New front line for keeping children safe launched in Rochdale

Rochdale Borough Council has joined forces with Greater Manchester Police and NHS Heywood, Middleton & Rochdale to launch a new way of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable children and young people in the borough.

The Multi-Agency Screening Service (MASS) aims to ensure the highest level of communication, understanding and analysis of safeguarding intelligence and information within the organisations responsible for keeping children safe.

It will be run by representatives from children’s social care, the police, health workers and early help advisors, supported by the youth offending team, probation, housing and education welfare services.

Once launched, the MASS will identify and assess the needs of children and young people as soon as a concern is raised by a fellow professional or member of the public. Decisions about the next steps will then be taken based on the professional expertise and the information available to each agency. This will ensure that any activity to protect or intervene on a child’s behalf is appropriate, timely and proportionate.

The MASS will also offer advice and support, and act as a ‘broker’ on behalf of the person making the enquiry to ensure they receive a response from the right people without delay.

Gail Hopper, Director of Children’s Services at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “The MASS will identify any need, harm or risk to a child as early as possible, and provide a more consistent, timely and unified response to welfare and safeguarding concerns.

“At the core of the MASS is a greatly enhanced level of collaboration and communication with our partners, and we are confident that this type of joined-up working will create a more effective system for keeping our children and young people safe.”

Mrs Lesley Mort, Chief Officer of NHS Heywood, Middleton & Rochdale, said: “Too often, the gaps and boundaries between agencies are highlighted as the reasons why vulnerable children and young people aren‘t protected as well as they should be – too often, the intelligence gathered by individual agencies is lost and not passed on appropriately.

“In Rochdale we have been determined to plug these gaps. The health sector in Rochdale borough is confident  that this is a  more efficient approach to dealing with concerns and cases, and  will result in better protection for local children and young people.“

Superintendent Alistair Mallen from the Rochdale division, GMP said: “The embedding of our specialist Public Protection police officers within the MASS will ensure crucial information in relation to the safeguarding of vulnerable children and adults within Rochdale will be shared and assessed in a dynamic way.

“The MASS builds on local arrangements already in place in order to identify the risk of harm at the earliest possible stage and take preventative measures, including getting the right service, to the right people, at the right time.”