MyAudit PRO

What Is Section 11?

Section 11 (s.11) of the Children Act (2004) places a number of duties on a range of organisations and individuals (and the services they contract out to others) to ensure that when they go about their day to day business, they do so in a way that takes into account the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. It is important to remember that s.11 does not give organisations any new or additional functions, nor does it override their existing functions. Rather, it outlines the need to have in place safe systems and safe processes; for example by ensuring safe recruitment of staff, by providing appropriate training and by having up to date policies which all staff know how to access.

Who does s.11 apply to?

Compliance with s.11 is a statutory requirement for the following:

• Local authorities

• NHS organisations include the NHS Commissioning Board 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 and

• 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.

 

PROBLEM: How does your Local Safeguarding Children's Board know if organisations are fulfilling their statutory obligations under s.11?

Working Together to Safeguard Children (2015) requires LSCBs to gather data to assess whether partners are meeting their statutory obligations. 

 

In most boroughs compliance with s.11 is monitored using a self-assessment toolkits. But how do the overseeing bodies seek assurances on the validity of these self-declarations? Simply issuing such toolkits cannot provide these assurances, particularly when there is not always a high return rate. This practice is therefore not demonstrative of organisations fulfilling their duty under s.11.

 

SOLUTION: MyAudit PRO has created a system that allows partners to submit evidence of their self-declarations using an online tool which, at the touch of a button:

 

1) provides the option for partners to upload evidence to support self-declarations, reducing the need for follow-up visits 

2) instantly identifies areas of non-compliance to target further support and training needs

3) produces an Action Plan for the partner and reviewer which can be monitored via the MyAudit PRO Dashboard, with real time updates as actions are completed  

4) ensures that reviewing bodies are fulfilling their statutory duty to "gather data to assess whether partners are meeting their statutory obligations" achieved with minimal effort 

5) saves several hours of time consuming and labour intensive analysis, freeing up valuable time for essential follow up work 

 

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Call MyAudit PRO team now to see how much time and money we could save you.