Safeguarding
Voluntary and community groups play an important role in providing services and activities for children, young people and adults. In UK law, someone is a child until they are 18 years old. It is essential that the services and activities your group offers are as safe as they can be, and to ensure this, there is a need to have safeguards in place.
Having safeguards in place will help your group protect children, young people and adults from harm and abuse as well as help staff and volunteers know what to do if they are worried or concerned about a child or adult.
Wales Safeguarding Procedures
The Wales Safeguarding Procedures provide guidance to practitioners involved in safeguarding on how things should be done. You can download the procedures onto your mobile phone. Links for downloading the App are at the bottom of the landing page on the website at the link below. Once you have downloaded the App you do not need to have a Wi-Fi connection to view them.
Safeguarding Duties for Trustees
Protecting people and safeguarding responsibilities should be a governance priority for all charities. The following is a link to guidance which will support trustees to put systems in place that will protect all who come in contact with their organisation.
Non-statutory guide for practitioners
The Welsh Government has produced this non-statutory guide to remind practitioners working across agencies of their responsibilities to safeguard children and to support them in responding to concerns about children at risk. This guide links to and should be used with the national Wales Safeguarding Procedures.
DBS Checks and Covid-19
Welsh Government made an announcement last year saying that emergency legislation will ‘ease’ rules on Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
This will not remove checks altogether, but allow a check from one organization to be used at another. This is intended to allow a greater number of people to volunteer more easily and to allow them to be more simply utilised in areas of greatest need.
WCVA has written a briefing paper, highlighting what the voluntary sector needs to know about DBS checks as the COVID-19 crisis progresses.
The paper covers:
- The procedure behind basic checks
- Suggesting wording for a disclosure form
- Guidance when your new volunteers already have a DBS certificate
- How to view DBS certificates via videoconferencing software
- Formal and informal portable DBS checks
- Reminders for when first applying for a new check
- Guidance on adult first checks
- Some useful links
Internet Safety
The Stop it Now public awareness campaign is aimed at tackling the increased viewing and sharing of illegal images of children.
The campaign website offers a wide range of resources and information to help people stop viewing and sharing sexual images, and to support the families and friends of people who access sexual images of children.
North Wales Safeguarding Board
North Wales Safeguarding Children Board
The Board has the overall responsibility for challenging relevant agencies in the area so that:
- There are effective measures in place to PROTECT children
- There is effective inter-agency co-operation planning and delivering protection services and in sharing information
- Anticipating & Identifying where there may be individuals affected and work with service providers to develop earlier identification and preventative services
- Promote effective multi agency support services
- Promote inter agency approaches to working with community groups and organisations where there may be populations at risk of harm
- Using inter-agency training and dissemination of learning and research to help build a more confident and knowledgeable multi agency workforce.
North Wales Safeguarding Adult Board
The objectives of a Safeguarding Adults Board are:
- To protect adults within its area who have needs for care and support (whether or not a local authority is meeting any of those needs) and are experiencing, or are at risk of, abuse or neglect,
- To prevent those adults within its area becoming at risk of abuse or neglect.
Community and Voluntary Support Conwy
7 Rhiw Rd, Colwyn Bay LL29 7TG
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Company Limited by Guarantee 3867751
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Registered Charity Number: 1151397
