Safeguarding policy

Introduction

This policy sets out Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation’s (the “Foundation”) approach to safeguarding. This policy applies to our Linked Charities and family of brands that sit under the Foundation, including Impact on Urban Health, the Evelina London Children’s Charity, Guy’s Cancer Charity and Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charity.

Given the nature of our work as a charitable foundation, we do not usually have direct contact with those who benefit from our work. However, we have a responsibility to protect our staff and trustees as well as others who we come into contact with in the course of our work. This policy reflects relevant legislation and statutory guidance. It must be followed by Foundation staff (employees and contracted workers) and trustees.

We expect all organisations that we fund or contract to have their own safeguarding policy and procedures in place and to ensure these are followed or, in exceptional circumstances, to accept and adhere to the Foundation’s policy and procedures if they do not have their own. We will make them aware of the Foundation’s policy and the expectations that we have in relation to safeguarding.

This policy sits alongside the Foundation’s internal safeguarding procedures, whistle-blowing policy, and Equity, Diversity and Respect policy, which also includes the Foundation’s approach to bullying and harassment.

Full definitions of terms used in this policy are set out in Definitions, below.

Jump to a section

• Our commitments to safeguarding
• Contacts: Safeguarding Leads
• Code of Conduct
• Raise a safeguarding concern with the Foundation
• What we expect from partners
• Complaints
• Definitions
• Useful resources

Safe people

The Foundation takes recruitment of its staff seriously to ensure we recruit safely so we don’t put candidates, colleagues or those we fund at risk of abuse.

• All employees go through a robust recruitment process including at least one interview and references are sought for all successful candidates covering the previous four years.
• The Foundation does not routinely conduct DBS checks as staff do not routinely have contact with those who benefit from our support or with children or adults with care and support needs. When developing new roles, we consider the level of contact and potential safeguarding risk and decide whether a DBS is required. For roles where we decide a DBS check is required that are filled by nonemployees (e.g. contractors or secondees) we will obtain an up to date DBS check for those non-employees.
• We incorporate safeguarding into staff inductions to ensure that staff are aware of their responsibilities and how to report concerns.
• We provide specific training to staff members who assess funding applications or enter into contracts with suppliers who deliver services direct to children or adults with care and support needs.
• Our Safeguarding Leads are available to provide support and advice to staff. In addition, the Foundation is a member of the Funder Safeguarding Collaborative which provides a range of resources to support staff.
• All employees are asked to confirm their right to work in the UK.

Code of conduct

We expect all staff to abide by the following safeguarding code of conduct in all aspects of their work. Any breach of this code of conduct will be taken seriously and may result in disciplinary action.

All staff are expected to:

• Be familiar with the Foundation’s safeguarding policy and their responsibilities.
• Treat everyone with dignity and respect, and without bias or favouritism, in accordance with our Equality, Diversity and Respect policy (to request a copy of this policy, please email safeguarding@gsttfoundation.org.uk).
• Never use language and behave in a way that is harassing, abusive, sexually provocative or demeaning.
• Take all safeguarding concerns seriously and report all concerns, suspicions and allegations as soon as possible, in line with the Foundation’s procedures.

When visiting our partners or interacting with children and adults with care and support needs:

• Behave in a calm, positive, supportive and respectful manner.
• Check with project staff whether they have any safeguarding measures or guidelines on conduct which they would like you to follow.
• Ensure you are not left alone with a child or adult with care and support needs, including travelling alone with them.
• Never provide personal details to a child or adult with care and support needs, request their contact details, make friends with them or engage with them online.
• Never develop inappropriate relationships with children including engaging in any form of sexual activity with a child, regardless of the age of consent or local legislation and customs.
• Never engage in sexual relationships with adults with care and support needs participating in projects funded by the Foundation.
• Never use physical punishment or discipline or force of any kind towards children or adults with care and support needs.
• Only take photographs or video recordings where you have explicit authorisation from the Foundation and the funding partner involved to do so and appropriate consent has been obtained from the individual, including written parental consent for children under the age of 18.

What we expect from partners

We are committed to supporting the organisations we fund or contract with to protect those they support or come into contact with.

Assessment & due diligence

We ask all organisations that we fund to confirm that they have a safeguarding policy and whistleblowing policy in place.

To ensure our expectations of grantees and contract partners are proportional, we use a risk-based approach which includes a higher level of checks on those organisations most likely to come into contact with children or adults with care and support needs. Examples of such organisations are:

• Organisations we support with charitable funds to deliver services or activities with children and/or adults with care and support needs.
• Organisations we commission to carry out primary research with children and/or adults with care and support needs.
• Organisations we contract with to manage our residential property portfolio.
• Organisations we contract with to provide fundraising services.

