Safeguarding

St Dunstan's Church

Safeguarding Policy Amended 18th March 2025

Agreed by Meeting of Trustees on March 2025

If you have a safeguarding concern you can call Karen Lawrence 07904 494306 (or Debbie Jones 07971 220952 if Karen is not available) If someone is in immediate danger call 999.

This policy is to be read alongside the following policies:

Link to other policies

Code of Conduct
Allegation against a Volunteer, Contractor or Trustee
E-safety/acceptable use
Safer Recruitment of Volunteers and Trustees
Partnership Working
Whistleblowing
Confidentiality (Privacy)

Aim and purpose of the safeguarding policy

Wellbeing in the Weald (WitW) makes a positive contribution to a strong and safe community and recognises the right of every individual to stay safe. This policy relates to all children, young people and adults who become known to the organisation through the course of our work and who may be at risk of abuse.

WitW is committed to ensuring that everyone working with us is safely recruited and that they understand their roles and responsibilities. They are provided with appropriate information and training in relation to safeguarding children and adults. This is because safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone must:

Know how to recognise potential abuse.

Know what to do when safeguarding concerns arise.

Understand what WitW expects in terms of behaviours and actions.

WitW believes that children and adults have the right to protection from abuse and should be able to live free from the fear of abuse.

WitW understands it has a duty of care to keep everyone safe, but this policy refers in particular to children and adults at risk.

WitW is committed to ensuring that disclosures of abuse and safeguarding concerns are taken seriously and acted upon appropriately and in a timely manner.

All information relating to safeguarding is kept securely and only shared on a need-to-know basis.

Responsibilities

Named Designated safeguarding lead (DSL) for WitW is Karen Lawrence 07904 494306

Trustee with oversight for safeguarding is Debbie Jones 07971 220952

The DSL will be responsible for implementing arrangements for safeguarding the welfare of children and adults at risk throughout the organisation, including DBS checks where appropriate.

The DSL will ensure that anyone working with WitW understands the safeguarding policy.

The DSL will also support project leaders to ensure that volunteers have had appropriate training to fulfil their roles and responsibilities.

The DSL should ensure that the Trustee Committee receives necessary reports on safeguarding issues and may call a special meeting of the Trustee Committee (a minimum of four trustees) where a safeguarding matter requires the Committee’s urgent attention.

The DSL is responsible for dealing with all instances relating to safeguarding children or adults at risk that arise in relation to individuals in contact with WitW. The DSL will respond to all safeguarding concerns and make appropriate referrals to the statutory authorities. The DSL will also liaise with other agencies as necessary.

Everyone has a duty to promote the welfare of children and adults. It is everybody’s responsibility to recognise the signs of, and to report, abuse wherever it is seen, suspected, or disclosed. They must also respond appropriately to any disclosure and take any immediate action necessary to protect children and adults at risk, including of radicalisation.

The roles and responsibilities of everyone working with WitW are set out in full in the WitW Code of Conduct.

The DSL and Safeguarding trustee will complete DSL training every two years. All other volunteers will complete training every three but will receive annual updates and safeguarding refreshers as appropriate.

Glossary of terms used within this policy:

Authorised volunteer: Is someone who has been safely recruited, trained and DBS checked where appropriate. They will know and understand WitW policy and procedures. This is because they will be authorised to lead activities.

Adult at risk: Fulfil all of the following:

Is a person aged 18 and over who has needs for care and support (whether or not they are receiving this) and

Is experiencing or may be at risk of abuse or neglect and

As a result of those care and support needs is unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of abuse or neglect.

Child: Is someone who is under 18 years of age

Young person: Is someone aged between 16 and 18 years of age.

Safeguarding

WitW acknowledges that the safeguarding of children and adults at risk, starts with prevention and so the following procedures are in place to safeguard all participants including all those who work on our behalf. To breach one of these procedures would be treated as misconduct.

RECRUITMENT

Safer recruitment of volunteers, contractors and trustees is adhered to in all instances.

RISK ASSESSMENT

All activities are fully risk assessed by the activity leaders and these assessments are checked and approved by either the DSL or the trustee with responsibility for safeguarding (from the safeguarding perspective) and one other trustee before an activity takes place. Risk assessments are reviewed at least annually or after an incident has occurred. Again, these must receive approval as above.

