The Purple Elephant Project is committed to Safeguarding Adults in line with national legislation and relevant national and local guidelines. We will safeguard adults by ensuring that our services are delivered in a way which keeps all adults safe. The Purple Elephant Project is committed to creating a culture of zero-tolerance of harm to adults which necessitates: the recognition of adults who may be at risk and the circumstances which may increase risk; knowing how adult abuse, exploitation or neglect manifests itself; and being willing to report safeguarding concerns. This extends to recognising and reporting harm experienced anywhere, including within our activities, within other organised community or voluntary activities, in the community, in the person’s own home and in any other setting. The Purple Elephant Project is committed to best safeguarding practice and to uphold the rights of all adults to live a life free from harm from abuse, exploitation and neglect.
The Purple Elephant Project believes everyone has the right to live free from abuse or neglect regardless of age, ability or disability, sex, race, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, marital or gender status. The Purple Elephant Project is committed to creating and maintaining a safe and positive environment and an open, listening culture where people feel able to share concerns without fear of retribution. The Purple Elephant Project acknowledges that safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility and is committed to prevent abuse and neglect through safeguarding the welfare of all adults involved. The Purple Elephant Project recognises that health, well-being, ability, disability and need for care and support can affect a person’s resilience. We recognise that some people experience barriers, for example, to communication in raising concerns or seeking help. We recognise that these factors can vary at different points in people’s lives. Actions taken by The Purple Elephant Project will be consistent with the principles of adult safeguarding ensuring that any action taken is prompt, proportionate and that it includes and respects the voice of the adult concerned.
The purpose of this policy is to demonstrate the commitment of The Purple Elephant Project to safeguarding adults and to ensure that everyone involved in The Purple Elephant Project is aware of:
This safeguarding adult policy and associated procedures apply to all individuals involved in The Purple Elephant Project including trustees, staff, therapists and volunteers and to all concerned about the safety of adults whilst taking part in our organisation, its activities and in the wider community.
In order to implement this policy, The Purple Elephant Project will ensure that:
The Purple Elephant Project is committed to developing and maintaining its capability to implement this policy and procedures. In order to do so, the following will be in place:
Policies and procedures that address the following areas and which are consistent with this Safeguarding Adults policy:
Safeguarding Adults is compliant with United Nations directives on the rights of disabled people and commitments to the rights of older people. It is covered by:
The practices and procedures within this policy are based on the relevant legislation and government guidance.
Many other pieces of UK and home nation legislation also affect adult safeguarding. These include legislation about different forms of abuse and those that govern information sharing. For example, legislation dealing with
The Safeguarding Adults legislation creates specific responsibilities on local authorities, health, and the police to provide additional protection from abuse and neglect to Adults at Risk.
When a local authority has reason to believe there is an adult at risk, they have a responsibility to find out more about the situation and decide what actions need to be taken to support the adult.
The actions that need to be taken might be by the local authority (usually social services) and/or by other agencies, for example the Police and Health. The local authority role includes having multi-agency procedures which coordinate the actions taken by different organisations.
An Adult at risk is (England (Care Act 2014)
An adult at risk is an individual aged 18 years and over who:
(a) has needs for care and support (whether or not the local authority is meeting any of those needs) AND;
(b) is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect, AND;
(c) as a result of those care and support needs is unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of abuse or neglect.
Abuse is a violation of an individual’s human and civil rights by another person or persons. It can occur in any relationship and may result in significant harm to, or exploitation of, the person subjected to it. Any or all of the following types of abuse may be perpetrated as the result of deliberate intent, negligence, omission or ignorance.
There are different types and patterns of abuse and neglect and different circumstances in which they may take place.
Safeguarding legislation lists categories of abuse including the following types of abuse:
An adult may confide to a member of staff, therapist, volunteer or another participant that they are experiencing abuse inside or outside of the organisation’s setting. Similarly, others may suspect that this is the case.
There are many signs and indicators that may suggest someone is being abused or neglected. There may be other explanations, but they should not be ignored. The signs and symptoms include but are not limited to:
The concept of ‘well-being’ is threaded throughout UK legislation and is part of the law about how health and social care is provided. Our well-being includes our mental and physical health, our relationships, our connection with our communities and our contribution to society.
Being able to live free from abuse and neglect is a key element of well-being. For that reason any actions taken to safeguard an adult must take their whole well-being into account and be proportionate to the risk of harm.
The legislation also recognises that adults make choices that may mean that one part of our well-being suffers at the expense of another – for example we move away from friends and family to take a better job. Similarly, adults can choose to risk their personal safety; for example, to provide care to a partner with dementia who becomes abusive when they are disorientated and anxious.
