Who we are

The Care Act 2014 states that every local authority must have a safeguarding adults board (SAB) which should include representatives from the local authority, the NHS and the police.

The main objective of a SAB is to assure itself that local safeguarding arrangements and partners act to help and protect adults in its area who meet the criteria under s42 Care Act. The SAB must lead adult safeguarding arrangements across its area and oversee and coordinate the effectiveness of the safeguarding work of its member and partner agencies.

SABs have three core duties under the Care Act. They must:

develop and publish a strategic plan setting out how they will meet their objectives and how their member and partner agencies will contribute
publish an annual report detailing how effective their work has been
commission Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs) for any cases which meet the criteria for these.

The board has a key responsibility for protecting adults from abuse, reducing the risk of abuse and supporting people to stop abuse where it happens. Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB) meet every two months, five times a year plus one development day, usually in early autumn.

NSAB is made up of partner agencies including senior representatives from: acute hospitals, adult social services, police, Integrated Care Board (ICB), Norfolk Fire & Rescue, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk, district councils, probation service, prison service, public health, University of East Anglia, Healthwatch, voluntary sector and a local county councillor.

The board has an independent chair who is accountable to the local authority’s chief executive (as lead statutory agency) but is appointed by statutory partners. The chair

''has a critical role to lead collaboratively, give advice, support and encouragement but also to offer constructive challenge and hold main partner agencies to account and ensure that interfaces with other strategic functions are effective whilst also acting as a spokesperson for the SAB.'' (Care Act 2014, Care and Support Statutory Guidance 14.134).

Our chairperson: Natalie Cowland

Natalie joined us in April 2025. Natalie comes to NSAB from the Nursing and Midwifery Council where she was head of organisational learning, quality and improvement. Before this, she had a 30 year career with the Metropolitan Police Service, which includes a significant background in multi-agency collaboration, with 15 years' strategic experience across policing and regulatory health settings. Natalie has worked in safeguarding settings at every level, leading teams dealing with complex adult protection investigations, leading the Metropolitan Police Service's response to all statutory safeguarding reviews, including Safeguarding Adult Reviews, work with the Continuous Policing Improvement Command and National Counter Terrorism.

Natalie and NSAB are supported by a business team consisting of: