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Safeguarding Policy

Ashley Educational Trust (AET) is a registered charity (Charity No. 277256), 43 Pine Road, Didsbury, Manchester M20 6UZ, set up to promote education in accordance with Christian principles. It is responsible for the running of Ashley Centre at 67-77 Hathersage Road, Manchester M13 0EW. Wherever AET is mentioned in this document, it includes all the activities organised in and by Ashley Centre.

Statement of Intent

Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) summarises Safeguarding as:

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  • protecting children from maltreatment 

  • preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development 

  • ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care 

  • taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes

 

AET will take all reasonable steps, through its policy guidelines and procedures to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the young people involved in its activities.  It is committed to providing a safe and enjoyable environment that enables young people to develop their full potential as individuals while protecting them from all physical, sexual and emotional harm.


AET is committed to fulfilling its responsibilities in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all young persons under eighteen years of age and vulnerable adults as required by the 2004 Children’s Act and the Protection of Vulnerable Adults Act 2004.

Purpose of This Policy

The responsibility to safeguard young people and vulnerable adults rests with all AET staff and volunteers.

 

The Children Act 2004 and Working Together (2018) places duties on employers, training providers and voluntary projects including a requirement to safeguard and promote welfare, to share information where necessary and appropriate and to contribute to any inspection of children’s services. Within the definition of the law, this Policy determines children as being all persons under the age of eighteen.


This policy sets out AET’s commitment to Safeguarding arrangements and provides a clear framework for all staff and volunteers in fulfilling that obligation. The policy aims to reassure and protect staff and volunteers of AET who work in an environment where we promote the welfare of young adults and vulnerable adults and will also detail the skills required to identify potential abuse and how to record and report it.

Roles and Responsibilities

AET has 2 Safeguarding Coordinators. The Safeguarding Coordinators will take the lead on the implementation of the AET Safeguarding Policy.  

 

The Safeguarding Co-ordinator is: Lisa Newbould 

Deputy Safeguarding Co-ordinator is: Mariane Pocas 

 

The management committees of the Ashley Centre will ensure

 

  • That all arrangements are in place in order to safeguard and promote the welfare of young people and vulnerable adults

  • That the Safeguarding Co-ordinators have the support and training necessary to fulfil their role. 

  • That appropriate decisions are promptly made with regard to every reported incident

  • That all procedures outlined in this Policy are adhered to.

 

AET is responsible for ensuring that appropriate Safeguarding procedures are in place and will review this policy alongside the Management Committees on an annual basis. Where a Safeguarding action has taken place, the Management committee of Ashley will inform AET of the issue and the course of action that has been taken. 

Abuse and Types of Abuse

It is recommended that all staff and volunteers make themselves aware of the following definitions and remain alert to any potential indications or signs of abuse. 

 

Abuse: “An act, or failure to act, by the person responsible for the care of the child. It may involve cruelty, exploitation or neglect.” Abuse is a form of maltreatment of a child. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to prevent harm. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional or community setting by those known to them or, more rarely, by others. They may be abused by an adult or adults or another child or children. Abuse can take place in person, or technology may be used to facilitate online abuse.

 

Abuse can take the following forms: 

 

Physical Abuse: Physical abuse may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating, or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces illness in a child (e.g. Munchausen’s Syndrome by proxy). 

 

Neglect: Neglect is 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 and clothing, shelter including exclusion from home, failure to protect the child from physical and emotional harm or danger, failure to ensure adequate supervision including use of inadequate care-takers, or the failure to ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to a child’s basic emotional needs. 

 

Sexual Abuse: Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, including prostitution, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including penetrative (e.g. rape, buggery or oral sex) or nonpenetrative acts. They may include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at or in the production of pornographic material, watching sexual activities or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways. 

 

Emotional Abuse: Emotional abuse is 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 children that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond the child’s

Recruitment

AET has robust recruitment practices for both paid employees and regular volunteers which will include: 

 

Paid Roles

 

  • A job description which includes a statement about Safeguarding children and young people.

 

  • An Enhanced DBS check – where possible on the Update Service

 

  • Two references - one of which can be a character reference

 

Verbal offers of employment can be made subject to satisfactory pre-employment checks however new post-holders will not be appointed until satisfactory documentation is obtained, unless previously employed by the charity or transferring from another position.

 

Regular Volunteers  

 

  • An Enhanced DBS check – where possible on the Update Service

 

  • One reference

 

Occasional Volunteers (workshop leaders or speakers) may not need a DBS but should be accompanied at all times by a club leader or club volunteer with a DBS.

