About Us
Working Together to Safeguard Children
There is a shared and collective responsibility between organisations and agencies to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in Gateshead. Responsibility for this joined up approach locally rests with three Safeguarding Partners who have a shared and equal duty to have in place robust arrangements to work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in Gateshead.
We are led by the three statutory Safeguarding Partners (Childrens Services, Police and Health) and work is coordinated by the business unit. Our work is supported by many local organisations that work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and their families in Gateshead.
Working together to safeguard children 2026 requires that the Safeguarding Partners publish arrangements to work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of local children.
Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements
Gateshead’s Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements for Children and Young People sets out how the Safeguarding Partners will work together, and with other agencies, to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in Gateshead.
What children say is important to them
The voice of the child is at the heart of our multi-agency safeguarding arrangements. Our partnership includes services and organisations who work directly with children and young people in Gateshead. We make use of their existing systems to gather the views of children and families and we are reviewing our engagement processes, policies to make sure that all children and young people can be heard.
We know from Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 that children are clear about what they need from an effective safeguarding system:
- Vigilance – to have adults notice when things are troubling them
- Understanding and action – to understand what is happening; to be heard and understood; and to have that understanding acted upon
- Stability – to be able to develop an ongoing stable relationship of trust with those helping them
- Respect – to be treated with the expectation that they are competent rather than not
- Information and Engagement – to be informed about, and involved in procedures, decisions, concerns and plans
- Explanation – to be informed of the outcome of assessments, and decisions and reasons when their views have not met with a positive
response - Support – to be provided with support in their own right as well as a member of their family
- Advocacy – to be provided with advocacy to assist them in putting forward their views
- Protection – to be protected against all forms of abuse, exploitation and discrimination, and the right to special protection and help if a
refugee
Child Death Review Arrangements
The purpose of a child death review is to help prevent further such child deaths. Families may find it helpful to read ‘When a child dies: A guide for parents and carers’.
The responsibility for ensuring child death reviews are carried out is held by the “child death review partners”, who, in relation to a local authority area in England, are defined as the local authority (LA) for that area and any clinical commissioning groups (ICB) operating in the LA area.
Chapter 5 of Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 sets out the statutory responsibilities for child death review (CDR) partners.
The CDR partners must make arrangements to carry out child death reviews and these arrangements should result in the establishment of a Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) or equivalent, to review the deaths of all children normally resident in the relevant local authority area, and if they consider it appropriate, the deaths in that area of non-resident children. The CDOP should cover a geographical footprint that enables it to typically review at least 60 child deaths per year.
In order to comply with the statutory guidance the CDR partners for the local authority areas in Tyne and Wear plus Northumberland agreed to establish one CDOP to cover their combined geographical footprint:
This CDOP, known as the North and South of Tyne CDOP, will typically review at least 60 deaths per year which will better enable thematic learning in order to identify potential safeguarding or local health issues that could be modified in order to protect children from harm and, ultimately, save lives.
The CDOP will carry out its functions mindful of the potential impact upon the bereaved family and in accordance with the CDR Statutory Guidance. The CDOP is the final assurance point once all multi-agency information has been collected, collated and analysed at a local level via the Child Death Review Meeting and professionals who have known the child and family, including the key worker.
The CDOP Annual Report can be accessed here CDOP annual report 2024-25.