Safeguarding Statement
How we safeguard elders and vulnerable adults
All our directors and employed staff are trained in Safeguarding and are DBS checked in order to protect the elders and vulnerable people we support and work with. Volunteers will always be supervised by a member of staff when undertaking work for Social Circles CIC.
When we are worried about your safety or that you are being hurt either by your own actions or by someone else, we want to help you to find the best way to keep yourself safe. We'll do this by listening and talking to you about what you want to do. Most of the time whatever you tell us will stay between you and Social Circles.
However, if we feel that you are unable to make decisions for yourself sometimes we might need to tell someone else what you’ve told us to be able to help you, for example, if you are not able to make a decision about your own safety because you don’t understand the risks or if you cannot remember the situation you are in.
If you share information with us which identifies a child or adult at risk who is suffering abuse or harm, after discussion with you, we may contact other relevant services.
It is important to know that you can decide what information you choose to share with us. Even if you have told us this information, it does not mean we will automatically tell someone else. We would always want to help you to explore your feelings about your situation and to help you make the decisions that are right for you. We will ask you questions when talking to you to help you do this, and to make sure we understand what you are telling us.
If we determine that we do need tell someone else these are of some of the things that might happen:
Your details may be passed to people who'll be able to get help to you, like the ambulance service
If you're in immediate danger of being hurt by someone else, we may ask the police to come and check, or do something to make sure that you're safe
If you’ve told us that a child is in danger, we may need to get them help. Sometimes the only way of doing that will be to contact you and ask you for more details. It may be the police that help us with this
We might ask social services to arrange to speak to you and see how they might be able to help you.
We take your confidentiality very seriously and will only consider speaking to someone else if we are really worried about what you have told us and we feel that you are unable to make decisions.
If you have any concerns relating to the behaviour of a staff member of Social Circles or a volunteer, you may call or message the Lead Safeguarding Director on 07717 211422, or email to communities@socialcircles.org.uk