1. Terms of Reference

This policy is applicable to all staff, partners, freelancers, employers and volunteers who work or come into contact with children and adults at risk. 

Employers, partners, freelancers and volunteers will be expected to comply with legislation when working with children or adults.

Employers, partners, freelancers and volunteers will be expected to abide by our safeguarding policy.

A child is defined as under 18 years of age, and an adult is defined as over 18 years of age.

An adult might be considered at risk if they are aged 18 years or over and has: needs for care and support (whether or not the local authority is meeting any of those needs) is experiencing or at risk of, abuse (inside and outside of the home), neglect, or suffering financial hardship; and as a result of these care and support needs is unable to protect themselves from risk, or the experience of abuse, neglect, suffering financial hardship.

See guidance from the gov.uk for additional information 

We believe service users (children or adults) are anyone who benefits from or encounters our services/staff/volunteers. 

Staff and volunteers will receive refresher training every year updating themselves on any new regulations or changes to national policy.

‍

2. Introduction

We have developed this policy inline with the relevant Government Guidance and the expectations of the Charity Commission.

We are committed to actively encouraging the safety and wellbeing of children and young people, by creating an environment and culture which supports this. We believe that all service users (children and adults) should be: 

• Listened to and heard 
• Valued and respected as individuals 
• Respected for their identity and uniqueness 
• Encouraged and praised 
• Involved in decisions as appropriate of gender, race, religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, material status, gender reassignment or pregnancy and maternity. 

We confirm our commitment to making sure that service users are protected and kept safe from harm. And commit to:

• Sharing information about protection and good practice with other charities/schools/youth organisations/schools and our business partners.
• Sharing relevant information about concerns with agencies who need to know and involving parents, headteachers, carers, adults at risk of harm. and children appropriately

• Making sure our core staff who interact with young people and children are trained to an appropriate level and made aware of this policy & process including actively training staff on any updates and including safeguarding training and awareness of this policy in our staff meeting on a quarterly basis and following any updates. 

• Providing effective management for staff & volunteers through supervision, support and training. 

• Regularly reviewing our policy and best practice procedures including external scrutiny of our processes from a suitable safeguarding professional.  

• Nominating a Designated Safeguarding Lead and Deputy Safeguarding Lead(s) to coordinate Day One’s policy and procedures for the protection of adults and children. Listed at the top of this document. 
• Keeping all children and adults who use our organisation safe, this document is constantly being reviewed and updated as we develop our organisation and services.

‍

3. Background Children Acts of 1989 and 2004

The Children Act 1989 and 2004 deals with the care, upbringing and protection of children. It reformed and harmonised the public and private law relating to children, in a single understandable framework. 

Later other legislation came out further protecting children and young people. The Children Act 1989 and 2004, and Adoption Act 2006 and Safeguarding vulnerable groups act 2006 and the children and young persons act 2008. 

Key principles in child care law and best practice are protection and a recognition that the welfare of the child must be paramount and overrides all other considerations. The principle is that children should be safe and should be protected by intervention if they are in danger. 

We will adhere to all relevant legalisation and to the expectations of the relevant Local Safeguarding Partnership and The Charity Commission. There are minimum requirements and best practices in place that support the following which we will at Day One follow and support.

‍

4. Definitions of abuse

The Care Act 2014 describes the following categories of risk/harm in respect of adults who might be at risk but it is important to acknowledge that our staff/volunteers are not required to categorise concerns that they might have or to apportion blame. 

The Care Act 2014 only applies to adults and the categories of risk/harm to under 18’s are defined in the DfE’s ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023’ statutory guidance.

We also acknowledge that harm does not have to be deliberate in order to be harmful. It is for the statutory agencies to investigate possible abuse, neglect or exploitation. 

Our staff and volunteers are alerters, not investigators.

Types of abuse for adults as outlined in the Care Act 2014:

Physical Abuse 

This relates to any form of malpractice involving an individual’s physical wellbeing. More commonly known examples include hitting or kicking a patient or adult in a care setting, but can also extend to misuse of medication and inappropriate use of restraint. 

