1. Introduction

Policy Statement

1.1. Our Duty of Care

The purpose of this document is to outline the procedures adopted by the council to ensure the safety of children, young people and adults at risk in its care.

East Suffolk Council recognises that, whilst carrying out their normal duties, some members of staff, appointed volunteers, councillors and contractors are responsible for, or work with, children, young people and adults at risk (of abuse). In most instances, this is very rewarding and satisfying work and plays an important role in helping them to develop social and physical skills. However, working for or on behalf of a district council implies trust and respect which can manifest itself as a child or adult at risk feeling comfortable enough to disclose an incident of previous abuse or make it easier for someone in a responsible position to abuse that trust.

The council wants to be certain that all the services it provides to children and young people, adults at risk, their families, parents and carers are designed to ensure that they are treated with respect and kept safe from harm. This document is designed to help employees and volunteers to fulfil this aim and set out procedures to cover the recruitment policy, standards of service and means of reporting concerns.

It is intended that all employees, volunteers and councillors working with children, young people and adults at risk, their families, parents and carers will receive appropriate training to assist them:

• to recognise abuse
• to adopt sensible and robust working practices
• to know what to do if they have a concern, including how to make a safeguarding referral

For the purposes of this policy, as in the Children Acts 1989 and 2004, a child is defined as anyone who has not yet reached their 18th birthday.

An adult at risk would be defined as a person aged 18 or over who is or may be in need of Community Care services by reason of mental health 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 from harm or exploitation.

Safeguarding is the term that describes the function of protecting children and adults from potential abuse or neglect.

This is the Safeguarding Children, Young People and Adults at Risk Policy and Procedures to be used by all East Suffolk Council employees, volunteers, and councillors, to also include partners and contractors working on the council’s behalf. It is the responsibility of all employees to fully understand and implement the procedures.

It is supplemented by the council’s Whistleblowing and Equal Opportunities Policies and essential reading as detailed in references at the back of the policy.

This policy is subject to an annual review and will be disseminated to staff through the staff intranet and training as appropriate.

1.2. Principles

The council recognises that:

• The welfare of children, young people and adults at risk, their families, parents and carers is the primary concern
• All children, young people and adults at risk whatever their age, ability, culture, disability, gender, language, racial origin, religious belief and/or sexual identity have equal rights to protection from abuse
• It is the responsibility of the relevant statutory agencies to determine whether or not abuse has taken place but it is everyone’s responsibility to report any concerns
• All incidents of suspicious poor practice and allegations should be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately.

1.3. The council’s role and responsibilities:

• To accept the moral and legal responsibility to implement relevant procedures, to provide a duty of care for children, young people and adults at risk, to safeguard their wellbeing and to protect them from abuse
• To respect and promote the rights, wishes and feelings of children, young people and adults at risk and celebrate their results and achievements
• It is a shared multi agency responsibility to determine whether or not abuse has taken place, but it is everyone’s responsibility to report any concerns
• To ensure that employees adopt and abide by this Safeguarding Children, Young People and Adults at Risk Policy and Good Practice Guidelines (at induction) and understand their responsibilities therein
• To respond to allegations appropriately and implement the appropriate disciplinary and appeals procedures
• To monitor and evaluate the policy annually or in the light of any changes to the council or any significant incident or any changes to government legislation and guidance
• To ensure that all contractors/partners working with the council meet the safeguarding standards expected by the council. Safeguarding compliance will be monitored by the officer responsible for the contract.

Responsibilities of staff and councillors:

• To fully understand and implement the processes and procedures within this policy.
• To share and report concerns

1.4. Areas of Specific Responsibility

Listed below are some services which have a more direct relationship with children, young people, adults at risk and their families. However, any protection concerns may be raised, and referrals made by members of any team which come into contact with these groups via home visits or in a public space. In the event of a safeguarding investigation the council may be involved in any enquiry if there has been involvement in any aspect of service provision to the child, adult or family involved.

The Head of Communities holds the key role of responsibility for the Council, the Strategic Designated Lead, championing the importance of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk. They also ensure attendance at appropriate regional and county multi agency meetings.

The role of the operational lead is currently undertaken by the Learning and Development Partner in the HR Team. Their duties include the day-to-day compliance with the policy and procedures, and attendance at local and regional safeguarding groups.

The “Services for All Group” includes representatives from all council services and maintains an overview of safeguarding to monitor and ensure ongoing compliance throughout the council.

1.4.1. Housing

Teams within the Housing Service at the council are very often the first point of contact with vulnerable families and, as such, over the years they have amassed a wealth of experience in recognising potential safeguarding issues. They have a sound track-record of making referrals to the appropriate agencies and flagging up any issues of concern about families or individual children. The Housing Needs team works closely with households presenting as homeless or threatened with homelessness and actively support adults at risk and their families to ensure their housing needs are addressed, but also to ensure any safeguarding concerns are reported to relevant agencies. The Tenancy Services Team at East Suffolk takes a proactive role in engaging with Council tenants and their families on a daily basis across the whole of the district. There is contact with the children of tenants and young people through visits to properties, or estate visits and inspections. Housing teams work with statutory and voluntary agencies to address any issues arising, with the aim of supporting and enforcing acceptable behaviour and minimising breaches of tenancy obligations. Appropriate support can then be directed as necessary.

1.4.2.Communities

The Communities team overall is split into several sub teams, all of which have different levels of interaction with young people and adults at risk.

