Coventry's Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)

The Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) brings key professionals together to facilitate early, better quality information sharing, analysis and decision-making, to safeguard vulnerable children and young people more effectively.

Staff from across health, children's services, the police, education, probation are based in the MASH at any one time at its base in Broadgate House in the city centre.

The MASH provides timely access to a range of partner agency information which builds a picture and enables us to understand the level of risk.

Information from different agencies is collated within the MASH, and used to decide what action to take. As a result, the agencies are able to act quickly in a co-ordinated and consistent way, ensuring that children are kept safe.

For those concerns that meet the threshold for Children's Services' involvement, representatives from the different agencies in the MASH and outside collate information from their respective sources to build up a picture of the circumstances of the family and the associated risks to the child.

As a result, better decisions are made about what action to take and support will be targeted towards the families who need it most. Feedback is also given to professionals reporting concerns.