Latest News November 2024

What comes after Halloween and Bonfire Night? Safeguarding Adults Week (no, not Christmas just yet.. we know that’s what some of you were thinking!) 

18-22nd November is Safeguarding Adults Week

Led by the Ann Craft Trust, Safeguarding Adults Week is an excellent opportunity to refocus on safeguarding whether this be sharing information in your team meetings, reviewing training needs for yourself or your team members, allocating some time to refresh your knowledge or learn something new or it could be about making sure information is on display for colleagues and/or the public.  

The themes for this year are:
•    Monday – Look, Listen, Ask – Developing Professional Curiosity
•    Tuesday – Working in partnership: How to work effectively with the people you support
•    Wednesday – Establishing professional boundaries
•    Thursday – Recognising exploitation: The ladder of criminality
•    Friday – Professional and organisational learning

Developing Professional Curiosity

In partnership with the Salford Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (SSCP) we have produced some joint webpages with information on professional curiosity which contains links to various resources including a short animation. Please take some time to look at these resources and share them with your teams / colleagues. 

They are still being developed so if you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing michelle.hulme@salford.gov.uk or shahanara.begum@salford.gov.uk

Working effectively with the people you support

Being person centred means, building relationships with people, listening to their views and wishes, understanding what is important to them and why, and responding in a way that takes this into account. 

Take a look at the Making Safeguarding Personal section of our policy and procedures which includes some useful tips. We also have a section in our policy and procedure on The Skilled Conversation: Outcomes. If you want to think about how you can be more culturally conscious in your practice, please see our new joint webpage on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion which includes the SSCP Guide to Cultural Consciousness, Social Graces Model and tips for social workers. 

The LGA have produced a Making Safeguarding Personal toolkit which also contains lots of useful resources. 

Establishing Professional Boundaries

The SSAB has recently published updated guidance on responding to allegations and concerns regarding People in Positions of Trust (PIPOT). This guidance provides a framework for responding to allegations and concerns about people in positions of trust who have contact with adults with care and support needs.

Individuals and organisations who become aware of such information must share the information with relevant colleagues, assess the level of risk and decide what action needs to be taken such as sharing the information with the person’s employer, alerting the police or raising a safeguarding concern. Training is currently being planned for early 2025.

Recognising exploitation: The ladder of criminality

Exploitation is usually forcing someone to do something that they don’t want to do for someone else’s gain. It can take many different forms such as slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking. Human trafficking is the movement of a person or people from one area to another for the purpose of exploitation. This can be moving them across international borders or moving them within the same area. You could read take a look at Salford’s Joint Exploitation Strategy or share our 7 Minute Briefing on Cuckooing.

From Monday 18th November, there is a Greater Manchester Programme of Learning & Development events taking place. Please take a look and book onto anything of interest or share it with your teams / colleagues.

The National County Lines Coordination Centre are also hosting are a number of free training events that are taking place throughout November, these include:

County Lines Awareness Sessions open to police and partner agency representatives. Please click on the links below to register.
•    Tuesday 19th November 13.00-14.15
•    Wednesday 27th November 9.00-10.15
•    Friday 29th November 9.00-10.15

NRM Myth Busting: Monday 25th November 10-11am (Police and Partners)
During this interactive session you will work through historic County Lines case studies to better understand the NRM process. We will explore the effects of the NRM submission, culminating in advice regarding considerations when navigating the process. Please book directly.

Criminal Exploitation – Lived Experience Webinars (Police and Partners)
This event seeks to engage delegates to develop a greater understanding of criminal exploitation. The investigation of child criminal exploitation, particularly county lines, presents unique challenges and complexities for investigators. You will hear accounts from victims of criminal exploitation in order to better inform our practices. Please book via the links below.
•    Wednesday 20th November 2024 1-.30-3pm
•    Thursday 21st November 2024 9.30-11am
•    Tuesday 26th November 2024 1.30-3pm
•    Wednesday 27th November 2024 9.30-11am

Professional and Organisational Learning

Safeguarding Adults require safe organisational cultures that enable continual learning and development. Individuals and organisations are encouraged to reflect on their practice and think about successes and challenge in safeguarding adults. It can also be an opportunity to reflect on our learning and what how we can continue to extend this.

