Issue details

In 2018, Greater Manchester Combined Authority led a successful c. £1.2m funding application to the Home Office to enhance the complex safeguarding offer across Greater Manchester, by embedding psychologists/psychotherapists into multi-agency complex safeguarding teams in each of the ten districts of GM.

The service is provided by Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust on behalf of the four GM NHS mental health trusts. This collaboration between the four trusts mirrors the arrangement in the GM Resilience Hub, set up to provide advice and support to people affected by the Manchester Arena terrorist attack.

The first psychologists commenced work in four complex safeguarding teams in January 2019 and was rolled out to the remainder of GM in line with the move towards multi-agency, complex safeguarding teams in each of the ten GM districts.

The role of the psychologist is to:

• Improve the understanding, knowledge and expertise of a range of frontline practitioners in the subject of trauma and therapeutic approaches to recovery.
• Add value to the assessments and interventions delivered by key workers (including social workers) so that they are informed by therapeutic approaches to trauma recovery.
• Embed case formulation into the practice of complex safeguarding teams, to make sense of young people’s difficulties in the context of their relationships, social circumstances and life events.
• Undertake reflective supervision either individually or with groups of professionals, to support them with the challenging work that they are undertaking.

This programme is funded as a contract between GMCA & Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust via the following funding streams:

• NHS Integrated Care GM agreed to commit £25,000 per annum for three years from April 2022 which is paid directly to Pennine Care from NHS Integrated Care GM (not via GMCA)
• The 10 GM Local Authority Directors of Childrens Services (DCS) supplement this via a contribution from their own budget of £10,000 per annum, per district for the same period. The DCS contributions are paid centrally to GMCA form the 10 GM Local Authorities.
• The Deputy Mayor of GM supplents this via a contribution of £10,000 per annum from the Deputy Mayor’s Investment Fund for the same period