How do you know what you are supposed to do unless someone tells you?
Taking on the task of integrating safeguarding adults good practice into your organisation, can be a daunting task made even more difficult when you do not what know what is required or expected of you.
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What is the Roadmap
We have developed the Roadmap as a tool to help you:
• Understand what you need to do to comply with your legal obligations
• Guide you through the steps to implement and embed good practice to safeguard adults
• Identify areas and signpost to where you may need extra support to meet those requirements
• Have the confidence to know your organisation is safeguarding the adults in its care. FrameworkThe roadmap is in six parts for you to download and complete. It includes space for you to add your own actions and comments, and links to resources to help you along the way.
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Who is the Roadmap for?
This resource is for Sports and Activity organisations of any size and structure operating within England who are not required to complete the mandatory Framework as a condition of Sport England Funding*. This could include large infrastructure organisations, membership organisations, grass root organisations. * If you are an Active Partnership or a Sports National Governing Bodies already working with the Ann Craft Trust – please refer to the Sports Framework
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How to use the Roadmap
Start by downloading Part One of the Roadmap and begin working through it. Once you’ve completed Part One, move onto Part Two.
There is no timescale, some sections may take longer than others and you could be working on multiple tasks at any one time.
There is a checklist in each section to help you identify what you have achieved and the areas left to work on. To support each action there are links to further information, templates and resources to help you.
The Safeguarding Adults in Sport Roadmap: Parts One to Six
Jump to Part One:
Identify Risk and Assess Need
Jump to Part Two:
Leadership and Responsibility
Jump to Part Three:
Develop and Learn
Jump to Part Four:
Communicate and Implement
Jump to Part Five:
Review and Adapt
Jump to Part Six:
Embedding and Organisational Learning
Part One: Identify Risk and Assess Need
As you embark on your journey to safeguard adults involved in your organisation, you will need to begin by identifying your risks. Carrying out an audit of your current situation will provide you with an overview of where you need to focus your attention. Your audit should include a full assessment what you already have in place. Consider:
- Governance and Leadership – what is in place or missing at board/committee level e.g safeguarding strategy, vision, plans, commitment and resources
- Operational – identifying your stakeholders and services and what is in place or missing for working with your stakeholders, e.g Target audience: Who, where, when, how?
- Current policies and procedures: – what is in place or missing regarding policies and procedures in connection with safeguarding?
- Management systems – what is already in place and what is missing for receiving and managing concerns, HR
We’ve created a working document that you can download and complete. It includes space for you to add your actions.
Download and Complete Part One: Identify Risk and Assess NeedPart Two: Leadership and Responsibility
Strong leadership from the Board or Committee is required to ensure that safeguarding adults is firmly on the agenda and implemented throughout the organisation. With the areas of risk being recognised in Part One, the Board will need to agree to dedicated time and resource to put effective measures in place to mitigate against the risks. An action plan with clear tasks, timeframes and allocated resource should be developed along with a statement of intent.
It is important that you consider your governance structure at this stage, clearly identifying who is accountable and responsible. For example, your responsibility for participants involved in direct delivery of activities will be different to those involved in one of your affiliated groups.
You’ll establish:
- Statement of intent
- Safeguarding lead
- Financial investment
- Staffing requirements
- Training requirements
- Action plan and timeframe
Part Three: Develop and Learn (policy, procedures and training)
This stage is about developing a safeguarding adults policy and procedures that are robust and fit for purpose and bespoke to your organisation. It is important to use the right language for your audience and adapt already existing templates to suit your needs. It is a good idea to consult with a range of staff and user groups throughout your organisation to ensure that your policy and procedures work for all.
You should also plan and be prepared for an increase in safeguarding enquiries, questions and referrals as the policies and procedures are shared with the rest of the organisation and user groups. To help the smooth implementation of this stage, plan to roll out safeguarding adults training across the organisation so that everyone has a basic awareness and knows what to do if they have a concern. There are different courses available for different job roles which can be found on our website here: Choose the right safeguarding training
You’ll establish and implement your:
- Safeguarding Adults Policy and other policies
- Safer recruitment and safe running and reporting procedures
- Resources and tools
- Staff skill development
Part Four: Communicate and Implement
Throughout the developmental stage, consideration should be given to the language used in your documents to ensure it fits with your target audience. Safeguarding Adults may not be at the top of everyone’s agenda and therefore needs to be introduced in a way which is relevant and applicable to the range of people within the organisation. The information will need to be tailored to each group which should form part of the communications plan. The information should be accessible and supported by links for further information.
You’ll develop processes to:
- Develop a communications plan – to staff, volunteers, participants etc.
- Start using policy and procedures
- Implement the organisational action plan
- Establish a monitoring system
Part Five: Review and Adapt
In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures that have been put in place, monitoring systems – (both short and long terms) should be developed from the start. This can then be used to evidence whether or not the level of risk, identified in the risk register, has lowered. It should also identify any areas that may need adapting if they are not working as well as expected.
Safeguarding adults is a process and all policies and procedures should be reviewed every two years to ensure they are still fit for purpose and to include any new legislative changes.
You’ll develop processes to:
- Monitor and evaluate impact against action plan
- Produce board reports
- Review risk register and add new areas as necessary
- Amend policies and procedures as required
Part Six: Embedding and Organisational Learning
At this stage safeguarding adults should not be seen as a bolt on, it should be embedded throughout the organisation. Below provides a checklist of ideas to show that you are effectively embedding safeguarding.
Monitor and report on:
- Evidence that the safeguarding culture is changing
- Equality, diversity and inclusion
- Sharing learning with others
- Number and types of referrals
Completed Part Six of the Safeguarding Adults in Sport Roadmap?
Safeguarding adults is a continual process. Once you’ve added your notes and actions to all parts of the Roadmap, it’s time to go through and complete the actions.
We suggest working through the Roadmap every 2 years to build a process for continual improvement in your organisation.