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Everyone has the right to be safe when accessing services provided by Tendring District Council. The purpose of this policy is to help the Council meet its legal duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and to discharge its legal obligations towards adults with needs for care and support. It also sets out the roles and responsibilities of the Council in working together with other professionals and agencies to safeguard vulnerable groups from all forms of abuse and neglect.
As part of the Council’s commitment to robust safeguarding, it has a Safeguarding Champions Group consisting of representatives from each Directorate. Each member of this group is responsible for ensuring that all colleagues across the Council are aware of the safeguarding policy and procedures.
“Tendring District Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, young people and adults with needs for care and support, as service users, residents and visitors to the area. The Council acknowledges the importance of working with partner agencies to ensure that children have safe, healthy and happy childhoods and that young people and adults with needs for care and support are given the support they need to enjoy good quality of life and well-being.”
This Mission Statement is underpinned by the following:
In order to meet its safeguarding duties and responsibilities, the Council will:
This Policy applies to all services within the remit of Tendring District Council. It covers all aspects of safeguarding for service users, their families, carers, supporters and local residents. It applies to all TDC employees, whether in a paid or unpaid capacity, permanent, seconded or temporary, casual workers, voluntary workers, apprentices, work experience students, agency staff, consultants, outside hirers and other contracted persons whatever their position, role, or responsibilities. This also applies to work carried out in all settings (whether Council premises or at external, privately hired venues)
This includes all forms of activity that aims to protect or promote the welfare of individuals and/or groups of people, which ensures prevention of harm, such as safe recruitment, staff training, awareness raising, provision of activities designed to promote inclusion, personalised risk management and risk assessments, confidential data storage, information sharing and referral.
This reflects the local authority’s safeguarding duties that apply in relation to an adult who: (a) has needs for care and support (whether or not the authority is meeting any of those needs), (b) is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect, and. (c) as a result of those needs is unable to protect himself or herself against the abuse or neglect or the risk of it.
This policy is inclusive of all children and adults with needs for care and support, irrespective of their age, race or ethnicity, religion, disability, sex or sexual orientation.
The legal definition of a child according to the Children Act 1989 is ‘a person under the age of 18’, including pre-birth.
Tendring District Council are aware of the requirements set out within the “Keeping Children safe in Education” - September 2022” document in relation to Apprentice’s that are under the age of 18 years”.
Tendring District Council are aware of the requirements set out within the “Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023”.
The Care Act 2014 has established a new statutory framework for care and support including adult safeguarding, which is designed to prevent harm and reduce the risk of abuse or neglect to adults with care and support needs.
The statutory framework introduced under the Care Act applies to any person aged 18 or above who:
The government has established six guiding principles that should underpin all adult safeguarding work:
The Care Act definition largely replaces the term ‘Vulnerable Adults’, but it is still used within this document.
This is any physical, sexual or emotional abuse, neglect, accident or injury that is sufficiently serious to adversely affect health, development or quality of life. This includes any impairment suffered from seeing or hearing the ill treatment of another person.
Even though many councillors, employees and contractors have limited contact with children and with adults with needs for care and support as part of their duties and responsibilities for Tendring District Council, everyone should be aware of the potential indicators of abuse and be clear about what to do if they have concerns.
The 10 main types of abuse are:
Everyone should be aware of the potential indicators of abuse and know what to do if they have concerns. It is however not the responsibility of the Council to investigate or determine whether abuse is taking place. The Council’s responsibility is to identify and report abuse.
The Council therefore aims to ensure that every member of staff is equipped with the knowledge and confidence to identify and deal effectively with any safeguarding situation or concern that arises.
For more information on how to spot the signs and symptoms, see the Safeguarding page on TED.
The Modern Slavery Act 2015 is intended to provide law enforcement agencies with stronger legal tools to stamp out modern slavery, ensuring that the perpetrators receive suitably severe punishment, while enhancing the protection of, and support for, victims.
