The purpose and scope of this safeguarding policy statement:
Ignite is committed to promoting the welfare of all children, young people and vulnerable adults, to keeping them safe and to practising in a way that protects them.
The purpose of this policy statement is:
- to protect children and young people who receive Ignite’s services from harm. This includes the children of adults who use our services.
- to provide staff and volunteers, as well as children and young people and their families, with the overarching principles that guide our approach to child protection.
- This policy applies to anyone working on behalf of Ignite including senior managers and the board of trustees, paid staff, volunteers, sessional workers, agency staff and students.
Legal framework
This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England. A summary of the key legislation is available from nspcc.org.uk/learning.
We believe that:
- children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind
- we have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them.
We recognise that:
- the welfare of children is paramount in all the work we do and in all the decisions we take
- all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have an equal right to 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
- 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 and respecting them
- appointing the leadership of safeguarding and practice to a senior manager and a lead trustee/board member for safeguarding.
- ensuring that two members of our team are trained to Safeguarding Level 3
- adopting child protection and safeguarding best practice through our policies, procedures and code of conduct for staff and volunteers
- providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures so that all staff and volunteers know about and follow our policies, procedures and behaviour codes confidently and competently.
- recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made
- recording, storing and using information professionally and securely, in line with data protection legislation and guidance (more information about this is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office: ico.org.uk/for-organisations)
- making sure that children, young people and their families know where to go for help if they have a concern
- using our safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately
- review our practice regularly to ensure any new risks are identified and addressed promptly
- using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately
- 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
- ensuring staff, volunteers and trustees have a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service certificate on appointment and during their service
- 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
- building a safeguarding culture where staff and volunteers, children, young people and their families, treat each other with respect and are comfortable about sharing concerns.
Contact details:
Safeguarding manager: Donna John
Phone/email: djohn@igniteyouth.org.uk
Safeguarding officer: Abdul Ahmed
Phone/email: aahmed@igniteyouth.org.uk
Trustee/Senior lead for safeguarding and child protection:
Name: Helen Laird
Phone/email: helen.laird@igniteyouth.org.uk