1.1 Safeguarding: What is it and Why does it Matter?

1. Introduction

Safeguarding means protecting an adult’s right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect.

Safeguarding requires people and organisations to work together to both prevent and stop the risk of and experience of abuse or neglect. At the same time, the adult’s wellbeing must be promoted including, where appropriate, having regard to their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs when deciding on any action.  This must recognise that adults are the experts in their own lives and that they sometimes have complex interpersonal relationships and may be ambivalent, unclear or unrealistic about their personal circumstances.

Organisations should always promote the adult’s wellbeing in their safeguarding arrangements. People have complex lives and being safe and well may mean different things to different people, as well as being just one aspect of the things they want to achieve. Professionals should work with the adult to establish what being safe means to them and how that can be best achieved. Professionals and other staff should not be advocating “safety” measures that do not take account of individual wellbeing (see Promoting Wellbeing chapter).

1.1 The safeguarding duty

Under section 42 of the Care Act 2014, local authorities have legal adult safeguarding duties which are to:

• make enquiries, or cause others to do so, when a concern has been raised about an adult in its area (whether or not they are ordinarily resident in it) to establish whether an action should be taken to prevent or stop abuse or neglect.

This duty applies to an adult who:

• has needs for care and support (whether or not the local authority is meeting any of those needs); and
• is experiencing, or 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.

Regardless of whether the local authority is providing any services to the adult, it must follow up any concerns about either actual or suspected abuse or neglect.

The adult experiencing, or at risk of abuse or neglect is referred to as the ‘adult’ throughout these procedures.

Local authority statutory adult safeguarding duties apply equally to adults with care and support needs:

• regardless of whether those needs are being met;
• regardless of whether the adult lacks mental capacity or not (see Mental Capacity chapter);
• regardless of setting, except prisons and approved premises.

1.2 Young people

Where a person is aged 18 or over, but is still receiving children’s services and a safeguarding concern is raised, the matter should be dealt with through adult safeguarding arrangements. This may be, for example, when a young person with substantial and complex needs continues to be supported in a residential educational setting until the age of 25.

Where appropriate, adult safeguarding services should involve local authority children’s safeguarding colleagues as well as any relevant partners (for example, the police or NHS) and other professionals working with the young person or their family.

2. Principles of Adult Safeguarding

There are six principles which apply to all sectors and settings including care and support services, further education colleges, commissioning, regulation and provision of health and care services, social work, healthcare, welfare benefits, housing, wider local authority functions and the criminal justice system.

The principles should inform the ways in which professionals and other staff work with adults throughout the safeguarding process.

• Empowerment: People are supported and encouraged to make their own decisions and give informed consent. People must always be treated with dignity and respect, and staff should work alongside them to ensure they receive quality, person-centred care which ensures they are safe on their own terms.

“I am asked what I want as the outcomes from the safeguarding process and my responses directly inform what happens”.

• Prevention: Prevention and early support are key to effective safeguarding. The principle of prevention recognises the importance of taking action before harm occurs and seeks to put mechanisms in place so that they don’t reoccur.

 “I receive clear and simple information about what abuse is, how to recognise the signs and what I can do to seek help.”

• Proportionality: The means deciding the least intrusive response appropriate to the risk presented.

“I am sure that the professionals will work in my interest, as I see them and they will only get involved as much as needed.”

• Protection: This involves organising and delivery support and representation for those in greatest need who may not be able to do it themselves.

“I get help and support to report abuse and neglect. I get help so that I am able to take part in the safeguarding process to the extent to which I want.”

• Partnership: Effective safeguarding cannot be delivered in isolation, and should involve other partners and systems that interact with or impact on a person. Local solutions are best achieved through services working with their communities, professionals and services as a whole.

“I know that staff treat any personal and sensitive information in confidence, only sharing what is helpful and necessary. I am confident that professionals will work together and with me to get the best result for me.”

• Accountability: This recognises the importance of being open, clear and honest in the delivery of safeguarding, and ensuring there are systems in place to hold practitioners and services to account.

“I understand the role of everyone involved in my life and so do they.”

For more information see Revisiting Safeguarding Practice (DHSC, 2022)

3. Aims of Adult Safeguarding

The aims of adult safeguarding are to:

• prevent harm and reduce risk of abuse and neglect for those adults with care and support needs
• stop abuse or neglect wherever possible;
• safeguard adults in a way that enhances individual choice and control as part of improving their quality of life, safety and well-being;
• work alongside the adult to identify strengths-based and outcomes focused solutions;
• raise public awareness so that communities as a whole, alongside professionals, play their part in preventing, identifying and responding to abuse and neglect;
• provide information and support to help people understand abuse, how to stay safe and how to raise concerns;
• address the causes of abuse.

Safeguarding is not a substitute for:

• providers’ responsibilities to provide safe and high quality care and support;
• commissioners assuring themselves of the safety and effectiveness of commissioned services;
• the Care Quality Commission (CQC) ensuring regulated providers comply with the fundamental standards of care or by taking enforcement action; and
• the core duties of the police to prevent and detect crime and protect life and property.

4. Making Safeguarding Personal

See also Making Safeguarding Personal

Making Safeguarding Personal is a person-centred approach that promotes a commitment to improving outcomes for adults experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect. The key focus is recognising that people are experts in their own lives and that developing a real understanding of what people wish to achieve will give the person greater control over their lives. It involves working with the adult (and their representatives) to determine how best their outcomes might be realised and regularly evaluating the extent to which desired outcomes have been met. This approach involves adults being encouraged to define how they would like to see their life change, and then ensure they are involved throughout the safeguarding process, support planning and response.

Adults need to be encouraged to make their own decisions as far as practicably possible and are provided with support and information to empower them to do so. This approach recognises that adults have a general right to independence, choice and self-determination including control over information about themselves.

Making safeguarding personal engages the adult in a conversation about how best to respond to their safeguarding situation in a way that enhances involvement, choice and control as well as improving quality of life, wellbeing and safety.

Staff should work to deliver effective safeguarding n line with the six principles of safeguarding (see Section 2, Principles of Adult Safeguarding). They should ensure that the adult has accessible information so that they can make informed choices about safeguarding: what it means, risks and benefits and possible consequences.