Safeguarding Policy
Contents
Definitions
Purpose and aim
Legal and policy basis
Assessing applications
Safeguarding Leads
Responsibilities
Training and safeguarding of Directors and Staff
Reporting procedures
Monitoring and review of policy
Contact and complaints
The Directors and Staff of The William Syson Foundation (“the Foundation”) are committed to ensuring the safety and welfare of everyone involved in activities relating to the fulfilment of our objectives.
This Safeguarding Policy sets out our approach to assessing and mitigating the risks involved, and the procedures to be followed if risk is identified or concerns are raised. It sets out the safeguarding responsibilities of all persons connected with the Foundation when assessing applications and visiting and meeting with applicants, grantees and service users.
It applies to anyone acting on behalf of the Foundation in any capacity, including (but not limited to) employees, directors, temporary staff, and consultants.
Definitions
In the UK, ‘safeguarding’ means protecting people’s health, wellbeing and human rights, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect.
In our organisation, we use it to mean taking steps to protect people from harm that may arise from coming into contact with our organisation.
A ‘child’ is defined as a person under the age of 18.
A ‘vulnerable’ or ‘protected’ adult is defined as a person with care or support needs
‘Abuse’ is any action by another person that causes significant harm to a child or vulnerable adult. It can be physical, sexual, psychological abuse or through exploitation, or financial and material abuse. Neglect and acts of omission are also examples of abuse.
‘Grantee/applicant’ is an individual or organisation who has applied to the Foundation for support or received a grant from the Foundation.
‘Staff Safeguarding Lead’ is the member of staff who acts as first point of contact for safeguarding concerns and leads the review of the Foundation’s safeguarding procedures.
The ‘Safeguarding Director’ is the director with overall responsibility for safeguarding procedures at the Foundation.
Purpose and aim
The Foundation believes that:
All children and adults have the right to be safe from harm and must be able to live free from fear of abuse, neglect and exploitation.
All disclosures of abuse or neglect should be taken seriously.
All Foundation staff and directors should be familiar with this safeguarding policy and receive an appropriate level of training.
The policy should be accessible to those who interact with the Foundation, and reviewed on an annual basis.
Legal and policy basis
The Foundation awards grants to individuals and to organisations delivering services. These are principally in Scotland but may extend to the rest of the UK. Legislation and guidance for safeguarding differs across the UK but the principles of good safeguarding practice are the same.
Policies, legislation and guidance which apply in Scotland include (but are not limited to):
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Children and Young People Act (Scotland) 2014
Protecting Children and Young People: The Charter
Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC)
Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007
Strategy and guidance from Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR)
Assessing applications
It is the responsibility of every organisation working with children or vulnerable adults to ensure that they keep an up-to-date safeguarding policy and encourage a culture of active safeguarding.
Every organisation applying to the Foundation for support is requested to complete an application form. By submitting the application form, the organisation is agreeing to abide by our Terms and Conditions, which includes the statement: “If you are an organisation, you must have a written policy and set of procedures to safeguard children and vulnerable people, and you agree to make these documents (and any statistics relating to notifiable events) available to the Foundation on request”.
The Foundation requests all applicants to submit a copy of their safeguarding policy as part of their application if their project/activity involves children or vulnerable adults. In addition The Foundation reserves the right to ask about an organisation’s safeguarding policies and reporting procedures, and whether there have been any notifiable incidents over a selected period.
Applications are accepted from individuals for specific Award schemes run by the Foundation. The above applies to these also.
Applications from individuals are also accepted for the annual Beatrice Huntington Awards for Cellists. All applications are reviewed, and a shortlist of applicants is invited for interview/audition. Interviews are conducted by two directors of the Foundation.
Applicants under the age of 18 are required to be accompanied by a responsible adult, such as a parent/guardian or teacher. All correspondence will be addressed to the parent/guardian, or (if the applicant is living at a different address) copied to the parent/guardian.
Applicants aged 18 or over are welcome to bring an appropriate companion to the interview if they wish.
A representative of The Foundation should never be left alone with, and must never request to be left alone with, a child or vulnerable adult when meeting an applicant or grantee.
Safeguarding Leads
The Foundation’s Staff Safeguarding Lead is Alice Syson. The Safeguarding Director is Howard Cockburn. Both can be reached at hello@williamsysonfoundation.org.uk or by post to 5 Atholl Crescent, Edinburgh EH3 8EJ.
Responsibilities
The roles of the Staff Safeguarding Lead and the Safeguarding Director are to:
Oversee safeguarding activity in the organisation
Be proactive on safeguarding for vulnerable adults and children, identifying and minimising possible risks to prevent abuse and neglect where possible
Ensure the Foundation’s safeguarding policy is followed and updated regularly, and arrange training for all staff and directors when appropriate
Support and advise staff who are dealing with safeguarding concerns
Monitor safeguarding activities within the organisation and provide information that can help improve future activities
Provide clear information for volunteers and representatives of the Foundation on keeping themselves safe and raising safeguarding concerns
Keep abreast of changes and developments in safeguarding across the UK
All staff and directors have a responsibility to familiarise themselves with the safeguarding policy. This includes knowledge of the reporting procedure for concerns and who the current Staff Safeguarding Lead is. They must take all disclosures of abuse or neglect seriously, and follow the established reporting procedure as soon as is safe.
All directors must:
Ensure staff are trained and supported to enable them to identify and respond to concerns about abuse, neglect and substandard practice.
Ensure the Foundation’s safeguarding lead understands when it is appropriate to raise a safeguarding concern with the local authority
Take responsibility for dealing with allegations or concerns relating to any staff memberTraining and safeguarding of Directors and Staff
Directors and staff will be made aware of this safeguarding policy.
Directors and staff will be provided with an appropriate level of safeguarding training, depending on their role and likelihood of contact with vulnerable adults and children. Refresher training will be provided as appropriate.
If directors and staff make visits to applicant organisations, they should provide details of their visits to Foundation representative, or if this is not possible the date, time and location of the meeting with a trusted individual, in case of accident or mishap.
The directors consider that membership of the PVG scheme for staff and directors is not required given that the representatives of the Foundation are not undertaking ‘regulated work’ (as defined in the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007). The directors have considered their duties with regards to safeguarding and believe that the procedures in this policy are sufficient to safeguard both the applicants to the Foundation and the Foundation representatives themselves.
Reporting procedures
The Foundation recognises that all of its representatives have a role to play in safeguarding vulnerable people and children. All complaints, allegations or suspicions will be taken seriously and a record kept of safeguarding incidents.
Any complaint, allegation or suspicion will be dealt with promptly (within 28 days) by the safeguarding leads and the board of directors.
The Foundation will provide feedback to the complainer, where appropriate, and will take all necessary actions to deal with any complaint to ensure the safety of individuals that come into contact with the organisation.
The Foundation will also consider the need to report any incidents to the relevant authorities and will act accordingly.
Monitoring and review of policy
This policy was reviewed and approved in May 2021.
Any changes to this policy should also be reflected in the Terms and Conditions.
Contact and complaints
If you have any queries about this Safeguarding Policy or if you wish to exercise any of your rights under applicable law, you may contact the staff safeguarding lead at hello@williamsysonfoundation.org.uk or by post to 5 Atholl Crescent, Edinburgh EH3 8EJ.