Modern Slavery is estimated to be one of the world’s most profitable criminal activities. An assessment published in 2014 conducted by the Home Office estimates that there are between 10,000 and 13,000 victims in the UK. Sexual exploitation is the most common form of modern slavery currently reported by potential victims in the UK, followed by labour exploitation, forced criminal exploitation and domestic servitude. Evidence of criminal behaviour should always be reported to the Police.
Where staff have concerns about a child or adult suffering abuse related to any form of modern slavery, this should be raised with a Designated Safeguarding Officer who should follow the procedures outlined above in respect of ‘Raising a safeguarding concern’ involving contact with the Children and Families Hub or Adult Social Care. The Children and Families Hub will pass concerns onto the NRM (National Referral Mechanism) to ensure that the child gets the appropriate protection and support. Concerns should always be passed onto the Designated Safeguarding Lead. In the case of an adult, the Designated Safeguarding Lead should seek consent to make a referral direct to the NRM to secure appropriate protection and support as co-ordinated by the Modern Slavery Human Trafficking Unit (MSHTU).
Information about the NRM, including guidance and the referral form, is available on the www.gov.uk website.
Where no referral has been made, the Council has a duty to notify the Home Office of potential victims of Modern Slavery via the MS1 form. In accordance with section 43(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the Council is committed to co-operating with the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner whose role is to act in the interests of victims and potential victims by ensuring that the law enforcement response to modern slavery is coordinated.
Modern Slavery offences involves the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people, who with the threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, abuse of power or deception, are exploited for the purposes of prostitution, forced labour, slavery or other similar practices. This can occur either from one country to another or even within the same country, county or town.
Some victims are forced to work in places like cannabis factories, nail bars, brothels and car washes. There is no typical victim and some victims don’t understand that they have been exploited and are entitled to help and support.
Section 26 of the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 placed a new duty upon local authorities including district councils to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from becoming a terrorist or supporting terrorism” (Updated April 2021).
The PREVENT Strategy has objectives, to:
It includes all forms of violent terrorism and non-violent extremism - including Islamist and far-right supremacist forms. ‘Extremism’ is defined as “vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.”
Concerns about the possible radicalisation of an individual should be raised with the Safeguarding Lead Professional or with the Designated Safeguarding Lead who is the operational lead. The DSL will use the ‘notice’ ‘check, share’ procedure available on the Gov.Uk website.
Where there is an immediate risk of harm the Police should be contacted on 999. In order to protect an individual from radicalisation, a Prevent Referral Form should be completed and submitted to Essex Police (as detailed on the form) or you can call Essex Police Prevent Team for advice on 0800 789 321.
The Designated Safeguarding Lead should always be made aware of a referral.
Consent is normally required to make a referral, and further details on this and other matters are dealt with in the document Prevent Duty Guidance for Local Authorities – Dec 2023.
Where the individual is at risk of abuse or neglect, standard safeguarding procedures apply as per ’Raising a Concern’ (highlighted further above). Prevent should not involve covert activity against communities or individuals but should involve the sharing of personal information to ensure that a person at risk of radicalisation is given appropriate support. Following a referral as above, support may be co-ordinated by the local CHANNEL Panel.
Working principles include the need for proportionality and the principle of consent (unless seeking this could put a person at risk). The Council’s approach is consistent with existing safeguarding processes to include secure record keeping in accordance with the legislation around data protection. Tendring District Council, working alongside the Tendring Community Safety Partnership, has agreed a Prevent Strategy and Action Plan.
The Council adopts the Government’s definition of domestic abuse as being: “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”.
Such abuse can encompass, but is not limited to:
Controlling behaviour is a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour.
Survivors/victims may be affected by domestic abuse in a number of ways:
The effects of domestic abuse on survivors/victims include the direct effects on them and their relationships with other people, particularly their children.
Domestic abuse or violence is a crime and should be reported to the Police. The duty to share information for the prevention, or detection, of a crime overrules the usual principles of Data Protection (as per s.29 of the Act).
