What is Safeguarding?
Safeguarding refers to the process of protecting individuals from harm, abuse, neglect or any other for of mistreatment. The primary objective of safeguarding is to ensure the safety, wellbeing and rights of individuals, especially those who may be more susceptible to harm due to their age, physical or mental health, disability or other factors. children, young people and adults who are in danger of harm - to live free from abuse, harm and neglect.
We are both obliged by regulation and as part of our Quaker witness to safeguard those who need it within our Area Meeting. Our safeguarding policy and procedures outline the measures that we have put in place to prevent, detect, and respond to potential risks and incidents of harm.
Links to our Safeguarding resources
Safeguarding leads
Fiona Waddington, Lead Safeguarding Coordinator for P&HAM
Brian Fellowes, Deputy Safeguarding Co-ordinator
Please use our Contact Us page and choose Safeguarding in the drop down box.
What to do if you have a safeguarding concern?
- Refer to Section 12 of our safeguarding proceedures, which covers the “5Rs” of responding to abuse
- Contact one of the safeguarding leads
- Additional Contacts
Golden rules of safeguarding
- Don't talk yourself out of taking action
- Don't say it can't be happening / it can't be that bad / it's no concern of mine
- Do ask for help from the safeguarding leads or the statutory authorities. You'll find contacts listed in the toolkit
- In summary, don’t ignore it. There’s plenty of support.
Contacts for support
- Thirty-One Eight safeguarding helpline (office hours, 0303 003 1111)
- Statutory agencies such as Social Services or NSPCC safeguarding teams