Safeguarding Policy

1. Policy Statement

This Safeguarding Policy is based on the safeguarding laws and related guidance issued by the UK Government and relevant governmental departments, agencies, and public bodies. If this Policy is at any time inconsistent with this body of law, ACS will act to meet the requirements of up-to-date safeguarding laws in priority to the requirements set out in this policy.

ACS, the Organisation, we, our or us, is committed to preventing and responding to risks of harm and to promoting the welfare of all children and adults at risk that we work with, without discrimination due to protected characteristics. These individuals are referred to as the beneficiaries.

ACS has a duty of care and is committed to the protection and safety of everyone who comes into contact with us, including visitors and participants in all of our activities, both on and off site. ACS also has a duty to safeguard and support contractors, staff and volunteers.

ACS has implemented this Safeguarding Policy in order to meet its obligations as a charity regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

Mrs M Sharf has been appointed as Safeguarding Lead and holds responsibility for managing the safeguarding policies and procedures within ACS.

Any questions in relation to this policy should be referred to Miri Sharf in the first instance, by emailing miri@acscancer.org.uk or by contacting 020 8806 7227.

2. Purpose

Everybody has the right to be safe and to thrive, no matter who they are or what their circumstances.

ACS believes that our staff, volunteers and contractors have both an individual and organisational responsibility for safeguarding. ACS aims to embed a safeguarding ethos and practice which is both proactive and responsive towards issues of safety and wellbeing.

ACS understands that where abuse and neglect does occur, it can have devastating effects on individuals, families and wider society.

This policy and the accompanying procedures provide clear standards and processes for all ACS staff, volunteers, including trustees and young people, and partners. This ensures that everyone is clear about their roles, individual and organisational responsibilities, and the procedures to follow in order to protect children and adults at risk from harm.

3. Applicability

This Safeguarding Policy applies to anyone working on our behalf, including our charity trustees and other volunteers.

Partner organisations will be required to have their own safeguarding procedures that must, as a minimum, meet the standards outlined below, and include any additional legal or regulatory requirements specific to their work, including but not limited to Ofsted, CQC, DfES or NHS.

Safeguarding shall be appropriately reflected in other relevant policies and procedures.

4. Terminology

Safeguarding refers to preventing or responding to harm or risks of harm posed to vulnerable individuals, and to promoting their welfare.

Most safeguarding legal obligations relate to the care of children and adults at risk. These are the groups to whom the protections set out in this policy apply.

For safeguarding purposes:

Children are individuals younger than 18 years old.
Adults at risk are individuals 18 years old or over who have care and/or support needs and who are, because of these needs, unable to protect themselves from harm, for example due to illness or disability. This need does not have to be permanent.

Abuse is a form of maltreatment of a child or adult. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child or adult by inflicting harm, or by failing to act to prevent harm.

5. Types of Risks and Harm

Harm and risks ACS are alert to, whether online or in person, include:

Physical or emotional abuse
Negligent treatment
Domestic violence and abuse
Self-neglect
Sexual harassment, abuse and exploitation
Criminal exploitation
Culture which may allow poor behaviour and poor accountability
People abusing a position of trust they hold within an organisation
Bullying or harassment
Health and safety
Financial, material and commercial exploitation
Cyber abuse
Discrimination on any of the grounds in the Equality Act 2010
People targeting our charity
Organisational abuse
Data breaches, including those under General Data Protection Regulations, GDPR
Extremism and radicalisation
Forced marriage
Modern slavery
Human trafficking
Female genital mutilation

6. Principles of Safe Practice: The Six Rs

Recognise concerns that a child or adult is being harmed or might be at risk of harm.
Respond appropriately to a child or adult who is telling ACS what is happening to them.
Report or refer the concerns according to safeguarding procedures.
Record the concerns appropriately and any subsequent action taken. Ensure there is no delay in passing on concerns.
Resolve by taking responsibility to ensure that reports and referrals made are followed up in a timely way, and take further action if not satisfied with the response.
Reflect on ACS learnings from the safeguarding process and on how to support the wellbeing of ourselves and others involved.

7. Roles and Responsibilities

Safeguarding Leads

Safeguarding Leads are responsible for ensuring strategic safeguarding issues are managed effectively and that proactive measures to prevent harm are in place across all areas of operation.

