Safeguarding and Coronavirus
While the ongoing public health crisis continues to dominate most people’s work across the system it is important to remember that The Coronavirus Act 2020 does not affect the safeguarding protections in the Care Act (2014), particularly at Section 42 of the Care Act. Safeguarding is everyone’s business, so it is important that we remain alert to possible abuse or neglect concerns and work together to prevent and reduce the risk of harm to people with care and support needs, including those directly affected by Coronavirus and those whose vulnerability to abuse and neglect may have been increased by public health measures taken to control it.
- the vulnerability of the adult at risk and the seriousness of the abuse that is occurring; and
- the impact of the abuse and the risk of it recurring.
It is not designed to determine further actions, but rather to provide guidance and key considerations for practitioners who are assessing and managing risk. Practitioners should always seek advice from agency Safeguarding Leads when unsure what action should be taken in relation to concerns they may have. Safeguarding procedures should be used to not only react to significant harm occurring, but also to prevent it from occurring where there are clear indicators of vulnerability and risk. Careful assessment of past information may indicate that although significant harm has not occurred on this occasion, it is highly likely to in the future. Therefore, a multi-agency response following safeguarding procedures is the best course of action.
The following appendices have been published separately to the main document:
- Appendix G: Local Authority Raising Concerns Planning Meeting Agenda
- Appendix H: Local Authority Raising Concerns Planning Meeting Template
- Appendix I: Local Authority Safeguarding Enquiry Review Meeting Template