Leeds Mencap Board of Trustees - Policy Statement on Safeguarding

Leeds Mencap believes it is everybody’s responsibility to promote the welfare of children, young people and adults and to ensure their protection from harm.

This policy applies to anyone working on behalf of Leeds Mencap including senior managers and trustees, paid staff, volunteers, sessional workers, agency staff and students.

The Purpose is

To ensure the protection from harm of all children, young people and vulnerable adults who receive Leeds Mencap’s services. This includes the children of adults who use our services.
To provide all staff, volunteers, trustees, children, young people and adults, and their families, with the overarching principles that inform our approach to safeguarding practice.

We recognise that:

The welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults is paramount in all the work we do and decisions we make, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation have an equal right to protection from harm.

In addition, many of the children, young people and adults we work with are additionally vulnerable because of previous experiences, difficulties in communication, physical needs and their level of dependency including need for intimate care.

We will not tolerate:

The abuse of children, young people or adults in any of its forms and are therefore committed to:

Valuing, listening and respecting the children, young people and adults we work with.
Managing staff, volunteers and services in a way which minimises the risk of harm occurring.
Supporting children, young people and adults who are at risk of, experiencing or have experienced abuse, neglect or harm.
Working in partnership with children, young people, adults at risk, parents, carers and other agencies to end any abuse that is taking place.
Monitoring and evaluating our management of safeguarding risks on a regular basis and continuously improving our practice.

We will seek to keep children and young people safe by ensuring that:

All managers, staff and volunteers have access to and are familiar with the guidance contained in the Leeds Mencap’s Safeguarding Handbook which includes both policies and the procedures outlining what to do if there are concerns that a child, young person or adult is at risk of or suffering abuse.
Concerns or allegations of abuse or harm are always taken seriously and shared with the relevant statutory agencies as required in line with the Leeds Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) Guidance and the West Yorkshire Safeguarding Adults Multi-Agency Policy and Procedures.
All staff and volunteers receive training in relation to safeguarding children, young people and/or adults at a level that is relevant to the level of responsibility in their role.
Service users, their relatives or informal carers have access to information via leaflets, posters, group work, one-to-one discussion about how to report concerns or allegations of abuse, and where to go if they have concern.
There are nominated safeguarding leads and deputies within the management team and a lead trustee for safeguarding.
Effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures so that all staff and volunteers know about and follow our policies, procedures and behavioural codes confidently and competently.
The safe recruitment and selection of all staff and volunteers takes place, ensuring all necessary checks are mad.
All information is recorded, stored and used professionally and securely in line with data protection legislation and guidance and recommended good practice in relation to cybersecurity.
Safeguarding procedures are followed and we share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, involving children, young people, adults, parents, families and carers appropriately.
Procedures are followed when managing any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately.
We create and maintain an anti-bullying environment and deal effectively with any bullying that does arise.
Where a worker has any concerns that a young person or their family may be at risk of radicalisation or involvement in terrorism, they speak with one of the named people for safeguarding.
We have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place.
A safe physical environment is provided for the children young people, adults and families that use our services as well as staff and volunteers by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance.
We build a safe culture where staff and volunteers, children, young people, adults and their families treat each other with respect and are comfortable about sharing concerns.
A social media and online safety policy ensures internal controls that are clear to everyone at the charity using social media.
All staff, volunteers, trustees and visitors follow our policies on the use of mobiles and cameras and smart watches.
There is continuous improvement in our safeguarding practices through the trust board regularly reviewing safeguarding policies and procedures, and checking key safeguarding risks through regular audit and reporting.

Changes to our Board of Trustees Policy Statement on Safeguarding

Our Board of Trustees Policy Statement on Safeguarding is reviewed annually or sooner if there are any changes to best practice, legislation or guidance.

Any changes we make to our Board of Trustees Policy Statement on Safeguarding will in the future be posted on our website.

This policy was last updated in October 2024