The introduction of a new multi-disciplinary approach to safeguarding in Southampton has been heralded as a “common sense” response to “challenging and complex” issues.

Southampton City Council is set to formally launch the Family Safeguarding model in September.

The local authority did a soft launch in June after implementation of the initiative started last year.

Robert Henderson, executive director for children and learning, said it was a “fantastic opportunity”.

Family Safeguarding is a whole family approach to working with children and families that supports parents to make sustained change, a city council report said.

The model was created in 2015 by the Centre for Family Safeguarding Practice based at Hertfordshire County Council.

Members of the Southampton City Council’s children and families scrutiny panel received a presentation on the approach at a meeting on Thursday, July 18.

Matt Jenkins, the council’s head of family safeguarding, said 24 local authorities across England had introduced the model.

Mr Jenkins said other councils who brought in the initiative saw a reduction in the number of children needing child protection plans, a fall in the number of children needing to go into care and a drop in repeat police call outs to domestic abuse incidents.

Councillors were told Family Safeguarding aligns with the council’s “core belief” that children should be with their parents, their families and their extended families and friends wherever possible.

Cllr Sam Chapman said the model appeared to involve “relatively simple” interventions. He asked if these measures were not already happening and what would change under the new approach.

Mr Henderson said: “I think what the model does essentially is it is a very common sense response to challenging and complex safeguarding issues that we have.

“We know very clearly in data, any local authority will show you, that children are vulnerable because of some of the parent needs.

“If you crudely characterise those needs, not just these, there are more, but the big ones are adult substance misuse and alcohol misuse, adult mental health and domestic abuse. They are the big three categories.

“There are others like adult learning difficulties but bringing the services into a holistic team around the family as opposed to trying to coordinate a system from different places, different agencies that are under significant other pressures and statutory requirements and local priorities.”

The experienced council director said the Family Safeguarding model would allow the children’s social care service to have control over a resource to work with families specifically where the help was needed.

Mr Henderson said “it’s not rocket science”, adding “the research and the outcomes speak for themselves”.

“It’s bringing it to the needs of the child and the family and making sure we’re responding in a holistic way, not trying to manage a system that is under significant pressure with different priorities,” Mr Henderson said.

The implementation of the new approach had been supported by a £514,000 grant from the Department for Education, while the council’s public health department has provided funding for mental health specialist roles.

The council also had a successful bid to have the Hertfordshire team as a sector-led improvement partner to cover the whole of the implementation phase.

A report to the panel said the council had identified challenges in recruiting the required mental health specialists.

Councillors were told contingency plans had been drawn up, should they be needed, so the model could still be rolled out fully.

The target set through the introduction of the new model is for 40 fewer children to go into care in Southampton this year, and a further 40 fewer next year.