Child protection policy

Introduction: Purpose of the Policy

Sunnybank Trust recognises its responsibility to ensure the safety of all children with whom the staff, volunteers and members come into contact in the course of their work. The Trust is committed to ensuring that their safety, whatever their gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality beliefs or age, is paramount.

This policy applies to all staff, including senior managers, board of trustees, paid staff, volunteers, sessional workers, students or anyone working on behalf of The Sunnybank Trust.

NOTE: Throughout this policy, the term ‘staff’ is used to refer to trustees, permanent and temporary employees, agency workers, contractors and consultants, volunteers (including, advocates, buddies, and supported volunteers), and students on placement within the Trust.

The purpose of the policy:

To protect children and young people who receive or participate in any way with the Sunnybank Trust. This includes the children of adults who use our services as well.
To provide staff and volunteers with the overarching principles that guide our approach to child protection.

We believe that a child or young person should never experience abuse of any kind. We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people and to keep them safe. We are committed to practice in a way that protects them.

Legal Framework

The Sunnybank Child Protection Policy is part of a wider framework of national and local legislation procedures and guidance, which everyone at the Trust must comply with, as well as internal policies and procedures which complement each other to provide the highest level of protection possible. These include: -

Relevant legislation

Children Act 1989
Children Act 2004
Children and Social Work Act 2017
Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012
Children and Families Act 2014
Education Act 2002
Digital Economy Act 2017
GDPR 2016

Relevant Local Guidance

Surrey Safeguarding Children’s Board Manual of Policy & Procedures

The Trust’s Internal Policies and Procedure (available on One Drive)

The Sunnybank Trust Safeguarding of Adults Policy SBT04
Whistleblowing Policy
Confidentiality Policy
Complaints Policy

Lone Working Policy
Equal Opportunities Policy
Anti-bullying & Harassment Policy

Guiding Principles

In particular, the Trust’s Child Protection Policy is founded upon the following principles: -

The welfare of the child (that is, anyone under the age of 18) is paramount as enshrined in the Childrens Acts 1989 and 2004.
All children, regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation or identity, have a right to equal protection form all types of harm and abuse.
Some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues.
Working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies.
The Sunnybank Trust will foster a safe and secure environment and ensure staff volunteers and members are enabled to respond with confidence and awareness to any issues concerning the safety of children that arise.

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

Valuing them, listening and respecting them
Adopting child protection practices through procedures and a code of conduct for staff and volunteers
Ensuring the social media policy is supported and adhered to by all part of the Sunnybank Trust community.

Providing effective management for staff through supervision, support and training.
Recruiting staff safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made.
Sharing information about child protection and good practice with children, parents and all Sunnybank staff.
Share concerns with agencies who need to know, and involving the parents and children appropriately.

2. Governance

It is the responsibility of the Board of Trustees to formally review and approve the Child Protection Policy and subsequent amendments to it.

The Board of Trustees along with the Lead and Deputy Safe-guarding and Child Protection officers will oversee and manage the safeguarding processes for adults and children within the Trust, ensuring compliance with all national and local procedures, updating of the Trust’s safeguarding policy and procedures, and the provision of relevant safeguarding training.

This policy will be formally reviewed at 12 monthly intervals, and may be amended to reflect new guidance, legislation or relevant procedures at any time. Simple amendments (e.g. changes in contact details) may be made without reference to the Board.

All stakeholders within the Trust should provide feedback on the effectiveness of the policy and procedures and any issues that arise from their implementation, so that they may be refined and improved as needed.

Communicating the Safeguarding of Children Policy and Procedures

All employees, volunteers and people working on behalf of the Trust, must read the policy as part of their induction in conjunction with the Sunnybank Childrens Safeguarding Policy. The policy will be accessible to staff on the Sunnybank One Drive and to volunteers via the Sunnybank website or distributed in hard copy.

Procedure in case of a child protection issue.

The nominated Safeguarding officers and trustee will also be responsible for Child Protection. Therefore, the reporting procedure will follow the children’s safeguarding procedure.

