Safeguarding

Safeguarding is an extremely important issue for many voluntary and community groups.

What is Safeguarding?

Safeguarding is about protecting vulnerable people from harm, preventing harm and responding to concerns about alleged and suspected harm. Safeguarding applies to children and vulnerable adults.

Child protection is part of safeguarding. The Department for Education says "It refers to the activity that is undertaken to protect specific children who are suffering, or are likely to suffer, significant harm."

Safeguarding and your organisation

Making sure your organisation has policies and procedures in place for safeguarding and child protection:

protects children,young people and vulnerable adults from harm and abuse
enables staff and volunteers to know what to do if they are worried
shows that your group is responsible and has pride in its work.

You may also want to develop safeguards because you:

have been told that you need a safeguarding policy and procedure in order to get funding or public liability insurance
are applying for charitable status, and the Charity Commission has asked if you have a child protection policy
suspect, or have experienced, an incident of abuse, and want to make sure it doesn’t happen again
simply want to ensure your group is as safe as possible for children.

You should think about appointing a safeguarding officer and training for that officer and other relevant staff/trustees.