BiCon 2023 Safeguarding Policy

Our Commitment

We are committed to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. We believe:

  • Everyone has a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them.
  • All children and vulnerable adults have the right to protection from abuse regardless of age, disability, gender-reassignment, marriage/civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation.
  • No child, vulnerable adult or group of children or vulnerable adults will be treated less favourably than others in being able to access support from us.

The Purpose of this Policy

The purpose and scope of this policy statement is to:

  • Protect children, young people, and vulnerable adults who attend the BiCon Event from harm. 
  • Provide staff and volunteers, as well as children and young people and their families, with the overarching principles that guide our approach to protection.

This policy applies to anyone volunteering in running BiCon event. Volunteers will be provided with training around safeguarding and what to do in events of disclosure or suspected harm.

Legal Framework:

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England. A summary of the key legislation and guidance is available from https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-protection-system/england and https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/safeguarding-adults-legislation.

This policy will be kept up to date alongside any legislation and updates to legal framework in England.

BiCon’s Supporting documents:

This policy statement should be read alongside our organisational policies, procedures, guidance and other related documents:

How we propose to keep children, young people, and vulnerable adults safe

We will seek to keep children, young people, and vulnerable adults safe by: 

  • Valuing, listening to, and respecting them. 
  • Appointing a nominated Safeguard Lead Volunteer and Welfare Volunteers.
  • Adopting child protection and safeguarding best practice through our policies, procedures, and code of conduct for staff and volunteers
  • Developing and implementing an effective online safety policy and related procedures  
  • Providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training, and quality assurance measures so that all staff and volunteers know about and follow our policies, procedures, and behaviour codes confidently and competently.
  • Recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made. 
  • Recording and storing and using information professionally and securely, in line with data protection legislation and guidance [more information about this is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office: ico.org.uk/fororganisations] 
  • Sharing information about safeguarding and good practice with children and their families via our website. 
  • Making sure that children, young people, and their families know where to go for help if they have a concern.
  • Using our safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families, and carers appropriately. 
  • Using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately. 
  • Creating and maintaining an anti-bullying environment and ensuring that we have a policy and procedure to help us deal effectively with any bullying that does arise. 
  • Ensuring that we have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place.
  • Ensuring that we provide a safe physical environment for our children, young people, staff and volunteers, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance. 
  • Building a safeguarding culture where staff and volunteers, children, young people, and their families, treat each other with respect and are comfortable about sharing concerns.

Responsibilities of Parents and Guardians:

BiCon is a family friendly event and welcomes people of all ages. Attendees who are under 18 are welcome to come to BiCon providing they are accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Parents or guardian are responsible for the following:

  • Ensuring that attendees under 16 are accompanied at all times.
  • Ensuring that under 18s only attend sessions that are appropriate for all ages (there will be at least one session that is appropriate for all ages at all times in the BiCon event timetable).
  • Ensuring that under 18s are not left alone in the accommodation provided by BiCon.
  • Notifying the BiCon Safeguarding Lead or Lead Organiser of any safeguarding incidents or concerns.

Attendees aged 16-17 may walk around in the Newton Building of Nottingham Trent University and attend sessions appropriate for all ages without being accompanied during the daytime with the permission of their parents or guardian. Attendees who this applies to remain the responsibility of their parents or guardian and their parents or guardian must remain in the vicinity of the Newton Building.

Contact Details:

Safeguarding Lead – Emily (she/her), welfare.bicon2023@gmail.com

Lead Organiser – Al (they/them), bicon2023@gmail.com 

[Phone numbers TBC]

In an Emergency call 999.

Any incidents need to be reported to the adult social services/children’s services department in the area in which the child or vulnerable adult is currently located. 

Anns Trust has a directory for Adult Safeguarding Boards here – https://www.anncrafttrust.org/resources/find-your-nearest-safeguarding-adults-board/ 

For help with a concern around a safeguarding a child the NSPCC can offer support here:

Telephone: 0808 800 5000

Text relay: 18001 0808 800 5000

Text message: 88858

For further details see: http://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-you-can-do/report-abuse/ where there is also an online reporting form.

Nottinghamshire Police can be contacted by calling 101.

