Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) is a sector led initiative that aims to develop an outcomes focus to safeguarding work. The Making Safeguarding Personal Temperature Check 2016 included the recommendation (p29): “… an ideal type of outcomes measurement and reporting framework should be agreed, that can be offered as a template and a means for local authorities to measure MSP progress and compare themselves to each other.”
To support that recommendation, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and the Local Government Association (LGA) have appointed the Institute of Public Care (IPC) at Oxford Brookes University and Research in Practice for Adults (RiPfA) to develop an MSP outcomes framework that will provide a means of promoting and measuring practice that supports an outcomes focus for safeguarding adults work, including ways in which IT systems and processes can aid an outcomes approach. Oversight will lie with the MSP Informatics Task and Finish Group, which includes LGA, ADASS, NHS Digital and adult social care officers.
IPC and RiPfA will work with the sector to develop an outcomes framework that gathers both qualitative and quantitative outcomes. It will help practitioners, teams, councils, Safeguarding Adults Boards (SABs) and their partners know how far they are making a difference to the safety and well-being of people who are at risk of, or who have suffered, abuse or neglect in their area. It is hoped that the framework will enable councils and SABs to better identify how practice is impacting on outcomes, indicate areas for improvement, and enable benchmarking and learning from others.
This work will start in December 2017 through to January 2018 with a call for examples, followed by a ‘deep dive’ in February 2018 before developing and testing an outcomes framework in March.
Call for examples
We are asking for local examples of outcomes frameworks. Recognising that no authority is yet confident that MSP is fully embedded, we are looking for a range of current examples rather than just best practice sites. The commitment we are seeking is for you to provide your data collection framework(s), and details of storage arrangements and reporting methods to the project team by email. We will also ask you to answer some brief questions about the challenges and enablers in developing and using your frameworks.
We will also be asking up to five local areas to volunteer to help us undertake a more detailed ‘deep dive’ in February. This would involve phone conversations with key personnel in your local area to understand your systems and arrangements in greater detail. Please let the project team know if your local area would be willing to volunteer.
If your local area is willing to be involved in any way please contact Lisa Smith (01803 869753 Lisa.Smith@ripfa.org.uk) or Fiona Richardson (frichardson@brookes.ac.uk 01225 484088) by 16 January 2018. Please send us your local examples and let us know who is the best person or people for us to talk to in your local area.
