SAFEGUARDING Policy

Brain Health Breakthrough CIC supports both the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector. We support adults and children and provide vital services in the community. Our work brings us into contact with vulnerable adults and children. This policy is intended to support staff, freelance associates and volunteers  within Brain Health Breakthrough CIC to understand their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding adults and children. Everyone within the organisation is  expected to follow and apply this policy. It is not up to you to decide if abuse has taken place. It is up to you to report any concerns. We have a duty of care to respond to any issues that may concern us, even if they don’t involve our services.

All children and adults at risk, irrespective of their age, culture, disability, gender, language, ethnicity, socio-economic status, religious belief or sexual orientation have the right to protection from abuse. 

• It is not our job to establish whether or not abuse is taking place. It is everyone’s responsibility to report any concerns we have over the welfare of children, young people or adults at risk. This responsibility includes: spotting signs of abuse; poor practice by elected members or employees; handling allegations made by a member of the public. 

 Brain Health Breakthrough CIC will

• respect and promote the rights, wishes and feelings of children and adults at risk
• have and follow appropriate procedures, to safeguard the well-being of children and adults at risk and to protect them from harm
• fulfil our commitment to safe employment practices, such as Disclosure and Barring checks, recruitment, training and support of staff, elected members and volunteers to adopt best practice to safeguard and protect children and adults at risk, and minimise risk to themselves 
• respond to any allegations of misconduct or abuse of children or adults at risk 
• process personal data in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 and maintain confidentiality, only sharing information on a need to know basis

All suspicions, concerns and disclosures have to be reported immediately to a Designated Safeguarding Lead.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead for safeguarding duties for Brain Health Breakthrough CIC is Karen Haworth   mobile: 01254 480515 

All staff, freelancers and volunteers should contact Karen Haworth for any concerns/queries they have in regards to safeguarding adults and children.

If you think it is urgent and none of the above is available, do not delay. Contact: 

Hyndburn and Lancashire

Lancashire County Council Adult Social Care 0300 123 6721 

Lancashire County Council Children’s Customer Care 0300 123 6720 (8am - 8pm). 

Lancashire Police 0845 125 3545 or 999 in an emergency. 

Blackburn with Darwen

Adults 

Blackburn with Darwen Council’s Adult Social Care Duty Team You can contact us from 9am to  5pm, Monday to Friday. 01254  587547

In an emergency out of normal office hours contact the Emergency Duty Team on 01254 587547,  

Children

Contact Blackburn with Darwen Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) for confidential advice and consultation. Monday to Friday 08.45-17.00 please call: 01254 666400 If you are calling outside these hours please contact our Emergency Duty Team on 01254 587547. or contact the Police on  01254 51212 or dial 999. 

Staff freelancers and volunteers at Brain Health Breakthrough CIC who have any adult or children safeguarding concerns should follow these guidelines and principles

• Stay calm 
• If child or adult at risk is present, reassure him or her 
• Take the report seriously 
• Don’t make promises of confidentiality or outcome 
• Keep questions to a minimum – clarify your understanding but leave detailed questioning to police or social care professionals 
• Explain to them that you will have to share your concerns with your line manager and / or the designated Safeguarding Lead who will decide what to do next.

 1. Respond  - Take emergency action if someone is at immediate risk of harm or in need of urgent medical attention. Dial 999 for emergency services. Get brief details about what has happened and what the adult involved or parent/guardian would like done about it, but do not probe or conduct a mini investigation. For a child, first seek consent from their parent/guardian, or in emergency, check whether the parent/guardian has given consent for emergency response in the activity consent form. 

2. Report  -  report safeguarding concerns to designated Safeguarding Lead  

3. Record  - Brain Health Breakthrough CIC requires all staff and volunteers to record details of any safeguarding incidents in Brain Health Breakthrough CIC Safeguarding Incident Form below:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Fcs6-Ru46gmZLL4Fi6Stc5mITfwbitLO2ZJy2dNue1U/edit?usp=sharingLog.  

Information should be provided as soon as possible and at no later than 12 hours after the incident occurs. 

4. Refer - Making a decision whether to refer or not is the responsibility of the designated Safeguarding Lead.

To refer: Safeguarding Lead to make referral to appropriate County Council or Police for information, advice or action , and to consider any further action by Brain Health Breakthrough CIC

If no further action is required, record decision and store Incident Report Form securely.

Karen Haworth designated Safeguarding Officer will be responsible for making decisions about notifying adult social services if required, and for considering alternative actions, where necessary.   