What staff should do if they become aware of domestic abuse or violence:
Further information on this issue and contact details for local and national agencies that support victims / survivors of domestic abuse and violence are included on the https://safercommunitiestendring.co.uk/ website.
Honour Based Abuse is an international term used by many cultures for justification of abuse and violence. It is a crime or incident committed in order to protect or defend the family or community ‘honour’. Honour Based Abuse may sometimes be used as a collective term for Female Genital Mutilation and Forced Marriage.
A forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both spouses do not (or, in the case of some adults with learning or physical disabilities, cannot) consent to the marriage and duress is involved. Duress can include physical, psychological, financial, sexual and emotional pressure.
There is a clear distinction between a forced marriage and an arranged marriage. In arranged marriages, the families of both spouses take a leading role in arranging the marriage but the choice whether or not to accept the arrangement remains with the prospective spouses.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons. The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women. FGM is internationally recognised as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.
The Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003:
Section 4 of the Serious Crime Act (2015) extends sections one to three to “extra-territorial acts” so that it is also an offence for a UK national or permanent UK resident to:
Suspicions may arise in a number of ways that a child is being prepared for FGM to take place abroad. These include knowing that the family belongs to a community in which FGM is practised and is preparing for the child to take a holiday, arranging vaccinations, or planning absence from school.
The child may also talk about a 'special procedure/ceremony' that is going to take place. Girls are at particular risk of FGM during summer holidays.
This is the time when families may take their children abroad for the procedure. Many girls may not be aware that they may be at risk of undergoing FGM. Further information and resources on FGM are available on this page: ESCB - FGM on the ESCB website.
Where staff have concerns that a child may be a possible or potential victim of Forced Marriage or FGM, this should be raised with the Lead Safeguarding Officer via the existing procedures outlined above in respect of ‘Raising a safeguarding concern’ involving contact with the Children and Families Hub or Adult Social Care. The Lead Safeguarding Officer will also ensure that the Police are contacted where a criminal offence is suspected.
Exploitation includes sexual, criminal (including county lines), modern slavery and online. Children who are exploited usually do not recognise the coercive nature of the relationship or see themselves as a victim. Exploitation is not the child's fault. Abusers are very clever in the way they manipulate young people. Increasingly often young people are being groomed remotely to carry out ‘jobs’ in their community, for their exploiters who live on the other side of the country.
How have exploitation methods changed/become more hidden:
Child Sexual Exploitation can occur using technology without the child’s immediate recognition, for example the persuasion to post sexual images on the internet/mobile phones with no immediate payment or gain. In all cases those exploiting the child/young person have power over them by virtue of their age, gender, intellect, physical strength and /or economic or other resources. There are three important and recognisable elements of child sexual exploitation:
The sexual exploitation of children and young people can be seen in varied forms which can be described through understanding models of CSE. It is important to recognise that these models do not necessarily work in isolation and various models can be operating concurrently (these models are an amalgamation of models reported by Barnardo’s, Children’s Society and Safe & Sound):
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, article 34 states 'governments must protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation'. Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 places a duty on key organisations to ensure that they work together to improve the wellbeing of children.
The Council is committed to play its full part in tackling CSE which includes reporting concerns and increasing awareness. It endorses the ESCB statement that this problem “cannot be dealt with by individual organisations working alone and that a multi-disciplinary commitment is required to tackle and respond to CSE.
Staff with concerns about a specific child being at risk of CSE should speak to a Designated Safeguarding Officer for their service. He or she will assist the member of staff in taking the right steps summarised below as derived from Essex CSE and Missing Arrangements
Non-person-specific Information about CSE activity should be included on the Essex Police Child Information Sharing Form available on the CSE Toolbox, or information can be emailed to OC.triage.team.essex@essex.pnn.police.uk.
Person-specific concerns should be detailed on the CSE Risk Vulnerabilities Assessment which can also be found on the CSE Toolbox.
If a child is at immediate risk of harm the Police should always be called on 999. Whenever information is shared, the Safeguarding Coordinator should be made aware.
Further information and guidance on CSE can be found here: CSE guidance for Professionals.
