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WHAT DO WE NEED TO THINK ABOUT WHEN CREATING A SAFEGUARDING POLICY?
This is a statement of intent that demonstrates a commitment to safeguard children and/or vulnerable adults involved with a charity from harm. It should be readily accessible to all employees and volunteers who should be familiar with its contents.
As discussed above, the key to creating a safeguarding policy for your organisation is proportionality. It needs to be tailored to t your organisation and activities. For example, a small organisation that engages with children or vulnerable adults on a limited basis may only need a short policy concentrating on how to identify and report incidents of harm and abuse. But an organisation providing care for children or vulnerable adults would need a more thorough document, covering a wide range of eventualities and issues. If the document needs to be quite long, make sure it is clearly written and accessible so that individuals can identify the steps that need to be taken in certain circumstances. An index can be helpful together with ow charts and summaries for larger policies.
The safeguarding policy should be considered part of an individual’s induction training. It is useful to ask the individual to sign a statement to say that they have read and understood the policy – in relation to volunteers, this can form part of a volunteer agreement if your organisation uses one.
Safeguarding policies should be reviewed regularly to ensure that they are t for purpose and should be reviewed on a regular basis (perhaps annually), where new legislation comes in to force, or following an incident if improvements are identi ed as being desirable.
The essential inclusions for a safeguarding policy are outlined below:
Ÿ Clear de nitions on identifying harm, abuse and neglect, and the different forms that this may take e.g. physical, emotional, sexual, domestic, discriminatory, nancial abuse and neglect
Ÿ The welfare of the child or vulnerable adult is paramount
Ÿ All children and vulnerable adults without exception have the right to protection from abuse regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or beliefs
Ÿ Who the policy applies to (i.e. all trustees, staff and volunteers) – emphasis
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