Safeguarding Adults Policy

Policies & Procedures

Safeguarding Adults Policy and Procedure v1.1

Safeguarding Adults Policy and Procedure

Policy and Procedure

1. Purpose

This policy sets out how VCare Consultancy Services Limited prevents, recognises, responds to and reports abuse, neglect and exploitation involving adults with care and support needs. It is designed to ensure practice is consistent with the Care Act 2014, local multi-agency safeguarding arrangements and the organisation's duty of candour, whistleblowing and information-governance responsibilities.

2. Scope

This policy applies to all services delivered by VCare, including domiciliary care, staffing support provided into regulated settings, private service-user support and any commissioned adult social care activity. It applies to all employees, temporary workers, agency staff, subcontractors, students and volunteers acting on behalf of VCare.

3. Policy statement

VCare adopts a zero-tolerance approach to abuse, neglect, discriminatory practice and poor care. All safeguarding concerns will be taken seriously, acted upon without delay and managed in a person-centred, lawful and proportionate way. We will work in partnership with the adult, their representatives, local authorities, commissioners, providers, the police, health professionals and regulators as appropriate.

3.1 VCare adopts the principles of Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP), ensuring safeguarding activity is person-led, outcome-focused and seeks to achieve the outcomes identified by the adult wherever possible.

3.2 Particular consideration will be given to adults with learning disabilities, autism, acquired brain injuries, mental health needs, communication difficulties and other vulnerabilities that may increase the risk of abuse, neglect or exploitation.

3.3 Where behaviours of concern are present, VCare promotes Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) approaches and least restrictive practice to reduce risks while maintaining dignity, choice and independence.

3.4 VCare recognises self-neglect, hoarding and refusal of support as safeguarding concerns where they place an individual at significant risk of harm and will work collaboratively with partner agencies to reduce risks whilst respecting individual rights and autonomy.

VCare adopts the principles of Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP), ensuring safeguarding activity is person-led, outcome-focused and designed around the views, wishes, feelings and desired outcomes of the adult. Individuals will be supported to participate in safeguarding decisions as fully as possible and to maintain choice, control and independence wherever safe to do so.

4. Key safeguarding principles

5. Roles and responsibilities

Registered Manager / Safeguarding Lead

• Receives and oversees safeguarding concerns, ensures immediate protective action is taken and decides whether a safeguarding referral is required.
• Ensures referrals are made to the relevant local authority and other agencies in a timely way, with sufficient information for enquiries to be undertaken comprehensively.
• Ensures the adult is asked for consent to share information where they have capacity and that any reasons for overriding consent are recorded and explained.
• Maintains written records of concerns, decisions, investigations, referrals, outcomes, lessons learned and any action plans.
• Notifies CQC, commissioners or other regulators where required and oversees any internal investigation or disciplinary process.

All staff and workers

• Must recognise signs of abuse, neglect, self-neglect and exploitation and report concerns immediately.
• Must not investigate alone, promise secrecy or delay reporting while waiting for more evidence.
• Must preserve evidence, ensure the adult is safe and record facts accurately, contemporaneously and objectively.
• Must cooperate fully with safeguarding enquiries, strategy meetings, reviews and requests for information.

6. Adults at risk and the Care Act three-stage test

VCare will consider whether the adult meets the section 42 safeguarding duty threshold by asking:

1. Does the adult have needs for care and support, whether or not those needs are currently being met?
2. Is the adult experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect?
3. As a result of those care and support needs, is the adult unable to protect themselves from the abuse or neglect, or the risk of it?

Even where the section 42 threshold is not met, concerns must still be acted upon through risk management, complaints, poor-practice processes, incident reporting, contract escalation, police referral or other appropriate action.

7. Types of abuse and neglect

VCare recognises the following non-exhaustive categories of abuse and neglect: physical abuse, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, psychological or emotional abuse, financial or material abuse, modern slavery, discriminatory abuse, organisational or institutional abuse, neglect and acts of omission, self-neglect, mate crime, cyber abuse, forced marriage, honour-based abuse, female genital mutilation and exploitation or radicalisation where relevant to safeguarding risk.

7.1 Positive Behaviour Support - VCare recognises that behaviours of concern may be a form of communication of unmet need, distress, trauma, health conditions, environmental factors or communication difficulties. Where individuals display behaviours that challenge, VCare promotes Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) approaches that are person-centred, evidence-based and focused on improving quality of life.

Support plans are developed in partnership with the individual, families, advocates and relevant professionals to identify triggers, reduce risks, promote communication, increase independence and prevent escalation of behaviours. Staff receive appropriate training and guidance to support safe, respectful and effective responses.

VCare is committed to the principles of least restrictive practice and will only support restrictive interventions where lawful, proportionate, necessary, documented, risk assessed and subject to regular review. Any use of restrictive practice, behavioural incidents or safeguarding concerns relating to behaviours that challenge will be recorded, reviewed and escalated appropriately.

Positive Behaviour Support forms part of VCare's safeguarding framework and contributes to the prevention of abuse, neglect, avoidable restrictions and organisational harm.

