Complex Safeguarding is a term used to describe criminal activity (often organised) or behaviour associated with criminality, involving children and adults, where there is exploitation and/or a clear or implied safeguarding concern.
The context for Complex Safeguarding is that children and adults are targeted and subjected to serious harm, which is primarily, although not exclusively, outside the family.
In BCP Council’s Complex Safeguarding Team (CST), a specialist social worker is allocated alongside the child’s existing social worker. The CST worker provides targeted interventions for complex safeguarding only.
Whilst all safeguarding interventions are urgent, this is especially so with complex safeguarding as often the risk is immediate, and responses must be within the ‘golden hour’ or ‘golden few days’ which is the short window to intervene where a young person may be reachable.
This urgency applies to all agencies.