Further information about CSE can be found on the Essex Police and ESCB websites.
The Council’s Management Team recognise the important role they play in ensuring the safeguarding agenda is driven across the whole organisation. They understand the Council’s responsibility to work in partnership and share information with other agencies. The Council’s Assistant Director of Partnerships is the Lead Professional for Safeguarding and Community Safety and Safeguarding Manager is the Lead Officer for the Council and is responsible for the direction and management of safeguarding within the organisation. The Council’s Portfolio Holder for Partnerships is the Members Safeguarding Champion.
Safeguarding is referred to in senior management meetings and information is disseminated through service teams and included within service strategies and business plans.
There are a range of functions carried out by TDC, which have a positive outcome on the wellbeing of children, young people and adults with needs for care and support, and staff in these service areas are in a position to identify safeguarding issues, which have a direct impact on vulnerable people. For example:
The Council directly supports the health and life chances of children, young people and adults by improving standards of housing: preventing and responding to homelessness and by working closely with other local services and agencies. Other work includes allocation of housing to those in most need and proactive support to people with disabilities to enable them to get the necessary adaptations to help them participate fully in everyday life. Housing staff also work with MAPPA (Multi-Agency Protection Panel Arrangements) and MARAC (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Case Conference) to ensure vulnerable people are safeguarded within the district.
As well as undertaking core work to reduce crime and fear of crime, the Community SafetyTeam plays a key role in ensuring the safety of local children, young people and adults. The Community Safety and Safeguarding Manager / Designated Safeguarding Lead Officer manages the Community Safety Team and is responsible for receiving all safeguarding concerns from across the authority, triaging them and taking appropriate action. The team also provides a signposting service to vulnerable people to enable them to access local support.
This service can impact upon the wellbeing of children, young people and adults with care and support needs, through the design of new housing developments. The provision of play facilities and ‘green space’ ensures that families have facilities to enhance wellbeing and good design helps to ensure that people are safer in their communities.
Services provided by the Council’s Environmental Team include the monitoring of noise complaints, food hygiene and nutrition, but officers also inspect conditions in Council-owned, private rented accommodation and local businesses.
The Council is responsible for carrying out certain licensing functions. Protection of children from harm is a licensing objective that the Council is legally obliged to consider as part of its licensing function when licensing premises under the Licensing Act 2003 or the Gambling Act 2005.
With responsibility for administration of Benefit payments and Council Tax, the Council’s Financial Team helps to ensure that children, young people and adults with needs for care and support are protected from the effects of poverty and that family income is maximised.
This department implements the Council’s Recruitment Policy and Induction Procedures, so that all relevant employees are subject to the appropriate checks prior to appointment. The Learning and Development Manager and the Community Safety and Safeguarding Manager will monitor the level and type of safeguarding training required by staff and maintains records of training received and timeframes for refresher training.
The Portfolio Holder for Partnerships holds the position of Member Champion
for Safeguarding and is responsible for promoting the importance of safeguarding amongst all Members.
This position is held by the Assistant Director Partnerships and has overall accountability for safeguarding children, young people and adults with support needs.
The Designated Safeguarding Lead is the Community Safety and Safeguarding Manager, who is responsible for advising the Lead Professional in regard to concerns, referrals and safeguarding allegations against staff. They also have overall responsibility for ensuring that staff are aware of the Council’s commitment to safeguarding, are appropriately trained, understand their responsibilities, and have a range of safeguarding experience. The DSL will chair the Safeguarding Champions meeting
This postholder is responsible for ensuring that the Council has up to date Safeguarding policies, procedures, training and that any allegations regarding professionals in the workplace are investigated appropriately.
This group of staff nominated as a Safeguarding Champion or their service area will meet quarterly to discuss safeguarding matters, stay up to speed with any changes and cascade information and training options to their team members.
Those staff members attending the Safeguarding Champions Group are known as the Designated Reporting Officers. They are responsible for disseminating safeguarding information, identifying training requirements of staff and providing best practice examples within their service areas.
