Before Raising a Safeguarding Concern

Please Consider:

• If raising a safeguarding concern is not an appropriate referral route, if you are still concerned that the adult is being harmed. Consider: who will I contact to engage with the adult and/or support me to help to problem solve? – this may fall outside of adult social care, such as voluntary care and health organisations.
• Concerns about the adult’s welfare can be referred separately to adult social care for an offer to the person of a needs assessment, if the person has care and support needs.
• Careful record should be kept about why the referrer felt it was necessary to make the referral to protect against the risks of abuse, despite the lack of consent.
• It may be that concerns about abuse which has or is likely to have a less serious impact are not referred without consent in order to protect the adult’s right to respect for private life, but it is important to record why it was felt that sharing information was not necessary.
• Self- Neglect and Hoarding Safeguarding Pathway Toolkit has been created to support professionals across the West of Berkshire in their decision making when considering if a safeguarding concern should be raised in response to concerns in regard to vulnerable adults that are or are at risk of self-neglecting and/or hoarding. On completion of the toolkit a total risk score will be obtained and advice on what action should be taken in regard to the total score is provided. There are two example toolkits based on fictitious cases Mr. Brown and Mrs. Red, please refer to for best practice examples of completed toolkits.
• Adult Safeguarding Pathway, Decision Making Tool, is a document that has been developed by Reading Borough Council, West Berkshire Council and Wokingham Borough Council to support a shared understanding of decision making for adult safeguarding.
• Allegation Management Framework/Person in a Position of Trust, the Care Act 2014 requires the local authority, its relevant partners and those providing universal care and support services, to have clear policies for dealing with allegations against people in positions of trust i.e. anyone working in either a paid or unpaid capacity with adults with care and support needs. The people in position of trusts (PIPOTS) may be people who are employed and work with or voluntarily undertake activity with adults or children (for example where an employee/worker/volunteer has been accused of the abuse or neglect of an adult with care and support needs). It may be appropriate to refer to PiPOT rather than raising a safeguarding concern, contact the relevant local authority for advice.
• Pathways for multi-agency planning, across the West of Berkshire there are several pathways available to use in order to support adults with care and support needs where there are concerns about their welfare and/or Abuse or Neglect. This document has been produced to support practitioners in their understanding of these frameworks

Risk of Self-Harm and/or Suicide

• There are circumstance in which risk of suicide will be identified as a safeguarding. Suicide is at one end of a continuum of self-harm. Self-harm and self-neglect are not the same, although there may be some overlap. What drives people to hurt themselves may also drive them to deprive themselves of the basic care and comfort they need in order to thrive.
• Self-harm including attempted suicide and suicide is often a way of dealing with difficult feelings and memories of overwhelming situations and experiences. Support is available for anyone who self-harms and thinks about self-harming. Safety of the person is paramount and in a mental crisis or emergency, call a mental health crisis line or 999.
• Whilst self-harm and risk of suicide is not listed by the Care Act as a type of abuse or neglect, the guidance is clear that abuse and neglect can take may forms and the circumstances of the individual case should always be considered. When considering if a safeguarding concern should be raised, consider if there is reasonable cause to suspect that the adult is experiencing, or at risk of abuse or neglect and could the self-harm/suicidal thoughts be because of abuse and neglect.
• A safeguarding concern may be appropriate when there is reasonable cause to suspect that the individual has need for care and support and because conversations have uncovered reasonable cause to suspect abuse and/or neglect as a factor in suicidal thoughts/threats. If a safeguarding concern is not determined as the most appropriate route, then another pathway for support for the adult will be indicated. It may be that the situation is believed initially not to constitute a safeguarding concern, but later new information indicates that it does. This should be monitored and there should be a preparedness to change approach where necessary in the light of new information.