WIREDGOV

A legal obligation to report any child or adult believed to be at risk of abuse or neglect will be implemented in Wales in 2016, Health and Social Services Minister Mark Drakeford recently announced.

The new powers are being implemented as part of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, which received Royal Assent on 1 May 2014, and forms the basis for a new statutory framework for care and support in Wales.  

The proposals, which will reform existing arrangements for children and introduce new arrangements for adults at risk, include:

• The strengthening of arrangements for children at risk: these arrangements will ensure that local authorities are made aware of children at risk by introducing a new duty to report on a range of key partners including the police, providers of probation services, local health boards, NHS trusts and Youth Offending Teams. 
• New legislation to protect adults at risk, including a duty to report and enquire: adults at risk will be better safeguarded by a combination of a new duty on relevant partners to report suspected cases of adults at risk and a complementary duty for the local authority to make enquiries into whether that adult is at risk and if any action needs to be taken in response.”.
• A new Adult Protection and Support Order: this supports professionals to be able to gain access to premises in order to determine whether an adult alleged to be at risk is making decisions freely and if any action is required. 
• New structures for Safeguarding Boards: this will see the previous statutory Local Safeguarding Children Boards and non-statutory Area Adult Protection Committees operating in the 22 individual local authority areas re-established on the public services footprint. They will become six Safeguarding Children Boards and six Safeguarding Adults Boards.
• A National Independent Safeguarding Board: this will enable Welsh Ministers to commission and secure an overview of safeguarding in Wales, underpinned by evidence based recommendations for improvement. The National Board will also give advice and support to Safeguarding Boards with a view to securing improvement and increasing consistency in Wales.

The new powers will be in place for April 2016, when the Act will be implemented.

Health and Social Services Minister, Mark Drakeford said:

“These new powers are designed to strengthen the arrangements we have in place to protect the most at-risk and vulnerable children and adults in Wales.

“The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 creates a new legal system for social services. It creates a framework that brings together and modernises the law for social services in Wales, increasing the emphasis on preventative action, bringing people closer to decisions about the services that affect them, and addressing the challenges of economic and demographic change.

“The Act will help ensure that local safeguarding partners are supported by more robust leadership and a stronger, more effective framework for multi-agency co-operation.”

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