Section 11

Section 11 of the 2004 Children Act sets out the provision for Local Children Safeguarding Boards to undertake a self-assessment audit of how organisations and services are meeting standards to safeguard children and young people.

The purpose of this annual exercise is to:

  • Provide all organisations and groups that work with / are involved with children and young people with the opportunity to provide an account of how they prioritise safeguarding
  • Provide evidence of how your organisation or group has been able to learn and improve in how you do this

The role of the CSCP is to support this exercise and to collate the responses in order that the Partnership may determine:

  • What the self-assessments tell us about the effectiveness of arrangements for the safeguarding of children and young people in Calderdale
  • What this tells us about the effectiveness of joint working to protect children and young people in Calderdale

The results of the audit will then form an important part of:

  • Demonstrating in a transparent way how all organisations, professionals and others who are involved with children, young people and their families are accountable for how individually – and collectively – they safeguard children in Calderdale
  • The CSCP Annual Report which is a public statement as to the sufficiency of joint working arrangements to protect children and young people in Calderdale

The development of priorities to provide leadership and support for learning and improvement, and sharing things that work well

    Benefits of completing the Section 11 self-assessment audit

    How will completing the Section 11 benefit your organisation?

    • Provides evident for national inspection organisations e.g Ofsted / CQC / HMIC
    • Provides evidence that Safeguarding is a priority within your organisation
    • Provides evidence that your organisation works closely with the Calderdale Safeguarding Children Partnership and understands its roles and responsibilities.
    • Demonstrates compliance with the relevant legislation e.g. Working Together 2018.
    • Provides evidence of reflective practice
    • Feeds into improvement / development plans for your organisation
    • Identifies good practice and areas for development within your organsation

     Why CSCP require you to complete an annual Section 11 audit?

    • Provides an understand of the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements and of joint working to protect the children and young people of Calderdale for the CSCP annual report.
    • Enables the future CSCP training and support for the Calderdale Partnership to be planned.
    • Enables organisations to give evidence of their understanding of safeguarding responsibilities by grading against quality standards model answers.