Karen Haworth will also ensure that the safeguarding adults and children policies and procedures are in place and up to date. They will ensure a safe environment is promoted for staff and volunteers, and adults accessing the service. Karen Haworth will ensure they are up to date with their safeguarding adults training.  

In some circumstances it would be important to talk to parents or carers to clarify any concerns. 

The designated Safeguarding Adults Lead should be responsible for providing acknowledgement of the referral, and brief feedback to the person raising the original concern. Feedback should be given in a way that will not make the situation worse or breach the Data Protection Act. 

It can be difficult to deal with safeguarding matters and sometimes people need support following the incident. Karen Haworth will check in with team members who have been involved in or reported an incident to check how they are feeling and whether there are any lessons to be learned or shared.

Child, or young person Anyone under the age of 18 years 

Adult at risk A person aged 18 years or over, who is, or may be in need of, community care services by reason of mental or other disability, age or illness; and who is, or may be, unable to take care of him or herself, or unable to protect him or herself against significant harm or exploitation. 

Parent Parent, carer or guardian. 

Staff elected members and volunteers Anyone working on behalf of, delivering a service for, or representing Brain Health Breakthrough CIC. 

Abuse Any form of physical, emotional or sexual mistreatment or lack of care that leads to injury or harm. 

Physical Abuse Actual or likely deliberate physical injury, or neglectful failure to prevent injury or suffering, to a child or adult at risk. It may include broken limbs and head injuries and could involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm. 

Emotional Abuse Actual or likely severe adverse effect on the emotional and behavioural development of a child or adult at risk caused by persistent or severe ill treatment or rejection. It may involve causing a child or adult at risk to feel 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. It may involve causing children or adults at risk to frequently feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. 

Sexual Abuse and Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Actual or likely sexual exploitation. The child or adult at risk may be dependent and/or developmentally immature. Sexual abuse involves forcing or enticing a child or adult at risk to take part in sexual activities, whether or not they are aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including penetrative (e.g. rape or buggery) or non-penetrative acts. They may include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, pornographic material or watching sexual activities, or encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways. Child Sexual Exploitation is a crime that can affect any child, anytime, anywhere – regardless of their social or ethnic background. It involves offenders grooming youngsters and using their power to sexually abuse them. It can take many forms, whether it occurs through a seemingly “consensual” relationship with an older partner, or a young person having sex in return for attention, gifts, alcohol or cigarettes. 

Neglect Persistent failure to meet basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of their health or development. It may involve a parent or carer failing to provide adequate food, shelter and clothing, failure to protect from physical harm or danger, or failure to ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child, or adult at risk’s basic emotional needs. 

Financial Abuse Fraud, exploitation, pressure in connection with wills, property or inheritance or financial transactions or the misuse or misappropriation of property, possessions or benefits. 

Domestic abuse Domestic abuse can be defined as the abuse of power or control over one person by another. It can be in many forms including physical, psychological, sexual, emotional, verbal and financial abuse between adults who are or have been intimate partners or family members. It can happen to anyone, regardless of their social group, class, age, race, disability, sexuality or lifestyle. 

Prevent  Radicalisation and extremism of adults who appear vulnerable and/ or have additional needs is a form of emotional/psychological exploitation. Radicalisation can take place through direct personal  contact, or indirectly through social media. If staff are concerned that an adult who is vulnerable and/ or has additional needs is at risk of  being radicalised and drawn into terrorism, they should treat it in the same way as any other safeguarding concern.  For more information about Prevent see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent 

Useful contacts  

Brain Health Breakthrough CIC delivers projects in Hyndburn, Blackburn with Darwen and supports UK wide provision Depending on the area of provision the following contacts will be useful 

Safeguarding Partnership Boards 

The Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen Safeguarding Children Boards have a key role to play in ensuring that children and young people in Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen are kept safe and that all agencies do what they can to promote their welfare. 

Lancashire Safeguarding Children Board 

LSCB has policy / guidance documents on its website: http://www.lancashiresafeguarding.org.uk/resources/key-guidance-policydocuments.aspx 

The Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO ) for Lancashire is Tim Booth, 01772 536694.

Blackburn with Darwen Safeguarding Children Board

Website for guidance documents 

http://www.lscb.org.uk/

Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Lancashire. 01254 585 184 01253 477558 01772 536 694 Megan.dumpleton@blackburn.gov.uk

There is a separate Safeguarding Adults Board contact details below.

Lancashire:

lancashiresafeguarding.org.uk/lancashire-safeguarding-adults.aspx

Blackburn with Darwen

http://www.lsab.org.uk/