Making Safeguarding Personal
Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) is a national approach to promote responses to safeguarding situations that enhances involvement, choice and control as well as improving quality of life, wellbeing and safety.
It is about seeing people as experts in their own lives and working alongside them to identify the outcomes they want, with the aim of enabling them to resolve their circumstances and support their recovery.
Person-Centred Approach
MSP emphasises the importance of a person-centred approach, adopting the principle of ‘no decision about me, without me’.
A person-led approach acknowledges that people require different levels of support and personalised information to make choices and manage risks, and where necessary access to advocacy support.
National Resources
There are a range of national resources available to support MSP in practice.
The MSP practice toolkit, produced by the Local Government Association (LGA) outlines an approach to the effective application of safeguarding.
The MSP Case Studies produced by the LGA illustrate outcome-focused practice in line with the MSP approach. Myths and realities of MSP.
This LGA briefing, published in November 2019, emphasizes that MSP is not just about safeguarding practice, but also about prevention, and strategic as well as operational safeguarding.
A recommendation from the Adult B SAR was for the SAB to develop guidance in relation to MSP. This Making Safeguarding Personal Guidance also includes information about appropriate resolution mechanisms to respond to situations in which an individual cannot be seen alone and there is a concern that a third party may be preventing this or the adult may be experiencing undue influence or coercion.
The SAB has produced the following leaflets to raise awareness of MSP:
BHSAB have developed a 7 minute podcast that offers tips on how to put MSP into practice as well as signposting where to find further information and guidance on this subject.
Ben’s Story
The East Sussex SAB has also produced a short video, in which Ben, a member of the Safeguarding Community Network speaks about his experiences of safeguarding and how he overcame abuse.