Working with the general public
All voluntary organisations that work with the general public need to be aware of their safeguarding responsibilities under the law.
The Charity Commission has produced detailed safeguarding guidance that sets out the specific responsibilities for voluntary organisations. Even if your charity is unregistered, you are expected to follow the guidance and treat safeguarding children and adults at risk as a priority. This applies to all charities, even if you do not specifically work with children or adults at risk. The guidance is also good practice even if your organisation is not a charity, because these are standards the public will expect.
Following the guidance will also contribute to keeping your staff and volunteers safer, because it contains information on bullying and harassment (including sexual harassment).
How you meet your safeguarding duty should be related to the size and scale of your organisation, what it does and who it works with. The more you work with groups who are at risk and protected in law, the more detailed and thorough your plans must be. This is often referred to as proportionality in safeguarding.
Example
Juniper Community Choir is a small registered charity which gives adults opportunities to sing together. It does not specifically intend to work with children or adults at risk of harm. They still have safeguarding policies which include what they would do to prevent harm to these groups and how they would act if they were worried about someone. These policies also remind them of the importance of empowering adults as well as protecting them.
The more you carry out activities which could cause harm, the more you need to show you are managing these risks.
Example
Chumley Children’s Centre is a registered charity providing services for disabled children and adults. It has separate safeguarding policies for children and adults at risk. It also has additional policies on lone working, providing personal care and recording incidents. The charity already has templates for recording safeguarding concerns and it routinely gives safeguarding information to all new members of the group. When it decides to start a climbing club, it develops a new risk assessment for the activity.
Working with children
If you work with under 18s, your charity must follow the Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance.
Example
Riverside Refugee Group delivers support to young asylum seekers in River City. The trustees make sure the organisation follows the Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance. They make sure staff read it and are trained in recognising and responding to safeguarding concerns. The organisation regularly reviews its policies and procedures so they remain compliant with Working Together to Safeguard Children.
The guidance sets out expectations for your organisation, staff and volunteers. It makes your responsibilities to safeguard children and promote their welfare clear. It also explains what your staff and volunteers must do if they have concerns about a child.
There are several pieces of legislation but the most important are The Children Acts 1989 and 2004. These acts detail the legal duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. That duty is placed on everyone and the acts state we should all work together.
Example
Jenny is a youth worker at Sundale Youth Group. She is accompanying two 14 year olds to visit their local councillor to talk about LGBTQ+ rights. She has made sure that the young people’s parents are aware that she will be with them. She decides that on the bus, she will sit at the front whilst the young people sit at the back so they can feel more independent.
If you deliver a service on behalf of a public organisation, such as the NHS, the police, a school or the local council, you’ll have extra legal duties to safeguard children and promote their welfare.
Working with adults at risk
If you work with adults at risk you are expected to follow the guidance from The Charity Commission. You must also work with the local authority. This is because local authorities hold the main legal duty to safeguard adults at risk. This requirement comes from The Care Act 2014. All local authorities have a safeguarding adults board (SAB) that leads safeguarding in its area.
Local authorities must work with others to make sure adults at risk are safe from harm, abuse and neglect. All local authorities will provide information on their website about what to do and who to contact if you are worried that somebody is being harmed or abused. You should familiarise yourself with this section of your local authority’s website and make sure your staff and volunteers know where to find this information as you work on your safeguarding policies and procedures.
Example
Nights Out brings people with a learning disability together, with volunteers helping them take part in everyday leisure activities such as going to gigs or visiting a museum. When a volunteer was worried that a member of the group was being targeted for financial abuse by a neighbour, they reported this to the local authority. The local authority then followed The Care Act guidance to investigate the concern.
Adults at risk have the right of choice and control over their own decisions and this is protected by law. As well as The Care Act, The Mental Capacity Act 2005 protects people's right to make their own decisions in any situation where they are able to do so.
Working with people at risk of involvement in terrorism
The Charity Commission requires all charities to prevent abuse for extremist purposes.
There are several laws which aim to prevent involvement in terrorism. The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 includes the ‘prevent duty’ which requires some bodies to show they are preventing people being drawn into terrorism. Some charities, like educational charities, are required to meet this duty and must follow specific Prevent Duty guidance.
Local authorities must have a Channel Panel which bring together police and other services to offer support and provide help to ensure children and adults are not drawn into violent radicalisation or becoming involved into terrorist related activity.
Working with people experiencing domestic abuse
People experiencing domestic abuse are entitled to support and protection. Domestic abuse is any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. It includes physical or sexual abuse; violent or threatening behaviour; controlling or coercive behaviour; economic abuse; psychological, emotional or other abuse. Children are recognised as victims in their own right where they see or hear, or experience the effects of domestic abuse.
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 defines domestic abuse and places duties on local authorities to assess the need for accommodation-based support for victims of domestic abuse and their children within its area. This would include refuges and short-stay accommodation. A Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Board made up of local authorities, victims and their children, domestic abuse charities or voluntary organisations and others advise the local authority on their support to victims of domestic abuse.
Getting started
The best way to get started with safeguarding depends on what your role is and who your organisation works with. Here are some starting points for different situations.
- Are you a trustee who is new to safeguarding? Start with our safeguarding for trustees page. It sets out the Charity Commission's expectations and shows you how to use our resources to meet them.
- Want to jump straight in to thinking about safeguarding no matter who you work with? Explore our steps to a safer organisation pages.
- If your organisation works with children, you should look at the NSPCC’s information about how to set up and implement safeguarding measures.
- If you work with children less often, then use the introductory guide to safeguarding and child protection. (from NSPCC learning)
- If your organisation works regularly with adults at risk or you'd like to improve your understanding of safeguarding adults you should start with the checklist and guides for safeguarding adults at risk (from Ann Craft Trust)
- If you want to tackle bullying and harassment, check out workplace bullying and harassment even if your group is made up only of volunteers. (from the Citizens Advice Bureau.
- Want advice if you or someone you know is a victim of domestic abuse? See advice on how to get help (on gov.uk) or this guide for employers on managing and supporting employees experiencing domestic abuse (open as PDF; by CIPD and the EHRC).
- Want advice if someone is expressing extreme views or hatred, which could lead to them harming themselves or others? Learn how extremists can exploit people (on actearly.uk).
Further legal information
- Want to understand more about the law relating to safeguarding children? Then use this overview of government guidance (from NSPCC learning) or explore the full Working together to Safeguard Children guidance (from .gov.uk)
- Want to know more about the law relating to safeguarding adults at risk? Then read about Making Safeguarding Personal. Aimed at local authorities, it gives a detailed overview of safeguarding adults (from the LGA) or explore the full Care and Support Safeguarding guidance (from GOV.UK)
- Working with older people? Use this factsheet on the law regarding safeguarding older people from abuse and neglect (from Age UK).
- Want to understand more about the law relating to preventing terrorism? See the Prevent Duty Guidance (on gov.uk)