Communities Officers

Communities Officers support and enable community projects around health and wellbeing, ASB and community safety. These projects are often aimed at young people, or adults with risk Safeguarding Children Young People and Adults at Risk Policy March 2020 Page 4 of 26 Last Updated: 3 rd February 2025 factors such as poor mental or physical health, or old age. While the team primarily plays an enabling role, they do come into contact with children and adults at risk and so are trained on recognising the signs of abuse and making safeguarding referrals. They also ensure that the organisations they support who actually deliver community projects do so while following good safeguarding practice and will highlight poor practice both to the organisations themselves and to team management.

Community Help Officers

The Community Help Officers work primarily in the field providing direct support to vulnerable people. They regularly interact with adults at risk of abuse due to poor mental and physical health and assist the Police with activity around potential victims of modern slavery. They have significant experience in safeguarding and make regular safeguarding referrals, alongside referrals to other agencies for additional support.

Financial Inclusion Officers

Financial Inclusion Officers work closely with referred customers who need help with money: debt relief, benefit checks, budgeting and more. They receive significant information about each customer’s financial and personal situation. While the majority of their appointments are over the phone or online, they do conduct house visits. They have received safeguarding training and are aware of the signs of abuse, particularly but not limited to financial abuse, and are aware of safeguarding polices and reporting routes.

Areas of activity

As well as the above, the Communities team encompasses a broad range of activity, some of which is specifically focused in areas more likely to highlight safeguarding concerns.

Young people

The Communities team is responsible for, or involved in, a significant amount of activity aimed at children and young people. This includes Youth Voice, which captures the views of young people across East Suffolk and feeds these into decision makers including our eight Community Partnerships, the Waveney Youth Form and others. The Communities team works with young people, focusing on understanding their needs to drive greater levels of engagement and involvement. This means that they do receive feedback from young people about their needs and aspirations. The team is trained on safeguarding and spotting the signs of abuse and will highlight any concerns they have based on the information they are receiving from young people

Anti-social behaviour

Some of the team’s involvement with the target groups is through work around Anti-Social Behaviour. The team works in partnership to provide a coherent inter-agency approach to the anti-social activities of all sectors of society, including people under the age of 18. Our work around ASB is overseen by the East Suffolk Community Safety Partnership which includes representatives from Suffolk Police, The Youth Offending Service, and Social Services who make collective decisions affecting clients under 18 years, whether they are the victims or perpetrators of the behaviour in question. (See 1.4.4 below). In working on anti-social behaviour cases, the team also come into contact with vulnerable adults and all are trained to spot the signs of abuse and to make safeguarding referrals and referrals for support to other agencies.

1.4.3.Licensing

Virtually all of the legislation where the team has an administration, or an enforcement role makes reference to children and their well-being or safety. In particular, the Licensing Act 2003 has as one of its four objectives, “the protection of children from harm” and, whilst the police act as the responsible authority in these matters, the team report any concerns to the appropriate person or organisation.

The Gambling Act 2005 again makes reference to children in the third of its licensing objectives namely “protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling” again the team will pass on any concerns of which they become aware to the relevant person or organisation.

All of the drivers who apply to become licensed Hackney or Private Hire Drivers must supply a satisfactory enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check and undertake a two-day college course which provides comprehensive training on the safeguarding of children, young people and adults at risk. Existing licensed drivers have to undertake a half day course on safeguarding before their licence is renewed. There is an appropriate system in place to deal with drivers who are convicted of any offences during the term of their licence.

Appropriate members of the teams will receive training, as deemed necessary according to the way in which the service is delivered.

1.4.4.Environmental Services

The extent and nature of the involvement of this service with children, young people and adults at risk of abuse varies greatly. They may be victims or perpetrators.

As victims: discharging the council’s responsibilities with regard to Environmental Health may bring council employees into contact with situations where they become aware of potential safeguarding issues involving children and young people. Officers employed in these roles undertake training regularly to ensure they are able to recognise those situations and react appropriately, escalating matters where necessary to go through the appropriate channels.

As perpetrators: The council’s activities may occasionally have a more direct effect on people under 18 years of age. Certain criminal sanctions may, in law, be applied to children as young as 10 years old. In general, government guidance recommends consultation with the Youth Offending Service and the Police to agree special procedures to be adopted in such cases. These are necessary to ensure compliance with legal duties regarding the safety and welfare of children under the Children Act 2004. We fulfil this requirement by referring all matters relating to people under the age of 18 to the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, who maintain links with the police, youth offending service and other agencies. This enables us to discuss individual cases with agencies relevant to the specific circumstances and establish what type of action might be reasonable, fair, proportionate and appropriate in each individual case. The Council’s enforcement policies reflect this approach.

1.4.5. Customer Services

The East Suffolk Customer Services team has contact with members of the public mainly by telephone, but also face to face and by email. The team often serves as the initial point of contact for customers, taking case details from often vulnerable customers in need of assistance with housing or benefits or who are experiencing issues around anti-social behaviour. Customer Services generally operate as a referral partner, identifying pathways onwards for customers to other departments who will help with the issue they’re facing. However, during initial contact, safeguarding concerns can be flagged up and Customer Services staff are trained to follow safeguarding referral procedures.

Working in partnership with others

The council will work in partnership with a range of organisations and the council expects them to have appropriate safeguarding policies in place.

Organisations which receive grant aid or are contracted by the council to provide a service and work with vulnerable people will be expected to have an appropriate safeguarding policy in place. Their staff and volunteers must also receive appropriate safeguarding training. The council will ask to see a copy of the relevant policy before funding is awarded. Volunteers who work with vulnerable people and who are carrying out regulated activities on behalf of the council will be subject to a DBS check and provided with training and support.

All major contracts will be monitored by the council. All major contractors will be required to have an annual safeguarding compliance meeting with an appropriate officer representing the council.