 Training

AET provides annual training for all staff and volunteers which aims to bring everyone up-to-date with developments in safeguarding and highlight specific best practices. 

 

The initial induction training for staff and volunteers will include the reading of this Policy and other guidance material. After this, all staff and volunteers must complete annual ‘safeguarding awareness’ training. 

 

This training will include:

  • Staff conduct guidance – how to establish adequate boundaries including contact and electronic contact with young people. (See 3.1 below)

  • Types of abuse and how to recognise them. 

  • Who are the key people  - the Safeguarding Coordinators, Management team, 

  • How to respond to a suspicion, allegation or disclosure (the procedures laid out in this policy.)

Risk Assessments

Comprehensive risk assessments will be undertaken by the competent party for all posts and activities. This assessment will identify all potential risks to young people, vulnerable adults and all employees and volunteers. All incidents arising will be catalogued and examined.

 

The 4 key risk assessments are for:

  • Residential activities on site (including summer courses)

  • Residential activities off site

  • Non residential activities 

  • Work experience

General Guidelines for staff and volunteer conduct

All staff and volunteers on AET business must

 

  • Understand their role. Suspicions should be reported immediately and at no stage should the person concerned decide whether abuse has actually occurred or not

  • Be familiar with the Safeguarding Policy and Procedures

  • Immediately report any concerns and suspicions to the relevant Safeguarding Co-ordinator 

  • Avoid physical contact with any young person unless it is unavoidably necessary within the context of your professional duties.

  • Avoid swearing and the use of sexual innuendo or any such references

  • Act as transparently as possible, avoiding being alone with a young person in a closed space 

  • Avoid contact with young people through mobile phones, personal emails or social media without the consent of the parents, or guardians where applicable.

  • In the context of data protection, only the minimum of contact information will be kept while in membership of the Club and these are to be supplied by the parents or guardians. No mobile phone numbers of those under 16 will be retained by the leaders without the parents’ or guardians’ consent.

Response to a Safeguarding Concern

Through the organisation’s commitment to safeguarding the welfare of young people and vulnerable adults, all staff and volunteers must immediately report any concerns or suspicions they may have to the relevant AET Safeguarding Coordinator as soon as possible. This should be done first verbally (in person or by telephone). The Safeguarding Coordinator will then ask the staff member reporting to put the incident in writing. 

 

In an emergency situation where it is not possible to speak to a Safeguarding Coordinator, staff should contact the Police or Local Safeguarding Partnership directly for advice. Staff and volunteers must follow this up when it is safe to do so by contacting the safeguarding co-ordinator with the reporting procedure.

 

If an adult or child is in immediate danger staff should ring the emergency services or contact the police on 999.

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If the situation does not require emergency assistance staff should report concerns to:

Manchester Contact Centre
Telephone: 0161 234 5001 (open 24 hours a day, seven days a week)
Email: mcsreply@manchester.gov.uk

 

In all instances, the reporting of suspicions or incidents must only be made to the appropriate person (Safeguarding Co-ordinators/ Manchester Safeguarding Partnership) and all details kept confidential. 

Disclosures

All disclosures made by children or vulnerable adults must be treated seriously. Whilst being sensitive to the situation, all disclosures should be immediately reported, using the established reporting procedure. Staff or volunteers should never promise confidentiality to young people but make it clear that their disclosure will only be shared with the relevant person (The Safeguarding Co-ordinator)

 

It is for the Safeguarding Coordinator(s) with the support the Management Team to decide the next steps including whether to inform the parents or guardian of the concern as expressed. In the case of perceived significant harm, this will be done in consultation with the Local Safeguarding Partnership.

Response to a disclosure

Do: 

 

  • Be accessible and receptive

  • Listen carefully

  • Take it seriously

  • Reassure children/young people they are right to tell

  • Immediately seek help using the procedures above

  • Immediately (or as soon as possible) put down in writing an account of what has been said in the child’s own words

  • Record the date, time, place, those present and any other relevant information. See Annexe A for more on this.
     

Don’t:

  • Agree to confidentiality

  • Jump to conclusions

  • Try to get the child to give you details – particularly using closed questions. Simply listen and reassure

  • Speculate or accuse anybody

  • Make promises you cannot keep

Allegations from Third Parties

If you are informed of a concern by a member of the public, employee or colleague, you must act in accordance with the reporting procedure as described above.

