Safeguarding resources

Resources to support local areas’ roles and responsibilities in keeping people safe.

Key resources

Safeguarding roles and responsibilities: Safeguarding is everybody's business

Produced in 2023 and developed by representatives of people with lived experience, Directors of Adult Social Services, Care and Health Improvement Programme leads, social workers, the police, and the NHS, this aims to offer a brief guide to the roles and responsibilities for safeguarding adults.

Making Safeguarding personal

A series of tools to support Making Safeguarding Personal, measure effectiveness and improve safeguarding practice.

Safeguarding reviews and enquiries

Understanding what constitutes a safeguarding concern and how to support effective outcomes

The purpose of this framework and its appendices is to offer support in making decisions about safeguarding concerns. Produced in September 2020, it offers a framework to support practice, recording and reporting in order to impact positively on outcomes for people and on the level of accountability for those outcomes.

Making decisions on the duty to carry out Safeguarding Adults enquiries

The purpose of the framework developed on behalf of ADASS and LGA is to offer support in making decisions about whether or not a reported safeguarding adults concern requires a statutory enquiry under the Section 42 (S42) duty of the Care Act, 2014. It aims to support practice, recording and reporting in order to positively impact on outcomes for people and accountability for those outcomes. Five appendices (pdf) support the report. Related cross sector work will follow which considers the circumstances that constitute a safeguarding enquiry.

Analysis of Safeguarding Adult Reviews

Second analysis of Safeguarding Adult Reviews

This briefing summarises the key findings from the second ‘Analysis of Safeguarding Adult Reviews April 2019 – March 2023’. Produced in July 2024, it aims to support authors commissioned to undertake a Safeguarding Adult Review (SAR) to carry out their work in compliance with statutory guidance and to support wider learning that can inform improvement priorities in adult safeguarding.

There is also an executive summary and targeted briefings for individuals and families, SAB chairs and business managers, senior leaders and SAB members, elected members, SAR authors and practitioners.

First national analysis of Safeguarding Adult Reviews

This first national analysis of Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs) held in England between April 2017 - March 2019 seeks to identify priorities for sector-led improvement. A summary identifies the headline findings with further detail in the main report. Six shorter, targeted briefings take key findings and identifies key messages for taking the learning and improvement work forward. They are aimed at elected members, DASS and members of Safeguarding Adults Boards, practitioners, Safeguarding Adults Board chairs and business managers, Safeguarding Adults Review authors and individuals and their families.

Safeguarding Adult Reviews - assessing the impact and managing the challenges of embedding learning

A series of Zoom webinars Safeguarding Adult Reviews addressed the challenges expressed by Safeguarding Adult Boards regarding how to embed the learning from SARS, how to choose the right methodology from a range of possible options, and how to determine that findings and recommendations have led to policy changes. You can view the slides from the webinars: Assessing the impact and managing the challenges of embedding learning from Safeguarding Adult Reviews.

Key issues

Carers and safeguarding

The briefing from 2022 aims to be a practical tool to support the improvement in practice regarding safeguarding adults as well as safeguarding their carers.

Discriminatory abuse

Learning from Safeguarding Adults Reviews - discrimination and discriminatory abuse, 1 November 2023

Discriminatory abuse self-assessment tool: safeguarding adults

Roundtable on discriminatory abuse, 14 July 2022

Discriminatory abuse: a scoping exercise

Discriminatory abuse: a briefing for practitioners forms part of a larger piece of work, and series of activities and resources, to gain a better understanding of discriminatory abuse, and how to recognise equality characteristics in case management, and more broadly recognise unconscious bias and discrimination in practice, approaches and strategies within adult safeguarding.

Find out more about this in the presentations from a SARs and discriminatory abuse webinar that took place in June 2022.

Safeguarding and domestic abuse

Safe care at home, 28 February 2024

Self-neglect

The Making Safeguarding Personal in self-neglect workbook produced by Research in Practice, draws on evidence from research and safeguarding adult reviews (SARs) to identify how making safeguarding personal can make a difference to the health, wellbeing and safety of people who are self-neglecting.

Transitional safeguarding resources

This resource is a one-stop-shop in response to a request from the attendees to the Transitional Safeguarding webinars run by Partners in Care and Health (PCH). It has been developed by the Transitional Safeguarding Reference Group, hosted by PCH.

Safeguarding Adults Boards

National Escalation Protocol for issues from Safeguarding Adults Reviews from Safeguarding Adult Boards (2023)

National Network for Chairs of Safeguarding Adults Boards (SAB) Annual Report 2019 – 2020. Previous reports and the results of surveys are available in the Adult Safeguarding Community of Practice in the Knowledge Hub group.

Integrated Care

Health and social care, integrated care and safeguarding adults

Examples of service user involvement with SABS

Resources for SABs to support Making Safeguarding Personal:

This suite of resources is intended to support Safeguarding Adults Boards (SABs) and partners in developing and promoting Making Safeguarding Personal.

The role of the SAB chair

This guide explains the role of the Safeguarding Adults Board chair, including the functions of the role, the knowledge and skills needed and how chairs can develop their knowledge and skills.

Safeguarding adults and assurance

Safeguarding adults assurance information resource for directors of adult social services aims to bring together some of the existing tools for audit, review and assurance to support sector led improvement in safeguarding adults. The new regime is based on statutory requirements in the Care and Support statutory guidance regarding safeguarding adults, and local authorities are the lead agency for safeguarding adults.

Raising awareness and understanding

Adult safeguarding and homelessness

The purpose of the Adult safeguarding and homelessness: experience informed practice briefing is to assist senior leaders, such as members of Safeguarding Adults Boards (SABs), as well as commissioners, practitioners and operational managers who are working across relevant sectors and agencies in this field, to support people who are homeless and at risk of or experiencing abuse or neglect. Building on Adult Safeguarding and Homelessness: a briefing on positive practice, this includes examples of positive learning and practice from the different sectors involved, especially housing, health and social care, both statutory and third sector.

COVID-19 adult safeguarding insight project: findings and discussion

This project was developed to create a national picture about safeguarding adults’ activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is hoped the data collected could improve understanding of the impact of COVID-19 locally and nationally to help inform preparations and future planning. The first report: COVID-19 Adult Safeguarding Insight Project: Findings and Discussion provided a picture up until June 2020. The second Insight Project report provided information up to December 2020. This third Insight Project report covers the period up to June 2021.

Audio-visual resources on safeguarding adults

A range of organisations produced a number of resources to raise awareness of abuse and neglect of adults with care and support needs. Others tackled particular issues such as mate crime or hoarding.

'Must knows' for lead members for adult social care

The 'Must knows' are a long-standing source of information and support focusing on key issues facing portfolio holders. This must know looks at the role of local leaders in keeping people safe and promoting MSP. How do you know your council is being effective in keeping people safe?

Other resources to support work on safeguarding adults

Safeguarding list of resources: a consolidated list of key safeguarding resources for council, care providers, safeguarding adult boards and wider partners
MCA including DoLs: a list of key resources for councils and their partners on implementing the Mental Capacity Act including the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards