Under Working Together 2023, when a child dies or is seriously harmed* in circumstances where abuse or neglect are known or suspected (i.e. is a serious child safeguarding case), Local Safeguarding Children Partnerships/Boards are required to consider whether a Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR) is appropriate and to consider the involvement of organisations and professionals with the child and family. In order to do this, a rapid review must be carried out within 15 days of the notification of the serious child safeguarding case to the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel.
*Serious harm is defined as serious or long-term impairment of a child’s mental health or intellectual, emotional social or behavioural development, as well as impairment of physical health.
ESCB commission the Essex County Council QASS to carry out MACA and MATA reviews on their behalf. These can take the form of either a Multi-Agency Case Audit (MACA) or a Multi-Agency Thematic Audit (MATA). All audit activity is reviewed by a Sub-Committee of the Executive Board. All key agencies across Essex provide dedicated ‘Audit Co-ordinators’ to support in the delivery of the MACA & MATA programme. MAAs inform multi-agency practice development and strengthen multi-agency networks as well as enabling practitioners to reflect on practice and learn from others experience.
Multi-Agency Case Audits (MACAs) involve a range of key agencies taking a forensic look at the effectiveness of multi-agency working in relation to a single case using bespoke audit tools/approaches to support this practice evaluation activity. Once this activity is completed, involved professionals/agencies come together at a MACA discussion to share observations drawn from their related audit activity and to hear the reflections of their partner agencies and learn from each other.
Multi-Agency Thematic Audits (MATAs) can involve a range of quality assurance activities such as focus groups, policy & procedural reviews, related aggregated learning and bespoke audits to form a view about the effectiveness of multi-agency working where there is common practice feature, for example Parental Mental Health or Neglect. Once this activity is completed, involved professionals/agencies come together at a MATA discussion, to draw out cross cutting practice themes which agencies can learn from.