DIGITALL SAFEGUARDING VULNERABLE ADULTS POLICY

1. AIM

   1.1 The purpose of this policy is to outline the duty and responsibility of staff, volunteers, and trustees working on behalf of Digitall in relation to Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults.

   1.2 All adults have a right to be safe from harm and must be able to live free from fear of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Digitall will not tolerate the abuse of adults in any of its forms and is committed to safeguarding adults with care and support needs from harm. It is important to remember that such harm and abuse may be experienced online as well as in the real world.

   1.3 This policy outlines the steps Digitall will take to safeguard an adult with care and support needs if they are deemed to be at risk. This policy sets out the roles and responsibilities of Digitall’s staff, volunteers, and trustees in working together with other professionals and agencies in promoting the adult’s welfare and safeguarding them from abuse and neglect.

   1.4 Digitall will ensure that decisions made will allow adults to make their own choices and include them in any decision-making. Digitall will also ensure that safe and effective working practices are in place.

2. OBJECTIVES

   2.1 This policy is intended to support trustees, staff, and volunteers working within Digitall, to understand their role and responsibilities in safeguarding adults. All trustees, staff, and volunteers are required to follow this policy.

   2.2 The key objectives of this policy are for all Digitall trustees, staff, and volunteers to:

   - Have an overview of adult safeguarding

   - Be clear about their responsibility to safeguard adults

   - Ensure the necessary actions are taken where an adult with care and support needs is deemed to be at risk

3. LEGAL FRAMEWORK

   3.1 Kent and Medway Safeguarding Adults Board: www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council/partnerships/kent-and-medway-safeguarding-adults-board

   3.2 Mental Health Act 2007, General Data Protection Regulations 2016, Freedom of Information Act 2000, Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, Code of Practice 2008

   3.3 The Mental Capacity Act 2005, covering England and Wales, provides a statutory framework for people who lack capacity to make decisions for themselves or who have capacity and want to make preparations for a time when they may lack capacity in the future. It sets out who can take decisions, in which situations, and how they must go about this.

   3.4 The Human Rights Act 1998 gives legal effect in the UK to the fundamental rights and freedoms contained in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

   3.5 The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) created a framework for whistle-blowing across the private, public, and voluntary sectors. The Act provides almost every individual in the workplace with protection from victimization where they raise genuine concerns about malpractice in accordance with the Act’s provisions.

4. CONTEXT

   4.1 For the purpose of this policy, ‘adult’ means a person aged 18 years or over.

   4.2 What is Safeguarding Adults?

      4.2.1 Safeguarding means protecting an adult’s right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect. It is about people and organizations working together to prevent and stop both the risks and experience of abuse or neglect, while at the same time making sure that the adult’s wellbeing is promoted, including, where appropriate, having regard to their views, wishes, feelings, and beliefs in deciding on any action. This must recognize that adults sometimes have complex interpersonal relationships and may be ambivalent, unclear, or unrealistic about their personal circumstances. (Care and Support Statutory Guidance, Department of Health, updated February 2017)

      4.2.2 All adults should be able to live free from fear and harm. But some may find it hard to get the help and support they need to stop abuse.

      4.2.3 An adult may be unable to protect themselves from harm or exploitation due to many reasons, including their mental or physical incapacity, sensory loss, or physical or learning disabilities. This could be an adult who is usually able to protect themselves from harm but may be unable to do so because of an accident, disability, frailty, addiction, or illness.

      4.2.4 Digitall adheres to following the six key principles that underpin safeguarding work (See Care Act 2014 guidance):

      - Empowerment

      - Prevention

      - Proportionality

      - Protection

      - Partnership

      - Accountability

4.3 Digitall will not tolerate the abuse of adults and staff and volunteers should ensure that their work reflects the principles above and ensure the adult with care and support needs is involved in their decisions and informed consent is obtained. The safeguarding action agreed must be the least intrusive response to the risk. Partners from the community should be involved in any safeguarding work in preventing, detecting, and reporting neglect and abuse. Digitall should be transparent and accountable in delivering safeguarding actions.

4.4 What is Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP)?

   4.4.1 MSP means a case should be person-led and outcome-focused. The individual should be involved in identifying how best to respond to their safeguarding situation by giving them more choice and control as well as improving quality of life, wellbeing, and safety.