Safeguarding Leads:

Act as the first point of contact for concerns and provide advice and support to staff.
Monitor policy implementation to ensure consistency and compliance.
Ensure staff are made aware of their safeguarding responsibilities and receive relevant training.
Undertake out-of-hours on-call responsibilities.
Ensure all concerns are recorded and logged as necessary.
Highlight immediately any serious concerns to the Safeguarding Board or Partnership.
Ensure that external referrals are of high quality and are followed up.
Keep up to date with safeguarding training.
Ensure trustees review and approve this policy annually.
Contribute to safeguarding audits.

Trustees

Trustees are aware of and will comply with the Charity Commission guidance on safeguarding and protecting people, and also the 10 actions trustee boards need to take to ensure good safeguarding governance.

This will include:

Creating and leading a culture of respect, in which everyone feels safe and able to speak up.
An annual review of safety, with recommendations to the Board.
Receiving regular reports to ensure this and related policies are being applied consistently.
Providing oversight of any lapses in safeguarding.
Ensuring that any issues are properly investigated and dealt with quickly, fairly and sensitively, and that any reporting to the Police or statutory authorities is carried out.
Undertaking ongoing monitoring and reviewing to ensure that safeguards are being implemented and are effective.
Ensuring safeguarding risk assessments are carried out and appropriate action is taken to minimise these risks as part of our risk management processes.
Planning programmes and activities to take into account potential safeguarding risks and ensure these are adequately mitigated.
Ensuring that all appointments requiring DBS clearance and safeguarding training are identified, including the level of DBS and any training required.
Ensuring that a central register is maintained and subject to regular monitoring to ensure that DBS clearances and training are kept up to date.
Ensuring recruitment, induction and training procedures confirm that staff and volunteers are suitable and supported to implement safeguarding best practice.
Listening to and engaging beneficiaries, staff, volunteers and others, and involving them as appropriate.
Responding to any concerns sensitively and acting quickly to address these.
Ensuring that personal data is stored and managed in a safe way that is compliant with data protection regulations, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR, and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Making staff, volunteers and others aware of:
- ACS safeguarding procedures and their specific safeguarding responsibilities on induction, with regular updates and reminders as necessary.
- The signs of potential abuse and how to report these.

Everyone

Everyone must be aware of our procedures, undertake any necessary training, be aware of the risks and signs of potential abuse and, if they have concerns, report these immediately.

8. Code of Conduct

ACS expects all staff to abide by the following safeguarding code of conduct in all aspects of their work:

Be familiar with and adhere to the safeguarding procedures as outlined in this policy and other related policies and procedures, including when working with external partners.
Treat everyone with dignity and respect and without bias or favouritism, in accordance with our Equal Opportunity Policy.
Complete the safeguarding training required for their role.
Raise any safeguarding concerns they identify with the Safeguarding Lead immediately.
Contact appropriate services immediately in an emergency.

9. Procedures

Reporting

If a crime is in progress, or an individual is in immediate danger, the police shall be called.

A beneficiary or member of the public shall make their concerns known to a member of the ACS team, who shall alert a Senior Member and Safeguarding Lead.

ACS employees shall make their concerns known to the Safeguarding Lead.

The trustees are mindful of their reporting obligations to the Charity Commission in respect of Serious Incident Reporting and, if applicable, another regulator. ACS trustees are aware of the government guidance on handling safeguarding allegations.

Investigation and Response

Reported safeguarding concerns will be dealt with promptly according to the following process:

Contacting the local Safeguarding Adults Board or Safeguarding Children Partnership.
Employees who report a safeguarding concern will be kept informed about the progression of the matter to an appropriate degree. Depending on the nature of the concern and consequent investigations, some information may be kept confidential and not shared with the reporter.
If an employee is found to be in breach of this policy or safeguarding law in general, they will be treated fairly and only be dismissed if appropriate in the circumstances and in accordance with employment law.

10. Charity Commission Online Safeguarding Procedures

ACS will identify and manage online risks by ensuring:

Staff and trustees understand how to keep themselves safe online by using high privacy settings and password access to meetings to support this.
The services ACS uses and/or provides are safe and in line with our code of conduct.
Personal data is protected and GDPR regulations are followed.

11. Confidentiality

All documentation relating to safeguarding incidents or allegations will be kept and treated confidentially and in accordance with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Only those who need to know about the incident will be informed.

In order to keep people safe, information may need to be shared with others, both within ACS and with external agencies. Where appropriate, ACS shall seek consent to share such information.

If ACS needs to share information and it is not possible to get consent, requesting such consent would put the individual at further risk, or it would not be considered reasonable for ACS to seek consent in the circumstances, ACS may share this information without the consent of the individual concerned.

Safeguarding Policy