Safeguarding Policy
Child and Vulnerable Adult Welfare and Safeguarding Policy and Procedures - Town and Parish Councils
Introduction
Dorrington Parish Council is committed to promoting the protection, safety and welfare of children and vulnerable adults in the Community.
Policy Purpose
This document outlines Dorrington Parish Council’s policy on identifying and responding to concerns regarding the safeguarding and protection of children and vulnerable adults.
This Policy applies to all staff, councillors, volunteers or anyone working for or on behalf of Dorrington Parish Council.
This policy, provides guidance for those who may come across concerns of this nature within the context of their work for Dorrington Parish Council.
The policy seeks to promote effective multi-agency working in light of the Children Act 2004.
What is Child Abuse? What are the Signs of Child Abuse?
Please refer to Appendix 1 hereto.
What is Vulnerable Adult Abuse? What are the Signs of Vulnerable Adult Abuse?
Please refer to Appendix 2 hereto.
Lead Officer
Dorrington Parish Council will appoint on an annual basis a lead safeguarding officer or member. The appointment will be made at the annual meeting of the Council.
Please refer to Appendix 3 for details of the rules and duties of the Lead Officer.
Child
If you believe a child is in immediate danger call 999 and inform the police.
If there is no immediate danger to the child, or if you need some advice or information, you can contact the Children Services Customer Service Centre (CSC) on 01522 782111.
Outside normal office hours you can contact the Emergency Duty Team (EDT) on 01522 782333
If there is no immediate danger you may also seek advice from the Councils Lead Safeguarding Officer.
Whenever you report a concern please keep a written record of what you have reported and why and inform the Councils Lead Safeguarding Officer at the earliest possible opportunity by completing the Councils incident report form which is available from the Councils offices at (address)
Vulnerable Adult
If you believe an adult is in immediate danger call 999 and inform the police.
If you think someone is being abused or you think their safety is at risk, then it is important to tell someone.
If you’re worried about an adult and think they may be a victim of neglect, abuse or cruelty, please call the Customer Service Centre (CSC) on 01522 782155
Outside normal office hours you can contact the Emergency Duty Team (EDT) on 01522 782333.
If there is no immediate danger you may also seek advice from the Councils Lead Safeguarding Officer.
Information Sharing With and Without Consent
General guidance:
Knowing when and how to share information is not always easy, but it is important to get it right. Families need to feel reassured that their confidentiality is respected. In most cases you will only share information about them with their consent, but there may be circumstances when you need to override this.
If you are not sure, but in your view there is a risk of abuse to someone, you should speak to your supervisor or Councils Lead Safeguarding Officer.
The seven golden rules for information sharing:
1. Remember that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Data Protection Act 2018 and human rights law are not barriers to justified information sharing, but provide a framework to ensure that personal information about living individuals is shared appropriately.
2. Be open and honest with the individual (and/or their family where appropriate) from the outset about why, what, how and with whom information will, or could be shared, and seek their agreement, unless it is unsafe or inappropriate to do so.
3. Seek advice from other practitioners, or your information governance lead, if you are in any doubt about sharing the information concerned, without disclosing the identity of the individual where possible.
4. Where possible, share information with consent, and where possible, respect the wishes of those who do not consent to having their information shared. Under the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 you may share information without consent if, in your judgement, there is a lawful basis to do so, such as where safety may be at risk. You will need to base your judgement on the facts of the case. When you are sharing or requesting personal information from someone, be clear of the basis upon which you are doing so. Where you do not have consent, be mindful that an individual might not expect information to be shared.
5. Consider safety and well-being: base your information sharing decisions on considerations of the safety and well-being of the individual and others who may be affected by their actions.
6. Necessary, proportionate, relevant, adequate, accurate, timely and secure: ensure that the information you share is necessary for the purpose for which you are sharing it, is shared only with those individuals who need to have it, is accurate and up to-date, is shared in a timely fashion, and is shared securely.
7. Keep a record of your decision and the reasons for it – whether it is to share information or not. If you decide to share, then record what you have shared, with whom and for what purpose
Points for Consideration:
• Is there a legitimate purpose for sharing information?
• Does the information enable a person to be identified?
• Is the information confidential?
• If so, do you have consent to share?
• Is there a statutory duty or court order to share the information?
• If consent refused/there are good reasons not to seek consent
• Is there sufficient public interest to share information?
• If the decision is to share, are you sharing the right information in the right way?
• Have you properly recorded your decision?
There may be circumstances where a parent is not informed that a safeguarding referral is being made if you suspect:
• Sexual abuse, organised abuse or fabricated illness or injury (FII).
• It isn’t possible to contact parents without causing undue delay in making a referral.
• The risk of destroying evidence.
• Possibility of increased risk of domestic violence.
• Possibility of the family moving to avoid professional scrutiny.
It is always essential in safeguarding to consider whether the adult at risk is capable of giving informed consent in all aspects of their life. If they are able, their consent should be sought.
Safer Recruitment and DBS
Dorrington Parish Council adopts safer recruitment practices for all employees, including agency employees, students and volunteers, who might work with children and vulnerable adults as part of their jobs.
Even when the employee or volunteer is unlikely to work with children or vulnerable adults certain safer recruitment practices will also be followed.
The key features of safer recruitment include:
• Advertising the post
• Application /shortlisting/interview
• References
• Safer selection
• Pre-appointment checks
• DBS checks
• Induction
Appendix 4 hereto sets out the procedures and guidance which the Council will seek to undertake as appropriate when recruiting staff.
How to respond to allegations of abuse against a member of staff or volunteer.
In the first instance if you have a concern about anyone, either a volunteer or member of staff then you should contact the Lead Officer for Safeguarding within your town or parish council.
If the concern is about the 'Lead Officer' themselves you should refer the matter using the contacts listed in the above section entitled:
What to do if you are worried about a child or vulnerable adult?
If the Lead Officer considers that the alleged member of staff or volunteer has:
• behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may have harmed a child
• committed a criminal offence against or related to a child; or
• behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates he or she would pose a risk of harm if they work regularly or closely with children.
Then they must follow the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Board protocol for 'Managing Allegations of abuse made against persons who work with children and young people'
If you are concerned but it is not a Safeguarding Issue?
From time to time the Council or one of its members or employees may be concerned about a child but the issues are not of a safeguarding nature.
As in all cases the matter should be referred to the Councils lead officer for safeguarding who will consider what action to take.
In Lincolnshire there are established procedures to help if you have concerns about a child but it isn’t a safeguarding concern, this is known as an Early Help.
The Early Help Assessment (EHA) process has been designed to help practitioners assess needs at an early stage and then work with the child / young person, their family and other practitioners and agencies to meet these needs. As such, it is designed for use when:
• You are worried about how well a child / young person is progressing.
• You might be worried about their health, development, welfare, behaviour, progress in learning or any other aspect of their wellbeing
• A child / young person or their parent / carer raises a concern with you
• The child’s or young person’s needs are unclear, or broader than your service can address alone
• The child or young person would benefit from an assessment to help a practitioner understand their needs better.
The Councils lead officer should arrange a telephone consultation with and Early Help Advisor, call Children's Services CSC on 01522 782111.