Cumbria Safeguarding Children Partnership

About us

The Children and Social Work Act (2017) and Working Together to Safeguarding Children (2018), removed the statutory requirement for Cumbria to have a Local Safeguarding Children Board.

As a result, the three statutory safeguarding partners in Cumbria:

• Cumberland Council
• Westmorland and Furness Council
• Cumbria Police
• Integrated Care Boards - North East and North Cumbria and Lancashire and South Cumbria 

in consultation with the relevant agencies agreed the new multi-agency safeguarding arrangements for Cumbria as set out in the Children and Social Work Act (2017).

What is Cumbria Safeguarding Children Partnership (CSCP)?

The purpose of CSCP is to support and enable local organisations and agencies to work together in a system where:

• Children are safeguarded and their welfare promoted;
• Partner organisations and agencies collaborate, share and co-own the vision for how to achieve improved outcomes for vulnerable children;
• Organisations and agencies challenge appropriately and hold one another to account effectively;
• There is early identification and analysis of new safeguarding issues and emerging threats;
• Learning is promoted and embedded in a way that local services for children and families can become more reflective and implement changes to practice;
• Information is shared effectively to facilitate more accurate and timely decision making for children and families.

In order to work together effectively, the safeguarding partners with other local organisations and agencies will develop processes that:

• Facilitate and drive action beyond usual institutional and agency constraints and boundaries;
• Ensure the effective protection of children is founded on practitioners developing lasting and trusting relationships with children and their families.

How does CSCP operate?

CSCP operates through a subgroup model made up of partners who develop policy, procedures and practice guidance for professionals and volunteers who work with children, young people and families in Cumbria. Work is undertaken through task and finish groups and shared far and wide across all organisations. CSCP have an independent Scrutineer who is responsible for holding partners to account and to provide scrutiny of the arrangements developed by the three statutory partners. Our partnership structure can be accessed here 

Our Published Arrangements

Memorandum of Understanding

Quality Assurance and Scrutiny Framework