1 Safeguarding Policy VERSION CONTROL Version No 3 Version Date February 2023 Next Scheduled Review February 2024 This policy combines our previous Child Protection and Safeguarding policy and our Vulnerable Adults Policy to create one organisational Safeguarding Policy
2 POINT is a Registered Charity: 1161596 This policy outlines POINT’s approach to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults. It applies to all aspects of our work and to everyone working for POINT, including permanent and temporary employees, volunteers, trustees, contractors and self-employed contracted workers. This policy applies to anyone with whom we are in contact in the course of our work, who is a child, a young person, or Adult at Risk. Where the policy or procedure refers to a ‘child’ or ‘young person’ we mean anyone who has not yet reached the age of 18 years. An adult at risk is someone aged 18 years or over ‘who is or may be in need of community care services by reason of mental or other disability, age or illness; and who is or may be unable to take care of him or herself, or unable to protect him or herself against significant harm or exploitation’ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/no-secrets-guidance-on-protectingvulnerable-adults-in-care This policy is reviewed, endorsed and approved by the board of trustees annually, or when legislation changes. This policy outlines safeguarding procedures. It is not a comprehensive ‘how to’ guide in child protection or adult at risk practice but relates specifically to the role of all those involved in working directly or indirectly with vulnerable people, i.e. activity undertaken to protect specific children or vulnerable adults who are suffering or are at risk of suffering significant harm. POINT has a responsibility to work with others to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and vulnerable adults. Team members may have varying degrees of contact with vulnerable people, so It is essential that team members in contact with children, young people, adults and their families have the requisite knowledge and skills to carry out their jobs safely and effectively. All staff have a responsibility to ensure the safety of vulnerable children and adults with whom they work. POINT ensures all team members actively access guidance and information via the Greater Manchester Safeguarding Procedures Manual.
3 https://greatermanchesterscb.proceduresonline.com/ POINT ensures that all team members are trained to a minimum of Level 2 Advanced Safeguarding and Senior Management are trained to a minimum of Level 3 Designated Safeguarding Lead. All safeguarding training is completed by e-learning and reviewed annually by line management, updated and evidenced within POINT’s online HR portal. This document outlines our commitment to the protection of children, young people and adults and aims to: • Raise awareness of the need to protect vulnerable people and reduce risks to them; • Ensure that when abuse is suspected or disclosed, it is clear what action must be taken. We ensure that all team members, including freelance, contracted staff and/or associates are aware of the requirements within this policy. It is the responsibility of these groups to ensure that the personnel they are responsible for are aware of and understand the procedures and have levels of knowledge and skills commensurate to the level and nature of their direct involvement with vulnerable people. We work within the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and believe that: • All children have the right to be protected. • All children should be listened to and their views taken seriously. • Children’s needs should be looked at holistically and should not be defined solely in terms of their abuse. Section 11 of The Children Act 2004 places a duty on POINT to ensure their functions, and any services that they contract out to others, are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. A child is defined by The Children Act 1989 and 2004 as anyone who had not yet reached their 18th birthday. The term ‘child’ applies to children and young people
4 throughout this policy. This is significant as young people aged 16 and 17 years with safeguarding needs may be accessing ‘adult’ services. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/thechildrensact1989 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/thechildrensact2004 If team members, providing support to young people aged 16 and 17 years with safeguarding needs, are concerned the young person may lack capacity to make specific decisions or any decisions for themselves, guidance should be sort from POINT’s Designated Safeguarding Officer. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 protects the rights of vulnerable people and provides the legal framework for those working with vulnerable people. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/thementalcapacityact2005 Safeguarding children and promoting the welfare of children is defined in Working Together to Safeguard Children and Young People (HM Government 2018) as: • Protecting children from maltreatment. • Preventing impairment of children’s health or development. • Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care. • Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/workingtogethertosafeguardchildren Child protection is a part of safeguarding and promoting welfare. This refers to the activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering, or at risk of suffering significant harm. POINT is fully committed to this policy for safeguarding the welfare of all children and young people, by taking all reasonable steps to protect them from physical, sexual, or emotional abuse or neglect. • All interventions must be child-centred.
5 • To effectively protect children, professionals must identify and work with safe and protective adults within children’s families and communities. • Professionals need to be aware of how issues of race, gender, disability, culture, sexuality and age, impact on an individual’s life experiences. • Professionals need to be aware of how issues of race, gender, disability, culture, sexuality and age impact on their understanding of and response to keeping children safe. • Joint working between agencies and disciplines is essential for the protection of children. • The following individuals will be required to read and sign this policy and complete relevant training prior to undertaking any work or role relating to POINT: i. Any team members employed by POINT. ii. Any agent acting on behalf of POINT in a capacity that may bring them into contact with children and young people. Safeguarding vulnerable adults is defined in the Care and support statutory guidance issued under the Care Act 2014 as: • protecting the rights of adults to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect • people and organisations working together to prevent and stop both the risks and experience of abuse or neglect • people and organisations making sure that the adult’s wellbeing is promoted including, where appropriate, taking fully into account their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs in deciding on any action • recognising that adults sometimes have complex interpersonal relationships and may be ambivalent, unclear or unrealistic about their personal circumstances and therefore potential risks to their safety or well-being.