If the issue concerns individuals or organisations other than the Trust (such as a residential home, day centre or within a family), you must:-

Notify the Lead or Deputy Safeguarding Officer of the Trust
Record the details of the allegation, suspicion or disclosure securely

Do not notify or share the disclosure with managers or staff of an external organisation, such as a college, where the abuse may have originated, as this may endanger an investigation’s ability to capture or preserve evidence – this is for the Council’s safeguarding team to do if they judge it appropriate.
The decision to report the issue to the Local Authority lies with the Lead Safeguarding officer, or the Deputy Safeguarding officer in his/her absence. If the decision is to report, this must be done on the same day that the report has been received.

If the issue concerns individuals or organisations within the Trust you must:-

The relevant manager should consult with the Safeguarding Trustee and agree whether the concern should be reported to the C-Spa (Surrey Children’s Single Point of Access)
If it is agreed to report the issue as a safeguarding concern, the Trust’s Safeguarding Lead r Deputy Managers must inform Surrey Council’s Safeguarding Team about the possibility of abuse on the same day that the abuse occurs, by contacting the C-Spa by phone or by posting (not emailing) a completed Safeguarding Alert/Concern form (see Appendix 2a). It is almost always better to communicate with them by phone.
The Safeguarding Officer must also contact the LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) within 24 hours to consult on the issue, if there is a concern that a staff member has behaved in a way that has harmed or may harm a child, possibly committed a criminal offence against or in relation to a child, or behaves towards a child in such a way as to indicates he/she is unsuitable to work with children.
It is for the LADO and Surrey Council’s Safeguarding Team to decide what action should be taken and whether an investigation is to be conducted and whether the Sunnybank Management team should carry this out. Contact information for the LADO is detailed in Appendix 2. Detailed information on the role of the LADO and the process for reporting and managing allegations to the LADO are detailed in Appendix

The Safeguarding Manager must also consult with the Safeguarding Trustee and agree any action to remove or minimise the risk. This might include: -

instructing the alleged or suspected abuser to refrain from contacting or meeting any vulnerable person or responding to contact initiated by a vulnerable person
requesting the return of Sunnybank phones and relevant passwords, and suspending email accounts and access to the Lamplight database
suspending the suspected staff member/volunteer from work without prejudice in accordance with relevant HR or disciplinary procedures

It is for the Council's Safeguarding Team to decide any further action to be taken, including whether the issue is to be investigated by the Management of the Trust or by other means. The Trust will comply fully with the directions of the Council Safeguarding Team.

Sunnybank Trust Child Protection and Safeguarding Officer Details

All suspected, alleged, witnessed or discloses abuse MUST be reported to one of these Safeguarding and Child Protection Officers of the Trust: -

Lead Safeguarding Officer & Child Protection Lead

Name: Dorothy Watson

Position: CEO

Mobile Number: 07949 940371

Work Landline Number: 01372 732376

Email: dorothywatson@sunnybanktrust.org

Deputy Safeguarding Officers & Deputy Child Protection Officers

Name: Claire Dawson

Position: Futures Manager

Mobile Number: 07940553298

Work Landline Number: 01372 732376

Email: clairedawson@sunnybanktrust.org

Name: Annie Dougherty

Position: Independent Advocate

Mobile Number: 07484 098826

Work Landline Number: 01372 732376

Email: anniedougherty@sunnybanktrust.org

Nominated Safeguarding Trustee

Name: Jacky Oliver

Mobile Number: 07850551437

Email: jackyoliver@sunnybanktrust.org

Additional important contacts and information

Contact Details for C-Spa (Child’s single point of access) to report concerns about a child

If you are concerned about the safety of a child, young person or an adult you can contact our C-Spa. C-Spa responds to initial enquiries about children and young people. The C-SPA is based at County Hall and acts as the front door to children's services in Surrey.

The C-SPA provides residents and people who work with children in Surrey with direct information, advice and guidance about where and how to find the appropriate support for children and families.

Availability: 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday

Contact by telephone

Children's Service social workers and health and police staff.

