Clevedon and District Community Land Trust Ltd (CDCLT)- Draft Safeguarding Policy
 

1. Introduction

• The CDCLT is registered (No 8787) with the Financial Conduct Authority as a Community Benefit Society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. The CDCLT does not employ staff. It is run by an elected Board from among its membership volunteers - all of whom pay a minimum of £1 to support its objects. The current and short -term activities anticipated by the CDCLT do not include direct contact or involvement with children but if this changes the CDCLT will review this policy in addition to normal annual policy review.

• This policy lays out the commitments made by the CDCLT and informs, Directors, Members and associated personnel, (including accredited volunteers, and others who may have contact with the CDCLT) of their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding and the avoidance of harm. Safeguarding applies consistently and without exception with regards to any activities or actions carried out under the name of CDCLT.
• This includes harm arising from:

• the conduct of staff or personnel associated with the CDCLT. This includes any form of physical, verbal, sexual, and religious harassment and bullying,
• the design and implementation of the CDCLT’s programmes and activities.

 

• This policy does not cover safeguarding concerns in the wider community that occur unless they have a direct link with the CDCLT and its reputation with the community that it serves.

 
2. What is safeguarding
The Care Act statutory guidance defines adult safeguarding as:
“Protecting an adult’s right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect. It is about people and organisations working together to prevent and stop both the risks and experience of abuse and neglect…..”
 

1. Scope

           This includes
 

• All members and volunteers of the CDCLT,  plus
• associated personnel whilst engaged with work or visits related to the CDCLT including but not limited to the following: consultants; volunteers; contractors; programme visitors including journalists, celebrities and politicians who may visit CDCLT or become involved with it in some capacity.

 
 
4. Policy Statement
 
The CDCLT believes that everyone we come into contact with, regardless of age, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation or ethnic origin has the right to be protected from all forms of harm, abuse, neglect and exploitation. The CLT will not tolerate abuse and exploitation by staff or associated personnel. This policy will address the following areas of safeguarding [as appropriate]: child safeguarding, adult safeguarding, and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse. These key areas of safeguarding may have different policies and procedures associated with them.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Safeguarding Policy Approved
 
The CDCLT commits to addressing safeguarding throughout its work, utilising the three pillars of prevention, reporting and response
 

1. Prevention

       The CDCLT will:
 

• Ensure all members and volunteers of the CDCLT/ will have access to, are familiar with, and know their responsibilities within this safeguarding policy.
• Design and undertake all its meetings, programmes and activities in a way that protects people from any risk of harm that may arise from their coming into contact with the CDCLT. This includes the way in which information about individuals in our programmes is gathered and communicated
•  Implement stringent safeguarding procedures when recruiting, managing and deploying members of the CDCLT and associated personnel.
• Ensure members including volunteers receive training on safeguarding at a level commensurate with their role in the organization and that they understand they must not

• engage in sexual activity with anyone under the age of 18,
• sexually abuse or exploit any individual regardless of their age or their gender.
• subject any individual or group to physical, emotional or psychological abuse or neglect, this includes behaviour often described as bullying.
• engage in any commercially exploitative activities that involve the use of child labour or human trafficking.
• Must understand that we as a CDCLT welcome diversity within our community and respect people from all faiths or none.

 
 
 
2. Reporting
Members of the CDCLT must report any concerns or suspicions regarding safeguarding violations to the nominated Safeguarding Officer.
The CDCLT will also accept concerns from external sources such as members of the public, partners and official bodies.
 
3. Response
The CDCLT will

• follow up safeguarding reports and concerns according to policy and procedure, and legal and statutory obligations.  
• apply appropriate disciplinary measures to members and volunteers found in breach of policy.
• offer support to survivors of harm caused by members and volunteers, regardless of whether a formal internal response is carried out (such as an internal investigation). Decisions regarding support will be led by the survivor. Support is likely to take the form of referrals to organisations and agencies who have expertise in dealing with such matters and can offer appropriate levels of support.

 
Any member of the CDCLT to whom a safeguarding matter is raised should do the following:
Write down the name of the person raising the issue and how to contact them, explain that these will be shared with our Safeguarding Officer who will be in touch with them. Once these details are passed to the Safeguarding Officer, that officer will contact the person who raised the safeguarding concern.
 
The Safeguarding Officer will then speak with them and record the only the facts, i.e. the nature of the safeguarding concern, who was involved, and the dates and times, and where it took place.  The safeguarding officer will then meet with the Deputy Safeguarding Officer and a decision will be taken about whether support is required from outside agencies such as the police or social services to gain their advice and support. Or whether the CDCLT is able to deal with the issue that has been raised internally. It is always important to acknowledge the limits of any individual’s personal expertise and seek advice where necessary from outside agencies such as the police and social services. While the CDCLT takes its safeguarding responsibilities seriously, it does not carry out checks from the Disclosing and Barring Service at this time so DBS checks are not required for those who are actively involved in the CDCLT at any level. It is essential that confidentiality is maintained at all stages, though those who raise safeguarding concerns must be made aware that we do and must refer to outside agencies such as the Police and Social Services if we feel that the matter raised requires us to do so, in order for the CDCLT to have carried out is duty to safeguard responsibly and fully.
 
Currently the Safeguarding Officer for CDCLT is Ivy Cameron and her Deputy Safeguarding Officer is Adele Gardner. It has been agreed by the CDCLT that this policy will be reviewed annually, unless there is a good reason to review it more frequently. All those who are a member of CDCLT or act for it in some way, will be given a copy of this policy so that they are clear about the importance of safeguarding, and how to take concerns forward.
 
Because CDCLT does not currently hold events, activities, or have property that engages us in meeting with those below the age of 18, children do not feature in our safeguarding policy in any specific way. Though we are clear about the societal need to safeguard them. Should this change, our policy will be updated to reflect their inclusion in our safeguarding policy.