Nottingham City Safeguarding Children Partnership can be contacted on 0115 876 4800. Further information can be found on their website: https://nottinghamcity.gov.uk/information-for-residents/children-and-families/nottingham-city-safeguarding-children-board/worried-about-a-child 

If there is concern about online abuse, it could also be reported to CEOP – see www.ceop.police.uk

 

Appendix 1 – Definitions

Within this document, the following definitions apply:

  • Child – anyone under 18. According to the Gov website – “This is in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and civil legislation in England and Wales. The fact that a child has reached 16 years of age, is living independently or is in further education, is a member of the armed forces, is in hospital or in custody in the secure estate, does not change their status or entitlements to services or protection” – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/case-management-guidance/definitions
  • Vulnerable adult – anyone aged 18 or over:
    • who is, or may be, in need of community services due to age, illness or a mental or physical disability and
    • who is, or may be, unable to take care of himself/herself, or unable to protect himself/herself against significant harm or exploitation.
    • More information can be found here – https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/446/regulation/2/made

The definition of “vulnerable adult” is important; it is not enough that someone has a disability, they must have a disability at a level that may require the provision of services from social services and where they may be unable to take care of themselves or protect themselves from harm. Vulnerability is not a test of capacity. Someone who is perfectly capable of making decisions for themselves may be vulnerable because the extent of their physical disabilities would prevent them protecting themselves from harm.

We have a duty to report any suspicion of abuse of a child or vulnerable adult to the relevant social services or children’s services department. The protection of the child or vulnerable adult is the most important consideration.

It is most unlikely, with our current role, that we would become aware of any instance of abuse, however the following are possibilities to be borne in mind:

  • A child or vulnerable adult attending an event for which we have provided financial support discloses to a Trustee (or volunteer) that they are being abused.
  • A child or vulnerable adult’s behaviour at an event for which we have provided financial support is so concerning as to lead a Trustee (or volunteer) to a suspicion that they may be being abused.
  • The UK’s bisexual community has a high proportion of people who are disabled. It is possible some of these people would fit the definition of “vulnerable adult”. They may disclose abuse to a Trustee (or volunteer) or their interaction with us may be so concerning as to lead us to a suspicion of abuse.
Appendix 2 – What is abuse?

Abuse is the violation of an individual’s human and civil rights by any other person or persons. This occurs in many forms and may consist of a single act or repeated acts. It may also be shown by failure to act in order to protect children or vulnerable adults. Abuse may, but might not, result in the person being physically injured or ill.

Forms of abuse

‘Abuse’ in this context is much wider than might be first appreciated. There is a definition given below of some different sorts of abuse, but this should not be seen as exhaustive.

Physical abuse – this includes hitting, slapping, pushing, kicking, squeezing, shaking, pinching, mis-use of medication, undue restraint and force feeding.

Sexual abuse – this includes sexual assault, rape or other sexual acts, the inappropriate touching of the individual’s sexual areas or coercion into viewing pornographic materials

Psychological abuse – this includes threats of harm, abandonment or withdrawal of social contact, humiliation, shouting, bullying, name calling, intimidation, harassment, the denial of or withdrawal from required services, contacts and social or family networks.

Financial or Material abuse – this includes the withholding of money or possessions, intentional mismanagement of the person’s finances or property, theft, fraud, embezzlement, misappropriation of finances or exploitation.

Neglect and Acts of Omission – this includes the failure to access appropriate services for recognised needs, avoidance of required health care, ignoring physical care needs, withholding of adequate nutrition, clothing or warmth, exposing the person to unacceptable risk, omitting to provide or ensure adequate supervision.

Discriminatory abuse – this includes any acts that use hurtful language, cause harassment or similar treatment of the individual because of their race, sex, age, disability, faith, culture or sexuality.

Institutional abuse – this includes the use of systems routines, practice or care that neglects individual needs and creates an imbalance and undue control within a managed setting.

Definitions of the types of abuse safeguarding covers can be found on the NSPCC website here – https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-abuse-and-neglect 

Definitions of types of abuse safeguarding covers for vulnerable can be found on the NHS website here – https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/help-from-social-services-and-charities/abuse-and-neglect-vulnerable-adults/