Multi Agency Safeguarding Tracker
Developed by Policy in Practice
WHY MAST?
Information sharing has consistently been a central issue in child protection and adult safeguarding practice, highlighted by numerous historical reviews and recommendations over the past fifty years. These reviews and more recent reports by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel and National Independent Safeguarding Board have repeatedly identified failures in multi-agency communication as critical factors in cases of child abuse and neglect.
Effective safeguarding relies on professionals from different agencies sharing relevant information promptly and accurately, but this can only be achieved if they are aware of the involvement of other agencies or that others have previously worked with a child, adult and/or their family.
There is an argument that says that efforts to solve the information-sharing conundrum to date have been misplaced, which may be one reason why this conundrum has bedevilled practice for so long. Review after review has simply failed to get underneath this issue. Or, as some may prefer, a steady stream of reviews has failed to elicit a simple root cause: interactions.
When practitioners across the multi-agency landscape know that children and adults are interacting with the many multiple and disparate systems, then seldom does information-sharing become a shared issue. It is not knowing how an individual interacts with the multiple systems that impedes information sharing. There is also the assumption that practitioners even know of the multiple and disparate systems in existence that capture interactions. To understand how individuals interact across these systems is critical – to expedite safeguarding enquiries, identify potential grooming gangs etc. It is highly unlikely that all agencies will ever be on one IT system so the system needs a digital solution, and MAST has been specifically developed to address this critical issue. MAST illuminates interactions and in doing so, paves the way to more effective decision-making and, one hopes, banishes the information-sharing conundrum to the historical archives.
WHAT IS MAST?
The Multi Agency Safeguarding Tracker (MAST) is a data driven solution that allows all partners with mandatory responsibility for safeguarding to securely share headline data, underpinned by a documented information governance structure.
MAST is not a system to trigger or create referrals, but is designed to offer real time sight across partner safeguarding activity and support decision making. MAST holds and presents matched headline information from across the safeguarding partners. This data – updated daily – covers the last 12 months and gives a view of activity and interventions based on address and/or related to an individual.
Whilst only the last 12 months of data is actively displayed, MAST holds three years of data to allow for trend analysis and research work, as well as to help evidence the impact of interventions.
MAST also offers a way in which to be proactively alerted when activity happens with an open case (person or address), helping partners move to a more pro-active and preventative space.
MAIN OBJECTIVES
To provide a single digital platform through which partners can share, query and retrieve critical interaction information to support safeguarding decisions effectively and efficiently
Speed up lateral checks at the start of a case to identify which partners to contact (relevant contact details are included in MAST) to understand whether to open a case or NFA
Better inform actions & escalations on open safeguarding cases and inform case closures
To reduce pressure on front line services
To support the triage of backlogged cases to prioritise those most in need or where events might be escalating
Identify high frequency people or households for more targeted support
Better support MASHs, MARACs (and/or relevant local safeguarding hubs), as well as JTAIs and address the reference in many/most serious case reviews to the lack of (timely) data sharing
Track outcomes and evidence the impact of safeguarding plans
Enable a shift towards a more preventative safeguarding approach across the region
Improve relationships and knowledge within the system to support people and the wider community more effectively, and use collective safeguarding powers more effectively
Help guide partners around referring a case or not, or confirm if one is open – also to show if someone is known to an agency
Improve trend identification and analysis
Support national work around Missing Persons, Operation Encompass, County Lines etc
Improve audit logs and access to date to support case reviews, complaints, internal reporting and other procedures
MULTI AGENCY SAFEGUARDING TRACKER (MAST) BACKGROUND
MAST was originally funded by NHS Digital via the Local Government Association and core safeguarding partners from across the West Midlands, as part of the Social Care Digital Innovation Accelerator 2020/21.
It is a unique solution, co-funded and co-designed by public sector safeguarding colleagues, specifically to address the perennial challenge of timely, accurate, information sharing.
