1.1 Safeguarding: What is it and Why does it Matter?

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1. Introduction

Safeguarding means protecting an adult’s right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect. It is about people and organisations working together to prevent and stop both the risks and experience of abuse or neglect, while at the same time making sure that the adult’s wellbeing is promoted including, where appropriate, having regard to their views, wishes, feelings and beliefs in deciding on any action.  This must recognise that adults sometimes have complex interpersonal relationships and may be ambivalent, unclear or unrealistic about their personal circumstances.

Organisations should always promote the adult’s wellbeing in their safeguarding arrangements. People have complex lives and being safe is only one of the things they want for themselves. Professionals should work with the adult to establish what being safe means to them and how that can be best achieved. Professionals and other staff should not be advocating “safety” measures that do not take account of individual wellbeing (see Promoting Wellbeing).

1.1 Eligibility

Local authority safeguarding adult duties apply to adults who:

• have needs for care and support (whether or not the local authority is meeting any of those needs); and
• are experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect; and
• as a result of those care and support needs are unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of abuse or neglect.

Regardless of whether the local authority is providing any services, it must follow up any concerns about either actual or suspected adult abuse.

The adult experiencing, or at risk of abuse or neglect will hereafter be referred to as the ‘adult’ throughout this APPP, replacing previously used terms of adult at risk or vulnerable adult.

Local authority statutory adult safeguarding duties apply equally to adults with care and support needs:

• regardless of whether those needs are being met, including those whose needs for care have not been assessed as eligible or which have been assessed as below the eligibility level for support;
• regardless of whether the adult lacks mental capacity or not in relation to decisions about their own safety or other decisions relating to safeguarding processes and activities (see Mental Capacity);
• regardless of setting, except prisons and approved premises.

The duties also apply to adults funding their own care, and those who manage their own care through personal or health budgets.

1.1.1 Young adults

Where a person is 18 or over but is still receiving children’s services and a safeguarding issue is raised, the matter should be dealt with through adult safeguarding arrangements. This may be, for example, when a young person with substantial and complex needs continues to be supported in a residential educational setting until the age of 25.

Where appropriate, adult safeguarding services should involve the local authority’s children’s safeguarding colleagues as well as any relevant partners (for example, the police or NHS) or other people relevant to the case.

It is not the level of need that is relevant where there is a safeguarding concern. The young adult does not need to have eligible needs for care and support or be receiving any particular service from the local authority, in order for the safeguarding duty to apply, so long as the conditions set out in Section 1.1, Eligibility are met.

1.1.2 Prisoners and persons in approved premises

Prison governors and HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) have respective responsibility for prisoners and those in approved premises; local authorities can however be asked for advice.

2. Principles of Adult Safeguarding

The Care and Support Statutory Guidance (Department of Health and Social Care) states that safeguarding should be based upon a community approach from all partners and providers and engage the person from the start, throughout and at the end to address their desired outcomes.

There are six principles of adult safeguarding which should underpin all adult safeguarding work, and inform the ways in which professionals and other staff work with adults.

3. Aims of Adult Safeguarding

The aims of adult safeguarding are to:

• stop the abuse or neglect of adults wherever possible;
• prevent harm and reduce risk of abuse and neglect for those adults with care and support needs;
• safeguard adults in a way that supports them in making choices and having control about how they want to live;
• promote an approach that concentrates on improving the life of the adult concerned;
• raise public awareness so that communities as a whole, alongside professionals, play their part in preventing, identifying and responding to abuse and neglect;
• provide information and support to help people understand abuse, how to stay safe and how to raise concerns;
• address the causes of abuse.

Safeguarding is not a substitute for:

• providers’ responsibilities to provide safe and high quality care and support;
• the Care Quality Commission (CQC) ensuring regulated providers comply with the fundamental standards of care or by taking enforcement action; and
• the core duties of the police to prevent and detect crime and protect life and property.

4. Values

All people living in Trafford have a right to:

• live a life that is free from violence, fear and abuse;
• be protected from harm and exploitation;
• independence which may involve a degree of risk.

In order to achieve this, partners should work together, using the safeguarding adults principles, and by sharing the following values:

• organisations working to protect an adult from experiencing or at risk of abuse or neglect will make the dignity, safety, and wellbeing of that individual a priority in their actions;
• appropriate safeguarding options should be discussed with the adult according to their wishes and preferences. They should take proper account of any additional factors associated with the individual’s disability, age, gender, sexual orientation, ‘race’, ethnicity, religion, culture or lifestyle;
• adults should be given information, advice and support in a form that they can understand and be supported to be included in all forums that are making decisions about their lives. They should be offered contact with independent organisations and advocacy services, where appropriate. The maxim ‘no decision about me without me’ should govern all decision making;
• all safeguarding activity should aim to enable adults to retain as much control as possible over their own lives. The adult should be the primary focus of decision making, determining what safeguards they want in place and provided with options so that they maintain choice and control;
• there will be a presumption that adults have mental capacity to make informed decisions about their lives. If someone has been assessed as not having mental capacity, to make decisions about their safety, decision making will be made in their best interests as prescribed by the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice (see Mental Capacity);
• all decisions should be made with the adult that promote their wellbeing and are reasonable, justified, proportionate and ethical;
• timeliness should be determined by the personal circumstances of the adult;
• every effort should be made to ensure that adults are afforded appropriate protection under the law and have full access to the criminal justice system when a crime has been committed;
• every consideration should be given as to how to support unpaid carers who may be struggling to care appropriately.

5. Making Safeguarding Personal

Making Safeguarding Personal is a person centred approach that shifts the emphasis from applying rigid processes to a commitment to improve outcomes for adults experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect. The key focus is recognising that people are experts in their own lives and that developing a real understanding of what people want to achieve will give them greater control over their lives. It involves working with the adult (and their representatives) to determine how best their outcomes might be realised, and regularly evaluating the extent of which desired outcomes have been met. This approach involves adults being encouraged to define their own meaningful improvements to change their circumstances and then to be involved throughout the safeguarding process, support planning and response.

Adults need to be encouraged to make their own decisions as far as practicably possible and should be provided with support and information to empower them to do so. This approach recognises that adults have a general right to independence, choice and self-determination including control over information about themselves.

Making safeguarding personal means solutions should be person led and outcome focused. It engages the adult in a conversation about how best to respond to their safeguarding situation in a way that enhances involvement, choice and control as well as improving quality of life, wellbeing and safety.