Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Policy

This policy will enable Give a Dog a Bone…and an animal a home to demonstrate its commitment to keeping safe the vulnerable adults who use their services. Give a Dog a Bone…and an animal a home acknowledges its duty to act appropriately to any allegations, reports or suspicions of abuse. Individuals have the right to live in safety, with dignity, free from abuse and neglect. Safeguarding comes from rights-based approach to protecting individuals and this is at the heart of what we do.

It is important to have a policy in place so that staff, volunteers, service users, trustees and management can work to prevent abuse and know what to do in the event of reported or suspected abuse.

The policy applies to all staff, including senior managers, trustees, paid staff, volunteers, students and anyone working on behalf of Give a Dog a Bone…and an animal a home.

1. Guiding Principles

Everyone’s responsibility – Everyone at Give A Dog A Bone…and an animal a home has a responsibility to keep children and adults who need care and support safe from abuse and neglect.

Prevention – We will put sensible measures in place to prevent abuse, including the use of safe recruitment practices, promoting safe working practice and raising awareness of safeguarding.

Protection – We will provide policy, procedures, information and training to enable all Give A Dog A Bone staff to identify and respond appropriately to concerns about abuse.

Partnership – Give A Dog A Bone…and an animal a home will work in Partnership with statutory, regulatory and other relevant organisations to ensure that safeguarding concerns are responded to appropriately.

Empowerment – We will be person-centred and uphold rights in our safeguarding work.

Accountability – We aim to be transparent in our approaches and recognise the need for continuous learning and improvement.

Definintion of a Vulnerable Adult

• People aged 18 or over.
• A person who is, or may be in need of care, by reason of mental 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 against significant harm or exploitation.

Roles and Responsibilities

All staff and volunteers

Every individual working for Give A Dog A Bone…and an animal a home, irrespective of their role, has a part to play in safeguarding children and adults who need care and support. All staff will undertake training and must familiarise themselves with our Safeguarding Policy and Procedures.

Trustees

Give a Dog A Bone trustees approve the Safeguarding Policy and have a duty of care to their charity, which includes taking the necessary steps to safeguard those at risk from abuse, managing risk and protecting the reputation of the charity.

Our Aims

• To promote the freedom and dignity of the person who has or is experiencing abuse.
• To promote the rights of all people to live free from abuse and coercion.
• To ensure the safety and well- being of people who do not have the capacity to decide how they want to respond to abuse that they are experiencing.
• To manage services in a way which promotes safety and prevents abuse.
• To recruit staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made.
• To provide effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, and training.

Charity Commitment

• We will ensure that all management, trustees, staff, volunteers, service users, and carers/families are familiar with this policy.
• Where appropriate, we will respect confidentiality and usually gain permission from service users before sharing information about them with another agency.
• We will pass information to the relevant organisation when more than one person is at risk. For example: if the concern relates to a worker, volunteer, or organisation who provides a service to vulnerable adults or children.
• We will inform service users that where a person is in danger, a child is at risk, or a crime has been committed then a decision may be taken to pass information to another agency without the service user’s consent.
• We will make a referral to the Adult Social Care team as appropriate.
• Serious incidents will be reported to OSCR via the Notifiable events system oscr.org.uk/managing-a-charity/notifiable-events
• This policy is available to supporters of the charity via our website giveadogabone.net
• We will endeavour to keep up to date with national developments relating to preventing abuse and welfare of adults.
• Guidance on reporting a concern under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA), also known as ‘whistleblowing’ is available via OSCR oscr.org.uk/about-charities/raise-a-concern/whistleblowing
• We will ensure that the Designated Named Person understands his/her responsibility to refer incidents of adult abuse to the relevant statutory agencies (Police/Adult and Culture Services Directorate and OSCR, as appropriate).

The Designated Named Person for Safeguarding Adults in Give a Dog a Bone…and an animal a home is Louise Russell, Chief Executive on 07969 742 858.  Louise should be contacted for support and advice on implementing this policy.

Last Updated: 28.06.21