Sunderland's safeguarding of vulnerable children ‘highly effective’, say Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission

It was the first inspection into the Safeguarding Children Partnership, which includes Together for Children (TfC), the partner agency for Children's Services with the City Council, Northumbria Police and the NHS.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services was also involved in assessing the multi-agency partnership.

A key focus of the partnership is the early help services which offer advice, support and direct intervention at the earliest point of a child’s need, such as with school attendance or if a child comes to the attention of the police. The services aim to help families support themselves and prevent problems from escalating, the success of which was commended by inspectors.

Inspectors said: “Sunderland Safeguarding Children Partnership arrangements are well established and effective. Leaders have an accurate understanding of the needs of vulnerable children in their local area.

"They are fully cognisant of the importance of addressing children’s needs early. Partners work persistently and creatively together in an environment of significant and extensive local deprivation to coordinate and deliver an array of multi-agency early help services that are successfully reducing harm and preventing risks to most children receiving services from escalating.”

While the report did not give a graded overall judgement, inspectors praised the staff working on the ground to ensure the city’s children are safe.

They said: "Pioneering work and good practice initiatives by all agencies are making a discernible difference to the life chances of vulnerable children.

“Enthusiastic, experienced early help front-line practitioners provide sensitive and innovative child-centred interventions. Parents receive respectful and thoughtful services, which help them think differently about how they parent their children.

“Consequently, many are enabled to provide safer and more confident daily care. Thresholds of risk, need and harm to children are understood, leading to most children swiftly receiving a proportionate level of help that’s child-centred.”

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The inspection highlighted services such as Wear Here 4 You, the development of city-wide Family Hubs and Start for Life programmes.

The early intervention of health services were also commended, particularly mental health provision and the establishment of the Healthy Heads team which help children access mental wellbeing support within schools at the earliest opportunity.

Commenting on the report, David Purdue, Executive Chief Nurse, from the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board said: "We welcome the findings of this inspection report and the recognition given to teams working in partnership to support children and families in Sunderland."We will continue to work with our local health services and partners to ensure all Sunderland children are given the right help, at the right time and by the right professionals, particularly in their early years, whilst also involving children and families to continue to improve services."

Areas identified for improvement include increased staffing capacity and “ensuring the involvement of all partners in meetings and in decisions

about next steps to help children”.

Inspectors also identified the need for greater consistency in considering the impact of individual children’s ethnicity and cultural heritage.

In 2021, Sunderland's Children’s Services were the first in the country to make the leap from an Inadequate to Outstanding Ofsted judgement.