Brent Council's Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee has reviewed the safeguarding data needs of the borough, with a particular focus on the annual reports from the Brent Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB).
The committee heard that the SAB has completed its strategic plan for 2024-2026, focusing on self-neglect, housing need, and substance misuse. Key achievements included the development of a Self-Neglect Toolkit and improved governance. The Brent Safeguarding Adults Board has improved governance through the Performance & Audit subgroup,
which look[s] at the performance and look[s] at undertaking multi-agency audits if we find gaps in the data.
The Board has also revamped and how how we look at referrals for safeguarding adults reviews what happens when we commission a review and how we publicize them and then how we take the learning forward.
Additionally, the Board has moved towards a task and finish
approach when it comes to addressing review actions, which has helped to expedite work around learning and partners have initially fed back that it has helped to keep them more accountable in seeing recommendations through.
A new strategic plan for 2026-2028 has been approved, with priorities including safeguarding adults with complex care and support needs, such as mental health and homelessness linked to safeguarding, and the prevention of harm. The new plan will be underpinned by three golden threads
: community engagement, the digital world, and an effective workforce. The Board will seek assurance on how members work with people with care and support needs to undertake risk assessments and safety planning & work with those who seem 'hard to reach'
and will gain assurance through monitoring the deaths of those living on the streets, through the mortality panel report.
Furthermore, the Board expects the multiagency partnership to develop a Suicide Prevention Strategy and Plan, will seek assurance about the work being done to prevent suicides
and will promote suicide awareness training for the workforce and agencies will be required to report on the impact of the training in supporting staff to talk to people with suicidal intent.
Councillors raised concerns about the lack of baseline data in the SAB report to measure progress. A primary challenge identified in collecting this data is the absence of LGBTQ+ referrals recorded within Adult Social Care (ASC) data,
low levels of modern slavery referrals,
and a referral-to-enquiry conversion rate within ASC of approximately 25– 30%.
There is also a lack of data availlable to the Board around suicides in Brent and what prevention policies are in place.
The report notes that we didn't want to have a multi agency dashboard because we'll be here forever trying to develop it because we all collect data differently and and the data isn't the boards. It belongs to the separate agencies.
Furthermore, for the recording of the type of abuse, then there is you can only record one sort of the primary type of abuse. So that might be domestic abuse. So what you don't get from that data is anything underlying there. There might have been financial abuse. There might have been emotional abuse. There might have been other types of abuse or neglect. And that's what you're not getting.
Suggestions were made for redesigning the report to be more digestible, potentially using infographics and a traffic light system. The report notes that the Board will work with the co-production team in 2026 to look at how it can receive more direct and regular feedback from residents.
It was also suggested that if you had graphs or had a summary of stuff, of the actual content, it would have been easier for us to understand the flow of the report.
The Board has approved a new strategic plan for 2026-2028, and will look to use the task and finish model
increasingly in the coming year, as its approach appears to be more focused and outcome-oriented than relying on routine meetings.
In terms of screening individuals, the meeting discussed the referral to inquiry conversion rate within ASC of approximately 25– 30%
and the need for improved feedback mechanisms to ensure that referrers receive appropriate updates regarding outcomes or subsequent actions.
A request was made for the inclusion of safeguarding figures to assure the committee that individuals are not being screened out inappropriately.
The report notes that there seemed to be an absence of LGBTQ+ referrals recorded within Adult Social Care (ASC) data
and low levels of modern slavery referrals.
The Performance & Audit group is planning an audit to review cases of abuse occurring in individuals' own homes and care home settings, analysing data by abuse type, ethnicity, and age, in line with trends identified in abuse location reporting
and Work to be undertaken by the Boards new Pan London Policy task and finish group to improve feedback loops when cases are referred for a safeguarding enquiry, so partners feel more assured of progress and know how to progress work with those who are at risk.
The Brent Self-Neglect Toolkit, developed collaboratively with Board Partners, aims to strengthen local practice and consistency in responding to self-neglect.
It provides a combination of theory, signposting t essential resources and templates to support practitioners with how to approach and suport those who self neglect.
Key topics covered include Challenges with engagement, Legal literacy, Homelesnes & self neglect, Fire risks & Hoarding, Assessing decisional & executive capacity.
The toolkit was launched in October 2025 and has been adapted into a stand-alone webinar. It is supported by a Process Flowchart
and a template assessment form for hoarding.
The impact of its implementation and usage will be tested in 2026/27.
The meeting also highlighted a need for strengthening multi-agency working
and improved inter-agency communication.
Councillors requested a section in the report critically examining communications between agencies,
noting that in the casework that I've been involved with, there have been some real gaps in communications which have led to people who shouldn't be out on the streets actually on the streets.
The Brent Safeguarding Adults Board's new strategic plan for 2026-2028 includes the digital world
as a golden thread
to stay in-touch with these as they emerge, and be proactive to build a plan on how they can collectively safeguarding against them.
The Board also aims to strengthen the multi-agency learning and development offer
and diversify learning methods, with a clear ambition to enhance the reach, quality, and impact of learning across the partnership.
For more information on the committee's discussions, please refer to the Public reports pack and the Agenda frontsheet.
