About Us
The Havering Safeguarding Children Partnership (SCP) is the set of arrangements through which organisations and agencies in the borough work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people.
Everyone who works with children, young people and families in Havering is a member of the HSCP.
As directed in the Children and Social Work Act 2017 and its supporting statutory guidance, responsibility for leading the Havering SCP is shared between three key agencies, known as ‘safeguarding partners’. The local safeguarding partners are Havering Council, the North East London NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and the East Area Basic Command Unit (BCU) of the Metropolitan Police.
The three safeguarding partners are required to engage other ‘relevant agencies’ – including local schools, colleges and other educational providers – in the local multi-agency safeguarding arrangements. In Havering, these relevant agencies include:
A group of representatives from each of the organisations and agencies represented on the Havering SCP meet on a quarterly basis to discuss arising safeguarding partnership issues and develop collaborative strategic plans.
The work of the Havering SCP is supported by four thematic multi-agency partnership groups, each of which meets regularly throughout the year and presents progress reports to the quarterly SCP meetings. The four thematic multi-agency partnership groups are:
- the Adolescent Safeguarding Strategy Group;
- the Children’s Quality and Effectiveness Working Group;
- the Early Help Partnership Board; and
- the Education Strategic Partnership.
The statutory purpose of the Havering SCP is to support and enable organisations and agencies in the borough to work together in a system where:
- children are safeguarded and their welfare is 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; and
- information is shard effectively to facilitate more accurate and timely decision making for children and families; and
- the effective protection of children is founded on practitioners developing lasting and trusting relationships with children and their families.