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Making Safeguarding Personal

Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) means safeguarding adults should be person-led and aim to develop an outcomes focus to safeguarding work.  It engages the person in a conversation about how best to respond and improve or resolve their safeguarding situation in a way that enhances involvement, choice and control as well as improving quality of life, wellbeing and their safety.

Making Safeguarding Personal is an approach brought into the Care and Support Statutory Guidance [external link] in addition to the six underpinning principles, that recognises that safeguarding is about the individual. 

Making Safeguarding Personal toolkit 

The Local Government Association has produced a Making Safeguarding Personal toolkit, handbook and guides with a range of helpful tools and practice-based case examples.

Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) Local Government Association toolkit [external link]

Questions that would put the adult and their views and wishes at the centre of the discussion could include:

  • 'Do you feel safe?'
  • 'What does being safe mean to you?'
  • 'What will help you to feel safer?'
  • 'What would you like to happen next?'
  • 'How can we best make that happen?'

Making Safeguarding Personal is an approach to safeguarding for everyone, regardless of mental capacity or anything else. We can use advocates, and we can ask people who know the person what they might have wanted or preferred, and get an idea of what outcomes they would have wanted.

Advocacy Service

Some adults may find it more difficult and face more barriers to having their voice heard when decisions are being made that affect their lives.

An advocate can support the person to consider their options, views and wishes and where needed ensure their views are expressed and heard, they can provide support to challenge or complain about a decision. An advocate can also support a person to prepare and attend meetings.

Further details about Advocacy services in Darlington are available on Darlington Borough Council Website [external link].