For these organisations, we also:

• Ask them to complete a safeguarding checklist as part of our due diligence process to help us understand how safeguarding is approached and embedded within their organisation. This will also ask questions regarding on-line safety for organisations working with children.
• Request copies of their safeguarding policy and procedures.
• We may ask follow-up questions of their staff to ensure the policy and procedures are widely understood and implemented.

This assessment will inform our decisions on whether to fund, or continue funding or working with organisations. If we discover the safeguarding policies and procedures do not comply with the requirements set out in our safeguarding checklist, we will consider supporting those organisations to access training and offering advice to ensure compliance.

We may add conditions to our funding to ensure safeguarding remains a priority for funded organisations.

Safeguarding concerns reported by recipients of funding

We require organisations to report safeguarding concerns to us and this is included in their conditions of funding, whether this is through a grant agreement or contract. Grantees or contract partners must inform us of incidents which have resulted in or risk significant harm or abuse:

• Where the harm was caused by someone connected with the work funded by the Foundation.
• Where the harm or risk of harm was created by a breach or serious failure in organisational safeguarding procedures.

We do not require immediate reporting as the priority must always be for the organisation to take action to protect everyone involved. However, we do ask that grantees report safeguarding incidents to us as soon as possible and at all events within one working week.

Our aim, when receiving reports, is to ensure that appropriate action has been taken and learning identified to prevent similar incidents in the future. The responsibility for responding to the concern, including notifying relevant authorities and the regulator, rests with the grantee and should be undertaken in line with their own safeguarding procedures.

Once notified of a grantee safeguarding concern, the Safeguarding Lead will:

• Contact the partner organisation at the earliest possible opportunity, unless doing so would place individuals at further risk.
• Discuss what actions the partner has taken or plans to take to address the concern, including details of any investigation and/or referral to statutory agencies.
• Discuss timescales for action and ensure that the partner informs the Foundation of progress and outcomes.
• Ensure that the partner (if a charity themselves) has referred any serious incidents to the Charity Commission in line with Charity Commission regulations.

It is the responsibility of the partner organisation to manage the safeguarding process. The Foundation will only take action where the partner organisation is unwilling or unable to act and any failure to intervene on behalf of the Foundation may place individuals at risk of further harm. While our aims are to work with our grantees to ensure lessons are learned and practice is improved, the Foundation may consider suspending funding if there is no improvement or change in practice and if the Foundation considers there may be further risk of harm to children or adults with care or support needs.

Definitions

Child

A child is defined as any person under the age of 18, whether living with their families, in state care or living independently. [Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018, p.7, updated Dec 2020]

Safeguarding children

In England, protecting children at risk is defined as:

1. Protecting children from abuse and maltreatment;
2. Preventing impairment of children’s health or development;
3. Ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care;
4. Taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes. [Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018]

Adult with care and support needs

In England an adult with care and support needs is defined as a person aged 18 or over whom:

• Has needs for care and support (whether or not the local authority is meeting any of those needs) and;
• Is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect; and
• As a result of those care and support needs is unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of abuse or neglect. [Care Act 2004, section 42]

An adult with care and support needs could be a member of the public (including but not limited to someone who benefits from services or activities we have funded or contracted out to others), someone we fund or contract with, or a member of staff. Whoever they are, any concerns should be shared in accordance with this policy.

Abuse

Abuse is a form of mistreatment by one individual that causes harm to another person. The range of abuse includes physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation.

Abuse and neglect of Children

Physical abuse

A form of abuse which may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning, suffocating or otherwise causing physical harm to a child. Physical harm may also be caused when a parent or carer fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces, illness in a child.

Emotional abuse

The persistent emotional maltreatment of a child such as to cause severe and persistent adverse effects on the child’s emotional development. It may involve conveying to a child that they are worthless or unloved, inadequate, or valued only insofar as they meet the needs of another person. It may include not giving the child opportunities to express their views, deliberately silencing them or ‘making fun’ of what they say or how they communicate. It may feature age or developmentally inappropriate expectations being imposed on children. These may include interactions that are beyond a child’s developmental capability, as well as overprotection and limitation of exploration and learning, or preventing the child participating in normal social interaction. It may involve seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another. It may involve serious bullying (including cyber bullying), causing children frequently to feel frightened or in danger, or the exploitation or corruption of children. Some level of emotional abuse is involved in all types of maltreatment of a child, though it may occur alone.

Sexual abuse

Involves forcing or enticing a child or young person to take part in sexual activities, not necessarily involving a high level of violence, whether or not the child is aware of what is happening. The activities may involve physical contact, including assault by penetration (for example, rape or oral sex) or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching outside of clothing. They may also include non-contact activities, such as involving children in looking at, or in the production of, sexual images, watching sexual activities, encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways, or grooming a child in preparation for abuse Sexual abuse can take place online, and technology can be used to facilitate offline abuse. Sexual abuse is not solely perpetrated by adult males. Women can also commit acts of sexual abuse, as can other children.