The Assistant Director, Partnerships, is the first point of call for staff reporting safeguarding allegations against employees and refers to the Lead Professional and Lead Officer on this.
The DSLs responsible for the operational management and implementation of the Council’s Safeguarding Strategy, Policy and Procedures. They co-ordinate, promote and deliver safeguarding training. They ensure concerns are referred to the appropriate agencies and that they are recorded, monitored and reviewed.
Service Directors are responsible for ensuring that, Managers, Supervisors, Team Leaders and staff within their Directorate are aware of the contents of this Policy and the accompanying Procedures, and that the Council's duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and adults with needs for care and support are met and effectively discharged.
Managers and Supervisors / Team Leaders are responsible for complying with the requirements of this Policy and accompanying Procedures and for the promotion of a staff culture which recognises the rights of children, young people and adults with needs for care and support and the Council's responsibility for their safety when receiving its services.
The People Team is responsible for ensuring that safe recruitment procedures are followed and that appropriate checks are made. This includes Disclosure and Barring Service Checks prior to any employee that will have unsupervised/substantial contact with children and young people, or who will undertake certain prescribed activities with adults with care and support needs, before starting work with the Council. The Head of People Performance and Projects has lead responsibility for dealing with allegations against members of staff.
All employees, volunteers and agency staff are responsible for complying with the requirements of this Policy and Procedures. Staff should take all reasonable steps to ensure (within the context of their duties) that risks are minimised and that children, young and vulnerable people are protected and their welfare promoted when using Council services.
To effectively implement this policy, all employees have a responsibility to:
Employees who come into contact with children, young people or adults with needs for care and support, whilst working away from their office base, or whilst lone working, must act in an appropriate manner and not put themselves at risk from allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
The Council is committed to ensuring that its Elected Members are appropriately trained and aware of their safeguarding responsibilities and those of the authority. This includes awareness of the Council’s safeguarding duties under Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 and The Care Act 2014.
Councillors/Members: Councillors are required to adhere to the Policy. If they do not, there may be grounds for reporting their behaviour to the Government Committee, which may require an investigation under the Councillor Code of Conduct. If a safeguarding issue occurs relating to a Councillor, the Designated Officer informed of the breach should contact the Monitoring Officer immediately. Where there is evidence of illegal activity, the councillor will be reported to the relevant authorities and may face criminal investigation. Annual awareness training will be offered to councillors
All reasonable steps are taken to ensure that contractors working for the Council are monitored appropriately.
All contractors and sub-contractors working with, or providing services for the Council are required to demonstrate they have their own Safeguarding Policy and Procedures or agree to sign up to the TDC Safeguarding Policy and Procedures, to ensure they meet the Council’s safeguarding requirements. Where contact with children and adults with needs for care and support is a necessary part of the contracted service, it is the responsibility of the manager who is using the services of the contractor, to ensure that satisfactory DBS checks have been completed where appropriate and that contracted staff are vigilant in respect of safeguarding issues.
As a minimum, all organisations receiving funding from the Council will be expected to have a safeguarding policy and procedure in place, which is understood by employees and volunteers and available to service users, irrespective of how the grant has been awarded.
It is a criminal offence for an employer not to undertake the appropriate checks on an employee working with children, young people and adults with care and support needs, or to knowingly give a job to someone who is inappropriate to work with these groups. The Council takes all reasonable steps to ensure that unsuitable people are prevented from working with vulnerable groups, regardless of their position.
All job descriptions are assessed to identify which roles are likely to involve regular/substantial unsupervised contact with children and adults with care and support needs. For all new employees, confirmation of employment will be dependent on satisfactory checks where appropriate.
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Enhanced Plus checks are sought where staff will have unsupervised and substantial contact with children and young people or who will undertake certain prescribed activities with adults with needs for care and support as part of their duties or responsibilities.
The Council is responsible for ensuring that its staff are competent to carry out their responsibilities for safeguarding and for creating an environment where they feel able to raise concerns and feel supported in their safeguarding role. This is reinforced through ‘supervision’, which can be part of staff 1:1 meetings or as a group and all staff are entitled to access this support.
