Safeguarding procedures

Safeguarding means protecting adults from abuse, neglect, exploitation and harm. Under the Care Act 2014 the local council leads safeguarding enquiries; everyone who works with adults has a part to play in noticing harm and reporting it. These procedures say what care professionals who work through Steadlo do, and what Steadlo does when it's told.

1. Steadlo's safeguarding lead

Steadlo's safeguarding lead is a director of Steadlo Ltd, who makes sure every concern is handled and decides on referrals. Reach them through Steadlo:
Phone: 01603 339390
Email: support@steadlo.com

2. Recognising harm

Harm can take many forms. The Care Act 2014 recognises:

• physical abuse;
• domestic abuse;
• sexual abuse;
• psychological or emotional abuse;
• financial or material abuse;
• modern slavery;
• discriminatory abuse;
• organisational abuse;
• neglect and acts of omission; and
• self-neglect.

Signs include unexplained injuries, a change in someone's mood or behaviour, missing money or belongings, poor hygiene or nutrition, or someone seeming afraid of a person close to them.

3. What a care professional does

1. If someone is in immediate danger, call 999 first.
2. Listen, stay calm, and don't investigate or confront anyone. Never promise to keep what you're told a secret.
3. Write down the facts as soon as you can, in the person's own words where possible, by raising a safeguarding concern in the Steadlo app. The app records it, works with no signal, and shows you who to call.
4. Report it to the council's adult social care team: in Norfolk, Adult Social Services on 0344 800 8020. If a crime may have happened, tell the police on 101.
5. Tell Steadlo the same day. Raising the concern in the app does this; you can also phone.
6. Cooperate with any enquiry by the council or the police.

4. What Steadlo does

• Acknowledges the concern as soon as it can, and records it.
• Checks that it has been reported to the council, or the police where needed. If it hasn't been, or the concern came from someone else, Steadlo reports it itself and records that it did.
• Decides who else needs to know, sharing information only where the law allows.
• Where a concern, a check or a legal restriction creates a reasonable risk to someone's safety, pauses the care professional from new work while it's looked into.
• Cooperates with the council, the police and other authorities, and keeps the records they may need.

5. Concerns about a care professional

If a concern is about a care professional working through Steadlo, Steadlo pauses them from new work while it's looked into, reports it to the council where it should, and cooperates with any enquiry. They're told what's happening unless telling them would put someone at risk or harm an enquiry.

6. Concerns about Steadlo

If you're worried about how Steadlo itself has handled something, tell Steadlo's safeguarding lead. If you'd rather not, or you're not satisfied, contact the council's adult social care team directly. Nobody is penalised for raising a concern in good faith.

7. Referrals to the Disclosure and Barring Service

Where Steadlo has a legal duty, or a lawful basis, to refer someone to the Disclosure and Barring Service, it will do so.

8. Records and review

• Concerns and what was done about them are kept securely, and only the people who need to see them can.
• These procedures are reviewed at least once a year, and whenever the law or Steadlo's services change.