Safeguarding
CHAPEL ST LEONARDS PARISH COUNCIL
SAFEGUARDING POLICY & GUIDANCE FOR STAFF
SAFEGUARDING AND PROTECTING YOUNG PEOPLE AND VULNERABLE ADULTS
With reference to:
Children Act 1989 & 2004
Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (Sect59)
Introduction
The purpose of any Safeguarding, Young People and Vulnerable Adults policy is:
- To ensure that all children and young people accessing our services are kept safe: that concerns are followed up in the right way and to ensure that everyone including carers, staff, and service users know what should happen and what is expected of them.
For those who are suffering, or at risk of suffering significant harm, joint working is essential, to safeguard and promote their welfare and, where necessary, to help bring to justice the perpetrators of crimes.
All agencies and professionals should:
- be alert to potential indicators of abuse or neglect;
- be alert to the risks which individual abusers, or potential abusers, may pose;
- share information so that an assessment can be made of the individual’s needs and circumstances;
- contribute to whatever actions are needed to safeguard and promote welfare,
- To ensure that all vulnerable adults accessing our service is kept safe; that concerns
about a vulnerable adult are followed up in the right way and to ensure that anyone including parents / carers, staff, volunteers and the vulnerable adult know what should happen and what is expected of them.
A person is a vulnerable adult if he / she is 18 years or over and is:
- In a residential accommodation
- Is in sheltered housing
- Receives domiciliary care
- Receives any form of health care
- Is detained in lawful custody
- Is by virtue of a court under supervision by a person exercising functions for the purpose of Part 1 of the Criminal Justice and Court Servicer Act 2000 (c.43)
- Receives a welfare service of a prescribed description
- Receives any service or participates in any activity provided specifically for persons who fall within subsection 9 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.
- Has payments made to them (or to another on their behalf) in pursuance of arrangements under section 57 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001 (c. 150, or
- Requires assistance in the conduct of their affairs.
Roles & Responsibilities
It is the role of Social Services and/or the Police to investigate allegations or concerns, not staff, whose role is to help identify concerns and pass them onto the relevant agency.
It is the responsibility of the Parish Clerk to consider the information and to decide what action needs to be taken. This should be clearly recorded and, if the clerk needs help in making a decision, they should speak with the manager or with the Customer Service Centre in Social Services.
If the concern has arisen as the result of a criminal offence (e.g. assault, sexual abuse) the police should be involved at the earliest opportunity.
The Customer Services Centre (Adult Social Care) is responsible for collating information from agencies or members of the public regarding concerns The Single Assessment Form is a format which should be used by all agencies to record and submit this information.
The professional who identifies that a young person may have/has additional unmet need/s calls Customer Service Centre (CSC) to log concerns. This professional is now referred to as the “Initiator”.
The Single Assessment can now go ahead with just verbal consent – no longer need to have written consent from the parent/young person. Single Assessment form then sent to TAC co-ordinator electronically, details are logged onto the ICS system.
The Initiator has to convene the first meeting within 15 days and send out invites to the family and appropriate agencies with a copy of the Single Assessment Form.
The Initiator chairs the first meeting and records who is present and completes the Action Plan – in consultation with family and young person a Lead Professional is appointed.
The TAC group will continue to meet to review the plan on a minimum of 8 weekly basis.
Review date set within 8 weeks and TAC Co-ordinator informed of the date and who Lead Professional is.
It is not anticipated that staff would be involved in this type of referral but would instead signpost young people to relevant agencies who could address these needs. However, if a member of staff is concerned about the family accessing services, these concerns should be referred to a line manager.
Following an enquiry or referral, Adult Services staff will either:
- Decide no further action is required
- Offer the family help or advice to resolve any difficulties
- Call a meeting to decide whether the child is in need of a protection plan
Procedure
If a worker or volunteer has a concern about a vulnerable adult they should:
- Take appropriate action if the vulnerable adult is in need of urgent attention.
- Collect as much information as possible about the situation – this may be from the carer or other workers and should include date and time of the incident or disclosure, parties who were involved, what was said or done and by whom and any further actions. It may also be helpful to record perception of emotional and physical presentation. The worker should not seek to investigate the incident, only gather sufficient information to assess whether there is a legitimate concern.
- Be open about the concern and make it clear that the member of staff/volunteer will have to tell others. However, remember that confidentiality is critically important to safeguard all parties including the potential perpetrator. Staff/Volunteers should inform only those people identified within this policy.
- Take their concerns to their line manager as soon as possible and within the same working day. The Customer Services Centre which is the point of contact for Adult Social Care will also be able to offer support and advice on individual circumstances.
- Complete the appropriate form after discussion with the manager to ensure a record of the concern is maintained.
Referral to Children’s or Adult Social Care
- If the manager decides that a referral to Social Care is appropriate, Single Assessment Form should be completed as far as possible; this will ensure that all the information is to hand when making the referral. The worker should not delay if all information is not available.
- SAF form should be completed and signed and sent to the customer service centre and a copy should be placed in the relevant organisation file.
- The manager should support the worker in making decisions and be available to give advice and guidance, as necessary.
Recruitment
All new employees who are required to undertake unsupervised work with young people and vulnerable adults must undertake a DBS check prior to commencement of employment, to the satisfaction of the appropriate Manager.
All volunteers working under the direct control and supervision of employees in an environment, which may include unsupervised responsibility and/or access to vulnerable adults, must undertake an Enhanced DBS check.
Furthermore, all employees and volunteers must be re-checked through the DBS system every three years.
Any member of staff currently working in an area not requiring DBS clearance, will be required to complete an Enhanced DBS check should it be deemed appropriate to do so by
Senior Management, should their job requirements change and they subsequently have access to children. In such cases job descriptions will be amended accordingly to reflect the need for a DBS check.
All existing members of staff that are deemed to require an Enhanced DBS check will be required to undertake one.
All contractors providing services to Chapel St Leonards Parish Council that have unsupervised access to young people and vulnerable adults in their working environment must provide evidence that they have enhanced DBS clearance (within the previous three years) to work in such environments.
Procedures for Dealing with Allegations Against Staff
All allegations against staff will be taken seriously. Procedures for dealing with allegations against staff will comply with Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Board Polices and guidance issued by the Department for Education.
Suspension will not be an automatic response to an allegation, but consideration will be given to the seriousness and plausibility of the allegation, the risk of harm and the possibility of tampering with evidence, as well as the interests of the person concerned and the organisation.
The manager will contact the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) for managing allegations through Adult Social Services Customer Service Centre and will act on their advice.
In the event of the allegation being made against the manager this will be dealt with by the Chair of the Council or in their absence the Vice Chair.
NSPCC Child Protection Helpline (freephone) 0800 800 500 Email: help@nspcc.org.uk
ADOPTED July 2021