These meetings might be planned or ad hoc and could involve monitoring work in hand, reviewing progress against work plans, developing solutions or simply discussing problems and concerns.
The level to which individual employees should be trained in safeguarding is determined in accordance with Essex Safeguarding Children and Adults Boards' guidelines. All staff will undertake the Council’s e-learning training package on Skillgate this package covers both Level 1 and 2 Safeguarding models for both Children’s and Adults, which reinforces the basic learning and will enable all staff to be equipped with the knowledge and confidence to identify and report any incidents of abuse to the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
All Managers also need to undertake training, to ensure that they have a sound working knowledge of relevant legislation, fully understand their duty of care and responsibilities and can be advocates of best practice in safeguarding.
Whistleblowing is the mechanism by which staff can voice their concerns about behaviour of others in the work place made in good faith without fear of repercussion.
The Council’s Whistleblowing Policy covers any staff concerns about colleagues in regard to safeguarding children, young people and adults with care and support needs and staff need to feel confident in reporting these. The Policy provides guidance and assurance regarding the process to be followed in respect of raising concerns. It also provides details of alternative ways to report concerns confidentially outside of the Council.
The SET (Southend, Essex and Thurrock) Safeguarding Guidelines outline the basic safeguarding procedures, which should be followed by all local authorities in Essex. The Council has however developed its own simplified safeguarding procedures and requires all staff and Members to follow these.
There may also be occasions when agencies in another county have to be contacted to report a safeguarding concern, for example, if an incident occurs at an TDC activity but the child or adult lives in a neighbouring district or county. Emergency contact information for these teams is given at the end of the Procedures.
To report a concern about a child to Children’s Social Care please use the reporting portal: Report a concern about a child (Essex County Council)
To report a concern about an adult to Adult Social Care please use the reporting portal: Report a concern about an adult (Essex County Council)
Essex County Council is the Children’s Services Authority and provider of Adult Social Care for Essex. It has a duty to conduct enquiries where it’s suspected that a child who lives in, or is found in a local authority area, is suffering from, or likely to suffer significant harm in the form of physical, sexual, emotional abuse or neglect.
Under the Care Act, there is now a duty to conduct enquiries regarding adults. TDC has a duty to assist and provide information in support of these enquiries.
Essex Safeguarding Children’s Board (ESCB) is a statutory multi-agency organisation, which brings together agencies who work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people. The objective of this Board is to coordinate and oversee the work of local partners and agencies in regard to safeguarding and to advise and direct improved safeguarding practice.
The Care Act 2014 placed the Adult’s Board on a statutory footing.
The Board oversees and leads adult safeguarding across the locality and is interested in a range of matters that contribute to the prevention of abuse and neglect. The Board must publish a strategic plan and annual report, setting out how it will meet its main objective and what the members will do to achieve these objectives. It must also conduct any Safeguarding Adult Reviews in accordance with the Care Act.
North Essex Stay Safe Group consists of representatives including NHS, Essex Social Care, Police, Probation, Education, Voluntary Sector and District Councils. This group is responsible for delivering an action plan to improve safeguarding practice in North Essex and for considering actions to address emerging issues.
The Council recognises that safeguarding children is not only about preventing abuse and neglect: It is also about promoting children’s health and development in order to help provide optimum life chances. Providing effective support to help find solutions at an early stage can prevent problems escalating. The publication Effective Support for Children and Families in Essex includes guidance that applies to Council staff working with children and families to provide Early Help, targeted and specialist support.
The Council is required to work with others to support children and families in order to prevent their needs escalating to a higher level. The document includes the conceptual model and “windscreen” as a way of developing a shared understanding and approach across all services and partnerships, and in order to ensure a consistent approach. Further information on the Essex Effective Support for Children and Families can be accessed here: Effective support 2024 final
Employees have a duty to share information relating to suspected abuse with Essex Social Care and Essex Police.