Emotional/Psychological Abuse 

Usually a repeated form of verbal abuse, where an individual is subjected to threats of harm, isolation or seclusion from services, harassment or intimidation, as well anything that alters the person’s behaviour from the way they’d like to live.

Financial Abuse 

Where someone in a caring role misuses the finances of the individual they care for. This could be for personal gain or in a way originally intended to help the adult receiving the care, but using someone’s money without their consent is a crime.

Sexual abuse 

If the adult in need of social care is subjected to sexual activity that they did not or could not consent to including anything from inappropriate touching touching to rape, the perpetrator is guilty of sexual abuse. 

Organisational abuse 

This is defined as a service, agency or care home putting its own needs before those of the service users lives physically, emotionally or intellectually. From imposing an inflexible daily routine to reorganising a staff rota to suit its own costs, organisations abuse can damage the service users’ lives.

Neglect 

Instances where carers or anyone in a position of trust fails to meet the basic needs of the child or adult for whom they have a responsibility. Extreme cases can lead to irreparable psychological damage and even death.

Discriminatory Abuse 

Refusing to acknowledge the different care needed for each individual. This could mean purposely ignoring someone’s religion, personal beliefs, dietary views or any number of personal preferences.

Domestic Violence

Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality 

Modern Slavery 

The use of individuals working for little or no wages is now the business of the Local Safeguarding Adults Partnership across the country. This could be perpetrated by care service employers, the adult in need to care themselves, or someone connected to that person.

Self-Neglect 

Self-Neglect is a condition affecting behaviour, where the individual refuses to attend to their personal care and hygiene, their environment or even refusal of care services offered to them. Care workers should be educated on this condition and prepared to work with the individual to improve their situation. 

Definition of Safeguarding Children and Young People 

The Government’s statutory guidance for protecting children defines safeguarding as:

• Providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge
• Protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online  
• Preventing impairment of children’s physical health or development 
• Ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care 
• Promoting the upbringing of children with their birth parents, or otherwise their family network through a kinship care arrangement, whenever possible and where this is in the best interests of the children 
• Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes in line with the outcomes set out in the Children’s Social Care National Framework’

Children may suffer significant harm to their health or development through neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse or exploitation by someone who is in a position of trust. They may also be at risk through witnessing the ill-treatment of others: through domestic abuse, for example. Day One staff and volunteers will not have an investigatory role but they are expected to report suspected abuse, neglect or exploitation to the Designated Safeguarding Lead (or a Deputy DSL in their absence)

‍

5.  Working with Schools and External Partners

Schools are not expected to comply with Day One’s Safeguarding Policy. Day One’s staff and any of our partner schools will jointly be responsible for safeguarding children and as part of our partnership agreement there are protocols in place for child protection concerns.

When working with schools we will familiarise ourselves as an organisation with their safeguarding policy and make sure we are aware of the procedures and processes in the event of a safeguarding incident.

All Day One staff working in schools will be required to familiarise themselves with schools’ policy and processes and to actively uphold these. 

When working with students outside of school hours we will make sure we are adhering to our own (this) policy in the protection of children and adults and all incidents will be reported accordingly. We will report any incidents to the school when necessary to do so. 

We will review our own practices as an organisation around taking young people on “insight days” to businesses that support our work. Whilst in term time we will follow all school risk assessments and safeguarding procedures. 

For trips to employers outside of term time we will do this with young people over 18 and undertake a risk assessment.

From the outset, our external partners will be made aware of our safeguarding policy and procedures for dealing with incidents or disclosures. This will avoid duplication, ensure clarity around roles and responsibilities and minimise the risk of miscommunication.

‍

6. Working with Children and Adults

It is essential that all communication to service users is appropriate and transparent and follows through approved means. 

• Work Phones – Volunteers and Staff should avoid using personal phones and never give out personal details. If you have been given permission to use your personal phone as a work phone, it will be treated as a work phone in line with this policy. Day One will work towards ensuring that staff have work phones. We use VOIP, an app on our personal phones that allows us to ring young people from our landline number. We are looking into securing staff work phones.