LONE WORKING

All WitW activities are intended to be in groups. If only a leader and one other person are in attendance, the leader will inform the participant after 20 minutes that it is WitW policy that we only run activities in groups so that the session will have to finish on this occasion. Where participants are under 16, parents will be informed if they have requested this.

If a one-to-one session is planned, an appropriate risk assessment must be completed by the activity leader and approved by a safeguarding lead plus one trustee.

TRAINING

All session leaders (Authorised Volunteers) will have undertaken Basic Adult and/or Child (as appropriate) Safeguarding training (updated every three years).

All trustees, contractors and Authorised Volunteers will have safeguarding training and/or information appropriate to their role.

All volunteers and Trustees must be aware of WitW policies, which are linked to the safeguarding policy and must always adhere to them. They will be asked to sign our Code of Conduct

Trustees will undertake safeguarding training relevant to their role.

UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Where children or young persons under 18 are to attend a WitW activity UNACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT (this will be when the activity is designed for under 18s) the following arrangements will be in place prior to the attendance:

Permission for the attendance must be given by a person with Parental Responsibility for the young person, who will be asked to complete a form giving the following information: the name, age and address of the young person, permission for the young person to attend, any information relating to medical needs or other additional needs and a contact number for the person with Parental Responsibility who can be contacted if necessary.

All adults attending the activity as leaders or volunteers will undergo an Enhanced DBS check prior to attending.

All adults attending the activity as leaders or volunteers will undergo Child Safeguarding Level 1 training prior to attendance and then every three years. They will also be given printed information to remind them of the correct procedure to follow if they have a safeguarding concern.

All adults attending will also be asked to read our Safeguarding Policy and sign the WitW Code of Conduct.

WHEN THE CHILD OR YOUNG PERSON IS UNACCOMPANIED BUT IS A VOLUNTEER

Where a child or young person is to regularly attend an activity held by WitW as a volunteer, then the following will apply:

Permission for the attendance must be given by a person with Parental Responsibility for the young person (a parent, or guardian or in the case of an arrangement with a school, the school), who will be asked to complete a form giving the following information: the name, age and address of the young person, permission for the young person to attend, any information relating to medical needs or other additional needs and a contact number for the person with Parental Responsibility who can be contacted if necessary.

The activity leader (an Authorised Volunteer) will be given and asked to read and keep an information sheet detailing how to recognise and respond to any safeguarding concerns in relation to a child or young person.

It is NOT appropriate under these circumstances to request Enhanced DBS checks for adult volunteers who will also be present.

All regular volunteers are asked to read the Safeguarding Policy and sign the Code of Conduct.

ACCOMPANIED CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Where the activity is not planned specifically for children or young people under 18 (and they are not attending as a volunteer) they must be ACCOMPANIED BY AN ADULT who will be responsible for them.

If children or young people attend these activities regularly then the Authorised Volunteers running the sessions will be given and asked to read and keep an information sheet detailing how to recognise and respond to any safeguarding concerns in relation to a child or young person.

It is NOT appropriate under these circumstances to request Enhanced DBS checks for adult volunteers who will also be present.

All regular volunteers are asked to read the Safeguarding Policy and sign the Code of Conduct.

USE OF IMAGES and SOCIAL MEDIA

Photo permission must always be sought as inappropriate sharing of images can put vulnerable people at risk – see our Privacy Policy for use, storage and timescales for deletion of images.

Images will only be used on Social Media under circumstances outlined in our Code of Conduct.

If the DSL is made aware of any illegal use of social media involving abuse of a child or adult at risk, he or she will report as per e-safety flowchart – Appendix 3

SAFEGUARDING AND WORKING WITH OTHER AGENCIES

When working with other agencies or Charities a partnership agreement is drawn up to safeguard children and adults at risk – See Partnership Working policy.

Where an activity is run by another organisation, safeguarding concerns should be shared with the Designated Safeguarding Lead for that organisation.

Disclosure or Safeguarding concern

WitW recognises that appropriate and swift action needs to be taken when a concern is raised or a disclosure is made. All those involved with the process must maintain confidentiality. It is not the volunteer’s or the DSL’s responsibility to investigate but to report their concerns based on fact not opinion.

Everyone has a responsibility to share information with the DSL about children and adults at risk, if they suspect that they are experiencing abuse.