Phone: 0300 470 9100
Out of hours phone: 01483 517898 to speak to our emergency duty team.
Email: emails are dealt with during normal office hours

For concerns for a child or young person: cspa@surreycc.gov.uk

Out of hours

The Emergency Duty Team service is not intended as an alternative means of accessing the usual daily activities of Surrey County Council.

The team operates outside of normal office hours:

Monday to Friday 5pm to 9am
Weekends 24 hours a day
The EDT also operates throughout all bank holiday periods

Contact the team:

Tel: 01483 517898
Fax: 01483 517895
SMS number: 07800000388 (for deaf and hard of hearing callers online)
To make a call via text direct, please dial 18001 01483 517898

Email: edt.ssd@surreycc.gov.uk

Local area contact details

North east: 0300 123 1610

The north east area covers the following three boroughs:

Elmbridge (Esher, Walton on Thames and Weybridge)

Epsom and Ewell (Epsom, Ewell and part of both Stoneleigh and Worcester Park)
Spelthorne (Ashford, Laleham, Shepperton, Staines-upon-Thames, Stanwell and Sunbury-on-Thames)

North west: 0300 123 1630

The north west area covers the following three district and boroughs:

Runnymede (Addlestone)

Surrey Heath (Camberley)
Woking (Woking)

South east: 0300 123 1620

The south east area covers the following three district and boroughs:

Tandridge (Caterham and Oxted)

Reigate and Banstead (Redhill, Horley, Reigate and Banstead)
Mole Valley (Dorking and Leatherhead)

South west: 0300 123 1640

The south west area covers the following two boroughs:

Guildford (Guildford)

Waverley (Cranleigh, Farnham and Haslemere)

For any general or non-safeguarding concerns in relation to an adult (including young adults) please contact Adult Social Care.

Reporting a Concern to Surrey LADO (within 24 Hours of a concern about a member of staff in relation to a child)

Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO)

Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm

The LADO Service manages allegations against individuals who work or volunteer with children in Surrey. If you have a concern regarding someone who works with children please contact the LADO on 0300 123 1650* or LADO@surreycc.gov.uk.

Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership (SSCP)

Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm

The Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership co-ordinates how children are safeguarded and protected from harm. The SSCP is based in Leatherhead.

The Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership website provides guidance and protocols for professionals as well as details of child protection training courses available.

Request for Support Form

If you require support from Surrey Children's Services, please download and complete the Request for Support Form on the website.

Useful contacts

SSCB Support Team: 01372 833330
SSCB Chair: 01372 833378
SSCB Training: 01372 833330 or sscb.training@surreycc.gov.uk

Categories and Indicators of Abuse

Further information on categories and signs of abuse may be found at:https://www.nspcc.org.uk/globalassets/documents/information-service/definitions-signs-child-abuse

Summary of National Legislation and Guidance relating to the Safeguarding of Children

This link leads to a summary by the NSPCC of the relevant legislation, policy and guidance on child protection in England, including the Children Act 1989, Children Act 20014, the Children and Social Work Act 2017, Working Together to Safeguard Children Guidance 2015, and others: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/child-protection-system/england/legislation-policy-guidance/

Local Child Safeguarding Policies, Procedures and Protocols

This link leads to the Surrey Safeguarding Children’s Board Webpage, which contains information on all aspects of child safeguarding. http://www.surreyscb.org.uk/

The Role of the LADO and the Process for Reporting and Managing Allegations against individuals who work or volunteer with children

Regardless of the nature of allegations and who receives the allegation, it must be reported to the LADO. This must include situations where the worker resigns. Compromise agreements are not acceptable in such circumstances and may put others at risk in the future.

Complaints procedures are separate to the allegations process and just because someone does not wish to make a complaint, this does not mean the allegation should not be considered and investigated.

Unless the allegation is found to be malicious, records will be kept for 10 years or until the individual, subject to investigation, retires; whichever is longer.

Surrey LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) The LADO Service manages allegations against individuals who work or volunteer with children in Surrey. If you have a concern regarding someone who works with children please contact the LADO on 0300 123 1650* or LADO@surreycc.gov.uk.

Further Useful Resources

The NSPCC provides an advice and support helpline for concerned adults (including professionals, parents and family members) here:

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/services-and-resources/nspcc-helpline/