• Emails – Volunteers and staff should not share their personal email details or telephone numbers with service users. In the event where a service user makes contact with  a volunteer or staff member despite their best efforts to avoid this, this inadvertent contact should be reported to the Designated Safeguarding Lead to ensure clarity and for the protection of the  adult concerned.

• Messages via Day One approved social media sites – we should not communicate with service users via any personal profiles that they may have, nor should we initiate a conversation through Day One channels. 

• Tagging via Day One approved social media sites – We can post or share appropriate photos of service users but should not directly tag service users within these. Unless on LinkedIn and consented by the service user directly.

• Day One events – We should not meet or communicate with young people outside of an existing Day One event. This includes attending social activities such as parties or any non-approved events that are not organised or authorised by Day One. All meetings with young people must take place in public locations that have been agreed in advance and are appropriate for the activity.

• Photography and Videography - When working with service users Day One will get written consent from parents/legal guardians when the service user is under the age of 18 in order to be able to take pictures or videos and use them as promotional material on our website, social media and other platforms. Any service users aged 13 - 17 will also give written consent to do so as well. Any service users aged 18 and above will only need to give their consent. Parents, guardians and service users have the right to withdraw consent of their photographs or videos at any point through contacting a member of staff at Day One. We will keep in line with data protection laws and hold pictures and videos securely and in accordance with government regulations.

‍

7. Mentoring at Day One

At Day One, we offer mentoring as part of our professional development services to service users. These mentoring sessions are delivered by volunteers from various businesses across the country and typically consist of 1 to 3 sessions. To ensure the safety and wellbeing of both service users and volunteers, we have the following safeguarding procedures in place:

• Volunteer Agreement: All volunteers are required to complete a sign-up form, confirming their participation and agreement to our terms and conditions.
  
  
• Enhanced DBS Checks: All volunteers must hold an Enhanced DBS check. If a volunteer only holds a Basic DBS or none at all, Day One will arrange for an Enhanced DBS check to be completed before any mentoring sessions begin. If a volunteer doesn’t hold an enhanced DBS and is going to be attending a mentoring session, Jade or Aisha will be on the call with their camera off. This will be pre-arranged depending on the situation.
  
  
• Mandatory Training: All volunteers will undergo safeguarding and mentoring training. This will cover expected conduct, boundaries, the structure of sessions, and what to do if any concerns arise.
  
  
• Session Consent and Expectations: Service users will receive an email before the mentoring begins, which outlines the purpose of the sessions (professional development only) and sets clear expectations. The email will also ask for their informed consent to participate and confirm their understanding that any personal or concerning disclosures may be shared with appropriate staff members.
  
  
• Online Sessions: All mentoring sessions will take place online via Google Meet or Microsoft Teams. A Day One staff member will join at the start of each session to ensure there are no technical issues and to provide a point of contact should any concerns arise.
  
  
• Boundaries and Social Media: Volunteers are advised not to engage with service users through personal social media or private email. If a service user reaches out via these platforms, the volunteer is expected to inform a Day One staff member. In such cases, a follow-up conversation about appropriate boundaries will be held with the service user.
  
  
• Recording and Confidentiality: Sessions will not be recorded unless there is a safeguarding reason to do so, in which case all parties will be informed. Confidentiality will be maintained at all times, except in cases where there is a safeguarding concern.

‍

8. Data Protection

The data protection act 2018 requires personal information to be obtained and processed fairly and lawfully and only disclosed in appropriate circumstances. The act allows for disclosure of information without the consent of the subject in certain conditions, including for the purposes of the prevention or detection of crime, or the apprehension or prosecution of offenders. The need to safeguard children and/or adults at risk of harm should be considered within these parameters.

The European Convention of human rights article 8 also addresses the need to disclose information for the ‘protection of health or morals, for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others and for the prevention of disorder to crime. Disclosure should be appropriate for the purpose and only to the extent necessary to achieve that purpose.

‍