Consultancy - Safeguarding

Safeguarding can be a complex and daunting area, but my approach here is a little bit different to some. I tailor work towards your setting so you have clear internal processes in place and your people know what to look out for and what to do – all within the context they are operating in daily. I passionately believe that this is the way nothing slips through the net and everyone is kept safe.

There are various different ways I can support you, carefully worked out and tailored through years of my own experience. Please read on to find out how, by expanding the examples below. And please feel free to get in touch about anything different.

Safeguarding Policy Template

I can provide a comprehensive and adaptable safeguarding policy template, complete with explanatory notes and an hour of my time to ask questions about it.

There is very little guidance out there on how to write a safeguarding policy, and I am yet to find an online template which includes everything it should. These omissions have always concerned me. In my experience templates are also inconsistent, have conflicting information, and can be overly wordy and confusing. This is the last thing you need when setting up an organisation or bringing your existing policy up to scratch!

So what makes my policy unique?

- Comes with explanatory notes and guidance so you can easily adapt it to your organisation

- Clear, concise and easy to understand format

- Includes points that are so often missed in safeguarding policies, for example notes of interest and low-level concerns, to ensure multi-agency working

- Outlines best practice and procedures, so acts as a training document for you

- Hyperlinks to websites and legislation

- Up to date and relevant

- Contents page

- Incident Logging Form

- Appendices - definitions of abuse and useful numbers

- Covers your back in all situations and gives your people a clear framework to work within

- Includes an hour of support time from me, if you have any questions on how to adapt it to your organisation

My hope is that this will take the headache out of producing what is such a crucial working document. All robust safeguarding procedures start with a strong policy, and the clear message that sends out.

Cost: £300

Processes and Procedures

I can do a 360° review of your policies and processes, or work on individual pieces as you wish. I can help you implement new processes, review and tighten up what you already have, put paperwork or reporting mechanisms in place. As much or as little goes here, and this list is not exhaustive.

Cost: quote dependent on work needed.

Safer Recruitment

I can review or support with your recruitment processes, to ensure you have robust safer recruitment measures in place. Safer recruitment is a vital part of any organisation, whether that’s for staff or volunteers, but is very often missed. The dire consequences of this don’t need to be stated, and it is not worth the risk. Some simple additions to your existing processes can help you to rest easy knowing that you have the right people, with the right intentions, in post.

Cost: quote dependent on work needed.

Safeguarding Training

All too often I find ‘off-the-shelf’ safeguarding training providers only train on the basics of what abuse is and how to identify it in a general sense, and stop short at the point of escalation. It is not as simple as ‘escalate’ – who to? How? What are the reporting mechanisms within the organisation? When is it an internal escalation, and when should it go external? How do confidentiality and safeguarding intersect?

What’s more, most organisations have their own internal policies and procedures, unique to the work they do, that can’t be passed on through this type of external training. I aim to change this.

We will have an initial meeting where I can learn more about your organisation, it’s processes, and anything you particularly want to be included that’s relevant to your setting or team. Perhaps things that are frequently missed and need reinforcing. Then I will adapt the training to be bespoke, interactive and tailored to your organisation, it’s operations and internal processes. This introduction to safeguarding will be 2-3 hours (dependent on attendee numbers) and will include:

- Definitions of abuse

- Types of abuse

- Recognising harms

- Safer recruitment

- Responding to concerns

- Your organisation’s reporting and recording processes

- What you might encounter within your setting

- Specific guidelines relevant to your role and work.

Cost: £600

If you don’t need it to be tailored to your setting, I can run a more standard version that will give all the basics of what abuse is and how to identify, respond, report and record concerns.

Cost: £450

I can also help you develop your own bespoke training to use in-house moving forward, should you wish.

Cost: quote dependant on work needed.

Organisational Safeguarding Responsibilities Workshop

This is for Designated Safeguarding Leads and organisation leaders/managers. If you are not sure where to start with safeguarding, or want reassurance on what you are doing, this informal presentation and discussion will look at what you ideally should have in place, what you do already have, and what works for your organisation. Including (but not exhaustive):

- Designated staff and what’s expected of them - their role, responsibilities and support

- Your internal reporting processes as leaders – how to respond, escalate, and record concerns

- Confidentiality – access and feeding back

- Policies – basics to include

- Training – who, what, when

- Safer recruitment – how to make sure you are safely recruiting staff and volunteers.

You will be left with a deeper understanding of your responsibilities, identification of gaps in your processes and actions you need to take. Often this piece of work needs to be done to tighten up internally, before you can train the rest of your staff/volunteers on their own responsibilities.

Cost: £300

Ongoing Support and Advice

Once your processes are firmly in place, I can offer support or advice whenever you need it. This could be general questions that arise, reported concerns that you are not sure how to respond to, or new pieces of paperwork. As safeguarding is such a vital topic I aim to respond as quickly as I can, but clients on a retainer fee will receive priority.

Cost: dependent on work needed

In this video, hear some of my thoughts on finding a balance with safeguarding that suits your organisation, and in the context of the riots that took place summer 2024.