Functions, not apps
Improving safeguarding and risk identification by focusing on professional judgement, patterns and escalation rather than tools alone.
The problem with tool-led safeguarding
In safeguarding, domestic abuse and stalking work, tools are often treated as solutions. Risk checklists, assessment forms, scoring systems and digital platforms are expected to prevent harm simply by being completed.
In practice, serious harm rarely occurs because a tool is missing. It occurs when information is fragmented, patterns are missed, professional judgement is diluted and escalation fails.
Tools can support decision making, but they cannot replace it. When tools become the focus, the underlying functions required to identify and respond to risk are weakened.
What “functions” means in practice
Functions are the core professional activities that must be performed well if safeguarding systems are to work. They exist regardless of the tools in use, the agency involved or the context of the case.
When these functions are weak, harm escalates even when procedures appear to have been followed.
The four functions that change outcomes
Recognising cumulative harm
Risk rarely sits in a single incident. It accumulates over time through repetition, escalation and the way behaviours interact. Effective safeguarding requires professionals to recognise patterns across contacts, not just respond to isolated events.
Identifying patterns and change
Escalation is often visible in hindsight because changes were present but not connected. The work is noticing changes in frequency, severity, behaviour, context and control, and understanding what those changes indicate.
Applying professional judgement
Judgement involves weighing information, uncertainty and context. It cannot be automated or outsourced to scoring systems. Where judgement is discouraged or overridden by process, risk increases.
Escalating concern and intervening
Identifying risk without escalation achieves nothing. Safeguarding depends on timely challenge, information sharing, supervisory oversight and decisive intervention when thresholds are met or exceeded.
A simple way to picture it
Outcomes sit at the top. Functions sit in the middle. Tools sit underneath.
Good tools can support good functions. They cannot compensate for weak professional judgement, missed patterns or failed escalation.
Outcomes
Safety, earlier intervention, better decisions
Functions
Cumulative harm, patterns and change, judgement, escalation
Tools
Forms, checklists, platforms, processes
Where this approach applies
Multi-agency safeguarding and MARAC
Supporting cumulative risk assessment, escalation and professional challenge across agencies.
Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews
Moving beyond procedural compliance to understand why decisions made sense at the time and where safeguarding functions failed.
Policing and investigation
Strengthening pattern recognition, escalation and professional judgement alongside evidential requirements.
Sport and organisational safeguarding
Reducing reliance on policy alone by strengthening oversight, curiosity and timely intervention.