Safeguarding Adults Policy

1. Purpose

Our charitable activities include working with vulnerable people.  The purpose of this policy is to protect them and provide stakeholders and the public with the overarching principles that guide our approach in doing so.

2. Applicability

This policy applies to anyone working on behalf of the charity, including our trustees and other volunteers.

Partner organisations (i.e. churches / organisations running Celebrate Recovery groups) will be required to have their own safeguarding procedures in line with UK regulations.

3. Principles 

We believe that:

• Nobody who is involved in our work should ever experience abuse, harm, neglect or exploitation.
• We all have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all our participants, staff and volunteers, to keep them safe and to work in a way that protects them.
• We all have a collective responsibility for creating a culture in which our people not only feel safe, but also able to speak up, if they have any concerns.

4. Types of Abuse

Abuse can take many forms, including, but not limited to, physical, psychological or emotional, financial, sexual or institutional abuse, including neglect and exploitation.

5. Responsibilities

Trustees.  This safeguarding policy will be reviewed and approved by the Board annually.

Trustees are aware of and will comply with the Charity Commission guidance on safeguarding and protecting people and also the 10 actions trustee boards need to take to ensure good safeguarding governance.

A lead trustee will be given responsibility for the oversight of all aspects of safety, including safeguarding, whistleblowing and H&SW.  This will include:

• Leading the charity in a way that makes everyone feel safe and able to speak up.
• Any locally reported safeguarding issues will be fully dealt with in accordance with local safeguarding procedures. This is re-enforced during regular reviews between Celebrate Recovery UK Reps and local Ministry leaders. At the appropriate time, they will then be required to inform the Celebrate Recovery UK Trustee responsible for safeguarding, who will record the incident and offer any support should it be needed.
• If a safeguarding issue is reported involving the Celebrate Recovery UK team this will be reported directly to the Trustee responsible for safeguarding. They will ensure that the issue is fully investigated and dealt with quickly, fairly and sensitively, and any reporting to the Police/statutory authorities is carried out.
• Ensuring that, for Celebrate Recovery UK, all relevant checks are carried out in recruiting trustees, staff and volunteers.
• Ensuring that all Celebrate Recovery UK appointments that require DBS clearance and safeguarding training are identified, including the level of DBS and any training required.
• Ensuring that a central register is maintained and subject to regular monitoring to ensure that DBS clearances and training are kept up-to-date.
• Ensuring that personal data is stored and managed in a safe way that is compliant with data protection regulations, including valid consent to use any imagery or video.

6. Responding to a Criminal Record

Principles: Celebrate Recovery UK’s vision includes for the restoration and rehabilitation of socially disadvantaged people, including ex-offenders, into community.  As such, there will be occasions when this means that a volunteer or staff member may have a criminal record, and this will require us to respond to each case on its merits.

 Should a DBS form be returned with any offences against children or vulnerable adults, the process outlined above will be followed. The volunteer will be informed that further consideration regarding their involvement is required and that both the Celebrate Recovery UK National Director and Trustee responsible for safeguarding will be informed, due to information contained within the DBS form, the information is to be presented to the Trustees for their consideration.

7. Online Safety

Volunteers, staff and trustees understand how to keep themselves safe online, including the use of high privacy settings and password access to meetings where appropriate.

Celebrate Recovery UK Lead Trustee Responsible for Safeguarding: Andrew Townsend

Approval and Review:

Statutory Guidance

Gov.UK – The role of other agencies in safeguarding

CC: Infographic; 10 actions trustees need to take.

CC: Safeguarding duties of charity trustees

CC: Safeguarding – policies and procedures

CC: How to protect vulnerable groups

CC: Managing online risk.