8. Immediate response to a concern

• Take immediate action to secure safety. Call 999 where there is immediate danger, a serious crime, urgent medical need or life-threatening risk.
• Listen calmly, do not ask leading questions and do not promise to keep the matter secret.
• Preserve evidence, including body maps, photographs taken in line with policy, messages, emails, notes, care records, medication records or CCTV details where relevant.
• Record exactly what was seen, heard or disclosed, including date, time, location, people present, injuries, actions taken and who was informed.
• Report the concern to the Safeguarding Lead immediately and no later than the same working shift. If the Safeguarding Lead is unavailable and delay would increase risk, staff must contact the local authority safeguarding team or emergency services directly.

9. Safeguarding referrals and reporting process

All safeguarding concerns must be triaged promptly by the Safeguarding Lead. Where a referral is required, it must be made to the relevant local authority safeguarding team based on the adult's location, without avoidable delay and with all relevant information known at the time. Reports must include enough detail to allow a comprehensive enquiry or screening decision to be undertaken.

Minimum referral content

• Adult's name, address, contact details, date of birth, communication needs and current location.
• Nature of the concern, what happened, when and where it happened, who was involved, and whether there is ongoing risk.
• Views and desired outcomes of the adult, whether consent was sought, whether consent was given or refused, and any reasons for overriding refusal.
• Details of the alleged source of risk, witnesses, injuries, evidence preserved and immediate protective action taken.
• Relevant care and support needs, mental-capacity considerations, advocate/family involvement, and any known history or previous concerns.

Consent and involvement

Where the adult has capacity for the decision, VCare will ask for consent to share safeguarding information and explain what information will be shared, with whom, and why. If consent is refused, the Safeguarding Lead will consider whether there is an overriding public interest or legal basis to share without consent, including risk to others, a serious crime, coercion, organisational abuse or concerns that the adult is under undue influence. Any override of consent will be clearly explained to the adult wherever safe and appropriate, and the reasons will be documented.

Adults will be supported to be as involved as possible in the safeguarding process, including access to family support, advocacy, communication aids, interpreters or accessible information as needed.

10. Mental Capacity Act interface

Safeguarding decision-making must be consistent with the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Capacity is decision-specific and time-specific. Where there is doubt about capacity to consent to referral, information sharing, care arrangements or protective action, an MCA assessment must be completed or requested, and best-interests decision-making followed where the adult lacks capacity.

11. Allegations about staff, workers or organisational abuse

• Concerns involving a VCare worker, agency worker, subcontractor or manager will be treated as a safeguarding matter and as a staff conduct issue.
• The worker may be removed from duties pending investigation where this is necessary to protect adults or preserve evidence.
• VCare will follow its whistleblowing, disciplinary and safer-recruitment procedures and will refer to DBS, CQC, commissioners or professional bodies where required.

12. Information sharing, confidentiality and record keeping

Information will be shared lawfully, proportionately and on a need-to-know basis. All safeguarding concerns, referrals, decisions, strategy discussions, enquiry outcomes, written reports and follow-up actions must be recorded in the adult's record and in the safeguarding log. Records must be factual, dated, signed and stored securely in line with data-protection requirements.

13. Training, communication and embedding the policy

• This policy is issued to all staff at induction and is available in the company's policy library and management files.
• Safeguarding adults training forms part of induction and mandatory refresher training. Training must be role-appropriate, with managers and safeguarding leads trained to a higher level.
• Learning from safeguarding incidents, audits and local-authority feedback is shared through supervision, staff meetings, bulletins and policy updates.
• Service users and representatives are informed, in accessible ways, how to raise concerns, complaints or whistleblowing matters about safety or poor care.

14. Monitoring and review

The Safeguarding Lead will monitor safeguarding performance through regular review of safeguarding concerns, referrals, response times, outcomes, training compliance, supervision records, DBS compliance, complaints, whistleblowing reports, incidents, near misses and lessons learned.

Safeguarding audits will be undertaken at planned intervals to assess compliance with safeguarding procedures, quality of record keeping, referral quality, information sharing, consent processes, Mental Capacity Act compliance, risk management arrangements and implementation of safeguarding actions.

Management will analyse safeguarding trends and themes to identify emerging risks, recurring concerns, patterns of abuse, organisational learning opportunities and areas requiring service improvement. Where required, corrective and preventative action plans will be implemented, monitored and reviewed.

Learning arising from safeguarding enquiries, local authority feedback, complaints, incidents, audits, serious incidents and regulatory inspections will be shared with staff through supervision, team meetings, training and policy updates to promote continuous improvement.

The effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements will be reviewed annually, following significant safeguarding events, changes in legislation, updates to local safeguarding procedures or regulatory requirements. Findings will inform quality assurance processes, workforce development and service improvement planning.

15. Related policies

Related documents include the Mental Capacity Act Policy, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Policy, Whistleblowing Policy, Information Governance Policy, Recruitment Policy, Complaints Policy, Incident Reporting Procedure and Business Continuity Plan.

Appendix A: Local authority contact arrangements

At the point of service mobilisation, local safeguarding contact details for each commissioning area must be checked and updated in the operational contact list. Where services operate across multiple local authority areas, staff must report to the authority responsible for the location of the adult at risk.

Appendix B: Safeguarding concern checklist