Direct observation

If abuse is observed without a disclosure being made e.g. physical marks or behaviour which suggests abuse has occurred or is occurring, the observer should speak to the Safeguarding Coordinator before taking action. Action may include drawing attention to the evidence to see if there is an explanation or speaking to the person concerned,

 

If staff or volunteers observe abuse taking place, intervention may be required to protect and safeguard the young person or vulnerable adult. Intervention is defined as being any direct action which is taken to safeguard the recipient of the suspected abuse which is over and above reporting the incident or behaviour. 

 

Any intervening action should be taken with extreme caution. If intervention is required, it will be in response to a very obvious incident, e.g. a physical assault on a young person or vulnerable adult. The nature of the incident will dictate the response and action.

 

Where possible the Police should be summoned to intervene. However, if delay would result in further danger to a young person or vulnerable adult, staff or volunteers together should take the appropriate action. Anyone intervening must not place themselves at risk and must only use ‘reasonable force’, always as a last resort. 

 

The Police or Safeguarding Partnership will be informed as appropriate.  The staff member who dealt with the incident must produce an account in writing of the sequence of events.

 

Once appropriate action has been taken, the incident must be immediately reported to the Safeguarding Coordinator(s) and Management Committee.  The Management Committee will inform the AET office.  

Reporting a Colleague

The procedures detailed below are used in respect of all cases in which it is alleged that a member of staff or volunteers has: 

  • behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may have harmed a child; 

  • possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child; or 

  • behaved towards a child or children in away that indicates he or she would pose a risk of harm if they worked regularly or closely with children. 

  • Behaved or may have behaved in a way that indicates they may not be suitable to work with children.

 

Since the first responsibility of all employees and volunteers is to safeguard young people and vulnerable adults, any concerns about a colleague must be reported to the Safeguarding Coordinator. Between them, a report will be completed to pass on to the Management Committee. Where possible, the colleague should be removed from their contact with young people until an investigation has occurred. The individual concerned does not need to be made aware that this report is being made. 

 

If the concern is about a Manager, staff should not discuss the concern with them or show them the report. These concerns must be reported to the Safeguarding Coordinator. If the case concerns a Safeguarding Coordinator, it should be passed to the second coordinator and where this is not possible to the Directors of the Management Committees. If the case concerns a member of the Management Committee it should be passed to AET.

Allegations Made Against an Employee

Where an allegation has been made against a member of staff or volunteer, the competent authority will consider which of the following actions are required.

 

  • Removal of the accused party from contact with young people and vulnerable adults until a speedy investigation is completed

  • Disciplinary action in accordance with the AET Disciplinary Procedures in instances where the investigation concludes that there is a case to answer. AET recognises that discipline is essential for the proper conduct of AET affairs, and for the Safeguarding of all staff and volunteers and the public.

 

Should the investigation decide that there is a case to answer, it should be handed over to the appropriate civil authorities or the Manchester Safeguarding Partnership.

 

Careful consideration will need to be given to the sharing of information and the provision of appropriate support.

Harassment and Bullying in the Workplace

All staff and volunteers have a right to work in an environment that is free from harassment and bullying. Any allegation of harassment and/or bullying will be taken seriously, investigated fully and dealt with in accordance with the relevant policies and procedures. In addition, reference should be made to relevant policies including Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy, Health and Safety at Work, and Management of Health and Safety at Work procedures 

 

In the first instance accusations should be taken to the Safeguarding Coordinator who will consult where necessary and make a judgement about next steps.

Whistle Blowing Policy

AET has established procedures for enabling staff and volunteers to share, in confidence with a designated person, concerns they may have about a colleague’s behaviour.

 

These concerns may be linked to Young Person/Adult protection concerns, or behaviour which pushes boundaries beyond acceptable limits. If this is consistently ignored, a culture may develop within an organisation whereby staff and volunteers and young people are ‘silenced’.

AET is fully supportive of ‘whistle blowing’ for the sake of a Young Person or a Vulnerable Adult and will provide support and protect those who ‘whistle blow’.

 

Whilst it is difficult to express concerns about colleagues, it is important that these concerns are communicated to relevant staff and management. All staff and volunteers will be encouraged to talk to their manager to the Safeguarding Coordinator if relevant if they become aware of anything which makes them feel uncomfortable.

Other Related Legislation, Policy and Procedures

  • The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act Exceptions Order 1974

 

  • Part V of the Police Act 1997

 

  • Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003

 

  • Health and Safety at Work Act

 

  • Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations

 

  • Working Together to Safeguard Children

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