If a disclosure is made or anyone has a concern, they follow the WitW procedure (See Appendix 1) and Code of Conduct (Appendix 2). The procedure includes ensuring that the person making a disclosure is aware that they may need to share the information, and cannot promise to keep it secret.

In the event of a disclosure of a concern in relation to an adult, efforts should be made to get informed consent from the person to whom the disclosure relates before a referral is made to the local Safeguarding Team. However, a referral may be made without consent if the person does not give consent and there are concerns about the welfare of a child or adult at risk.

In the event of a disclosure of a concern in relation to a child or young person, parents/carers will be informed and consent to this will be sought by the DSL in line with guidance provided by KSCMP and ICS. Parents/carers will be informed of this, unless there is a valid reason not to do so, for example, if to do so would put a child at risk of harm or would undermine a criminal investigation.

The Capacity of the person about whom a concern has been raised to give consent to the safeguarding process will be assumed unless there is a reason to believe that the person cannot understand, in which case an assessment of their capacity may be undertaken.

Consent:

Capacity to give consent is not just based on age but where there may be other identified difficulties or disabilities.

A young person aged 16 or older is presumed in law to have capacity to consent unless there is evidence to the contrary.

For a person under 16, consent should be sought from a person with Parental Consent.

Consent of adult at risk – An adult is presumed in law to have the capacity to consent unless there is evidence to the contrary.

There may be concerns about someone’s mental health and intentions to harm themselves or general concerns about their health. These concerns should be taken to the DSL in the same way as a Safeguarding concern. A person with a concern may provide concerned listening but should not give advice to the individual.

Information should only be shared on a strictly need-to-know basis and be kept to a minimum.

Anyone who receives the information must inform the DSL on the same working day or as quickly as possible.

The DSL and the person raising a concern will discuss the matter and the DSL will decide whether to inform the relevant statutory authorities. The decision about whether to make a referral should be based on the following:

The welfare of the child or adult at risk is paramount. Protecting the welfare of the person who may be experiencing or at risk of abuse should be the only consideration when deciding whether a referral is needed. The welfare of a child or adult at risk will always take precedence over confidentiality if there is a conflict between the two.

If there is any doubt as to whether a referral is needed, a referral should be made.

It is not the role of WitW volunteers or staff (including the DSL) to assess whether abuse has taken place. A referral should be made if information is known that indicates that abuse may have taken place.

If the disclosure is historic this must still be referred if it was not dealt with appropriately at the time of the alleged abuse or harm.

Where a concern is identified, the DSL will communicate clearly what has been done and will be done to safeguard the child or adult at risk, unless to do so would in any way increase risk to them or the child. This information will be shared with the person raising the concern and the person about whom the concern is raised (as appropriate)

If a disclosure of harm or abuse is made about a volunteer, contractor, employee or trustee this must be raised with the DSL AND ALSO to the Trustee with Responsibilty for Safeguarding who will respond within 24 hours.

If the person raising a concern believes that the appropriate action was not taken in respect of any particular safeguarding concern, they can refer the abuse themselves to the relevant Local Authority Safeguarding Team.

If there is a concern about how WitW handles safeguarding or our processes, this should be raised with the Trustee with Responsibility for Safeguarding or the Chair of the Trustees Andrew Chandler.

If the person raising the concern remains unsatisfied with the action taken by Wellbeing in the Weald, they should refer to the Complaints and Concerns Policy which has details on how this may be taken further.

Appendix 1 – What to do if you have a concern – Flowchart

Appendix 2

WitW Code of Conduct for Trustees, Contractors and all Volunteers

Code of Conduct

Things you need to know about our ethos and the way we work.

Wellbeing in the Weald was set up early in 2019 to promote and support community activities and volunteering in order to improve the physical and mental health of people in our communities and in particular to combat loneliness and social isolation.

We do this by organizing healthy activities and supporting others who share our aims in the provision of new and existing ventures in Cranbrook and in the surrounding villages in the Weald.

The following is our statement of Objects and Charitable Purpose:

Objects and Charitable Purpose

The objects are:

(1)  To preserve and protect the health of people living in Cranbrook and the surrounding areas by providing and assisting in the provision of facilities, support services and practical advice not normally provided by the statutory authorities.

(2)  To promote social inclusion for the public benefit by preventing or assisting in the prevention of people living in Cranbrook and the surrounding areas from becoming socially excluded, relieving the needs of those who are socially excluded and assisting them to integrate into society.

