Safeguarding Statement

At You First Support Services we are committed  to safeguarding. Safeguarding means protecting people’s health, wellbeing, and human rights. Enabling them to live free from harm, abuse, and neglect.

What does abuse and neglect mean?

Abuse can mean:

·       Physical abuse – hitting, slapping, or causing injury

·       Emotional or psychological abuse – intimidation, humiliation, or controlling behaviour

·       Sexual abuse – any unwanted sexual activity or exploitation

·       Financial abuse – stealing, fraud, or controlling someone’s money

·       Discriminatory abuse – treating someone unfairly due to age, race, gender, disability, religion, or other characteristics

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Neglect is when someone fails to meet a person’s basic needs, either intentionally or unintentionally, putting their health or wellbeing at risk. Examples include:

·        Failing to provide food, water, or adequate medical care

·        Not ensuring a safe environment

·        Ignoring personal hygiene or emotional needs

In short: abuse is doing harm; neglect is failing to provide care or protection.

You First Support Services Commitment to Safeguarding:

As a social care provider, we are fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of adults with care and support needs, as well as children and unborn babies who may be at risk of harm. We recognise our legal and moral responsibility is to ensure that robust safeguarding policies and procedures are in place and followed at all times. All staff and volunteers are trained to identify, report, and respond appropriately to concerns regarding abuse, neglect, or exploitation, in accordance with statutory guidance and local safeguarding partnerships.

Who is responsible for safeguarding in the organisation?

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility at You First Support Services. All employees, volunteers, and partners play a role in protecting vulnerable people. Our comprehensive safeguarding policy provides a detailed breakdown of individual roles and responsibilities to ensure everyone understands their duties and how to act in line with best practice.

All employees have access to our Safeguarding Policies and procedures Via QCS

What is QCS?

https://app.qcs.co.uk/account/login

QCS stands for Quality & Compliance Systems. You First Support Services uses QCS to support and manage its policies and procedures across the organisation. All employees have access to the QCS app on their phones, giving them easy access to company policies wherever they are.

Registered Managers Responsibilities:

Our Registered Managers are responsible for ensuring the highest standards of safeguarding across our services, an outline in Regulation 13 Safeguarding Service user from abuse and improper treatment. They are responsible for protecting the welfare of adults with care and support needs, as well as children and unborn babies who may be at risk of harm. They must ensure that our safeguarding policies and procedures are followed at all times, and that all staff and volunteers are trained to recognise, report, and respond appropriately to any concerns about abuse, neglect, or exploitation, in line with statutory guidance and local safeguarding partnerships.

Nominated Individual Responsibility:

Our Nominated Individual is the Safeguarding Lead for the organisation. The nominated individuals holds overall responsibility for ensuring effective safeguarding across all our services. They provide oversight, guidance, and accountability to make sure robust policies, procedures, and training are in place, and that safeguarding concerns are managed promptly and in line with CQC regulations and statutory guidance

To see who our Nominated Individual is here at You First Support Services, click the link: Link to our Nominated Individual https://youfirstsupportservices.org.uk/our-team

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Community Roles in Safeguarding of Vulnerable Adults:

We recognise that friends, family, external professionals and the local community play a vital role in protecting and promoting the rights of vulnerable adults.

If you have any concerns in relation to a vulnerable adult here at You First Support Services, you can contact us at: safeguarding.enquiry@youfirstsupportservices.org.uk

Safe Call

Safe call is an independent whistleblowing service that allows employees and volunteers to report concerns about malpractice, abuse, or unsafe practices anonymously, confidentially and safely. It reflects our commitment to ensuring the organisation is protected at all levels, including addressing issues involving people in positions of power (PiPoP)

At You First Support Services, we aim to create an environment where everyone feels safe and confident raising safeguarding concerns, knowing that their concerns will be listened to. We also recognise that not everyone may feel comfortable doing so directly. Safecall provides an independent and confidential way for every voice to be heard, no matter the concern.

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