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Introduction
Effective multi-agency working and the timely sharing of information are essential when there are concerns of child sexual abuse: No single practitioner or organisations has a complete picture of a child’s circumstances, so collaboration ensures that risks are fully understood, safeguarding decisions are well-informed, and interventions are coordinated to protect the child and support the family.
When concerns of child sexual abuse arise, a wide range of practitioners and organisations may hold information that is relevant to understanding the child’s circumstances and assessing risk. Each service has different responsibilities, areas of expertise, and types of contact with children, families, and people of concern.
Click on the headings below to view tables summarising some key roles across organisations: this will help you understand who may be involved, what they do, and the kind of information they might hold that can contribute to a multi-agency assessment.
You can also download these tables as a Word document, on which you can record the names of the people in these roles locally. You can also adapt the tables to include other relevant roles, teams and contact points within your local/regional safeguarding partnership.
| Role | Brief desciption |
|---|---|
| Safeguarding partnership business manager | Manages the operational delivery of the partnership’s priorities; coordinates meetings, audits, and learning events; and maintains cross-agency communication. |
| Partner agency leads (police, health, education, social care, probation, voluntary sector) | Senior representatives responsible for ensuring that their organisations comply with safeguarding requirements, share information appropriately, and contribute to strategy, reviews and learning. |
| Independent chair/scrutineer | Provides independent leadership, oversight, and challenge of multi-agency safeguarding arrangements. Ensures that statutory guidance is followed, learning from reviews is implemented, and agencies are held accountable. |
| Subgroup/thematic leads (e.g. training, child sexual abuse, case review) | Lead on specific safeguarding priorities; hold records of work plans, training, audits, and lessons learned. |
| Role | Brief description |
|---|---|
| Front door/Referral and assessment team (MASH) | Handles initial contacts and referrals; holds information on allegations, early risk assessments and notifications from practitioners or the public. |
| Child in Need (CIN) social worker | Supports children needing additional help but not on a child protection plan; holds early help plans, family support interventions, and engagement notes. |
| Assessment/child protection social worker | Undertakes detailed investigations following referral; holds case records, family history, risk assessments, and ongoing safeguarding concerns. |
| Child protection (CP) social worker | Manages children subject to child protection plans; holds detailed risk assessments, safety plans and multi-agency meeting records. |
| Looked after children/Fostering and adoption social worker | Supports children in care or on adoption pathways; holds placement history, wellbeing records, and safeguarding arrangements. |
| Supervising social worker (foster/kinship carer) | Supports carers and monitors placements; holds information on daily care, behaviour, and emerging concerns. |
| Family Help worker | Provides targeted early interventions; holds information on family engagement, strengths, and identified risks. |
| Disabled children’s teams | Provide specialist support and safeguarding oversight for children with disabilities; hold information on care needs, health, education, family support and risk management. |
| Specialist teams | Work with children with complex needs or at risk of sexual exploitation; hold specialist assessments, intervention plans and risk monitoring. |
| Team or service manager | Oversees social work teams; ensures quality of assessments, statutory compliance, and may hold oversight records. |
| Role | Brief description |
|---|---|
| Named/designated doctor for safeguarding | Provides expert clinical advice on safeguarding children; holds complex case information; advises health staff; contributes to serious case reviews and audits. |
| Named/designated nurse for safeguarding | Provides professional leadership for safeguarding across health services; oversees cases, offers guidance, ensures policy compliance, and coordinates multi-agency activity. |
| Midwife | Provides care during pregnancy, birth, and postnatal period; holds information on maternal and infant health, family support, and the home environment; may identify safeguarding concerns (e.g. domestic abuse, substance misuse). |
| Health visitor | Holds health and development information, parental capacity insights, and observations of home environment and family wellbeing. |
| School nurse | Provides health services to children in school or community settings; holds information on health assessments, emotional wellbeing, mental health, chronic conditions, safeguarding concerns, and referrals to specialist services. |
| Sexual health nurse or practitioner | Provides sexual and reproductive health services; holds information on sexual health concerns, risk behaviours, disclosures of abuse or exploitation, and referrals to safeguarding or specialist services. |
