Practice guides

This practice guide outlines Liverpool’s innovative approach to integrating the Designated Social Care Officer (DSCO) role within children’s services, following a 2019 SEND inspection. Developed to strengthen the connection between SEND and social care, the DSCO role has helped improve legal literacy, collaborative planning, and the quality of social care input into Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. It highlights the strategic and operational steps taken to embed the role, enhance service delivery, and support cultural change across teams. The guide also shares practical tools and insights that have supported workforce development and improved outcomes for children and families.

This guide sets out Sefton’s refreshed multi-agency approach to improving the quality of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). It outlines a four-level quality assurance framework—spanning compliance, agency-level checks, senior moderation, and collaborative audits—and highlights how this process is helping to produce clearer, more consistent, and co-produced plans. Whether you're involved in writing, reviewing or supporting EHCPs, this guide offers practical insights and examples of what good looks like.

This guide sets out a collaborative framework between Salford’s Virtual School and SEND Team to improve outcomes for cared for children with special educational needs. It outlines how joint protocols, clear communication channels, and shared systems have reduced delays and strengthened decision-making across services. The guidance provides a practical model for effective multi-agency working and ensuring timely, coordinated support for children with EHCPs.

This guide presents the work of the Shield Team in Knowsley, a multi-agency service established to protect children at risk of sexual and criminal exploitation and those who go missing. Formed in response to a Child Sexual Exploitation operation, the team has evolved into a specialist unit comprising social care professionals, police, and voluntary sector partners, including Catch 22. Using a trusted relationship model, the Shield Team provides long-term, child-centred support that prioritises safety, stability, and early intervention. This resource offers valuable insight into effective, relationship-based safeguarding practice and demonstrates the impact of coordinated, preventative approaches in supporting vulnerable children and young people.

This practice guide outlines an innovative partnership between Cumbria Youth Alliance (CYA) and Cumberland Council, aimed at enriching the lives of care experienced children and young people. The fund empowers young people to pursue personal growth opportunities such as travel, education, and skills development. A youth-led panel, supported by the care experienced team, oversees the application process, ensuring decisions are made fairly and anonymously.

The All-Age Neglect Awareness Tool, developed by the Manchester Safeguarding Partnership, is a flexible, practitioner-led resource designed to support early identification and response to neglect and self-neglect across the life course. Created in response to findings from Safeguarding Adults Reviews and Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews, the tool uses a RAG (Red, Amber, Green) framework to assess impact rather than score severity, ensuring a person-centred approach. It is suitable for use in assessments, supervision, and referrals, and is supported by a network of over 140 trained “neglect champions.” Early feedback has praised the tool’s clarity, usability, and potential to improve safeguarding outcomes across children’s and adult services.

"In The Zone" is a multi-agency school programme developed by Wirral’s Youth Justice Service and Harm Outside the Home Service to educate and safeguard young people against external harms. Now in its fourth year, the initiative targets Year 9 pupils across mainstream and alternative provisions, delivering interactive, age-appropriate sessions on topics such as drug and alcohol awareness, exploitation, peer pressure, cyber safety, and knife crime. Delivered in partnership with Merseyside Police, youth services, and health teams, the programme has reached over 10,000 young people. Evaluations show strong positive impact, with young participants reporting increased awareness of risks and where to seek help.

This practice guide outlines Wirral’s innovative multi-agency response to rising ketamine use among young people, led by the Youth Justice Service and Harm Outside the Home Service. In response to increasing referrals and arrests linked to ketamine, the Wirral Drugs Partnership launched a coordinated initiative focused on education, prevention, and early intervention. Key actions included the development of co-produced harm reduction materials, widespread awareness sessions in schools and colleges, professional training for over 600 practitioners, and the creation of screening tools and multimedia resources. The initiative has significantly increased awareness, early referrals, and access to support services, reaching over 15,000 young people across the borough.

The Warrington Committed to Inclusion Mark is a pioneering quality assurance programme designed to drive continuous improvement in SEND provision across the borough. Now in its eighth year and endorsed by Chester University, the initiative is recognised by Ofsted and the Department for Education as a model of best practice. It supports schools through a structured framework of professional development, peer-to-peer reviews, and commendation awards for outstanding SEND practice. The programme promotes a consistent, graduated approach to inclusion and culminates annually in a celebratory SEND Conference. With 87% of schools achieving the award in 2023/24, the initiative has significantly raised the profile of inclusive education in Warrington.

This practice guide outlines Westmorland and Furness Council’s strategic approach to expanding Supported Internships (SIs) as a core element of its Preparation for Adulthood (PfA) offer for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Recognising that many young people with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) were not employment-ready post-education, the council leveraged Department for Education funding to build capacity, engage employers, and promote SIs across the region. Through collaboration with colleges, employers, and national partners like NDTi and Project Search, the council developed a comprehensive action plan to raise awareness, improve service coordination, and enhance outcomes. The result has been a significant increase in SI uptake, with 90% of participants progressing into employment and new pathways emerging for younger learners

This practice guide outlines Rochdale Borough Council’s approach to sufficiency planning and strengthening provider relationships within Family Help and Children’s Social Care. Grounded in the principles of the No Wrong Door framework and focused on achieving seven key outcomes for children and young people, the guide details how the council collaborates with local providers to ensure children are supported in their home borough. It highlights efforts to identify service gaps, expand local provision, including specialist residential care, and foster transparent, strategic partnerships. The impact of this work includes improved placement stability, increased local education access, and better outcomes for children with complex needs.

Cheshire and Merseyside was one of five areas awarded Department for Education funding as part of the Designated Family Judge (DFJ) trailblazer project which aimed to reduce delays in court proceedings and improve the quality of practice. Audit activity and collaborative solution-finding sessions identified the need to tackle challenges in availability, timeliness and quality of external independent assessments, as well as late presentation of family members. This led to the concept of developing our own Assessment Hub to complete better quality, more timely independent assessments. The Hub focused specifically on Parenting and Kinship assessments instructed during court proceedings and was hosted by Cheshire West & Chester (CWAC) on behalf of the nine local authorities involved.