Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness Safeguarding Hub

The Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness Safeguarding Hubs only purpose is to provide a 'front door' for Children and Young People's Social Work services in Cumbria, where children's needs cannot be met at an Early Help level.

Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness Safeguarding Hubs are committed to the following outcomes:-

• Any  action  taken  or  recommended  will  be  based  on  an  analysis  of  available information  and  will  have  a  specific focus  on  the  safety  and  well-being  of  the child/young person;
• Ensuring that the person making a contact with the service knows what action is being proposed and the timescales for this
• Providing  a  timely  and  appropriate  response  to  the  concerns  that  have  been raised;
• Providing a multi-agency decision making forum that values contribution from all agencies as equal partners

Aims of Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness Safeguarding Hubs

• To ensure that concerns raised about children and young people who are in need of protection receive a timely and effective response in determining the appropriate next steps to keep them safe
• To be the 'front door' for Children and Young People's Social Work Services
• To consider the needs of children that cannot be managed at an Early Help level, including those at risk of significant harm
• To ensure that all contacts made to the Hub are screened by multi-agency partners effectively to ensure that safe next steps decision can be made, which is made by the Children's and Young Persons Social Work team manager
• To assess risk of harm accurately and consistently
• To minimise the risk of harm to children in Cumbria by ensuring proportionate and consistent multi-agency information sharing and responses to contacts
• To make a next steps decisions on all contacts into the Safeguarding Hub within 24 hours, which will include whether threshold has been met fro Children and Young People's Social Work Services Intervention (at which point the 'contact' will become a 'referral'). A Children and Young People's Social Work Services Team Manager, in line with the Threshold Document, makes this decision
• To ensure that the child and family's views are captured within the work undertaken
• To undertake work utilising the Signs of Safety approach