Manchester SCB Case Study

About Manchester SCB

With a population of over half a million, the City of Manchester is the sixth largest in the UK. 20% of the population is under the age of 16. In the 2015 Index of Multiple Deprivation, Manchester ranked as 5th out of 326 districts with 43% of households living in poverty.

The Manchester Safeguarding Children Board (MSCB) is a statutory organisation whose main objective is to coordinate and ensure the effectiveness of work that is done in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. It represents over 30 partners including education, the police and health and social care.

Its vision states that “Every child and young person in Manchester should be able to grow up safe; free from abuse, neglect or crime; allowing them to enjoy a happy and healthy childhood and fulfil their potential.”

The Challenge

Within this environment, providing safeguarding training to support the MSCB’s vision represents a huge challenge. A huge number of professionals come into contact with children and young people as a result of their various roles. Within each school, for example, it is mandatory for the designated safeguarding lead to undertake specific training every two years.

The MSCB Multi-agency Training performs a development and fostering role in order to help achieve better outcomes for children and young people. Its training courses have been tailored to meet the needs of professionals within the partnership agencies and in the Voluntary, Community and Faith (VCF) sector.

The MSCB offers a blended solution to safeguarding training, combining face to face to face training with online learning.

The Solution

The MSCB first started to work with Virtual College as far back as 2008, when it acquired licences for 1000 learners to undertake its Awareness of Child Abuse and Neglect online course.

By 2014, the Safeguarding Children Board’s demands for this online course had doubled and by early 2015, the decision was made to subscribe to a package giving unlimited access to over 40 different online learning courses from Virtual College.

In 2015 the MSCB signed a new 3 year contract with Virtual College which provided over 40 online courses and included self–registration for the first time.

The Results

Learner engagement in online safeguarding training within MSCB has increased significantly, with over 3,000 course completions in just nine months. Key to this success is the ability for learners to self-register and access a growing library of over 40 courses instantly. This has reduced administrative workload and made training more accessible, particularly for those with varying shift patterns who no longer need to wait for approval.

Online learning has also eased operational challenges, as releasing staff for in-person training can impact service delivery. The flexibility of digital courses has proven especially valuable for childminders, foster carers, and voluntary sector workers, who often have limited training budgets.

For partner agencies, compliance and reporting have become more efficient. Organisations audited by external bodies, such as Ofsted, can now track learner progress easily through the Virtual College learning management system. The rise in online training has even driven greater demand for face-to-face sessions, though at just £4 per learner, online courses remain a far more cost-effective solution.

MSCB continues to benefit from Virtual College’s responsive and collaborative approach. By actively engaging with safeguarding boards, Virtual College ensures its training remains relevant and impactful. Events, such as expert-led sessions on topics like Forced Marriage, provide additional learning opportunities, reinforcing the value of this partnership in strengthening safeguarding education.