Multi-Agency Risk Management

Fundamental to safeguarding adults is identifying, managing and removing where possible the risks that they are exposed to.  This is central to safeguarding enquiries for those cases that meet criteria under Section 42 of the Care Act 2014.

For those cases that don’t, but there are still safeguarding concerns at a lower level, multi-agency working is important in order to offer support to safeguard the individual and prevent risks from escalating.  Examples could include individuals experiencing complex self-neglect, including hoarding or fire risk, those which services have not been able to engage effectively with, and individuals at potential risk of exploitation, such as cukooing (home invasion).

It has been recognised in recent Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs), commissioned by the Redbridge Safeguarding Adult Board (RSAB),  and in line with good practice identified elsewhere in the country, that benefit would be gained from approaching this in a more structured and coordinated way, via an agreed ‘framework’ or ‘protocol’ to enable timely and effective information sharing and jointly planned actions from a range of professionals and agencies, working with the adult at the centre in a trauma informed way.

Plans are underway for the development of a Multi-Agency Risk Management (MARM) Framework in Redbridge.  This will provide a basis for working when concerns falls outside of statutory safeguarding duties or when an individual doesn’t meet service eligibility criteria.  The MARM will consist of an approach, which can be initiated by any professional working with the individual, leading to the use of a risk assessment tool, a multi-disciplinary meeting and a resulting action plan.  This work will be founded on the principles of Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP), with a person-centred approach, focusing on prevention and early intervention, rather than incident and crisis responding, and fundamentally shared responsibility and accountability between agencies.  It does not replace any statutory processes under the Care Act.

The work to establish a MARM in 2026 is being led by the Redbridge Adults Operational Board, reporting to the Improvement Board, which is responsible for the implementation of the agreed Improvement Plan, developed following the CQC Inspection in 2025.  Development of the MARM Framework sits under Workstream 1:  Safety and Residents’ Experience (Action Reference 1.2.6b).

For further information on progress with this development, which will be under pinned by consultation and co-production with service users, families and front professionals, please contact RSAB@redbridge.gov.uk .