People who work with children and adults at risk hold a position of trust. Safeguarding includes keeping your own conduct safe and speaking up about others.
Professional boundaries
- Keep relationships professional. Do not give personal phone numbers or add the people you support on private social media.
- Avoid being alone with a child or adult at risk in a closed space. If it cannot be avoided, tell a colleague and leave doors open.
- Do not give gifts, favours or special treatment, and be careful about accepting them.
- Do not use physical contact in ways that could be misread. Follow your employer's policy.
- Do not take pictures on a personal phone.
- Never have a sexual or romantic relationship with a child or with a person in your care. Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 it is an offence for a person in a position of trust in certain settings, such as education and care, to engage in sexual activity with a child under 18 to whom they are in that position, even if the child agrees.
- Report your own mistakes and near misses early.
Allegations about staff
An allegation is when a member of staff or volunteer is said to have:
- behaved in a way that has harmed, or may have harmed, a child;
- possibly committed a criminal offence against a child;
- behaved towards a child in a way that suggests they may pose a risk;
- behaved in a way that suggests they may not be suitable to work with children.
What you do:
- Do not investigate and do not confront the person.
- Report immediately to the person your policy names. In a school this is the headteacher or principal. If the allegation is about the headteacher, report to the chair of governors or trustees.
- The employer (in a school, the case manager) must discuss the allegation with the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) without delay, following local procedures. The LADO oversees allegations and advises the employer.
- Keep it confidential. Do not tell others.
Some employers also deal with low-level concerns: behaviour that does not meet the threshold for an allegation but is not consistent with the code of conduct. Report these too. They help to spot patterns early.
For adults, the council's adult safeguarding team and the employer's procedures apply, along with the regulator for care settings.
DBS referrals and barring
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) decides if a person should be barred from working with children, adults or both. Under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, an employer or volunteer organisation that removes someone from regulated activity because they harmed, or may have harmed, someone must refer them to the DBS. Failing to refer when required can be an offence. A DBS check shows information held on the day of the check. It is not a guarantee about the person. Scotland uses Disclosure Scotland and Northern Ireland uses AccessNI.
Whistleblowing
You can raise a concern about poor practice, a failure to follow policy, or wrongdoing by the organisation itself.
- Start with your manager or the whistleblowing policy.
- If that is not suitable, go to a senior person, a trustee or governor, or the regulator (for example Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission or the Charity Commission).
- The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 protects workers who make a protected disclosure from being dismissed or treated badly. You need to reasonably believe that what you report shows wrongdoing and that reporting it is in the public interest. You do not need proof.
- The NSPCC Whistleblowing Advice Line is 0800 028 0285 and is free for adults who are worried about how children are treated where they work.
Key points
- Keep professional boundaries. Report mistakes early.
- Report allegations about staff at once. The employer contacts the LADO.
- Employers must refer people who harmed others to the DBS.
- Whistleblowing is protected by law when you reasonably believe the disclosure is in the public interest.