Level Up Lead Provider Collaborative was delighted to host the third Gateway Chair Day on 5 May 2026.
This in-person meeting brought together professionals leading Gateway across the 9 places in Cheshire and Merseyside to consider best practice and continuous improvement concerning the model. 
Gateway was launched in 2022 and is an important aspect of the Complex Needs Escalation Framework for Cheshire and Merseyside. Owned at place, to ensure professionals closest to young people agree timely action to address complex unmet needs where there is a risk of Tier 4 care being required, placement breakdown or youth justice involvement, Gateway was evaluated in 2024 and qualitative findings referred to its strengths including relationship building, skill development and facilitating critical thinking as benefits. The quantitative findings indicated reduction in average length of stay, when young people's unmet needs were discussed at Gateway.
Since the implementation of Gateway, Level Up LPC has continued to support development for those leading delivery at place, recognising the importance of co-production to achieve consistency across the system, especially when seeking to align health and social care processes to improve the experience of young people.
It was a great pleasure to work with this dedicated group of colleagues at Gateway Chair Day, and I was delighted to play a part in generating important feedback to inform the next phase of development for the Complex Needs Escalation Support Framework. We focussed on the relationship between safeguarding and Gateway at place, in addition to considering continuing improvement for documentation, learning and reporting for our system.
Priorities coproduced during Gateway Chair Day will be included in an interactive session at the Level Up Transformation Event in June, where a wider group of stakeholders will help shape the exciting next steps for this innovative and effective model.
For a quick guide, visit the Gateway animation, narrated by Experts by Experience and Young Volunteers, which was designed for professionals to share with young people, families and carers to explain the model.
