Safeguarding Policy

About this document

The purpose of this document is to describe Say It Loud Club’s safeguarding policies and procedures in order to protect adults at risk who might come into contact with our services. Safeguarding is a term used to describe how people and organisations work together to protect individuals from abuse or neglect. This Safeguarding Policy will be made available to all staff (including volunteers) and members of Say It Loud Club. The Safeguarding Policy will be reviewed annually by the staff team and board of trustees.

Our responsibilities

Say It Loud Club is the community of LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers living in the UK. Whilst not all of our adults are at risk, we have an organisational responsibility to create a safe and transparent environment whereby adults at risk are identified and supported, and all staff feel confident in recognising and reporting concerns. We do this by:

• Valuing warmth and empathy, thus maintaining an atmosphere in which staff make time to listen to members’ concerns, and members feel comfortable sharing information knowing they will receive sensitive and non-judgemental support.
• Recognising that ‘keeping secrets’ facilitates an environment in which abuse can occur and go undetected, and therefore prioritising good communication, transparency, and honesty at all times.
• Ensuring that everyone is aware of our safeguarding policies and procedures, and that these are adequate and up-to-date.
• Following procedures when safeguarding concerns and other risky incidents occur, including reporting these to the relevant authorities, learning from mistakes, and making changes to prevent incidents from re-occurring.

 

Working with adults at risk

Who is an adult at risk?
An adult at risk (sometimes referred to as ‘vulnerable adult’) is someone who: has care and support needs, whether or not these are being met; is experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, abuse or neglect, and who is unable to protect themselves due to their care and support needs.

Types of abuse

The Statutory Guidance to the Care Act 2014 identifies 10 categories of abuse:

Self-neglect
This covers a wide range of behaviour such as neglecting to care for one’s personal hygiene, health or surroundings and includes behaviours such as hoarding.

Modern slavery
This encompasses slavery, human trafficking, forced labour, and domestic servitude.

Domestic abuse
This includes psychological, physical, sexual, financial, and emotional abuse perpetrated by anyone within a person’s family. It also includes so called ‘honour’ based violence.

Discriminatory abuse
Discrimination is abuse which centres on a difference or perceived difference particularly with respect to race, gender, disability, or any other of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act.

Organisational abuse
This includes neglect and poor care practice within an institution or specific care setting such as a hospital or a care home, for example, or in relation to care provided in one’s own home. This may range from one-off incidents to ongoing ill-treatment. It can be through neglect or poor professional practice as a result of the structure, policies, processes and practices within an organisation.

Physical abuse
This includes hitting, slapping, pushing, kicking, misuse of medication, restraint, or inappropriate sanctions.

Sexual abuse
This includes rape, indecent exposure, sexual harassment, inappropriate looking in touching, sexual teasing or innuendo, sexual photography, subjection to pornography or witnessing sexual acts, indecent exposure and sexual assault or sexual acts to which the adult has not consented or was pressured into consenting.

Financial or material abuse
This includes theft, fraud, internet scamming, or the misuse or misappropriation of property, possessions or benefits. It also includes coercion in relation to an adult’s financial affairs or arrangements, for example in connection with wills, property, inheritance, or financial transactions.

Neglect and acts of omission
This includes ignoring medical or physical care needs, failing to provide access to appropriate health, social care or educational services, and the withholding of the necessities of life, such as medication, adequate nutrition, and heating.

 
Emotional or psychological abuse
This includes threats of harm or abandonment, deprivation of contact, humiliation, blaming, controlling, intimidation, coercion, harassment, verbal abuse, isolation, or withdrawal from services or supportive networks.

Our safeguarding procedures

Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO)

The Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO) is a Say It Loud Club staff member who receives
regular safeguarding training. The current DSO is:

• Thelma Ndaula, Operations Manager
• thelma.ndaula@sayitloudclub.org / +44 7875 318328

The responsibilities of the DSO are to:

• Be available to provide guidance to any staff member who is concerned that a member is at risk of, or experiencing, abuse or neglect.
• Take a lead in all safeguarding matters, including ensuring that all safeguarding concerns are reported and followed up. However, the staff member who has the initial concern may be asked to report this directly to preserve the completeness and accuracy of information as much as possible.
• Ensure that the Safeguarding Policy is reviewed annually.
• Ensure that all staff members have read, understood, and signed the Safeguarding Policy.

Advice for managing a safeguarding concern

If a member says something which you are concerned about, we advise you to:

• Take steps to continue the conversation in a private and comfortable setting.
• Listen non-judgementally and sympathetically, without asking probing questions or beginning to investigate yourself.
• Explain that you are going to relay the information to the Say It Loud Club team and that social services and/or the police might be contacted in order for the member to get the right support. Never promise confidentiality during a conversation; members should know that whilst their information won’t be shared publicly or with other members, we have a duty to share information with our team and other relevant authorities when we have concerns. 
• Once the conversation has ended, take note of everything that was said, using direct quotes where possible.
• Refer to the safeguarding procedure on the previous page for guidance on what to do next. If you are unsure, contact the Designated Safeguarding Officer immediately.

Other procedures

• All paid staff members at Say It Loud Club have enhanced DBS checks and safeguarding training 
• All volunteers with direct contact with members have enhanced DBS checks
• One-off volunteers or visitors (e.g. researchers, media) without enhanced DBS checks will only meet one-to-one with members in supervised or public settings 
• All staff members, including volunteers, with direct contact with members will be asked to read and sign this Safeguarding Policy