Purpose
To ensure every person using the service is protected from abuse, neglect and improper treatment, and that concerns are recognised, reported and acted on without delay.
Scope
Applies to all employed staff, bank and agency workers, volunteers, students, contractors and members of the management team across all regulated activities.
Definitions and categories of abuse
Physical, psychological or emotional, financial or material, sexual, discriminatory, organisational and domestic abuse, neglect and acts of omission, self-neglect, modern slavery and exploitation.
Staff are not required to categorise a concern correctly before raising it. The duty is to report what has been seen, heard or disclosed.
Recognising and responding to a concern
Ensure immediate safety, summon emergency services where there is risk to life, and preserve any evidence.
Report to the shift lead and safeguarding lead immediately and record the concern in the person's own words on the same working day.
Do not investigate, interview or confront an alleged perpetrator; this is the responsibility of the local authority and police.
Referral and statutory duties
The safeguarding lead makes a referral to the host local authority safeguarding team under the Care Act 2014, and notifies the Care Quality Commission where the concern is a notifiable event.
Where a person may lack capacity, decisions and best-interests processes are recorded in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
Where an allegation concerns a member of staff, the Local Authority Designated Officer or equivalent adult safeguarding process is followed, alongside the disciplinary policy and any referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Whistleblowing and speaking up
Staff may raise concerns internally, to the local authority, to CQC or to a prescribed body, and are protected under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.
Speak-up routes are displayed in staff areas and revisited in supervision. Any detriment following a disclosure is treated as a disciplinary matter.
Training and competency
All staff receive induction training on this policy before working unsupervised, refreshed at least annually or sooner following incident learning or a change in guidance.
Competency is confirmed through observation of practice, supervision discussion and reflective questioning — not attendance records alone.
Training records are maintained centrally and gaps are reviewed monthly against the training matrix.
Governance, monitoring and accountability
The registered manager holds overall accountability for this policy. Day-to-day implementation is delegated to named leads recorded in the service's accountability matrix.
Compliance is monitored through the service audit calendar, with findings reported to the monthly governance review and escalated to the provider board where risk is rated high.
Every audit finding is converted into an entry on the improvement action tracker with a named owner, priority rating, target date and evidence of completion.
Learning is shared with the whole team through team meetings, supervision and reflective practice sessions. Where a theme recurs, the policy itself is reviewed rather than the individual blamed.
- Safe recruitment: enhanced DBS, full employment history, two references and identity checks before first shift.
- Named safeguarding lead and deputy available at all times, with contact details displayed on every unit.
- Weekly review of the safeguarding log for emerging themes by person, staff member, time of day and location.
- Unannounced out-of-hours management visits at least monthly.
- Immediate protection planning within one hour of a concern being raised, recorded and reviewed daily until closed.
- Duty of Candour: an apology and factual explanation given to the person and, with consent, their family, and recorded in writing.
- Post-incident support for the person harmed, including advocacy, emotional support and access to independent advice.
- Root-cause analysis on every substantiated concern, with system-level actions rather than individual blame as the default.
- Communication needs are assessed so that people with sensory loss, learning disability, cognitive impairment or limited English can raise concerns; interpreters and accessible formats are provided at the service's cost.
- Data is analysed by protected characteristic to identify whether any group is over-represented in concerns or under-represented in reporting.
- Advocacy is offered proactively to people who have no family contact or who are least able to speak for themselves.
Evidence of compliance
- Safeguarding log with referral dates, outcomes and closure
- Training matrix and competency observations
- Protection plans and Duty of Candour letters
- Monthly safeguarding theme analysis presented to governance
Suggested review cycle: Annually, or immediately following a substantiated concern or change in statutory guidance.