Safeguarding Policy and Procedure

Bamboo Recruitment Ltd (trading as Bamboo Childcare) recognise that it has statutory and moral obligations under the Children’s Act 1989 and section 175 of the Education Act 2002 to safeguard and promote the welfare of individuals. Bamboo Recruitment Ltd and its staff form part of the wider safeguarding system for children and young people as described in the statutory guidance ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children 2015’. 

In relation to vulnerable adults the Government set out key principles (No Secrets 2000) which state that ‘the protection of vulnerable adults should always receive a high priority and that all agencies should be able to clearly demonstrate the ability to respond to abuse with prompt, timely, and appropriate action’. 

In addition we also recognise the duties relating to the prevention of vulnerable people being drawn into terrorism as defined in Section 21 The Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015. 

The Safeguarding Young People and Vulnerable Adults Policy and Procedure is underpinned by the following legal/statutory regulations:

• Keeping Children Safe in Education 2015 (pending update 09/2016)
• Children’s Act 1989 and 2004
• Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015
• No Secrets (Adult Protection) 2000
• Every Child Matters 2003
• Common Assessment Framework

The Safeguarding Policy applies to all ‘children’ i.e. a young person up to the age of 18 including customers, contractors, employees, students and visitors and vulnerable adults.
N.B Vulnerable adults are defined as people who are or may be in need of community care services because of mental disability, other disability, age or illness and who are, or who may be unable to take care of themselves or unable to protect themselves against significant harm or exploitation.

Roles and Responsibilities

All adults working with children, young people and adults at risk of harm are in a position of trust in relation to these students. A relationship between a member of staff, volunteer or contractor and a student cannot be a relationship of equals. There is potential for exploitation and harm of the student and all staff have a responsibility to ensure that an unequal balance is not used for personal advantage. Staff should also avoid behaviours that might be misinterpreted by others.

The Sexual Offences Act 2003 states:

‘Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 it is an offence for a person over 18 (e.g. teacher, youth worker) to have a sexual relationship with a child under 18 where that person is in a position of trust in respect of that child, even if the relationship is consensual. This applies where the child is in full time education and the person works in the same establishment as the child, even if s/he does not teach the child’. 

The Designated Safeguarding Lead, who is a Manager, has responsibility for monitoring procedures, incident recording, liaison with external agencies and ensuring that the Designated Safeguarding officers are fully supported. The DSO Lead will also support and advise all staff through training and intervention

All employees have a responsibility to take seriously, understand and act without personal judgement where there is cause for concern and liaise with the Designated Safeguarding Lead and the Designated Safeguarding Officers.

The company is accountable for ensuring effective policies and procedures are in place, are monitored and comply with the statutory guidance.

The Role of Bamboo Recruitment Ltd
We have responsibility to act if there is a cause for concern and to notify the appropriate agencies to enable investigation and action to be taken, if appropriate. However, it is not our responsibility to investigate allegations or suspicions of abuse.

Bamboo Recruitment Ltd have a responsibility to provide information to Social Services about an individual or family, if required to do so for a protection assessment under the Common Assessment Framework.

In addition, we may provide help or specific service to an individual as part of a protection plan agreed at a Child in Need meeting and could also contribute to reviewing an individual’s progress in this regard.
Our role within safeguarding individuals in relation to abuse is:

• To establish and embed child protection/safeguarding procedures and through ongoing training and effective communication.
• To liaise in a productive manner with all agencies regarding young people/vulnerable adults on their roll.
• To ensure that a person disclosing abuse is listened to, offered a safe and non-judgemental environment and is offered all possible support.
• To appoint a dedicated team of Designated Safeguarding Officers with responsibility for child protection and safeguarding.
• To collaborate and refer to external agencies and attend Local Safeguarding Children Team meetings. 
• To refer to the Police, Social Services, etc. and any other appropriate agencies.
• To provide appropriate continual professional development to ensure that all staff have an up to date knowledge of safeguarding issues.
• To work in line with the Safer Recruitment Policy.
• To ensure that all children and vulnerable adults feel safe whilst undertaking an Apprenticeships with us.
• Ensure that all staff, visitors, contractors etc. feel confident in reporting (whistleblowing) suspicions of abuse.

Bamboo Recruitment Ltd recognises its duties in relation to CONTEST, the Governments Counter Terrorism Strategy and in particular PREVENT and will liaise with external multi agencies (e.g. Channel) in order to safeguard vulnerable people who may be at risk of being radicalised or drawn into extremist or terrorist behaviour.

