Our purpose is to keep people safe. We provide strategic leadership for adult safeguarding and community safety across Wokingham Borough, bringing partner organisations together to work effectively and consistently. By joining up safeguarding and community safety, we take a coordinated approach to preventing and responding to abuse, neglect, crime and anti‑social behaviour. This helps reduce harm, support people at risk, and create safer neighbourhoods where people can feel protected and supported.

The Wokingham Borough Safer Communities Partnership brings together organisations with legal responsibilities to keep people safe. By working under one partnership, we meet our statutory duties in a joined‑up and more effective way. The Partnership sets priorities, agrees shared strategies and oversees joint action to protect people from abuse and neglect and to address crime, domestic abuse and anti‑social behaviour. We make sure organisations work together, share information appropriately and take responsibility for safeguarding, so that people and communities are not missed or left without support. We believe keeping people safe is everyone’s responsibility, and by working together we can prevent harm and respond quickly and compassionately when concerns arise.

Wokingham Borough Safer Communities Partnership brings together the organisations that have a legal duty to keep people and communities safe, including the Council, Police, Fire & Rescue, health services, Probation and community organisations. Senior leaders work together to set priorities and take joint action to protect people from abuse and neglect and to reduce crime and anti‑social behaviour. By working in partnership, we make sure concerns are taken seriously and that people and communities are supported to stay safe.

Strategic leadership

Wokingham Borough Safer Communities Partnership is led by a senior Executive Group that sets the overall direction and priorities for keeping people and communities safe. The Board is chaired by the Chief Executive of Wokingham Borough Council, showing that this work is taken seriously at the highest level.

The Assurance Group is also supported by an independent external partner, who provides challenge and oversight to make sure the Partnership is working well, learning and improving. Day‑to‑day coordination is supported by a Business Manager who helps turn plans into action.

Turning plans into action

To make sure strategy leads to real change, the Partnership works through smaller specialist groups, each focused on an important area of safety and safeguarding. These groups bring together people with the right knowledge and experience from different organisations.

Key groups include:

• Adult Safeguarding Group – focuses on protecting adults from abuse and neglect, improving practice, and making sure organisations meet their legal safeguarding duties.
• Safer Community Group – works to reduce crime and anti‑social behaviour and improve safety in neighbourhoods.
• Domestic Abuse Partnership – coordinates work to prevent domestic abuse and ensure victims/survivors and families get the right support.
• Prevent Board – supports early help for people who may be vulnerable to radicalisation, working to prevent harm before it happens.
• Serious Violence and Exploitation Group – focuses on reducing serious violence and protecting people from exploitation, including criminal exploitation and modern slavery.

Other groups are brought together when needed, for example to learn from serious incidents, improve training, or raise public awareness. This helps make sure concerns are not missed and learning leads to real improvement.

Accountability and transparency

The Partnership is accountable to the public and to the organisations involved. We publish:

• A five-year Strategic Plan, setting out our priorities
• An Annual Delivery Plan, setting out the action we will take against those priorities.
• an Annual Report, explaining what we have done and what difference it has made.

We welcome independent scrutiny to help us learn and improve, and we work closely with other local partnerships, so support is joined‑up and people are not passed between services. By working together in this way, we aim to prevent harm wherever possible and respond quickly, fairly and compassionately when concerns arise.