Multi-agency safeguarding: From everyone’s responsibility to a collective responsibility

Abstract

Multi-agency collaboration (also termed inter-professional, inter-agency, and multi-sector) between agencies and practitioners has been established as a valuable way of working in safeguarding, to protect people from harm. Whilst multiagency working is mandated in legislation, policy, and guidance, there are challenges in its implementation. Research has not only highlighted many benefits of multi-agency working, for example, sharing resources and expertise, but also key barriers, including uncertainty of agency roles, remits, and responsibilities. Ongoing challenges, such as information sharing in an appropriate and timely manner, are often cited within various serious practice reviews and inspections. However, what is less explored and understood is how we know and evidence if our multi-agency safeguarding arrangements are effective. This article summarizes the multi-agency safeguarding landscape and highlights an urgent need for the development of a framework that identifies key components to evidence effectiveness. This framework should seek to define, identify, monitor, and review factors that enable effective multi-agency partnership working. In doing so, we argue that the evidence of practice needs to build on safeguarding being “everyone’s responsibility” towards establishing a “collective responsibility.” This is the first of the two papers mapping developmental journey of “The Collective Safeguarding Responsibility Model: 12Cs”. Safeguarding; Multi-Agency; Inter-Agency; Partnership; Model; Cooperation; Collaboration; Vulnerability.