Designated Safeguarding Officers:
A Designated Safeguarding Officer must:

• Listen to the concerns of the young person/third party/member of staff etc. without judgement or assumption.
• Never ask leading questions or use suggestive words.
• Reassure the person that they have done the right thing by disclosing the concern.
• Write down accurately the date, time, place and the concern (in the person’s on/own words) on a DSO Safeguarding incident form.
• If the individual is in immediate risk of harm contact the Police or the Local Authority Social Services Contact Centre.
• If the individual is at risk to themselves, ring for an ambulance or a responsible adult connected to the individual.
• If the individual is not in immediate risk of harm then assess the situation and make the appropriate referrals.
• If needed, talk to another DSO or the Lead DSO whilst with the individual. Explain that you would like to seek advice yourself.
• If needed contact Social Services Contact Centre or the Police 101 to ask for advice. 
• If contacting relevant services, take the name of the person that you have spoken to, time of phone call and the reporting crime number if contact is made with the Police.
• Refer to relevant company Policies and Procedures.
• If the Safeguarding concern relates to a member of staff, contact the Lead DSO immediately or a member of HR. 
• Always refer to the Designated Safeguarding Training.
• Do not speak to anyone about the Safeguarding concern that does not need to know. 
• Inform the Lead DSO immediately about the Safeguarding incident and all relevant referrals.

In the absence of the Lead DSO then make the Lead Mentor aware.

• The safeguarding incident forms must be kept electronically in the designated file.
• Inform relevant staff of the outcome, where appropriate and offer support to that member of staff.
• Treat all individuals with respect, regardless of the safeguarding incident, allegation disclosed etc. and abide by the company’s Equality and Diversity Policy. 

Implementation of Policy

Bamboo Recruitment Ltd recognises that it has a statutory obligation to safeguard and promote the welfare of all persons that work or study with us. We fully support the wellbeing of young people and vulnerable adults to enable them to achieve their full potential whist maximising their opportunities within a safe environment, free for potential harm or abuse. 
It is the responsibility of all employees to take reasonable steps to promote wellbeing, recognise potential harm, protect individuals from harm and to share information whilst respecting individual choice to disclose (unless withholding this information increases risk to an individual).
Our company will follow statutory guidance, Keeping Children Safe in Education 2015, No Secrets 2000 and the Counter Terrorism Act 2015 to ensure they meet their responsibilities to ensure effective policies and procedures are in place that are regularly monitored and updated. The Safeguarding Young People and Vulnerable Adults Policy and Procedure will be updated annually. 
We will ensure that the Lead Designated Safeguarding Officer will be of appropriate seniority and will be expert in the use of safeguarding assessments and procedures and will have undertaken appropriate training when required. The Lead DSO will monitor and evaluate the work of the Designated Safeguarding Officers and take the Lead on complex cases. The Lead DSO will offer advice, guidance, support and training to all staff on safeguarding and PREVENT.
Safer Recruitment will take place including Disclosure and Barring Service checks and professional boundaries applied to establish expectations and set parameters to maintain a safe working environment. At induction, new employees will receive training on safeguarding and PREVENT and also the Code of Conduct.
Safeguarding and Prevent training will be an integral part of all student inductions and will be within the student handbook. Safeguarding will also be embedded into the curriculum and will be part of the self-assessment reports.

Confidentiality  
In any safeguarding matter, the welfare of the individual at risk is paramount. Only a restricted number of people will have access to information that involves such incidents. Information sharing is on a ‘need to know’ basis. If you have any concerns regarding information that has not been shared please contact the Lead Designated Safeguarding Officer.

Prevent Duty
The Government published the Prevent Strategy in 2011, which is part of the counter terrorism strategy CONTEST. The aim of the Prevent Strategy is to reduce the threat to the UK from terrorism by stopping people from being radicalised and becoming extreme in their views and ideologies. 
If anyone is concerned about someone becoming radicalised or is involved in an organisation which could place some of our community at risk of being radicalised this needs to be reported immediately to their line manager, Designated Safeguarding Officers or the Lead Designated Safeguarding Officer. 
The safeguarding referral form will need to be filled out and sent to the Designated Safeguarding Lead. 
Under section 26 of the Counter Terrorism and security Act 2015 certain bodies, have ‘due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’.

Monitoring our Progress

• Feedback is sought from the referring staff member and also from the person the safeguarding form concerns, where appropriate.
• Feedback is then assessed and reviewed and the member of staff communicated with accordingly.
• Amendments are made to Policy, Procedure and working practise in accordance with Government guidelines and changes in Policy.
• Reviews of Safeguarding and Prevent Risk assessments are done quarterly and updated accordingly. 

Breaches of the Policy

Allegations against staff:
The procedure applies to all staff whether teaching, administrative, management or support and included volunteers. The word ‘staff’ is for ease of description. This procedure is in line with the Code of Conduct.
An allegation may relate to a member of staff who works with a child (someone under the age of 18) who has:

• Behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may have harmed a child.
• Possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child.
• Behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates they may pose a risk of harm to children.

 Initial considerations: 

• The procedure for dealing with allegations will be applied with common sense and judgement. The manager will make judgement if the cases of allegation meet the criteria set out above, or whether the allegation warrants a police investigation or intervention from Social Services.
• If the case is serious in nature then we will contact the Police and Social Services immediately. The Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) will be contacted to inform them of any safeguarding issues that appear to meet the criteria so they can consult Police and Social Services.

