Quality assurance & audit
Click here to see the WSP/WSAB Audit Flowchart
The Warrington Safeguarding Adults Board (WSAB) is responsible for seeking assurance that local safeguarding arrangements are effective in protecting adults with care and support needs from abuse and neglect.
Quality assurance (QA) and audit activity is a core function of the Board. It enables partners to understand how well agencies are working together, identify strengths and areas for development, and ensure that safeguarding practice is consistently person-centred, effective, and aligned with statutory duties under the Care Act 2014.
Our Approach
WSAB uses a coordinated, multi-agency approach to quality assurance. This includes:
- Multi-agency audits of safeguarding practice
- Single agency audits and self-assessment returns
- Thematic deep dives linked to Board priorities (e.g. self-neglect, PIPOT, domestic abuse)
- Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs) and rapid reviews
- Performance and data analysis
- Feedback from people with lived experience
This approach ensures that assurance is drawn from a range of evidence sources, rather than relying on a single data set.
Purpose of Audit Activity
Our audit programme is designed to:
- Evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding practice across agencies
- Assess how well partners are working together to safeguard adults
- Ensure practice reflects Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) principles
- Identify good practice and areas requiring improvement
- Provide evidence of impact and improvement over time
- Inform Board priorities, workforce development, and policy updates
Audit activity directly informs the WSAB work programme and supports continuous improvement across the partnership.
What We Look For
During audits and QA activity, WSAB focuses on whether:
- Adults are supported to express their wishes, views and desired outcomes
- Safeguarding responses are proportionate, timely and person-centred
- Risk is appropriately assessed and managed
- Agencies share information effectively and challenge appropriately
- Decision-making is clearly recorded and defensible
- Outcomes for adults demonstrate improved safety and wellbeing
Learning and Improvement
Learning identified through audits, reviews, and scrutiny activity is:
- Shared with partners through learning briefings and practitioner events
- Incorporated into training programmes and workforce development
- Used to update local policies, procedures, and guidance
- Monitored through action plans overseen by relevant sub-groups
WSAB places a strong emphasis on ensuring that learning leads to tangible improvements in frontline practice.
For example, training programmes are continuously reviewed in response to audit findings to ensure they remain relevant, accurate, and aligned to identified need.
Governance and Oversight
Quality assurance activity is overseen through WSAB governance arrangements, including:
- Relevant WSAB sub-groups (e.g. Impact / Quality Assurance functions)
- Regular reporting to the WSAB Board
- Independent scrutiny to provide challenge and assurance
Findings from QA activity are used to provide assurance that safeguarding arrangements are effective, sustainable, and continuously improving.
Demonstrating Impact
WSAB uses audit and QA findings to demonstrate:
- Improvements in multi-agency working and communication
- Increased confidence and competence of the workforce
- Better application of safeguarding procedures
- Evidence that practice is improving outcomes for adults at risk
Evidence of this impact is reported through the WSAB Annual Report and other Board publications.