East Sussex Safeguarding Children Partnership – Monthly Digest

This latest roundup of ESSCP news includes highlights from recent publications, information about forthcoming events and training, and other snippets of useful information from the ESSCP and partner agencies. Go to News – ESSCP which is updated throughout the month with the latest information and learning.

Child sexual abuse resources

In June the Partnership held a multi-agency learning event, for senior leaders in organisations across Sussex, on child sexual abuse (CSA). The purpose of the event was to review the learning and recommendations highlighted in The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel – I wanted them all to notice report.

Anna Glinski, Deputy Director of Knowledge & Practice Development, from the Centre of Expertise on child sexual abuse, joined our workshop and shared several useful resources for professionals. These included guides on signs and indicators of CSA, communicating with children, and resources for education settings. Links to these resources, and many more, can be found on our website here: Child Sexual Abuse Workshop (June 2025) – ESSCP

Sussex Police Public Protection

Since May, Sussex Police the operating model for safeguarding has changed to specialised investigation teams, which will help officers and staff to work with more focus and collaboration with partners and other agencies. The remit of the teams is as follows:

1. The Iris Team specialises in adult protection and child protection investigations.   This team will operate a seven-day week shift pattern from 08:00 – 22:00 and are in Littlehampton, Horsham, Brighton, and Eastbourne.
2. The Bluestone Team specialises in high-risk domestic abuse (DA,) high-risk stalking and Rape and Serious Sexual Offences investigations (RASSO). This team will work a shift pattern across 7 days 24 hours comprising of three early shifts, three late shifts and three rest days.  They are in Littlehampton, Crawley, Brighton, Eastbourne, and Hastings.

A summary of the changes and rationale can be found on the restricted area of our website (password is ESSCPAR123). Please note this is for professional use only.

Congratulations to David Kemp 

A belated congratulations, to longstanding member of the ESSCP Partnership, David Kemp, Strategic Prevention Manager at East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service (ESFRS), who was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the New Year Honours list. The BEM rewards achievements and contributions to the local community in support of innovative work which has delivered real impact.

David has served in the public sector in East Sussex for 46 years, including a 30-year career with Sussex Police which led onto working with local District and Borough Councils before joining ESFRS in 2012. During his time with ESFRS, he led the pioneering data sharing project with GP practices delivering home safety visits to those vulnerable people directly referred by GPs. This project continues to have a lasting impact on local communities and has been introduced in other FRS’s.

ESCC Transformation of Children’s Services

East Sussex County Council has embarked on a programme of transformation within children’s services. This transformation programme will look at how to implement the reforms set out in the Children Wellbeing and Education Bill, which is currently going through parliament, and how locally children’s services can tilt the balance away from statutory work into more preventative work. The programme was launched with partners at the ESSCP Partnership Board meeting in December.

The Programme has launched a regular email newsletter. The June 2025 edition is attached to this email.

ESSCP training and learning opportunities

The new East Sussex Learning Portal launched last year. If you haven’t already, you will need to create a new account to access the system. Please Click here to view the easy-to-follow user-guide, which explains how to set up an account and complete various tasks e.g. book training.

There is still time to book for a number of ESSCP virtual and classroom training opportunities. We would particularly like to draw your attention to Child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation (virtual, 07.07.25), Consent, Sex and Young People (virtual, 15.09.25), Harmful Sexual Behaviours (virtual 18.09.25) and Understanding self-harm in children and young people using the East Sussex Toolkit (classroom, 24.09.25). More details of our latest multi-agency training offer can be found on our website here: Multi Agency Training Opportunities (July 2025) – ESSCP

eLearning courses covering mental health, child sexual abuse, domestic abuse, alcohol and drug misuse, and much more are now available on our dedicated eLearning website: East Sussex County Council: Log in to the site (learningpool.com)

The Sussex Child Death Review Team hold a rolling programme of training sessions aimed at multi-agency professionals who work with children and/or the families whether this is directly or indirectly, e.g GPs, Paediatricians, Police, Probation, Social Workers, etc. The aim of this training is to provide an overview of the statutory Child Death Review (CDR) and the role of the Child Death Review Nurse. More details about the training can be found here: https://www.trybooking.com/uk/events/landing/68663.