Employees must not:
This does not exclude the employee from the need or right to consult with a solicitor, trade union representative or other bona fide legal adviser.
Consent is not required to breach confidentiality and make a safeguarding referral where:
This Policy and Procedure will be reviewed annually unless legislation or processes change in the interim.
Monitoring mechanisms include:
Other TDC policies and procedures that may be read in conjunction with, or be linked to this policy are:
Staff should monitor internal Council bulletins and intranet pages for new and updated versions of relevant safeguarding policies.
This policy is intended to support staff working within TDC and is supplementary to the:
Staff should also see the Council’s intranet in the new dedicated ‘Safeguarding’ page for more in-depth information on various aspects of safeguarding.
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and anyone can raise a safeguarding concern. If a member of staff sees something that worries them, they have a responsibility to report it. Staff are not however, responsible for deciding whether or not someone is being abused, or for carrying out investigations.
All safeguarding concerns should be sent to the Designated Safeguarding Lead in the first instance, although, out of hours, staff will need to make their own referrals as directed in the procedures.
Employees must not discuss any allegations of abuse, substantiated or not, with:
Staff must consider whether seeking consent from a victim might increase the risk to them, cause an unjustified delay or if it could prejudice the prevention, detection or prosecution of a serious crime.
Consent is not required where:
*Mental capacity
The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 requires an assumption that an adult has full capacity to make decisions unless it can be shown that they lack capacity to make a decision for themselves, at the time the decision needs to be made. Any decision made, or action taken, on behalf of someone who lacks the capacity to make the decision or act for themselves, must be made in their best interests.
Issues of mental capacity and the ability to give informed consent are central to decisions and actions surrounding safeguarding adults. All interventions need to take into account the ability of adults to make informed choices about the way they want to live and the risks they want to take. This includes their ability:
All copies of the Safeguarding Report Form are retained on the Council’s secure database, in accordance with data protection and as per the Retention of Records Policy. All copies of Referral Forms sent to Essex Social Care are retained by the Safeguarding Team, in a secure location to ensure confidentiality.
Information sharing is a vital part of early intervention and preventative work, to promote welfare, for wider public protection and in improving outcomes for all. However, people want to be confident that their personal information is kept safe and secure, and that staff maintain their privacy.
Decisions about what information is shared and with whom will therefore be taken on a case-by-case basis. Information should be:
In all cases where information is shared, the following information should be recorded:
The Police are always responsible for the gathering and preservation of evidence to pursue criminal allegations against people causing harm. Staff should contact them immediately if they feel a crime has taken place.
However, the first concern must be to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the alleged victim.
Staff can play an important part in ensuring that evidence is not contaminated or lost.
Staff should:
General email to send safeguarding concerns or enquiries safeguarding@tendringdc.gov.uk
The Council takes seriously any complaints made about the conduct of staff and volunteers in respect of their contact with children, young people, families and adults with care and support needs. This includes any person who works with children or adults in a voluntary activity or in a personal capacity:
All allegations received by the Council will be investigated fully, and, where applicable, action will be taken against the member of staff via the disciplinary procedure. If deemed necessary, the member of staff will be re-deployed or suspended whilst the investigation takes place. The decision to suspend lies with the appropriate Director in consultation with the Head of People, Performance and Projects, or in their absence, the Chief Executive or another member of the Senior Management Team.
In addition, depending on the situation it may be appropriate to involve the police, where it is deemed a possible criminal offence has been committed. This decision will be made by Head of People, in conjunction with a member of the Senior Management Team and the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
In the event of a serious allegation against a member of staff regarding children, the Council will follow the procedures set out in the Southend, Essex and Thurrock (SET) Procedures and may involve the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) employed by Essex County Council.
The Council has a legal duty to refer unsuitable individuals to criminal records agencies whether they have resigned, moved roles or been dismissed. The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) will be responsible for making the decision, and ensuring the matter is referred to the relevant disclosure and barring agency.
