1. Safeguarding commitment at Central London Humanists

    1. Safeguarding is the action of protecting children and adults from harm. Creating a safe and welcoming environment, where everyone is respected and valued, is at the heart of safeguarding.

    2. This policy aims to ensure that Central London Humanists (CLH) is run in a way that actively prevents harm, harassment, bullying, abuse, and neglect. It is also about being ready to respond safely if there is a concern. We have a duty to safeguard volunteers, other event participants, and supporters. All CLH volunteers have a role to play in safeguarding. It is part of our regular activities and duty of care to our members and supporters.

    3. This CLH Safeguarding Policy is based on the safeguarding policy of the UK national charity, and CLH partner organisation, Humanists UK.

    4. This policy will be reviewed every two years by the CLH Safeguarding Subcommittee.

      1. This policy was last reviewed in: May 2023.

    5. This policy applies to everyone volunteering with, or on behalf of, CLH.

    6. CLH is committed to the protection from harm of all people who come into contact with the organisation, though particular consideration is given to children and vulnerable adults.

    7. These are the principles underpinning safeguarding at CLH:

      1. The welfare of the individual is paramount.

      2. All people, without exception, have the right to protection from abuse.

      3. The policy should be read, understood, and followed by all CLH volunteers including all Organising Committee members and members of subcommittees. This policy relates to the safeguarding of all CLH volunteers, event attendees, online followers, and members of our online social media communities.

      4. All concerns and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously by CLH. This could require a referral to children's services or adult social services and, in emergencies, the police.

      5. CLH is committed to safe recruitment, selection, and vetting of volunteer personnel.

      6. This policy should be read alongside other relevant CLH volunteer policies.

      7. All CLH volunteers must report any concerns or allegations of abuse to either CLH lead safeguarding officer, CLH deputy safeguarding officer, children's services, adult social services, or the police. Failures to report will be taken up using CLH’s disciplinary procedures.

      8. CLH volunteers are encouraged to flag concerns about the policy or procedures relating to safeguarding, to the lead safeguarding officer.

  2. Safeguarding contacts and officers

    1. CLH has an appointed Safeguarding Subcommittee that is composed of a safeguarding officer, as well as other members of the Organising Committee.

    2. The safeguarding officer at CLH is:

      Rebekah Bunbury

      [email protected]

    3. Should the safeguarding officer not be available for any reason, issues of concern can be referred directly to the relevant local safeguarding board.

    4. Should the concern be about an immediate risk to an individual, call 999.

  3. Purpose of safeguarding

    1. The purpose of safeguarding is to protect people's health, wellbeing, and human rights, and to enable them to live free from harm, abuse, and neglect. Below are the most common types of abuse:

      Physical abuse

      Sexual harassment, abuse and exploitation

      Psychological or emotional abuse

      Domestic violence or abuse

      Financial or material abuse

      Modern slavery, or commercial exploitation

      Discriminatory abuse

      Organisational or institutional abuse

      Neglect

      Self-neglect

      Cyber abuse

    2. The above list of types of abuse is not exhaustive, and people may experience more than one type of abuse at the same time. Exploitation is a theme throughout.

    3. Child safeguarding duties apply to any organisation coming into contact with anyone under the age of 18.

      Safeguarding children means:

      1. Protecting children from maltreatment.
      2. Preventing harm to children's health or development.
      3. Ensuring that children grow up with the provision of safe and effective care.
      4. Taking action to enable all children and young people to have the best outcomes.

    4. Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.

  4. Safeguarding adults at risk

    1. Safeguarding duties for adults at risk (often referred to as vulnerable adults) apply to organisations working with anyone aged 18 or over who:

      1. Has needs for care and support (whether or not the local authority is meeting any of those needs) and is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect.

      2. 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.

    2. An adult at risk of abuse may:

      1. Have an illness affecting their mental or physical health.
      2. Have a learning disability, medical condition
      3. Suffer from drug or alcohol problems
      4. Be elderly and frail
      5. Be a family carer
      6. May have protected characteristics as a result of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation.

    3. A more precise definition of Vulnerable Adults can be found in Section 59 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 but this broader “Adults at Risk” definition from the Charity Commission is helpful in understanding the broad scope of safeguarding. Any adult could be “at risk”, whether they are in a care setting or not.

  5. Confidentiality

    1. It is important that members of the public who contact CLH feel able to share information with us. CLH should keep this information confidential as far as possible.

    2. However, this confidentiality cannot be absolute, and CLH has a responsibility to share personal information if we believe that doing so could prevent a serious crime, or prevent serious injury to, or abuse of, themselves, or another person.

  6. Managing risks

    1. Risk assessments should be conducted to ensure that the safety of children and vulnerable adults is paramount. A proportional response to risks should be taken, with high-risk activities not engaged in without appropriate mitigation measures in place.

    2. CLH personnel typically do not engage in any unsupervised activities involving children under the age of 18. Parents, carers or an otherwise responsible party should always be in attendance.

    3. Should CLH personnel find themselves alone with a child or vulnerable adult in an unforeseen situation, they should seek help as quickly as possible, for example by moving to a group setting, or moving to be with a DBS-checked member of staff from CLH.

    4. Supervision of activities with known vulnerable adults should be provided by a DBS-checked individual. Activity planning meetings may, by their very nature, involve two people working alone, whether online or in a private space. A proportional response to risk should always be taken. If there is any reason to have concern about such a situation, the lead safeguarding officer should be consulted immediately. This mitigates the risk of harm to all parties involved.

    5. Planned, unsupervised one-to-one contact with vulnerable adults does not occur in CLH activities.

  7. Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks

    1. DBS checks are arranged by the CLH secretary and safeguarding officer, together with the CLH Safeguarding Subcommittee.

    2. The DBS check must be conducted by an umbrella body from the GOV.UK list.

    3. The requirement for a specific CLH volunteer role to be DBS checked will be determined by the Safeguarding Subcommittee at the creation of the new role and, for existing roles, will be reviewed every two years.

    4. At present, the following CLH role(s) require(s) a DBS check:

      1. Safeguarding officer

    5. If an individual subscribes to the DBS Update Service and their record can be verified as current, this will replace the need for a specific new DBS check.