Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)

Member of the public

If you are a member of the public and concerned about the safety of:

Professionals making a safeguarding referral

Due to the high volume of referrals that the MASH is receiving, please only telephone the MASH if your referral is urgent, requiring a Social Worker to visit the child or adult today.

For referrals that are not urgent, please submit an online form, which will be read on the working day of receipt. Please also consider whether support from the Family Service would be more appropriate. This Concerns regarding children guidance [PDF] will help you to refer to the right place and get the right support for the child and their family.

The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) is the single point of contact for all professionals to report safeguarding concerns.

You can contact the MASH team in one of the following ways:

  • online form: concerned about a child
  • online form: concerned about an adult
  • telephone: 0300 500 80 90
  • professional consultation line regarding children: 0115 977 4247 (see MASH consultation line guidance [PDF] for details)
  • fax: 01623 483295
  • if you wish to report a concern anonymously, please contact us on 0300 500 80 90. Please note that a MASH referral from a practitioner working with the child or family in a professional capacity cannot be treated as anonymous, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Opening hours:

  • Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 8:30am to 5pm
  • Wednesday 10:30am to 5pm
  • Friday: 8:30am to 4:30pm

Telephone queues are generally shorter in the morning, so you may wish to call then.

In an emergency outside of these hours, contact the Emergency Duty Team on 0300 456 4546.

Please note, in the last 30 minutes of these opening hours each day, the MASH can only address urgent safeguarding referrals that require a Social Worker to visit the child or adult that evening. If the referral is not urgent, you will be asked to call back the next working day or complete an online form which will be read the next working day. This is because of the hand-over to the Emergency Duty Team.

Threshold guidance

Useful documents

About MASH

The MASH is the county’s first point of contact for new safeguarding referrals and has significantly improved the sharing of information between agencies, helping to protect the most vulnerable children and adults from harm, neglect and abuse.

The MASH in Nottinghamshire is one of only a handful of MASHs nationally that handles concerns about both children and adults, taking a holistic, family approach. Over 60 staff from the County Council, Police, Health, Probation services and schools are working together in the MASH office.

The MASH receives safeguarding referrals from professionals such as teachers and doctors as well as members of the public and family members. For those referrals that meet the threshold for Social Care involvement, representatives from the different agencies in the MASH and outside collate information from their respective sources to build up a holistic picture of the circumstances of the case and the associated risks to the child or adult. As a result, better decisions can be made about what action to take and support can be targeted on the most urgent cases.

Feedback is also given to professionals making referrals. Better co-ordination between agencies leads to an improved service for children and families.

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