Definitions when determining outcomes:

• Substantiated – there is sufficient evidence to prove the allegation
• Malicious – there is sufficient evidence to disprove the allegation and there has been a deliberate act to deceive.
• False – there is sufficient evidence to disprove the allegation
• Unsubstantiated – there is insufficient evidence to either prove or disprove the allegation. The term, therefore, does not imply guilt or innocence.  

Supporting Employees:

• Bamboo Recruitment Ltd recognises that it has a duty of care to their employees. We will ensure that we provide effective support to any member of staff that is facing an allegation and provide the employee with a named contact.
• Suspension of an employee is not automatic and is carefully considered.
• Bamboo Recruitment Ltd will investigate the allegation quickly, in a fair and consistent manner that provides effective protection for the child and at the same time supports the person that is subject to the allegation.

Managing allegations:

• When an allegation has been made it is the responsibility of the manager to investigate it.
• If the manager is the subject of the investigation then it will be the directors.
• The investigation will be immediately discussed with the Local Authority Designated Officer.
• All options to avoid suspension should be considered prior to suspending a member of staff.
• If an allegation is about physical contact, remember that members of staff are entitled to use reasonable force to control or restrain children in certain circumstances.
• Where it is clear that the Police or Social Services are not needed in the investigation, the Lead Designated Safeguarding Officer and the case manager will discuss the next steps.

Supporting parents/carers:

• Parents/carers will be told of any allegations if they are not already aware, unless a strategy discussion is required where advice should be sought first.
• Parents/carers will be kept informed about progress and told about an outcome where no criminal prosecution including the outcome of any disciplinary process.
• Parents/carers will be made aware of the requirement to maintain confidentiality whilst investigations are ongoing (section 141F of the Education Act 2002). If parents/carers wish to apply to the court to have reporting restrictions removed, they should be told to seek legal advice. 

Review and Consultation

This policy will be reviewed on an annual basis. As part of the review management will seek to take into account the views of stakeholders including learners and staff and the local community.

Related Policies, Procedures and Documents:

• Safeguarding Procedure 
• Equality and Diversity Policy                                                         
• Drugs and Alcohol Policy (within learner handbook)           
• Attendance and Punctuality Policy
• Code of Conduct Policy
• Health and Safety Policy and Procedure
• Safer Recruitment Policy
• Disciplinary Policy
• E Safety Policy (within learner handbook)

 
Safeguarding Procedure
How to respond if a young person or an adult is at risk of harm:

• Never promise confidentiality. Explain that you will have to share information with others who would be able to help and will only disclose to others who would need to know. Tell them who you are going to report this too. 
• Listen carefully and stay calm. You need to listen without judgement and assumptions.
• Do not interview the young person but question normally without pressure. Make sure that your questions are not leading.
• Reassure the person by telling them that they have done the right thing. 
• Make a note of key information, date, time, place and what the person said (in their own words). Please use the Safeguarding report form
• If a third party discloses that someone is potentially at harm, follow the steps above and contact a Designated Safeguarding Officer. Remember to include all their details in the incident box on the Safeguarding form. 
• Do not investigate the concern yourself, contact the Designated Safeguarding Officer
• The Designated Safeguarding officer will consult with the individual regarding the disclosure. The individual’s wishes will be taken into account when determining what action is to be taken. 
• The Lead Designated Safeguarding Officer will be informed immediately of any referrals received or made.

If you are worried about a young person or adult and they have not disclosed that they are at risk, please speak to a Designated Safeguarding Officer or the Lead Designated Safeguarding Officer. Do not keep concerns to yourself – always have the attitude that it ‘can happen here’.

If a person is at risk of significant harm:

There should be no delay in seeking immediate guidance about referring the individual that is considered to be at immediate risk of harm, which may include

• Physical Abuse
• Emotional Abuse
• Bullying
• Sexual Abuse
• Neglect

Other specific safeguarding issues that may put a person at risk of significant harm may include:

• Child Sexual Exploitation
• Forced Marriage
• Female Genital Mutilation
• Child missing from Education
• Bullying including cyberbullying
• Domestic Violence
• Drugs
• Fabricated or induced illness
• Faith Abuse
• Gangs and youth violence
• Mental health
• Private Fostering
• Preventing radicalisation
• Teenage relationship abuse
• Trafficking
• Sexting
• Child on child abuse

If a young person or adult has suffered or is likely to suffer harm contact the Designated Safeguarding Team as soon as possible. 

If the risk is immediate then call the Police or Social Services Centre straight away and if the individual is present, keep them with you.

Anyone can make a referral.

Definitions of Abuse

Abuse: a form of maltreatment of a child. Somebody may abuse or neglect a child by inflicting harm or by failing to act to prevent harm. Children may be abused in a family or in an institutional or community setting by those known to them or, more rarely, by others (e.g. via the internet). They may be abused by an adult or adults or another child or children. 

Physical abuse: a form of abuse which may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child. 

Emotional abuse: the persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond a child’s developmental capability as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying (including cyberbullying), causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, although it may occur alone. 

Sexual abuse: involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse (including via the internet). Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children. 

Neglect: the persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment); protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger; ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate care-givers); or ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.

Safeguarding Form