They are also hosting a free one day conference on Wednesday 17 September on Tackling the Taboo – Discussing Death and Loss in the Classroom at the University of Sussex, focusing on bereavement support for children and teachers in educational establishments. Tickets to the event are available now from here: Tackling the Taboo – Discussing Death and Loss in the Classroom at Fulton A, Fulton Building event tickets from TicketSource

The MAPPA Team (Surrey and Sussex) are pleased to offer a range of training opportunities over the next few months. These include an introduction to MAPPA, attending MAPPA meetings, and a lead agency MAPPA briefing. Further details can be found on our website here: Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) Training for 2025 – ESSCP

Local briefings and newsletters

(additional resources password is ‘ESSCPAR123’)

·       The East Sussex Safeguarding Adult Board has published their SAB-Monthly-Digest-June-2025. The digest includes information about mental capacity policy and procedures, a new intensive home treatment service to support young people’s mental health, suicide awareness training, and the latest learning from SAR Donna and Hannah.

• The Pan Sussex Police and Procedures Subgroup has published their PSxP&P April briefing following their April 2025 meeting. The briefing includes updates on the NEW Child Sexual Abuse Pathway, following the recommissioning of the Sussex wide Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARC); changes to policy regarding children of parents/carers who use substances problematically; and NEW guidance for practitioners on working with interpreters.

·       The Child Death Review Partnership has shared its CDRP-Summer-Newsletter. The newsletter includes important water safety messages, highlights upcoming training, local learning about the impact of second-hand smoking on child deaths, and learning from deaths of children with a learning disability.

·       NHS Sussex produces a monthly ‘Safeguarding and Looked-After Children Newsletter’. The June edition is now live on the NHS Sussex intranet and all Sussex professionals can request access. This month’s newsletter includes safeguarding and children in care news, information for GP practices, and details for forthcoming training. If you have not already registered, the please use the following link: Log in (ics.nhs.uk).

National Updates

The Home Office has published an independent audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) in England and Wales. The review, led by Baroness Casey, looks at the scale, nature and characteristics of group-based CSEA, drivers of this type of offending, and the local and national response. Reviewers assessed a range of national and local data and reports, as well as meeting with survivors, police, local authorities and other organisations and individuals. The report sets out 12 recommendations including changes to the law around rape and the launch of a national police operation and national inquiry into child sexual exploitation in England and Wales. A government response has been published accepting all 12 recommendations: National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse – GOV.UK

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel has published an independent report evaluating the impact of the Panel’s work to support local safeguarding partners in England to learn from incidents where children have died or been seriously harmed because of abuse or neglect. The research, carried out by IFF Research, looks at the Panel’s activities and awareness of their functions among stakeholders. Strengths identified include the Panel’s multi-agency representation and reputation; a culture of learning and support; and informing and influencing national practice. Areas for development include developing actionable recommendations in national reviews and greater transparency in the decision-making process: Child safeguarding impact report – GOV.UK

The Department for Education (DfE) has released data on the stability of placements, school provision, and professional support for children in care in England. The statistics are based on children in care on 31 March 2024. Key findings include: 10% of children had experienced three or more placements in the past year, a slight decrease from 11% in 2023; 8% of children experienced at least one mid-year school move; over a quarter of children had three or more social workers in the past year, with under-1-year-olds experiencing the highest social worker instability; and 1% of children experienced high instability in all three measures: Stability measures for children looked after in England, Reporting year 2024 – Explore education statistics – GOV.UK

Foundations has published a report on families’ experiences of being offered a family group conference (FGC) in England. The report reviews existing literature on why families choose to take up or refuse the offer of an FGC. Key findings include: some families may be unwilling to accept an FGC due to a lack of trust in the statutory services, their own family network, or the effectiveness of an FGC; there are sometimes misunderstandings amongst social workers about what the FGC model is and the situations where it is an appropriate intervention; and having control over the practical arrangements of the meeting and a sense of hope that the FGC can improve their situation encourages families to accept an FGC: Families’ experiences of Family Group Conferences: Rapid evidence review – Foundations

The Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre) has published a study on the provision of support services in England and Wales for children who have experienced sexual abuse; families of children who have been sexually abused; and adults sexually abused in childhood. As well as a mapping exercise, 124 sexual abuse support services completed an online questionnaire which asked about changes to service provision and experiences of providing support. The report highlights a shortage of provision across England and Wales, including significant geographical variation with the North West, West Midlands and South East having particularly low levels of service provision. More than two-thirds of survey respondents said their services had waiting lists.  The report discusses implications for policymakers, funders and commissioners: Support Matters | CSA Centre

The Family Justice Council has published guidance for professionals and litigants on the use of covert recordings in family law proceedings concerning children. The new guidance follows an increased use of covert recordings in family law courts and the need to consider the protection and privacy of those subject to the recording. The guidance covers recordings of professionals made by parents without their consent, parents recording each other, and recordings of children: Covert recordings in Family Law proceedings concerning children – Courts and Tribunals Judiciary