North West Independent Scrutineers

Independent Scrutiny Section 16G(3) of the Children and Social Work Act 2017 requires safeguarding arrangements to include independent scrutiny of their effectiveness. To support this, the North West Hub provide capacity through the North West Independent Scrutineer role. 

This role is designed to collaborate with local Independent Scrutineers, helping to coordinate scrutiny and support evaluation of safeguarding effectiveness across sub-regional and regional levels. This role does not replace local scrutiny arrangements, but aims to enhance their impact by: 

• Strengthening collaboration across the region Developed in collaboration with Research in Practice Supporting evidence-informed practice with children and families, young people and adults | Research in Practice 

• Providing additional independent scrutiny capacity and expertise in sub-regional spaces 

• Provide support and respectful challenge to regional and sub regional  Delegated Safeguarding Partners (DSPs) and Lead Safeguarding Partners (LSPs) in responding to regional safeguarding priorities and learning. 

The North West Independent Scrutineer will maintain strong links with local scrutineers to ensure alignment, shared learning, and a coherent approach to improving outcomes for children. As well as the need for scrutiny, WT23 sets out the function to report on the impact of scrutiny activity itself and yearly reports should include a review of the impact and learning from independent scrutiny arrangements. The NW Independent Scrutineer role can support this.

Working Together (2023) (Page 37) identifies 7 key Functions of independent scrutiny role. 

• Provide safeguarding partners and relevant agencies with independent, rigorous, and effective support and challenge at both a strategic and operational level (steps 1 to 6 inclusive). 

• Provide assurance to the whole system in judging the effectiveness of the multi-agency safeguarding arrangements through a range of scrutiny methods (steps 1 to 6 inclusive: see also the ‘what to scrutinise’ and how to scrutinise’ in The checklist for Independent scrutiny (www.theasp.org.uk). 

• Ensure that statutory duties are being fulfilled, quality assurance mechanisms are in place, and that local child safeguarding practice reviews and national reviews are analysed, with key learning areas identified and effectively implemented across the safeguarding system (step 4 and 5). 

• Ensure that the voice of children and families is considered as part of scrutiny and that this is at the heart of arrangements through direct feedback, informing policy and practice (step 3). 

• Be regarded as a ‘critical friend’ and provide opportunities for two-way discussion and reflection between frontline practitioners and leaders. This will encourage and enable strong, clear, strategic leadership (steps 1 to 6 inclusive). 

• Provide independent advice when there are disagreements between agencies and safeguarding partners and facilitate escalation procedures (Main focus steps 1 and 2). 

• Evaluate and contribute to multi-agency safeguarding published arrangements and the annual report, alongside feeding into the wider accountability systems such as inspections (step 1)

North West Independent Scrutineer Network

The North West Independent Scrutineer Network supports the effectiveness and impact of the independent scrutineer role across the region. Its core aims include:

  • Creating a regional focus around the independent scrutineer role
  • Sharing experiences, learning and best scrutiny practice
  • Identify emerging regional and sub regional needs and risks
  • Identifying and promoting effective scrutiny approaches to avoid duplication and build consistency

The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Learning and Support Hub supports the network, with the North West Independent Scrutineer taking a key role in facilitating the sharing of effective scrutiny practices and supporting the development and maturity of the regional toolkit for scrutineers.

Subregional Collaboration

The North West Independent Scrutineer connects and collaborates with scrutineers across sub-regional areas to:

  • Identify strengths in practice that can be shared
  • Highlight common themes and challenges
  • Coordinate responses that can be more effectively tackled at a sub-regional level

This collaborative approach helps to elevate the influence of delegated and lead safeguarding partners, supporting more consistent and effective safeguarding  arrangements and practice across the North West.

The Six Steps to Independent Scrutiny-Practice Tool 2026

The Six Steps to Independent Scrutiny was first published in 2019 by Jenny Pearce, in the context of significant reform to statutory safeguarding arrangements following the Wood Review and the introduction of multi-agency safeguarding partnerships. At that time, the role of independent scrutiny was new, locally determined, and still emerging. The Six Steps provided an early, practical framework to support safeguarding partners and independent scrutineers to understand what effective scrutiny could look like within these new arrangements. Over the past six years, independent scrutiny has become an established — though still evolving — part of the safeguarding system. 

During this period, scrutineers across England have continued to use, adapt, and refine the Six Steps in a wide range of local contexts. Its longevity reflects its core strengths: a focus on outcomes for children rather than compliance; flexibility to support different local scrutiny models; and an emphasis on inquiry, reflection, and constructive challenge rather than inspection. 

This latest iteration represents a further stage in that evolution. It integrates learning from: 

• Evaluation of the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements (2024) and TASP Guide to the MACS Evaluation Framework (TASP, 2025) 

• Checklist for Independent Scrutiny (Pearce, Stratton, Parker and Thorpe, 2022) 

• The Six Steps to Independent Scrutiny (TASP, updated 2024) 

• NW Multi-Agency Safeguarding Learning and Support Hub’s Indicators to support “True to Us” discussion. 

• Working Together 2023 and dialogue with members of the Independent Scrutineer Network.

 Importantly, it remains grounded in the original principles of the Six Steps, recognising independent scrutiny as a distinct system function that supports assurance, learning, and continuous improvement across safeguarding partnerships.

The Six Steps is not an inspection framework, nor a checklist designed to produce ‘right’ answers. It is intended as a practical tool to support independent scrutineers, safeguarding partners, and relevant agencies to think together about the effectiveness of local arrangements, the impact on children and families, and the conditions needed for improvement. It acknowledges that not all questions will be answerable positively at any given time and encourages honest reflection about constraints, priorities, and longer-term system change. Used well, the Six Steps provides a shared structure for inquiry and dialogue, enabling independent scrutiny to fulfil its role as a critical friend — offering support, challenge, and assurance in the best interests of babies, children, young people, and their families.

Six Steps to Scrutiny Practice Tool March 2026
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11:38 on 13/03/2026, Stockport