What you can expect of WITW

We aim to provide a safe environment free from discrimination, upholding and promoting equality, diversity and inclusion.

We undertake to:

Treat everyone with respect and dignity

Ensure that their welfare and safety is paramount at all times

Maintain professional boundaries both face to face and when using technology.

Always listen to individuals and take account of their wishes and feelings.

Always act in a professional way and not accept bullying, swearing or other disruptive behaviour

Make sure our activities are fun and enjoyable.

What we expect of our volunteers, contractors and trustees

Professionalism - always act in a responsible and thoughtful way and do not accept bullying, swearing or other disruptive behaviour.

Helping Us to Keep Everyone Safe

General Safety - We have a duty of care for everyone who works with us and for everyone who attends our activities.

Sensitivity – Be aware that some people who attend our activities will be having struggles with all sorts of things in their lives so that part of your role is to be welcoming and to look out for people who may need help to join in.

Lone Working – All of our activities and meetings are in groups. Please in particular avoid being alone 1:1 with children, young people and adults at risk. If only one person arrives for a planned group activity when you are the only one leader present, then after 20 minutes, please draw the session to a close explaining that it is WitW policy not to work 1:1. Where the participant attending is aged under 16, the person with Parental Responsibility will be informed.

If WitW decide to commence an activity which involves 1;1 working, a new risk assessment will need to be agreed by a group of at least three of our trustees.

Remain only in Public Spaces - When you are volunteering for us, do not go into private homes. This is for the protection of everyone concerned.

Safeguarding Vulnerable People - Everyone has a responsibility for safeguarding.

You will have been asked to disclose any past offences against any person. If any should occur during your time with us, we will expect you to disclose these to us.

Listen to, and act upon, any disclosures allegations, or concerns of abuse.

Participate in approved safeguarding training at appropriate levels

Follow our safeguarding policy at all times.

Keep our safeguarding flow-chart to hand so that you will be confident in responding appropriately if you see or hear anything of concern.

Training – Volunteering in some roles will depend on completing and keeping updated the training we offer on Safeguarding (mandatory for activity leaders) and on Mental Health Awareness.

Boundaries – Please do not volunteer to give extra help to people outside the sessions. This can lead to safety issues and to possible dependency. You will also not be insured by us for anything you undertake outside of scheduled WITW sessions.

Social Media Only those authorised by Wellbeing in the Weald may put images on Social Media in the name of Wellbeing in the Weald. No images of any Wellbeing in the Weald event or activity should be put on social media without the permission of the event organiser.

Photography and Filming Please see our Privacy Policy for guidance on this.

Keeping Everyone Safe This is everyone’s responsibility You will be shown a Risk Assessment for any activity you volunteer with. Please abide by the management plan.

If you have any concerns about anything you hear or see, please talk to the activity leader or a Trustee or if it is a safeguarding concern to our Designated Safeguarding Lead Karen Lawrence. Of course if the concern is very urgent and there is risk to life – call 999.

If there is something you observe which seems wrong to you, please tell us, otherwise, we won’t know. You could start with the activity leader. If you don’t feel you can talk to the activity leader, then please contact the Chair of our Trustees Andrew Chandler.

Thank you for helping to make activities enriching and enjoyable for everyone. We really hope that your work with us will be enriching and enjoyable for you too.

Volunteer Agreement

I have read the Code of Conduct and understand my responsibilities to Wellbeing in the Weald and to the participants in their activities

If I have any past convictions or any such occur during my time with WitW, I understand that I am obliged to inform the DSL of this. (Please note that positions working with Wellbeing in the Weald are covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and therefore you are required to declare unspent convictions. Depending on the nature of the offence, this may or may not affect the offer of working with us).

If I am aware of anything which would make me an unsuitable person to work with adult at risk or children, I will inform the DSL of this.

I have read and understood the WITW Safeguarding Policy and the Privacy Policies and I agree to keep these in mind and abide by them

I have been made aware that other WitW policies are under development and will be made available to me when ready.

Signed

…………………………………………………………………………………

Contact Details for:

Chair of Trustees – Andrew Chandler – 07785 543452

Designated Safeguarding Lead – Karen Lawrence – 07904 494306

Appendix 3

eSafety Referral Flowchart