Affordable Health Initiative

Safeguarding Policy Statement

The Safeguarding Policy and associated guidance and procedures will be reviewed every year or sooner, where there are significant changes required. Minor updates, such as role changes, will be made as required. This policy applies to all Trustees, staff and volunteers.

Purpose

·      To protect children and young people who take part in the AHI School’s programme.

·      To provide parents, staff and volunteers with the overarching principles and key elements that guide our approach to child protection.

·      To confirm our commitment to safeguarding those who come into contact with AHI.  

This policy statement applies to anyone working on behalf of AHI, including senior managers and the board of trustees, paid staff, volunteers, sessional workers, agency staff and students.

Legal framework

This policy statement, should be read alongside the AHI Safeguarding Policy. It has been drawn up in accordance with legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England and Wales. A summary of the key legislation and guidance is available from nspcc.org.uk/child protection. This comprehensive policy may be universal and applicable to other countries. AHI local committees must check this policy against the country policy and amend  it to include any item not covered in this policy. Having done so, the draft policy must be submitted to the Board of Trustees of AHI for approval.  

We believe that:

• Children and young people have a right to feel safer and secure and they should never experience neglect, abuse or mistreatment of any kind; and

• In our role as a charity, we have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all the children and young people with whom we come into contact through the work of the AHI, to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them.

We recognise that:

• The welfare of the child is paramount in everything that we do;

• All children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have a right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse ;

• Some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues; and

• Working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare.

We will seek to keep children and young people safe by:

• Valuing, listening to them and respecting them;

• Appointing a nominated child protection/safeguarding lead, a deputy child protection/safeguarding lead and a lead trustee/board member for safeguarding;

• developing child protection and safeguarding policies and procedures which reflect best practice;

• Using our safeguarding procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately in this process;

• Creating and maintaining an anti-bullying environment and ensuring that we have a policy and procedure to help us deal effectively with any bullying that does arise

developing and implementing an effective online safety policy and related procedures;

• Sharing information about child protection and safeguarding best practice with children, their families, staff and volunteers via the AHI website.  

• Recruiting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made;

• Providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures;

• Implementing a code of conduct for staff and volunteers;

• Using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately;

• Ensuring that we have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place;

• Ensuring that we provide a safe physical environment for our children, young people, staff and volunteers, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance;

• recording and storing information professionally and securely.

Related policies and procedures

This policy statement should be read alongside our organisational policies and procedures, including:

• Procedures for responding to concerns about a child or young person’s wellbeing

• Dealing with allegations of abuse against a child or young person

• Role of the designated safeguarding lead

• Managing allegations against staff and volunteers

• Safer recruitment policy and procedures

• Adult to child supervision ratios

• Code of conduct for staff and volunteers

• Anti-bullying policy and procedures

• Online safety policy and procedures for responding to concerns about online abuse

• Photography and image sharing guidance

• Child protection records retention and storage policy

• Whistleblowing policy

Breaches of Policy

Failure to comply with the AHI safeguarding policy may be managed in a number of ways, depending on the nature and consequences of any incident. In some cases, a combination of responses may be required:

·      Refer to the local authority for co-ordinated safeguarding investigation in accordance with national safe guarding policies

·      HR disciplinary process

·      Serious incident reporting to The Charity Commission

·      Internal review or co-operation with an external review

·      Police investigation

Contact details

Nominated child protection lead

Name:

Phone/email:

Deputy child protection lead

Name(s):

Phone/email:

Senior lead for safeguarding and child protection

Name:

Phone/email:

We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice every three years. This policy was last reviewed on:

Data of review ………/………/……………

Signed (Chair of AHI): …………………………………………………………………………………

Date of next review: ………/………/……………