Date of meeting: 11 September 2025

Agencies represented:

Croydon Council Children, Young People and Education;

Croydon Health Services;

South West London Integrated Care Board (ICB);

Metropolitan Police;

Croydon Housing;

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM);

Independent Scrutineer

CSCP Business Team

Chair: June Okochi, Director of Quality – Croydon Place, Integrated Care Board (ICB)  

Young people's voices help shape safeguarding priorities across Croydon

Overview

The Croydon Safeguarding Children Partnership (CSCP) Executive Group met in September to review safeguarding performance, consider emerging risks and discuss how services can work together to improve outcomes for children and young people. A central theme of the meeting was the importance of listening to children and ensuring that their views influence decision-making across safeguarding services.

The meeting began with a presentation from the CSCP Young Scrutineer, who shared feedback gathered from young people about safety, community spaces and engagement with local services. Partners reflected on how they can strengthen participation and ensure young people feel heard, valued and involved in shaping services.

Alongside this, the Executive Group reviewed progress against the CSCP Business Plan, considered key safeguarding challenges facing partners and discussed major reform programmes, including the Family First Partnership initiative and wider changes affecting public services.

Positive work highlighted

Partners welcomed the contribution of young people to the meeting and reaffirmed their commitment to embedding the voice of children and young people throughout safeguarding practice. Discussions highlighted opportunities to increase youth participation in decision-making, scrutiny processes and service development.

The Executive Group reviewed Croydon's new safeguarding Business Plan and noted that the partnership is well placed to meet evolving national safeguarding expectations. Members highlighted the effectiveness of new reporting arrangements, improved partner engagement and stronger oversight of safeguarding activity.

Planning for the CSCP annual conference was progressing well, with a strong focus on the voice of the child and community safeguarding. The partnership was also invited to showcase its work with voluntary and community sector organisations at a London-wide safeguarding event, recognising Croydon's positive practice in this area.

Good progress was reported on the development of the Family First Partnership programme, which aims to strengthen support for families through earlier intervention, more integrated services and closer multi-agency working.

Challenges discussed

Partners considered the risks facing safeguarding services during a period of financial pressure, service transformation and increasing demand. The meeting reviewed a partnership Equalities Impact Assessment which identified shared risks across agencies and the need for continued monitoring and mitigation.

Challenges relating to staffing capacity, attendance at strategic meetings and safeguarding representation within some partnership arrangements were discussed. Members agreed that clear priorities and partnership oversight would be essential to managing these pressures effectively.

Concerns were also raised about the future provision of some specialist services supporting children and young people, particularly where increasing demand could lead to delays in accessing support. Partners agreed that these risks require ongoing attention and collaborative problem-solving.

The meeting further acknowledged emerging safeguarding issues linked to online harms, technology and the rapid pace of organisational change across public services.

Key discussion items

• Feedback from young people about safety, community spaces and engagement with local services.

• Progress against the CSCP Business Plan and safeguarding priorities for 2025–2027.

• Planning for the CSCP conference and work to strengthen the voice of the child.

• Partnership responses to violence against women and girls and other emerging safeguarding themes.

• Review of partnership risks and Equalities Impact Assessment findings.

• Development of the Family First Partnership programme and future multi-agency working arrangements.

• Updates from health, education, housing, police and social care partners on safeguarding activity.

• Emerging concerns relating to service capacity, specialist support and safeguarding demand.

  
  

Actions agreed

• Strengthen opportunities for young people to influence decision-making and service development.

• Continue reviewing and monitoring partnership risks through the Equalities Impact Assessment process.

• Increase oversight of serious violence and other emerging safeguarding concerns.

• Progress work to clarify attendance and prioritisation of key safeguarding meetings.

• Provide ongoing updates on implementation of the Family First Partnership programme.

• Support partnership learning through the CSCP conference, annual reporting and engagement activities.

  
  

Closing statement

The Executive Group reaffirmed its commitment to placing children and young people at the centre of safeguarding activity. Partners welcomed the valuable contribution of young people's voices to the discussion and recognised the importance of working together to address challenges while continuing to improve safeguarding arrangements across Croydon. The meeting concluded with a shared commitment to collaboration, learning and continuous improvement.