   4.4.2 Digitall will not tolerate the abuse of adults. Digitall will ensure that adults are involved in their safeguarding arrangements and each individual is dealt with on a case-by-case basis. As adults may have different preferences, histories, and lifestyles, the same process may not work for all.

4.5 Who do adult safeguarding duties apply to?

   4.5.1 The Care Act 2014 sets out that adult safeguarding duties apply to any adult who:

   - Has care and support needs, and

   - Is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse and neglect, and

   - Is unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of abuse or neglect, because of those needs.

5. PROCEDURE

5.1 Who do I go to if I am concerned?

   5.1.1 The named responsible person for safeguarding duties for Digitall is:

   - Veronika Stoyanova, veronika@digitall.org.uk

   5.1.2 All staff and volunteers should contact their Line Manager in the first instance for any concerns/queries they have in regards to safeguarding adults. A log of the concern must be kept.

   5.1.3 Veronika Stoyanova, as the named responsible person, will be responsible for making decisions about notifying adult social services if required and considering alternative actions, where necessary.

   5.1.4 Veronika Stoyanova, will also ensure that the safeguarding adults policies and procedures are in place and up to date. They will ensure a safe environment is promoted for staff, volunteers, and adults accessing the service.

   5.1.5 The line manager for each department, together with the responsible person for safeguarding adults, will ensure that relevant staff and volunteers are up to date with their safeguarding adults training.

5.2 Why is it important to take action?

   5.2.1 It may be difficult for adults with care and support needs to protect themselves and to report abuse. They rely on you to help them.

5.3 What should I do if I am concerned?

   5.3.1 Staff and volunteers at Digitall who have any adult safeguarding concerns should:

   - Respond: Take emergency action if someone is at immediate risk of harm/in need of urgent medical attention. Dial 999 for emergency services. Get brief details about what has happened and what the adult would like done about it, but do not probe or conduct a mini-investigation. Seek consent from the adult to take action and to report the concern. Consider whether the adult may lack capacity to make decisions about their own and other people’s safety and wellbeing. If you decide to act against their wishes or without their consent, you must record your decision and the reasons for this.

   - Report: Name the person to whom staff/volunteers need to report any potential safeguarding concerns. This will usually be the organization’s designated safeguarding lead (see above).

   - Record: A full record shall be made as soon as possible of the nature of the allegation and any other relevant information. This must include information in relation to the date, the time, the place where the alleged abuse happened, your name and the names of others present, the name of the complainant and, where different, the name of the adult who has allegedly been abused, the nature of the alleged abuse, a description of any injuries observed, the account which has been given of the allegation. As far as possible, records should be written at the time of the allegation, dated, and signed. Keep records about safeguarding concerns confidential and in a location where the alleged abuser will not have access to the record. Access should not be given to any unauthorized personnel for accessing confidential information, including the sharing of passwords.

   - Refer: In making a decision whether to refer or not, the designated safeguarding lead should take into account:

     - The adult’s wishes and preferred outcome

     - Whether the adult has mental capacity to make an informed decision about their own and others’ safety

     - The safety or wellbeing of children or other adults with care and support needs

     - Whether there is a person in a position of trust involved

     - Whether a crime has been committed

   - This should inform the decision whether to notify the concern to the following people:

     - The police if a crime has been committed

     - KCC Social Services Adults Safeguarding team tel: 03000 41 61 61 or email social.services@kent.gov.uk

     - Relevant regulatory bodies such as Care Quality Commission, Ofsted, Charities commission

     - Service commissioning teams

     - Family/relatives as appropriate (seek advice from adult social services)

5.4 The designated safeguarding lead should keep a record of the reasons for referring the concern or reasons for not referring.

5.5 Incidents of abuse may be one-off or multiple and may affect one person or more. Staff and volunteers should look beyond single incidents to identify patterns of harm. Accurate recording of information will also assist in recognizing any patterns.

6. ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

   6.1 The designated safeguarding adults lead should be responsible for providing acknowledgment of the referral and brief feedback to the person raising the original concern. Feedback should be given in a way that will not make the situation worse or breach GDPR. If the police are involved, they should be consulted prior to giving feedback to the referrer to ensure any criminal investigation is not affected.

