussions with the Police force who had been slow to address the issue of responding differently to children who did not meet the threshold of significant concern. There was a requirement for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25