Safeguarding policy

1. Policy overview

We Are Frieda CIC is a specialist training, consultancy and advocacy organisation working on domestic and sexual violence and abuse. Safeguarding is therefore not a peripheral compliance requirement attached to our work, and this policy sets out how the organisation understands that responsibility and how it discharges it.

This policy is the overarching statement. It applies across every setting in which we operate, including in person training at client premises and hired venues, online delivery, the online learning centre and professionals portal, consultancy and service review work carried out inside partner organisations, and our public and social media presence. Two further policies apply with it, one for children and young people and one for adults at risk, alongside the standard operating procedures for what a person actually does when a concern arises.

2. Position

Safeguarding practice in this sector has too often meant the transfer of risk into a process, with the survivor becoming a case and the concern becoming a form. We reject that framing. Our position is that safeguarding is the active work of reducing the harm a person is exposed to while preserving their agency, and that neither is ever given up to achieve the other.

We recognise that abuse is produced and sustained by structural conditions, including racism, immigration control, poverty, disablism, homophobia and transphobia, and that these conditions also shape who is believed, who is offered protection and who is instead treated as a risk to be managed. A safeguarding response that does not account for this will reproduce the harm it intends to interrupt. Our practice therefore begins from an intersectional analysis, which means we ask not only what has happened to a person but what will happen to them as a consequence of the response we make.

We also recognise that survivors are frequently in the room when we teach. Learners on our programmes bring their own histories, and disclosure during training is foreseeable rather than exceptional. Our arrangements are built on that expectation.

3. Legal framework

This policy gives effect to the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004, Working Together to Safeguard Children, the Care Act 2014 and its statutory guidance, the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 in respect of controlling or coercive behaviour, the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 including the reporting duty at section 5B, the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the Equality Act 2010, the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 in respect of the Prevent duty, and the Human Rights Act 1998. Where the mandatory reporting duty in respect of child sexual abuse is in force, it applies to relevant activity carried out by our staff and associates and is reflected in SOP-03.

It also gives effect to the safeguarding requirements placed on us as a recognised OCN London centre in respect of learners, and to the contractual safeguarding requirements of the commissioners we work for.

4. Roles and responsibilities

The Designated Safeguarding Lead is Bennjoseph Vaughan, contactable at bennjoseph@wearefrieda.org.uk and on 07874 754421. The DSL holds decision making responsibility for safeguarding concerns, referrals and information sharing, maintains the safeguarding record, and is the point of contact for statutory services. The Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead is Sian, the founder and director of We Are Frieda, who acts with the full authority of the DSL when the DSL is delivering, unavailable or conflicted.

The board carries ultimate accountability, receives a safeguarding report at each meeting covering concerns raised, actions taken, themes identified and learning applied, and approves this policy annually.

Every person delivering on behalf of We Are Frieda, whether employed, contracted, associate or volunteer, is responsible for recognising and reporting concerns, for working within the boundaries of their role, for recording accurately and promptly, and for never holding a concern alone. Associates and sessional trainers are bound by this policy through their contract and confirm at engagement that they have read it.

Learners are responsible for conduct that protects the safety of others in the learning environment, as set out in QU-05.

5. Practice

Every member of the delivery team holds safeguarding training at a level appropriate to their role and refreshes it at least every two years, with the DSL trained to designated lead level and refreshed annually. Recruitment follows SG-05, including identity checks, references that address suitability to work with people at risk, and DBS checks at the level the role permits.

Before any delivery we establish, and record, the safeguarding arrangements that apply in that setting, including who the host organisation’s safeguarding lead is, how an urgent concern would be raised, and which local authority area we are operating in. This is set out in SOP-04 and is completed as a matter of routine rather than only where the content is expected to be difficult.

When a concern arises we act on it under SOP-01 to SOP-03. Concerns are recorded on the day they arise, decisions are recorded with the reasoning that produced them, and the absence of a referral is recorded and reasoned in the same way as a referral.

Where a concern indicates risk of serious harm we do not wait for certainty. The threshold for acting is reasonable concern, and the assessment of whether harm has occurred belongs to statutory services rather than to us.

6. Information sharing

Confidentiality is offered to learners, clients and participants within limits that are stated openly at the start of any engagement rather than discovered at the point of disclosure. Information is shared without consent only where there is risk of serious harm, where a statutory duty applies, or where consent cannot be obtained and delay would increase risk. Every such decision is recorded with its reasoning. This is set out fully in DP-02 and DP-03.

7. Breaches

A failure to act on a concern, a failure to record, or a breach of confidentiality is treated as a serious matter and is addressed under the disciplinary arrangements for employees or through termination of engagement for associates. Concerns about the conduct of a person working for or on behalf of We Are Frieda are handled under SG-04, and anyone may raise a concern under the whistleblowing policy at CA-04 without detriment.

8. Recording, monitoring and review

Safeguarding records are held securely and separately from general training records, with access limited to the DSL and Deputy, and are retained in line with DP-04. The DSL maintains a log of all concerns, decisions and outcomes, reviews it quarterly for themes, and reports those themes to the board. This policy is reviewed annually, and sooner where legislation changes, where an incident indicates a gap, or where a commissioner or OCN London amends its requirements.

Scope

Directors, employees, associates, sessional trainers, volunteers, learners and any person present in a Frieda learning or consultancy space.