Purpose of Professional Challenge
The purpose professional challenge process is to establish processes to ensure a culture which promotes professional challenge is embedded across all agencies.
When working in the arena of safeguarding and child protection, it is inevitable that from time to time, there will be practitioner disagreement. Whilst this is understandable and generally acceptable, it is vital that such differences do not affect the outcomes for children and young people. This procedure provides a process for resolving practitioner disagreements and ensuring there is effective challenge in the system. It also provides practitioners with advice and support to enable them to escalate concerns where disagreements are not resolved at a practitioner level.
Professional challenge is a positive activity and a sign of good practice and effective multi-agency working. Being professionally challenged should not be seen as a criticism of the person’s professional capabilities.
Both national and local Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (CSPRs) continue to draw attention to the importance of interagency communication and have identified an apparent reluctance to challenge interagency decision making with concerns that were not followed up with robust professional challenge which may have altered the professional response and the outcome for the child.
Disagreements can arise in a number of areas of multi-agency working such as:
- thresholds applications
- outcomes of assessments
- decision making; roles and responsibilities of workers
- service provision
- information sharing and communication in relation to practice or actions which may not effectively ensure the safety or well-being of a child or young person or his/her family
Professional challenge and critical reflection about the focus and intended outcome of intervention should include questioning and being open to professional challenge from colleagues, as well as being confident to challenge others.
Many professional challenges will be resolved on an informal basis by contact between the practitioner raising the challenge (or their manager) and the agency receiving the challenge and will end there.
Professional challenge is about challenging decisions, practice or actions which may not effectively ensure the safety or well-being of a child or young person or his/her family.
At no time must professional disagreement detract from ensuring that the child or young person is safeguarded. Any unresolved issues should be escalated with due consideration that might exist for the child. Every effort should be made to resolve the disagreement as quickly and openly as possible, within a time frame which clearly protects the child, determined on a case by case basis. Effective working together depends on resolving disagreements to the satisfaction of practitioners and agencies and a belief in a genuine partnership.
How should a practitioner make a challenge?
Concerned practitioner to speak to person who made original decision to express their view and discuss the basis of the decision. Record reason why to you do not agree and record reason for disagreement on case management file.
If the issue cannot be resolved at Stage 1 it should be raised with respective managers/named practitioner /designated safeguarding lead.
If manager deems appropriate, arrange an interagency meeting to discuss differing views. Agreement should be reached on who should attend. A clear record of the agreed outcome and any outstanding issues should be made.
If the issue cannot be resolved in Stage 3 the professional raising the concern should escalate to their Head of Service who will contact the relevant agency's Head of Service to attempt to resolve. With a decision to be reached as soon as possible ensuring the interest of the child taking precedent over professional stalemate.
If resolution cannot be found at Stage 4 the relevant Head of Service for the agency raising concern should raise the issue with the Statutory Safeguarding Partners/Chair of Darlington Safeguarding Partnership who will make the ultimate decision on the next course of action.
Threshold for reporting
The threshold for reporting professional challenge to DSP is when it becomes necessary to move to stage 5 above, because the issue cannot be resolved at stages 1 - 4.
To monitor the use of this procedure the following information should be provided to DSP Business Unit by the Named Person for the agency which raised the challenge:
- what was the challenge?
- what was done to address the challenge?
- what was the outcome of these actions?
- how was the issue resolved?
- are practitioners involved satisfied with the outcome?
- if resolution could not be achieved was the issue referred to the Darlington Safeguarding Partnership?
The areas of challenge, the use of this procedure and the outcomes will be reported to the Darlington Safeguarding Partnership and subsequently reported to the Statutory Safeguarding Partners (with equal and joint responsibility for safeguarding children) on a six monthly basis. Statistical information about professional challenge and the use of this procedure to address professional challenges will be reported in the Safeguarding Partnership Annual Report. The procedure will be reviewed in light of any feedback provided to the Darlington Safeguarding Partnership.
Further information is available in the Professional Challenge Procedure [PDF document]