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 Safety Week

 It’s child safety week the first week of June. This year’s campaign is all about sharing practical, simple things we can do to keep children safe. The Child Accident Prevention Trust has a number of useful resources professionals can share with parents, including a media resource kit, downloadable resources, and parent’s packs. More information can be found on our website: Child Safety Week 2025 – ESSCP. Locally, the three Sussex safeguarding children’s partnerships have also created this 1 page briefing on bath time safety.

Social Care Transformation Project 

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 first of which is attached with this digest.

Safer in Sussex Survey

Sussex PCC Katy Bourne has launched her annual survey seeking the views of residents across the county. The Safer In Sussex Survey seeks to understand if residents have experienced crime and looks at what measures would make them feel safer in their communities. More details can be found on our website here: Safer in Sussex Survey – ESSCP

UPDATED Sussex Safeguarding Adults Policy and Procedures

An updated version of the Sussex Safeguarding Adults Policy and Procedures has been published. The procedures are best used as an online resource, where links to relevant sections can be used, and updates are regularly made. Future updates made to the online procedures will not immediately be reflected in the PDF version. The online version can be accessed here: Sussex Safeguarding Adults Policy and Procedures (online version)

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 MisogyNOIR – inclusive safeguarding for black women and girls facing violence (virtual, 24.06.25), Working with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities (virtual, 17.06.25), Suicide Awareness – working with families with children up to 16 (virtual, 03.07.25), and Young People and Substance Misuse (classroom, 17.09.25). More details of our latest multi-agency training offer can be found on our website here: Multi-Agency Training Opportunities (April 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 National Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV) is running a free learning session for staff on ‘Understanding Protective Orders’, on Wednesday 18^th June 2025, 14:00-15:30, via MS Teams. The session will provides an overview of civil protective orders including their purpose, the legal process involved, and how they help safeguard individuals experiencing domestic abuse. Please use this link to join the meeting – https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/Understandingprotectiveorders

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 Office of the Domestic Abuse Commissioner is holding a series of webinars following the publication of her first policy report on babies, children and young people. These webinars are aimed at professionals to understand the overarching/thematic findings in the report and the recommendations that the Commissioner makes, including a call for action to create guidance, invest in specialist services and put in place training for every frontline professional who works with children, to enable child victims of domestic abuse to access the support they need, when they need it. More information can be found on our website here: Domestic Abuse Commissioner: police report on babies, children and young people WEBINAR OPPORTUNITIES – ESSCP

Local briefings and newsletters

(additional resources password is ‘ESSCPAR123’)

·      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.

·      The East Sussex Domestic Abuse, Sexual Violence/Abuse and Violence Against Women and Girls Team has produced their May information round up. This contains latest news from the sector, events, policy and legislative updates, funding opportunities, research and resources, local service information and job opportunities.

·      The East Sussex Safeguarding Adult Board has published their SAB-Monthly-Digest-May-2025. The digest includes news about national Carer’s Week (9-15 June), online training opportunities about knife crime awareness, the ‘Be Tick Aware’ toolkit, and local training offers.

·      The East Sussex Safer Communities Partnership has published their latest edition of their Safe in East Sussex Newsletter- Spring 2025. The newsletter includes information on preventing radicalisation, the White Ribbon’s Right to Respect campaign, and a video about cuckooing.

·      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

 HM Inspectorate of Probation (HMI Probation) has published a research analysis bulletin and three briefing papers exploring how transitional safeguarding is understood and applied within youth justice and probation services in England. Transitional safeguarding focuses on safeguarding adolescents transitioning to adulthood across developmental stages and the approach features six principles. The bulletin and briefings report on findings from a literature review, survey, analysis of HMI Probation data, and work with practitioners. Key recommendations include: transitional safeguarding should be embedded within existing transition protocols and inspection frameworks; relational and developmentally-informed practice should be foregrounded in policy, training and inspection; policies, protocols and training should help staff understand the safeguarding risks for young people as well as the risks they may pose to others; and youth justice and probation services should forge good local connections with education and employment routes: Transitional Safeguarding in youth justice and probation services: A scoping study – HM Inspectorate of Probation

CoramBAAF, UCL and UK Trauma Council have published a new report on improving professional mental health support for children and young people in care across England. The report outlines the mental health needs of children in care and looks at service provision. Key recommendations include: all local areas to develop a joint service delivery plan between CAMHS and children’s social care, as well as new key performance indicators, to increase knowledge and accountability; introduction of an initial mental health and wellbeing assessment, 4-6 months after entry to care; and the development of a new children’s social care mental health practitioner (CSCMP) training programme: Making the case for better mental health support for children in care | CoramBAAF

The Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel has published a new report exploring learning and improvement from serious child safeguarding incidents and the local child safeguarding practice review process in England. A review of the literature and policy review was followed by interviews with safeguarding partnerships, families and professionals. Findings include: there is minimal infrastructure to support safeguarding professionals and independent reviewers to enact a systems approach, which focuses on a deeper understanding of why professionals have acted in the way they have. The Panel sets out six priorities for change including actions for the government, safeguarding partnerships and the Panel: Child Safeguarding Learning Support and Capability Project – GOV.UK

The National Audit Office (NAO) has published a report reviewing the government’s approach to improving family court services for children in England and Wales. The report highlights concerns around the timeliness of family courts and discusses how delays in resolving cases can lead to increased risk of harm to children. The report also finds that responsibilities for family justice are dispersed across several government bodies, leading to weak accountability for overall performance and a lack of joined-up data. Recommendations include: an overall strategy for family justice improvements including clear and measurable objectives for better serving children and families; and a review of the available support for families through court proceedings: Improving family court services for children – NAO report

 The Children’s Commissioner for England has published a new report into mental health care for children. The report analyses NHS data to explore children’s access to mental health services in England during 2023-24. Findings show: demand for mental health support has increased since the previous year; anxiety was the most common primary referral reason; and there was an increase in children referred for being in crisis in 2023-24, compared with the previous year. The Commissioner is calling for early access to mental health support for children through their schools and communities; greater investment in children’s mental health services to reduce waiting times; and legislative reform to offer better protection for those under 16-years-old: Children’s mental health services 2023-24 | Children’s Commissioner for England