The Wirral Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board Business Manager introduced the report of the Director of Care and Health which updated the Committee on the work of the Wirral Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board (WSAPB) and presented the last annual report of the Merseyside Safeguarding Adults Board.

The Merseyside Safeguarding Adults Board started in 2017 and was a collaboration between Wirral, Liverpool, Sefton and Knowsley. Following a peer review in January 2020 it was decided that the Board would go back to local arrangements.

In response to a query regarding whether recruitment of Social Workers would affect the WSAPB’s strategy it was outlined that the WSAPB had a responsibility to assure itself appropriate arrangements were in place to ensure people were being safeguarded but didn’t take any direct responsibility. This meant that individual services would have their own strategies and work plans.

Members noted that the data showed Wirral’s safeguarding concerns were considerably higher than other authorities, it was clarified that the Merseyside Safeguarding Adults Board had identified that Wirral were processing all items as safeguarding concerns and that nationally Wirral was not an outlier.

Resolved – That the final annual report of the Merseyside Safeguarding Adults Board and the update report in relation to the work of the Wirral Safeguarding Adults Partnership Board be noted.