Child sexual exploitation

Child sexual exploitation is a form of child sexual abuse. It occurs where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18 into sexual activity (a) in exchange for something the victim needs or
wants, and/or (b) for the financial advantage or increased status of the perpetrator or facilitator. The victim may have been sexually exploited even if the sexual activity appears consensual. Child sexual exploitation does not always involve physical contact; it can also occur through the use of technology.

Neglect

The persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of the child’s health or development. Neglect may occur during pregnancy as a result of maternal substance abuse. Once a child is born, neglect may involve a parent or carer failing to: a. provide adequate food, clothing and shelter (including exclusion from home or abandonment) b. protect a child from physical and emotional harm or danger c. ensure adequate supervision (including the use of inadequate caregivers) d. ensure access to appropriate medical care or treatment. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to, a child’s basic emotional needs.

Abuse and neglect of Adults with care and support needs

Physical abuse

A form of abuse which may involve slapping, hitting, pushing, restraining, misuse of medication, restraint, being denied food or water, or not being helped to go to the bathroom when you need to.

Emotional abuse

The persistent emotional maltreatment of an adult could include humiliating, blaming, controlling intimidating or harassing, verbal abuse, cyberbullying and isolation.

Sexual abuse

This includes sexual activity with someone without their permission or sexual activity with someone who is not able to give their consent. Sexual activity includes indecent exposure, sexual harassment, inappropriate touching or looking, sexual teasing or innuendo, sexual photography, being forced to watch pornography or sexual acts, being forced or pressured to take part in
sexual acts and rape.

Exploitation

Unfairly manipulating someone for profit or personal gain. This could be planned or something done on the spur of the moment.

Financial or material abuse

This could include theft, fraud, exploitation, coercion in relation to the person’s financial affairs or arrangements, for example, getting someone to change their will.

Neglect

For adults, neglect includes not being provided with enough food or with the right kind of food, or not being taken proper care of, being left without help to wash or change dirty or wet clothes, not getting to a doctor when needed or not making sure you have the right medicines.

Discriminatory abuse

This includes discrimination on grounds of race, gender, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, religion and other forms of harassment, slurs or similar treatment.

Organisational abuse

This includes neglect and poor care practice within an institution or specific care setting, for example, a hospital or care home, or care provided at home. This could be a one-off incident or on-going ill treatment and could be through neglect or poor professional practice.

Modern Slavery

Human trafficking, forced labour, domestic servitude, debt bondage or sexual exploitation.

Domestic Violence or Abuse

This includes assault, threats of violence, humiliation, intimidation and harming, frightening or punishing.

Self-neglect

Lack of self-care, to the extent that this threatens the person’s health or safety, inability to avoid self-harm, or failure to seek help.

Legal context and useful resources

a) Duties under charity law

Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation is regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales. We have duties under the Charities Act 2011 and our duties seek to comply with their duties as summarised in CC3: The essential trustee: what you need to know, what you need to do. In developing this policy, we recognise the specific duties set out by the Charity Commission for safeguarding and protecting people and protecting charities from abuse for extremist purposes. As a funder we also recognise the specific responsibilities the Charity Commission establishes on funders to carry out due diligence checks on donors, beneficiaries and local partners and how to monitor end use of funds.

b) Legislative framework for safeguarding

This policy and any associated procedures and guidance were developed with reference to key domestic legislation to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and adults at risk of harm affected by our work.

Children

the Children Act 1989 & 2004, the Protection of Children Act 1999 and the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018) and Keeping Children Safe in Education (2021), The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

Adults at Risk

Care Act 2014 and the Care and support statutory guidance (2020) and Mental Capacity Act 2005, The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

c) Useful safeguarding resources

Funder Safeguarding Collaborative offers members access to webinars, resources, training and capacity building tailored to the needs of funding organisations. Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation is a member of the Funder Safeguarding Collaborative (FSC) and staff can access resources via FSC intranet or requesting advice via the Safeguarding Lead.

NVCO offer a range of safeguarding know-how guidance, training and links to national and local organisations who provide safeguarding support. Resources are aimed at voluntary organisations, small groups, organisations and charities working in the UK.

NSPCC offer best practice guidance, policy templates, checklists, training as well as research and policy updates on safeguarding. Resources are aimed at a wider range of small organisations working with children in the UK.

Ann Craft Trust offers resources to assist organisations in safeguarding young people and adults at risk. Resources are aimed at a wider range of small organisations working with adults in the UK.

Hourglass offers information relating to the harm, abuse and exploitation of older people in the UK.

Catalyst offers a selection of information on safer working online. Resources are aimed at voluntary organisations, small groups, organisations and charities working in the UK.