Five ways to improve adult safeguarding
Many people with care and support needs live in sheltered, supported or extra-care housing, but a high, and increasing, proportion live in mainstream social housing. Housing staff can play a vital role in safeguarding adults from abuse, neglect and harm, working alongside their partners in social care, health and the police. They are well placed to identify people at risk of abuse, and it's important that they work in partnership to coordinate responses and know when to share information.
Here are five tips for housing sector staff, so that they can better protect and safeguard people who might be at risk of abuse.
1. Report your concerns
This is known as raising an alert. When doing so, frontline staff should give as much information about their concern as possible. The local authority must take alerts seriously and consider whether to initiate adult safeguarding procedures. If it decides not to do so, it should advise on alternative courses of action. Staff should be supported by their manager if they feel that the local authority has failed to respond appropriately.
In an emergency, and if there is actual or immediate risk of abuse, they should call 999. Often, it will be less serious than that, but it's still just as important to report all their concerns to a manager, to make a record of what the person disclosed and what action has been taken as a result. All the while, they will need to reassure the person who has made the allegation that their concerns are being taken seriously, while ensuring people's safety.
2. Work with social care managers
Social care managers should understand the role that housing staff can play in safeguarding. Multi-agency training and awareness-raising can help different professionals understand one another's roles. This collaborative approach includes working together to resolve issues where the individual may not be eligible for social care support, refuses support or self-neglects.
3. Do your homework and get the language right
It's important that all staff have a common understanding of the language and definitions of safeguarding. Key agencies, such as local authorities, health and care providers, housing and the police, are expected to follow the procedures. They can work together to make this happen. It's also important that all staff know about the various different types of abuse, for instance: psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional abuse. Training and guidance needs to use consistent language and terms so that all parties know what safeguarding is – and how to respond.
4. Raise awareness throughout the organisation
Everyone should be trained to a level that suits their role. For instance, Renny Wodynska, director of Supported Housing at Bournville Village Trust, says that her organisation trains every staff member in safeguarding. That could be housing officers, but also contractors such as gas fitters. It also includes local residents. She feels strongly that if communities are aware of safeguarding issues, they're much more likely to work together to protect people at potential risk. Her organisation's philosophy is summed up when she says that "everyone has a responsibility".
5. Empower your residents
Social care and housing staff (and their managers) can provide guidance and training for people with care and support needs to help them to protect themselves. They can be made aware of what to look out for and who to tell about a safeguarding concern. For instance, one tip is to always ask for a card when someone official arrives at their front door. This philosophy can extend to carers; they may have a great desire to help safeguard their relatives, but may need to be pointed in the right direction to start.
Tony Hunter is chief executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence. Read the institute's new report Adult safeguarding for housing staff
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