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Briefing Note Maidstone Borough Council
Policy for Safeguarding Children and Adults
At Maidstone Borough Council we take Safeguarding seriously. We recognise the need to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all those who we come into contact with the services we provide this includes both children and adults. Our services touch many individuals from across our district through a number of teams including customer services, revenues and benefits and housing services.
This briefing note aims to give staff a short overview of the processes for reporting and managing a safeguarding concern and our responsibilities as a district council.
There are two different aspects to Safeguarding processes; children and adults. Even though each requires a slightly different response, essentially both require colleagues to be diligent, concerned and responsible.
At times we will have contact with members of the public who we will become concerned about. We will be worried about what they may have said, or how they have presented so as an employee, Councillor or volunteer we need to take action to ensure they are safe. All individuals have a right to live safely, peacefully and without the threat of abuse. Safeguarding covers many aspects of abuse and neglect and if we have any concerns about a disclosure by an individual or what we have seen we must act.
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility
Our role as a district council is not to investigate an alleged safeguarding concern, but report it to the correct authority – which could be either the police, if the matter has criminal ramifications or to Kent Count Council if the issue is more related to the Care Act e.g. self-neglect, mental ill health, a child in need. Often both the Police and KCC will be involved in the same cases as both parties will play a role in managing the alert.
Areas of safeguarding concern – may fall into one of the following:
Physical Sexual Psychological Financial or material Discriminatory Exploitation Isolation or withdrawal from services or support networks |
Neglect and acts of omission Self-neglect and self-injurious behaviour Modern Slavery (incl. Human Trafficking) Domestic Abuse Female Genital Mutilation
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Below you will see the process for raising a safeguarding alert if you feel worried or concerned. Your team should also have a Safeguarding Champion allocated and if you have any concerns you should discuss with the Champion, or your line manager in the first instance. You can also seek out support from the Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO) (Hannah Gaston) or the Deputy DSO’s (Sarah Ward or John Littlemore).
For further information on Safeguarding please read the MBC Policy on Safeguarding Children and Adults at Risk, January 2021.