March 2025

  

New - Self Neglect Guidance

We have recently published updated Self-Neglect Guidance. We have tried to make this shorter and more user friendly for practitioners by including links to information, tools and resources. 

Please take some time to familiarise yourself with the new guidance and please share it with your teams and colleagues in team meetings. We would really like to hear your feedback. If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail us at ssab@salford.gov.uk

New - Exploitation in the Home 'Cuckooing' Short Video 

Please watch this short video and please share it with your teams / colleagues. It explains how criminals target people who may be vulnerable in some way, take over their homes and use them for criminal activity such as dealing drugs or storing weapons. It explains who may be at increased risk and what sorts of things to look out for and it’s only 3 minutes long.

Policy and Procedures - New Discriminatory Abuse section

A new section on Discriminatory Abuse has been added to the multi-agency safeguarding policy and procedures. The guidance explains what discriminatory abuse is as well as containing information about protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 and the public sector Equality Duty to make reasonable adjustments.

7 Minute Briefing on the Equality Act

There is also a 7-minute briefing on the Equality Act 2010, which provides a brief overview of the legislation, protected characteristics, disability, reasonable adjustments and what this means in practice. If you haven't seen this briefing, please take time to look at it and share it with your teams / colleagues.

Reminder – Think Family 7 Minute Briefing and shared webpages 

A number of reviews have highlighted the need for professionals to adopt a ‘Think Family’ approach to working with families. Please read the 7-Minute Briefing or plain text version and please share / discuss it with your teams. Both documents can be found on the new joint Think Family webpages.  

New Safeguarding in Housing Web-pages

New Safeguarding in Housing webpages have been launched to provide safeguarding information in the context of housing for partners, professionals and the public. There is lots of information and resources in these pages, such as: 

• The role of housing in safeguarding 
• Safeguarding and housing in Salford 
• Salford City Council Housing Services and safeguarding 
• Registered providers and safeguarding 
• Privately rented sector and safeguarding 
• Information for partners and professionals (Housing Awareness Pack and useful resources) 

These pages contain information to help you when you may need assistance from housing, however the People and Communities Safeguarding Team are able to help if you’re unsure who to contact in housing or for more complex case discussions. The team can also attend team meetings to promote the new web-pages. Please contact the team on: peoplecommunitiessafeguarding@salford.gov.uk

Greater Manchester Police (GMP)’s Visual Impairment Protocol (VIP) 

Greater Manchester Police have a Visual Impairment Protocol for blind, partially sighted and visually impaired callers. This enables the visually impaired person to confirm that the person at their door is a police officer. When an individual calls the police via either 999 (in an emergency) or 101 (the non-emergency number), and they inform the call handler that they have a sight-impairment, a password of their choice will be agreed. The call handler records this on the incident log. When an officer visits the address, they will be expected to provide the password to confirm their identity. For more information, please see The Visual Impairment Protocol Guidance section on the GMP website. If you are working with someone who is blind or visually impaired, please tell them about this. 

The Visionary Salford 

This is a social group for people living with vision impairment in Salford. If you are working with someone who is visually impaired, please tell them about this group. For details of upcoming meetings and events, please contact: thevisionarysalford@outlook.com or the Sensory Team – 0161 206 0604.  

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) 

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is child abuse and a violation of women’s rights. It can have many immediate and long-term health consequences for those affected. 

Multi agency working is the most effective way of managing FGM. The Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Assessment Toolkit with accompanying guidance supports multi-agency assessment of FGM. The aim of the toolkit is to: 

• support sensitive discussion with those who have experienced or may be at risk of FGM 
• strengthen multi-agency assessment, decision making and signposting of those who have experienced or may be at risk of FGM 
• avoid survivors being repeatedly questioned regarding their experiencing thereby preventing further trauma 
• provide robust information to inform decision making at Bridge
• assist in determining the level of risk and ensure cases managed at the appropriate threshold 

The guidance which is available on the Female Genital Mutilation page of the SSCP website includes pathways for both adults and children, a 7-minute briefing and information regarding support services including Lotus HUB and Guardian Project.

Forced Marriage – Free Online Training 

It is estimated that 8,000-10,000 forced marriages of British citizens take place every year with devastating consequences. Virtual College in collaboration with the Forced Marriage Unit has a free Awareness of Forced Marriage online course. 

Please share this training with your teams and if you don’t already have access to Forced Marriage training, please encourage teams / colleagues to access this training.   

Salford CVS – Safeguarding Spotlight: ‘Cuckooing’ 

Salford CVS already deliver safeguarding training for the voluntary sector. However, due to demand, they have developed a new session, on ‘Cuckooing’ also known as Home Takeover. The next Safeguarding Spotlight: Cuckooing will take place on 8th May. This session is for staff and volunteers working in the voluntary sector only and should be booked directly with Salford CVS via the link above. 

Neurodiversity Celebration Week 17-23rd March 

Neurodiversity is an umbrella term to describe a range of alternative thinking styles such as Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia and Dyspraxia. Neurodiversity can mean that people think, move, process information differently. Approximately 15-20% of the population has a neurological difference. Neurodiversity Celebration Week aims to celebrate many strengths and talents of neurodivergent individuals, rather than focusing on the challenges that they may face. Throughout the week, there are lots of free webinars taking place. Please see the events calendar. There is also a social media pack that you may wish to use to show support and promote the event. 

Oliver McGowan Training on Learning Disability and Autism

The Health and Care Act 2022 states that regulated service providers must ensure that all health and care staff have appropriate training on Learning Disability and Autism. The Oliver McGowan training is the Government's preferred training as it has been co-developed, co-trialled and evaluated and is co-delivered by autistic people and people with Learning Disabilities.

You can register with E-Learning for Health, set up an account and access Part 1 - the e-learning part of the training. For more information, please watch the video below or visit E-Learning for Health.

Reminder 'Hidden Harms' domestic abuse video

This video originally developed by Norfolk SAB has been adapted for use in Salford.  It looks at the different types of domestic abuse and explains what that might look like in older adults, however it can be used more widely. It can be used to educate professionals and can also be used with members of the public.  Please watch it and consider how you can use this excellent resource.

Child Exploitation Week of Action 17-21st March

This has been aligned to National Child Exploitation Day and, coincides with Social Work Week and Neurodiversity Awareness Week. There are a number of training and events taking place throughout the week. For more information on training and events that are taking place, please visit Greater Manchester Programme of Learning & Development Events

Awareness Days / Key dates

Social Work Week - 17-21 March
National Child Exploitation Day - 18th March
Neurodiversity Celebration Week - 17-23 March
National Stalking Awareness Week - 24-28 April
National Hoarding Awareness Week - 12-16 May

Links to other news

Partners in Salford Latest News 
SSCP Latest News 

If you would like us to include anything in our next bulletin or have any feedback, please e-mail us at ssab@salford.gov.uk

Salford Safeguarding Adult Board (SSAB)