Practice guides

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.

Restore launched in April 2020 for expectant parents who were less than 20 weeks gestation who had children removed from their care previously and there is a likelihood the current pregnancy would result in removal. In February 2022 we expanded the offer to include fathers who had children previously removed from their care and are expecting a baby with a new partner (who may or may not have had children removed from their care). We also extended the offer to support first time parents where there were ‘high risk indicators’ such as significant substance misuse, domestic abuse, parental mental health, chronic homelessness, and others, where there is a likelihood that the current pregnancy would result in removal. Restore was initially designed on the licensed PAUSE model, we creatively tailored it to the needs of families, data analysis and demand in Warrington and removed restrictive criteria for parents to be actively using contraception to be enrolled on the 18-month programme. Restore offers support at the very earliest opportunity in pregnancy until the child turns five years’ old.

Children in care often face greater health challenges than their peers, stemming from early experiences of trauma, neglect, or instability. In Sefton, recognising the critical importance of timely and effective health and dental care, a multi-agency approach has been adopted to improve outcomes for this vulnerable group. This practice guide outlines the collaborative efforts between Sefton Children’s Services, the Integrated Care Board, and health providers to enhance access to Initial and Review Health Assessments, dental services, and emotional well-being support.

In Bolton we started our Staying Close service in January 2024 and became fully staff and launched by March 2024. To be eligible to receive Staying Close young people need to have been living in residential care for a period of 13 weeks or more after their 14th birthday. Residential care can include children’s homes, secure homes and custody. Bolton’s Staying Close Service offers a relational wraparound intensive service to a small cohort of young people eligible for staying close services. The Team is made up of 1 Staying Close Team Manager, 4 Personal Advisers, 1 Education, Employment and Training Worker, 1 Emotional Health Practitioner, and 1 Housing Officer.

The Trafford Children with Disabilities (CwD) – Complex Needs Service has undergone significant transformation in response to longstanding concerns from families, schools, and professionals about accessibility, clarity, and effectiveness. Historically, the service faced challenges including unclear pathways, limited short break options, and a lack of trust among stakeholders. This practice guide outlines Trafford’s journey to redesign and co-produce a more responsive, inclusive, and needs-led service. Through streamlined access, strengthened assessment processes, and a renewed focus on partnership and co-production, the service now delivers more timely, tailored support to children with complex needs and their families—ensuring better outcomes and building confidence across the system.

The Bright Spots Programme is a research and service improvement project run by Coram Voice. The Programme was set up to understand what is important to children in care and care leavers and share learning about what makes life good for them. Official statistics on care-experienced children and young people give only a partial picture of their lives. Data focuses on adult perspectives using objective outcomes measures including placement types and educational attainment. This information does not tell us about how children and young people feel: are they happy, safe and feel they are doing well? The Bright Spots Programme takes a different approach by measuring subjective well-being. Subjective well-being is defined as feeling good and doing well at an individual and interpersonal level. Measuring subjective well-being enables us to understand young people’s experiences by putting their voice at the centre. Bright Spots helps local authorities (LAs) systematically listen to their children in care and care leavers about the things that are important to them. We work to ensure that the views and experiences of children are at the heart of decisions that are made about their lives.