MAST is underpinned by a robust information governance structure, which allows headline data (no case detail) to be brought together from key safeguarding partners. This data – updated daily and automatically from core systems – is cleaned and matched within MAST, and covers the last 12 months.
The searchable interface gives safeguarding professionals a chronological view of activity and interventions based on address and/or related to an individual. MAST is fully audited and is not a system to trigger or create referrals, but designed to offer real time sight across partner safeguarding activity and support both speeding up contact and decision making.
WEST MIDLANDS MAST
The West Midlands MAST is live and safeguarding professionals from across the partnership are using it to support referrals, lateral checks, ascertain the chronology of interactions with both people and their addresses, help understand family composition and find the contact details of colleagues at each organisation to have a more informed, direct conversation.
Partners include Walsall Council (Adults & Children), West Midlands Police, West Midlands Fire & Rescue and colleagues from the NHS. Each partner organisation holds their safeguarding case data within local systems, with the key headline information now proactively imported into the West Midlands MAST on a daily basis.
The West Midlands MAST (WM-MAST) is the start of the information sharing process that will bring a raft of benefits, and – we hope – widen out across the region. With other safeguarding partners from the region joining the WM-MAST, their data will automatically be matched to the existing partner data to ensure that families who are moving in the WM are supported, people who are seen out of area are known, and offer the ability to securely share key information – all in line with GDPR – to support safeguarding of vulnerable children, adults and families.
WEST GLAMORGAN MAST
In 2021 the West Glamorgan Safeguarding Board commissioned a MAST proof of concept (POC), which saw data from key safeguarding partners brought together in one cloud based, searchable solution to understand the value, power and potential MAST could offer safeguarding professionals.
Information governance documents were rigorously reviewed and brought in line with Welsh law. Documents signed include a Data Sharing Agreement, a Data Processing Agreement between partners and the technical partner Policy in Practice, as well as a Safeguarding Partnership Memorandum of Understanding.
In addition to the data matching evidence, the POC proved that, “It is clear that having immediate access to the latest information will be able to reduce information sharing requests, identify where a person is known to other agencies, give sight to family composition and critically the detail of the safeguarding lead at each organisation.”
The West Glamorgan MAST has been operational for nearly a year now, and a comprehensive evaluation has been undertaken into the impact the solution – which houses over half a million data records – is having on safeguarding practice.
Clear benefits have been identified across lateral checks and information sharing, reduced referrals and unnecessary processing, Looked after Children, contextual safeguarding, Risk Outside the Home (ROtH), understanding the family composition, a decrease in mis-classification, review and panels, increased professional confidence, improved inter-agency communication and significant savings in terms of crisis avoidance. The evaluation report is fully costed and available on request.
“What MAST contributes to this congested system space is the digital means to interface individual agency systems, preserving matters pertaining to information governance, to draw out key demographic data and touch points to better identify those in need and at risk.”
WHY CHOOSE MAST?
MAST is a secure cloud based, standalone system developed by Policy in Practice and hosted on Amazon Web Services (in the UK), which brings together basic interaction information from multiple safeguarding partners into a single queryable platform.
There is no double data entry, MAST uses an extract from your backend systems – securely shared via SFTP. Once the data is on your core system the automatic data extract will capture the required fields and automatically bring it into MAST for cleansing and matching.
MAST offers single sign-on and is available via mobile (to support officers in the field), as well as in an office environment. System access is controlled by an admin user, meaning that partners can autonomously manage user set up and amendment, so are able to control who they allow access to. Every time a person logs into the system they confirm the legal gateway they are using and the system keeps detailed audit logs on system users, searches, and access.
RECOGNITION FOR MAST
TECHNICAL PARTNER
Policy in Practice is a socially-minded software company that works with councils, government, housing and community organisations to target and improve welfare support and public services. Combining cutting-edge technology, insightful data and expert analysis, Policy in Practice helps organisations to understand what’s working, what can be improved, and how.