None of us can make these choices for another adult. If we are supporting someone to make choices about their own safety we need to understand ‘What matters’ to them and what outcomes they want to achieve from any actions agencies take to help them to protect themselves.
The concept of ‘Person Centred Safeguarding’/’Making Safeguarding Personal’ means engaging the person in a conversation about how best to respond to their situation in a way that enhances their involvement, choice and control, as well as improving their quality of life, well-being and safety. Organisations work to support adults to achieve the outcomes they want for themselves. The adult’s views, wishes, feelings and beliefs must be taken into account when decisions are made about how to support them to be safe. There may be many different ways to prevent further harm. Working with the person will mean that actions taken help them to find the solution that is right for them. Treating people with respect, enhancing their dignity and supporting their ability to make decisions also helps promote people’s sense of self-worth and supports recovery from abuse.
If someone has difficulty making their views and wishes known, then they can be supported or represented by an advocate. This might be a safe family member or friend of their choice or a professional advocate (usually from a third sector organisation).
UK law assumes that all people over the age of 16 have the ability to make their own decisions, unless it has been proved that they cannot. It also gives us the right to make any decision that we need to make and gives us the right to make our own decisions even if others consider them to be unwise.
The law says that to make a decision we need to:
A person’s ability to do this may be affected by things such as learning disability, dementia, mental health needs, acquired brain injury and physical ill health.
Most adults have the ability to make their own decisions given the right support however, some adults with care and support needs have the experience of other people making decisions about them and for them. A small number of people cannot make any decisions. Being unable to make a decision is called “lacking mental capacity”.
Mental capacity refers to the ability to make a decision at the time that decision is needed. A person’s mental capacity can change. If it is safe/possible, wait until they are able to be involved in decision making or to make the decision themselves.
For example:
Mental capacity is important for safeguarding for several reasons.
Not being allowed to make decisions one is capable of making is abuse. For example, an adult is being abused and they are scared of the consequences of going against the views of the person abusing them. It is recognised in the law as coercion and a person can be seen not to have mental capacity because they cannot make ‘free and informed decisions’.
Mental capacity must also be considered when we believe abuse or neglect might be taking place. It is important to make sure an ‘adult at risk’ has choices in the actions taken to safeguard them, including whether or not they want other people informed about what has happened. However, in some situations the adult may not have the mental capacity to understand the choice or to tell you their views.
Each home nation has legislation that describes when and how we can make decisions for people who are unable to make decisions for themselves. The principles are the same.
If a person who has a lot of difficulty making their own decisions is thought to be being abused or neglected you will need to refer the situation to the local authority, and this should result in health or social care professionals making an assessment of mental capacity and/or getting the person the support they need to make decisions.
There may be times when The Purple Elephant Project needs to make decisions on behalf of an individual in an emergency. Decisions taken in order to safeguard an adult who cannot make the decision for themselves could include:
All organisations must comply with the Data Protection Act (DPA) and the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
Information about concerns of abuse includes personal data. It is therefore important to be clear as to the grounds for processing and sharing information about concerns of abuse.
Processing information includes record keeping. Records relating to safeguarding concerns must be accurate and relevant. They must be stored confidentially with access only to those with a need to know.
Sharing information, with the right people, is central to good practice in safeguarding adults. However, information sharing must only ever be with those with a ‘need to know’. This does NOT automatically include the person’s spouse, partner, adult, child, unpaid or paid carer. Information should only be shared with family and friends and/or carers with the consent of the adult or if the adult does not have capacity to make that decision and family/ friends/ carers need to know in order to help keep the person safe.
The purpose of Data Protection legislation is not to prevent information sharing but to ensure personal information is only shared appropriately. Data protection legislation allows information sharing within an organisation.
For example:
There are also many situations in which it is perfectly legal to share information about adult safeguarding concerns outside the organisation. Importantly personal information can be shared with the consent of the adult concerned. However, the adult may not always want information to be shared. This may be because they fear repercussions from the person causing harm or are scared that they will lose control of their situation to statutory bodies or because they feel stupid or embarrassed. Their wishes should be respected unless there are over-riding reasons for sharing information.
The circumstances when we need to share information without the adult’s consent include those where:
When information is shared without the consent of the adult this must be explained to them, when it is safe to do so, and any further actions should still fully include them.
If you are in doubt as to whether to share information seek advice e.g. seek legal advice and/or contact the local authority and explain the situation without giving personal details about the person at risk or the person causing harm.
Any decision to share or not to share information with an external person or organisation must be recorded together with the reasons to share or not share information.
Safeguarding adults legislation gives the lead role for adult safeguarding to the local authority. However, it is recognised that safeguarding can involve a wide range of organisations.
The Purple Elephant Project may need to cooperate with the local authority and the police including to:
