Introduction to Safeguarding
Safeguarding refers to the policies, procedures, and practices designed to prevent people harming, abusing, neglecting or exploiting individuals, especially vulnerable populations such as children, young people, and adults at risk. Prevention is the primary purpose of safeguarding activity.
It is therefore much wider than child or adult protection which are actions taken in response to a particular incident or risk, for example; reporting processes, concern management, referral/information sharing and disciplinary procedures. These are included in our safeguarding work, but are only a small part of it.
While a lot of our work in safeguarding is similar across safeguarding children and safeguarding adults at risk these are governed by different legislation and therefore have different statutory boundaries.
Safeguarding Children
Built on the original legal definition within the Children Act 1989, the Children Act 2004 and the statutory guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children (most recently updated in 2023). Child safeguarding legislation and statutory responsibilities applies to anyone/everyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday.
It is defined as:
The statutory definition of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is as follows – the last two are relatively recent additions and are focused toward social work:
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 mental and 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.
Safeguarding Adults at Risk
The Care and Support Act 2014 provides the legislative foundation for safeguarding adults at risk which is then developed by the Care and Support Act Statutory Guidance.
Because adults must be given the right to make choices for themselves (as long as they have the mental capacity to do so), there is a clear definition of who statutory safeguarding responsibilities apply to. An ‘adult at risk’ is one who:
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 or neglect
as a result of those care and support needs is unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of abuse or neglect
The definition of Safeguarding Adults at Risk is “protecting an adult’s right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect. It is about people and organisations working together to prevent and stop both the risks and experience of abuse or neglect, while at the same time making sure that the adult’s wellbeing is promoted including, where appropriate, having regard to their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs in deciding on any action. This must recognise that adults sometimes have complex interpersonal relationships and may be ambivalent, unclear or unrealistic about their personal circumstances.”
Strategic oversight and compliance responsibilities are devolved to regional multi-agency partnership boards. These are usually called something along the lines of local Safeguarding Children Partnership and local Safeguarding Adult Board. They bring together leaders from social care, police, health and other agencies (e.g. schools, the night time economy) to improve multi-agenecy safeguarding arrangements and responses.
The Care Act 2014 identifies six safeguarding principles (for safeguarding adults at risk but generally applicable to all safeguarding work):
Empowerment
Prevention
Proportionality
Protection
Partnership
Accountability