New – 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. 

SSCP 7 Minute Briefing on Corporate Parenting Principles 

Case reviews in Salford have highlighted that not all agencies are aware of how the Corporate Parenting Principles apply to their own individual agencies when working with children who are Cared For by the Local Authority (under Section 31 or Section 20 of the Children Act 1989). The Corporate Parenting Principles also apply to children who have left or are leaving care. Read the new 7 Minute Briefing produced by SSCP to find out more about how you can apply the Corporate Parenting Principles. Further briefings are also available on 7 Minute Briefings | Salford Safeguarding Children Partnership

What is a Safeguarding Adult Review, often referred to as a SAR?

Safeguarding Adult Boards (SABs) have a statutory duty, under the Care Act 2014, to carry out safeguarding adult reviews in situations involving adults with care and support needs if there is reasonable cause for concern about how the SAB, members of it or other persons with relevant functions worked together to safeguard the adult, and either,
a)    the adult has died and the SAB knows or suspects the death resulted from abuse or neglect
b)    The adult is still alive and the SAB knows or suspects that the adult has experienced serious abuse or neglect.
Safeguarding Adult Boards can arrange for a review of any other case involving an adult in its area with needs for care and support.  

Members of the SAB must co-operate and contribute to carrying out the review with a view to identifying lessons to be learnt and applying those lessons to future cases. Any agency can make a referral for a Safeguarding Adult Review. 

For more information about SARs, please read our 7-minute briefing and visit our website. You can also read published SARs and other reviews on our website.

SSAB Quality Assurance

We have developed a new Quality Assurance web-page. This new webpage contains information on assurance projects and audits completed by the SSAB. These include a multi-agency audit of safeguarding cases, a self-neglect audit, voice of the carer, domestic abuse and transitions. A 7-minute briefing has been produced for each project outlining what work was undertaken, the key findings and any outcomes. 

Changes to the way people who are homeless can access help from the Council

From Monday 21st October 2024 changes will be implemented to the Council’s Housing Options Service and how people who are homeless or are at risk of homelessness can access support from Salford City Council.

The service will move to an appointment based system following a self-referral or a public Duty to Refer referral from a partner agency.  Unless there is risk of homelessness that day, please do not advise people to present to the Civic Centre for an assessment as they will not be offered an appointment and will have to return.  For more information, please visit Homelessness: How do I access help from Salford City Council

Safe and Found Online

Safe and Found is a social enterprise established by people who have personal experience of family members who have lived with dementia or other vulnerabilities and have gone missing. They have worked in partnership with several English police forces to create digital versions of the Herbert Protocol and the Forcer protocol, both of which can be used to gather information about a person, so that it is readily available to the police if or when the person goes missing.

By having the information stored online, the information can be shared with police much faster and can improve the chances of locating the person and keeping them safe. For more information, please visit the Safe and Found Online website.

Autism and Suicide Awareness Training

A new training package has been launched around Autism and suicide awareness. The training package was co-produced with autistic people and people bereaved by suicide. It is free and takes about an hour to complete.

Anyone can complete the New Suicide-Awareness Training by the Zero Suicide Alliance which takes around 20-30 minutes to complete. The training covers suicide risk factors, warning signs and explores coached scenarios which will help you talk to someone you may be worried about. It also contains information on support available.

Please also see the range of more specialist free training available from Zero Suicide Alliance, which may be more suitable depending on your role.   

Upcoming dates:

•    20th November –Transgender Day of Remembrance
•    25th November - International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
•    25th November to 10th December - 16 Days of Action against Domestic Violence 
•    2nd December – International Day for the Abolition of Slavery
•    10th December – Human Rights Day

Links to other news

Partners in Salford Latest News
SSCP Latest News

Finally…

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

Best wishes
The SSAB Team