   6.2 The local authority will decide on who will lead on a safeguarding enquiry should it progress to that stage. The named organization should not conduct its own safeguarding enquiry unless instructed to do so by the local authority.

   6.3 Staff and volunteers should ensure that the adult with care and support needs is involved at all stages of their safeguarding enquiry ensuring a person-centred approach is adopted.

7. COMPLAINTS & WHISTLE-BLOWING

   7.1 Digitall promotes transparency and honesty when things go wrong. All staff and volunteers should apologize and be honest with service users and other relevant people when things go wrong.

   7.2 If a staff member, volunteer, or any other member of the organization is unhappy with Digitall’s decision about the safeguarding concern, refer them to Digitall’s Complaints Policy, which can be obtained from a member of the Senior Management Team.

   7.3 Digitall is committed to ensuring that staff and volunteers who in good faith whistle-blow in the public interest will be protected from reprisals and victimization. A copy of Digitall’s Whistle-Blowing Policy can be obtained from a member of the Senior Management Team.

8. CONFIDENTIALITY AND INFORMATION SHARING

   8.1 Digitall expects all staff, volunteers, and trustees to maintain confidentiality at all times. In line with General Data Protection Regulations, Digitall does not share information if not required.

   8.2 It should however be noted that information should be shared with authorities if an adult is deemed to be at risk of immediate harm. Sharing the right information, at the right time, with the right people can make all the difference in preventing harm. For further guidance on information sharing and safeguarding see: Social Care Institute for Excellence [Link](www.scie.org.uk/safeguarding/adults/practice/sharing-information)

9. RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

   9.1 Digitall operates procedures that take account of the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of vulnerable adults, including arrangements for appropriate checks on new staff, volunteers, and trustees where applicable.

   9.2 Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Services checks are carried out for all roles deemed as a regulated activity by the Disclosure and Barring Service.

   9.3 All new members of staff, volunteers, students on placement, and trustees complete an induction process and are given information about safeguarding procedures.

10. TRAINING, RAISING AWARENESS, AND SUPERVISION

   10.1 Digitall ensures that all staff and volunteers receive basic awareness training on safeguarding adults as they may come across adults with care and support needs who may be at risk of abuse. Those adults may report things of concern to staff or volunteers who should be equipped with the basic knowledge around safeguarding adults and be confident to identify that abuse is taking place and action is required. All staff and volunteers should be clear about the core values of Digitall and the organization’s commitment to safeguarding adults.

   10.2 It is also useful to discuss training with staff who have attended training sessions to ensure they are embedding this in practice.

   10.3 Similarly, staff and volunteers may encounter concerns about the safety and wellbeing of children. For more information about children’s safeguarding, refer to Digitall’s Child Protection & Safeguarding Policy, available from a member of the Senior Management Team.

11. PREVENT

   11.1 Radicalization and extremism of adults with care and support needs is a form of emotional/psychological exploitation. Radicalization can take place through direct personal contact, or indirectly through social media.

   11.2 If staff are concerned that an adult with care and support needs is at risk of being radicalized and drawn into terrorism, they should treat it in the same way as any other safeguarding concern.

   11.3 For more information about Prevent see: www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance

12. SOCIAL MEDIA

   12.1 Digitall staff and volunteers should not ‘friend,’ ‘follow,’ or otherwise engage with clients on social media and should decline any requests to do so.

   12.2 Any instances of social media abuse or bullying involving staff, volunteers, or clients should be referred immediately to the Safeguarding Officer.

13. REFERENCES, INTERNET LINKS, AND FURTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION

   13.1 ‘No Secrets’ report – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/no-secrets-guidance-on-protecting-vulnerable-adults-in-care

   13.2 The first national policy developed for the protection of vulnerable adults, for use by all health and social care organizations and the police. It introduced guidance around local multi-agency arrangements and was issued under Section 7 of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970. Its implementation is led by local authorities with social services responsibilities. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1970/42/contents

   13.3 Action on Elder Abuse (AEA) is a charity working to protect and prevent the abuse of vulnerable older adults. http://www.elderabuse.org.uk

   13.4 Care Act – http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/23/contents/enacted

14. POLICY REVIEW

   14.1 This policy will be reviewed every 3 years and amended as necessary, or earlier in accordance with forthcoming legislation.