Section 11 Audit
Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 places duties on a range of organisations and individuals to ensure their functions, and any services that they contract out to others, are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children means:
- Protecting children from maltreatment
- Preventing impairment of children’s health and/or development
- Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe effective care
- Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
Who does Section 11 apply to?
Compliance with s.11 is a statutory requirement for the following:
- Local Authorities
- NHS organisations include NHS England and Clinical Commissioning Groups, NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts.
- The Police
- British Transport Police
- Probation Service
- Governors / Directors of Prisons and Young Offender Institutes
- Directors of Secure Training Centres
- Principles of Secure Colleges
- Youth Offending Services
Organisations that are commissioned to provide a service on behalf of one of the agencies listed above should also be compliant with Section 11.
How will completing the Section 11 benefit your organisation?
- A completed section 11 provides evidence 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 KSCP and understands it’s roles and responsibilities.
- Demonstrates compliance with relevant legislation e.g. Working Together 2015, Keeping Children Safe in Education 2015, Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework.
- Provides evidence of reflective practice.
- Feeds into development/improvement work for your organisation.
- Identifies good practice and areas for development within your organisation
Whose responsibility is it to complete the Section 11 Audit?
It is your organisations responsibility to complete a section 11 audit. An appropriate member of staff should have a high level awareness of the service including in depth knowledge of contracts that are out to other organisations to deliver. The actual completion of the audit may be a small team effort but should be submitted by one member of staff on behalf of the organisation.
Why we require you to complete a Section 11 Audit
- Provides an understanding of the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements and of joint working to protect the children and young people of Dudley.
- Enables future training and support for the Partnership to be planned.
- Enable organisations to give evidence of their understanding of safeguarding responsibilities by grading against quality standards model answers