The TDC Safeguarding Report Form is to be used for all concerns regarding children, young people and adults with needs for care and support. As a result, not all fields will be relevant, but all relevant fields must be completed. The officer completing the form is responsible for its content and for its delivery to the Safeguarding Team within the timescales given.
The TDC Form is available on the intranet under the ‘Safeguarding’ section and should be downloaded each time it is needed. Forms must be completed electronically and emailed to the address given. Any employee not having access to the intranet must contact their line manager to complete the form on their behalf. On receipt of the form a member of the Safeguarding Team will start the assessment process.
As the Designated Safeguarding Lead may need to cut and paste information from the Safeguarding Report Form onto external forms, it should be completed as accurately and carefully as possible. Staff should also reduce the amount of additional documents that are attached for example amalgamate and/or edit information rather than sending lots of emails to provide background information.
The Safeguarding Report Form will also act as an accurate record for staff to keep in their own confidential and ‘locked down’ files. Staff must remember that their reports may be used as evidence in a court of law or at a case review or inspection.
If staff have to make their own external referral (if it is out of office hours); they must send copies of this and any other accompanying material to the Safeguarding email the next working day.
External safeguarding portals are available on line for direct referrals.
To report a concern about a child to Children’s Social Care please use the reporting portal: Report a concern about a child (Essex County Council)
To report a concern about an adult to Adult Social Care please use the reporting portal: Report a concern about an adult (Essex County Council)
In addition to the safeguarding procedures, the Council’s Housing Service may need to make a referral to Essex Social Care in relation to homeless 16-17 year olds and intentionally homeless households with children.
This contact is made for an assessment of whether they are a child in need to whom a duty is owed by Essex Social Care under terms of the Children Act 1989.
It may be necessary to contact specialist agencies regarding some forms of abuse. There may also be extra forms to complete. Staff should always refer concerns to the Safeguarding Team, but if this is not possible, staff should follow the following procedures (sending information to the Safeguarding Team as soon as possible).
If you believe someone is in immediate danger or risk, call Essex Police on 999.
If it’s not an emergency, call the Police on 101.
For advice staff should ring the Modern Day Slavery Helpline on 0800 0121 700; or the Salvation Army Helpline on 0300 3038 151 (24 hours a day, seven days a week).
The Safeguarding Team follow the usual SET Procedures and send a copy of the relevant form(s) to the specialist Police team via their email address: Prevent@essex.pnn.police.uk
Staff can report domestic abuse directly to Essex Police via their Domestic Abuse Central Referral Unit (CRU) by calling 101 extension 180340; or by calling the dedicated abuse non-emergency number 0800 358 0351.
For up-to-date information, staff should look at the Essex Police Website at www.essex.police.uk
If children or adults with needs for care and support are involved, staff should also contact Essex Social Care - see the ‘Making direct referrals’ section above
For incidents where staff believe that a child, young person or adult with care or support needs is in immediate danger of physical or psychological harm and that the situation calls for immediate action or intervention.(Staff may have witnessed the incident themselves, had a vulnerable person disclosure directly to them or they are given information from a third party).
In these situations, staff should:
Staff should be as accurate as possible when recording information as it could be used in court.
Where staff have their own concerns about a vulnerable person or if a third party has told a member of staff about their concerns. Also if a child, young person or adult with needs for care and support has disclosed something directly to the member of staff, which may be considered a safeguarding concern, or may involve a crime.
These concerns are of a serious nature, which staff believe could lead to harm, but where the victim is not in any immediate danger of harm and immediate action is not required.
Staff should:
If staff are unsure whether their concern is a safeguarding issue, they should ring the LADO to discuss.
This procedure also covers allegations made against anyone acting on behalf of TDC including volunteers or Elected Members.
Staff should:
It will be up to the Named Senior Officer (or the Deputy/Safeguarding Lead in her absence) to determine whether the Safeguarding Report Form is forwarded to the Safeguarding Team.
Suspension of the staff member is not automatic and is considered a neutral act. Where suspension is not appropriate, consideration will be given to putting safeguards in place to protect the vulnerable person.
[see document attached]
[see document attached]