19 – 25 November 2018 marked the first ever National Safeguarding Adults Week.

It was a week of awareness-raising launched by members of the National Safeguarding Adults Network.

We realised that many organisations across the UK put on their own safeguarding weeks throughout the year. So our aim was to create a time when we can all focus on safeguarding adults. Because we want to be better, together.

Throughout the week, national and regional safeguarding, sports and activity organisations put on a range of activities to help spread awareness of this vital issue.

Each day of the week focused on a different safeguarding issue:

• Monday 19th November – Disability Hate Crime.
• Tuesday 20th November – Forced Marriage, Domestic Abuse and The Prevent Agenda.
• Wednesday 21st November – Financial Abuse.
• Thursday 22nd November – The Ann Craft Trust Safeguarding Seminar.
• Friday 23rd November – Online Safety and Cyber Bullying.
• Saturday 24th – Sunday 25th November – Safeguarding Adults in Sport and Activity.

We put together a wealth of resources relating to these issues. Access them all here.

Sharing Safeguarding Stories on Social Media

We encouraged people to use the #SafeguardingAdultsWeek hashtag on social media to share updates and pictures.

We were overwhelmed by the level of support we saw. Every day, organisations everywhere posted photos and updates detailing their activities. We saw outreach stalls in public places, new safeguarding policy launches, and lots of messages of support.

The week was such a hit that we saw our Twitter impressions rise by 1,192%.  

81,700 people saw our content relating to National Safeguarding Week.

Our #SafeguardingAdultsWeek hashtag was used in around 1,400 total tweets by 560 Twitter users. 

According to data from Tweet Binder, the first ever National Safeguarding Week reached at least 1,943,306 people on Twitter alone.

A Week of Activity

As we outlined above, every day of National Safeguarding Adult week focused on a different safeguarding adults issue.

Below is a selection of screenshots taken throughout the week. They don’t just demonstrate the success of the week of awareness-raising. They also demonstrate how organisations interpreted and responded to the week’s various themes.

Monday – Disability Hate Crime

Here’s the guide we shared: what is disability hate crime?

 

Tuesday – Forced Marriage, Domestic Abuse and The Prevent Agenda

We had three resources for this day. What is forced marriage? What is the Prevent Agenda? Finally, we put together a primer on disability and domestic abuse.

 

Wednesday – Financial Abuse

We shared two resources on this day: What is financial abuse? Plus, a guide to keeping safe from financial abuse.

Thursday

On Thursday 22nd November we held our annual Safeguarding Seminar. Most of Thursday’s Twitter activity was focused on this event, but we still got an idea of the sort of activity taking place in other areas of the country:

Friday – Online Safety and Cyber Bullying

Our resources for this day included a guide to staying safe online, plus an essential primer on cyber bullying.

Saturday and Sunday – Safeguarding Adults in Sport and Activity

The final weekend of the event focused on Safeguarding Adults in Sport and Activity. We put together a guide to the sort of things sports and activity organisations could do to support the week. We also shared our safeguarding adults in sports resources pack.

Sports and activity organisations were using the hashtag all week, but they raised their game over the weekend:

Same Time Next Year?

Deborah Kitson, Ann Craft Trust CEO, said this about the first ever National Safeguarding Adults Week:

When we were first discussing the idea of having a National Safeguarding Adults Week in 2018, we had no idea of the journey ahead. But we know that this is a topic that so many people are trying hard to get right in their organisations, and that there is still so much that needs to be addressed .

In the planning months I was sometimes excited, and sometimes filled with fear wondering what we had taken on. But I was mainly confident that this issue deserved the attention.

Now, the week following, I want to thank all of you for your support in contributing to its enormous success. The buzz of activity, discussion and debate on social media and at events across the country was fantastic. It could not have happened without your commitment to safeguarding adults.

So thank you! And here’s to National Safeguarding Week 2019!

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National Safeguarding Adults Week will return in 2019.

For updates about this, and about our other upcoming seminars and training events, sign up for our quarterly e-bulletin.