Safeguarding

At Citizens UK we work with many different groups of diverse ages, backgrounds and walks of life. We believe that everyone has the right to be kept safe from harm, exploitation and abuse.

Our responsibility

We recognise that:

• Everyone, regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation, or identity, has a right to equal protection from all types of harm, exploitation, and abuse
• Some of the people we work with or come into contact with may be in more vulnerable circumstances and less able to protect themselves, because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency on others, physical or mental ill health, communication needs or because they are children
• We have a responsibility to ensure our people and activities do no harm to others, and that they do not expose them to the risk of harm, exploitation, and abuse

Our safeguarding commitment

We are committed to building strong and safe communities and we believe that all Citizen UK employees and volunteers play an active part in keeping themselves and those they work with safe.

We do this by:

• Valuing, listening to and respecting those we work with
• Encouraging the active participation of our employees and volunteers and those we work with in keeping themselves and others safe, ensuring they have a voice and a choice and know how to seek help if they need it
• Carrying out appropriate risk assessments for all our activities to ensure the safety of those present
• Recruiting employees and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made to assess their suitability
• Ensuring all employees and volunteers are made aware of this policy and have access to appropriate training to understand their responsibilities
• Having effective procedures in place for responding to safeguarding concerns and designated staff to respond to them
• Monitoring the implementation of our safeguarding policy and taking any measures required to strengthen and improve existing practice

Responding to safeguarding concerns

A safeguarding concern is any worry or concern about the safety or well-being of a person because of something seen or heard, or information which has been received. This includes any concerns about the behaviour of Citizens UK employees or volunteers which is harmful or puts others at risk. E.g. someone may tell you they, or someone they know, has been harmed, exploited, or abused or you might witness a situation where a person is putting the safety of an adult or child at risk.

What will we do when we have a safeguarding concern?

At Citizens UK we will:

• Act quickly and appropriately when a safeguarding concern is reported to us
• Treat all safeguarding concerns in a professional, confidential, and sensitive way
• Always act in the best interests of people, respecting and involving them, giving them a choice over decision-making which impacts them, unless they lack the capacity to do so or it would put them at serious risk of harm, exploitation, abuse or neglect
• Provide people with safe and appropriate advice, signposting and referring them to services that meet their needs
• Work in partnership with other organisations, including statutory services like the police and social care to make sure people get the help they need
• Refer concerns where a child or adult at risk has been or is at significant risk of harm, exploitation, abuse and neglect to local authority social care or the police
• Protect confidential information except where the wider duty of care or the public interest might justify making it known

How to report a safeguarding concern

Anyone can report a safeguarding concern.

You can:

• Speak to a Citizens UK employee if you are attending one of our activities
• Speak to a manager or Safeguarding Lead person if you are Citizens UK employee or volunteer
• Anyone can contact the Safeguarding Officer directly on safeguarding@citizensuk.org. If the concern is not relating to Citizens UK, the Safeguarding Officer can still give advice and guidance, but they cannot act on your behalf
• If you are worried about the safety or welfare of an adult, call the NSPCC Adult Helpline for confidential advice on 0808 800 5000
• If you are worried about the safety or welfare of a child, call the police. 999 for an emergency, 101 for a non-emergency.