| GP/practice nurse | Holds medical history for both the child and their parent(s), covering physical and mental health, trauma, substance use, and developmental concerns. |
| SARC paediatrician/forensic Examiner | Carries out holistic child sexual abuse medical assessments; holds information about physical findings, injuries, and health needs. |
| Mental health clinician/psychologist | Holds information about the child’s emotional and psychological wellbeing, trauma symptoms, and family dynamics. |
| Psychiatrist/mental health practitioner | Holds information on parental mental health, treatment, or diagnoses relevant to parenting capacity or risk. |
| Role | Brief description |
|---|---|
| Senior management team (SMT) – headteacher, deputy, nursery manager | Oversees safeguarding processes, ensures policy implementation, and may hold high-level records of safeguarding decision-making. |
| Designated Safeguarding Lead/Person (DSL/DSP) | Holds day-to-day information about the child’s behaviour, attendance, relationships, presentation, and any disclosures. |
| Educational psychologist/Special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) | Holds information about the child’s learning needs, behaviour and emotional development, relevant to understanding vulnerabilities. |
| Welfare/pastoral roles (school counsellor, pastoral care, welfare officer, attendance officer, home education lead) | Provide emotional, psychological, or practical support; hold records on wellbeing, attendance, and support plans. |
| Role | Brief description |
|---|---|
| Youth worker | Engages with young people in community settings; may identify vulnerabilities, peer exploitation, or disclosure. |
| Family Hub/Children’s Centre worker | Provides early family support and parenting services; holds information on family functioning and engagement. |
| Faith leader/youth minister | Provides pastoral care; may hold insights into family relationships or community concerns. |
| Sports coach/sports club welfare officer | Observes child behaviour and peer interactions; may hold records of particular concerns or incidents. |
| Voluntary organisation staff and volunteers (e.g. Scouts leader, after-school club worker) | Holds attendance and welfare records; may observe early indicators of harm. |
| Neighbourhood/housing officer | Holds information about household composition, tenancy issues, and community concerns impacting child safety. |
| Refuge/domestic abuse services worker | Holds information about parental safety, trauma, and risk management related to domestic abuse. |
| Substance misuse worker | Holds information about drug or alcohol use, treatment engagement, and related risks to parenting or supervision. |
| Independent domestic violence advisor (IDVA)/support worker | Holds information on current or historical domestic abuse, risk levels, safety plans, and protective factors. |
| Family support worker/counsellor | May hold information about family engagement, social support, and informal networks that influence protection and resilience. |
| Role | Brief description |
|---|---|
| Child protection officer/detective | Investigates allegations of child abuse, including sexual abuse; holds information about criminal investigations, statements, evidence, and risk assessments. |
| Detective constable/investigator | Leads operational investigations into cases of child sexual abuse; collects evidence; interviews victims and witnesses; holds investigative records. |
| Senior investigating officer (SIO) | Oversees serious or complex child protection investigations; holds strategic oversight of cases, risk management, and coordination with multi-agency partners. |
| Safeguarding officer/Child Abuse Investigation Team (CAIT) officer | Monitors safeguarding concerns locally; holds intelligence about individuals posing a risk, previous reports, and concerns from the community. |
| Intelligence analyst | Collects and analyses information related to potential or ongoing child sexual abuse concerns; may hold data on suspects, locations, or patterns of abuse. |
| Role | Brief description |
|---|---|
| Probation officer/offender manager | Holds information about adult offenders, licence conditions, risk assessments, and compliance with safeguarding restrictions. |
| Role | Brief description |
|---|---|
| Case manager | Holds information about young people involved in offending or at risk of offending, including interventions and family context. |
| Role | Brief description |
|---|---|
| Family court advisor/guardian | May hold assessments of parental capacity and the child’s wishes and feelings in the context of family court proceedings. |
| Role | Brief description |
|---|---|
| Link person/safeguarding liaison officer/key worker/case worker | Acts as the primary contact between the prison and external safeguarding partners; holds information on offenders’ risk to children, previous convictions, behaviour in custody, licence conditions, and compliance with safeguarding measures; provides timely updates to social care, police and other agencies as required. |
| Role | Brief description |
|---|---|
| Chair of MAPPA | Responsible for leading and coordinating multi‑agency meetings which manage high‑risk offenders in the community. |