6 In all instances, our approach to safeguarding Adults at Risk we are in contact with follows the same principles, and safeguarding processes as we do for safeguarding children. Recruitment POINT carries out safe recruitment checks on everyone who works for us. All roles require a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and references before the individual joins us. Many individuals will be subject to an enhanced DBS check and a check of social media because their role may bring them into regular contact with children and vulnerable adults. Anyone interviewed for employment or recruited as a volunteer or trustee, either internally or from outside the organisation, will need to show an understanding of safeguarding that is relevant to the role that they are applying for. Objectives i. To ensure that all team members working with vulnerable people are carefully selected, understand and accept responsibility for the safety of those individuals in their care. ii. To ensure that the welfare of the vulnerable person is of paramount importance when undertaking any activities. iii. To respond swiftly and appropriately to all suspicions or allegations of abuse. iv. To ensure confidential information is restricted to the appropriate individuals within POINT and appropriate external agencies. Creating a Safe and Caring Environment • Risk Assessments should be undertaken prior to any offsite visits or new types of activities. • Team members working with vulnerable people should be appropriately trained and qualified to ensure the safe provision of services, use of equipment, activities undertaken, etc.
7 • Team members working with vulnerable people should carefully plan activity sessions with the care and safety of individuals as their main concern including the use of activities at an appropriate age/ability level. • Wherever possible we will encourage an ‘open environment’ e.g. avoiding private or unobserved situations and discouraging the keeping of secrets. This especially includes team members being alone with vulnerable people at any time. When this is unavoidable, it should be done with the full knowledge and consent of someone in charge of the organisation. • Team members must treat all with respect. • Team members must not make racist, sexist or any other remarks which upset or humiliate. • Team members must take care to avoid showing any favouritism. Definitions of abuse Abuse and neglect are forms of maltreatment of a child. An individual may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm or failing to act to prevent harm. Neglect or abuse, physically, emotionally or sexually, can have major long-term effects on all aspects of a child’s health, development and wellbeing. Sustained abuse is likely to have a deep impact on the child’s self-image and self-esteem, and on his or her future life. Harm may occur intentionally or unintentionally. The definitions of harm outlined in Working Together 2010 are used to determine whether a child needs a child protection plan. Working Together to Safeguard Children Physical abuse A form of abuse which may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical
8 harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child. Emotional abuse The persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond a child’s developmental capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying (including cyber bullying), causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone. Sexual abuse Involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example, rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet). Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children. Child Sexual Exploitation Child sexual exploitation is a form of child sexual abuse. It occurs where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18 into sexual activity: (a) in exchange for something the victim needs or wants, and/or (b) for the financial advantage or increased status of the perpetrator or facilitator.
9 The victim may have been sexually exploited even if the sexual activity appears consensual. Child sexual exploitation does not always involve physical contact; it can also occur through the use of technology. Neglect The persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: • Provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment). • Protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger. • Ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care-givers). • Ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs. Abuse and Children with a Disability Evidence available in the UK on the extent of abuse among children with a disability suggests that they are at increased risk of abuse, and that the presence of multiple disabilities appears to increase the risk of both abuse and neglect. Children with a disability may be especially vulnerable to abuse for a number of reasons. Where there are concerns about the welfare of a disabled child, they should be acted upon in accordance with these procedures in the same way as with any other child. The same thresholds for action and the same timescales apply. It would be unacceptable if poor standards of care were tolerated for disabled children that would not be tolerated for nondisabled children. Confidentiality In any work with children and young people it is important to be clear about confidentiality. While personal information held by professionals and agencies is subject to a legal duty of confidence, and should not normally be disclosed without the subject’s consent, when there are concerns that a child is or may be at risk of significant harm, then the over-riding objective must be to safeguard that child and disclosure of information is imperative.
10 Confidentiality and child protection should be discussed with children and young people at the beginning of any piece of work, and reminders and information given from time to time, to ensure that they understand the processes and what responsibilities the staff members have. It is absolutely essential to be clear about the limits of confidentiality well before any such matter arises. What to do if you are worried a vulnerable person is being abused POINT team members have no powers to investigate abuse. Nonetheless, POINT team members have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and adults at risk and have a responsibility to work closely and co-operatively with other agencies in order to achieve this. If, in the process of your work, a vulnerable person discloses to you that they are being abused you will need to tell them that you must report it. It is important to remember that an allegation of abuse or neglect may lead to a criminal investigation, so any concerns must be properly recorded and shared with a line manager. In the event of a situation in which you consider a vulnerable person is at risk, you should contact POINT’s designated safeguarding officer for advice. POINT’s Designated Safeguarding Officer is: Elaine Robinson Tel: 0161 503 1547 or 07703 468283 If you think a vulnerable person is in immediate danger, call the police on 999. If you witness something that is of severe concern, inform your manager at the time and tell the manager that you intend to pass on your concerns. You will need to inform the relevant agency on the same day that you have referred this concern to your manager.
11 Referrals must be made using the Local Authority Safeguarding Procedures relevant to your area of work. Every individual has a duty of care to safeguard all vulnerable people and if you have any concerns seek advice from POINT’s Designated Safeguarding Officer or contact the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) on 0161 770 7777.
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