The government wishes to see all agencies who support vulnerable adults work more closely together in order to help prevent abuse from happening and also to be able to respond effectively when abuse is reported or suspected. Warrington Borough Council has followed the national guidance from the Department of Health (No Secrets) which gave local authorities the lead for safeguarding vulnerable adults and provided a practical framework on how to protect vulnerable people.

In Warrington, adult social services together with a number of other local agencies (including the police and the local health authority) meet regularly at Warrington's safeguarding adults board. The board's purpose is to establish agreed policies and procedures, to raise awareness in organisations and the wider community and to promote best practice.  There are a large number of organisations that work with or come into contact with vulnerable adults for a variety of different reasons. It is important therefore that all those who support vulnerable adults are aware of the signs of abuse and understand how to report their concerns or suspicions to the appropriate agencies.  The board's strategy is to seek to protect vulnerable adults using a number of different approaches.

These include:

• publicity- raising awareness of the issues and offering advise and support to vulnerable adults and/or their carers as to available help and how to obtain this
• a single referral point to which those believing that a vulnerable adult may be at risk of abuse can contact to discuss or report their concerns
• the availability of locally agreed and endorsed procedures serving as practical guidance and information to social care and health workers
• training- a programme of safeguarding adults training that is available to all partner agencies
  The board continues to increase its membership and to develop embedded partnership working with the aim of protecting vulnerable adults in Warrington.

In order to support the work of the safeguarding adults board, there are four subgroups, with specific areas of focus:

• Policy and practice/training and development
• Performance monitoring and development
• Serious case reviews
• Public awareness and media group

There is also a safeguarding adults partnership forum, a non-executive forum with a broader membership than the board. This enables members of a wide range of organisations to exchange information about safeguarding development in Warrington, debate the outputs from the board and sub groups, and to champion safeguarding within their own organisations and the wider community.

See the Related downloads section for supporting guidance and publicity material.