Safeguarding and young people

Great strides have rightly been made in recent years to put safeguarding at the top of the agenda for organisations working with young people. Safeguarding is multi-faceted and arises in many different contexts including allegations against members of staff or volunteers, child-on-child abuse and risks posed to young people by parents / carers, and the wider community through grooming activity.

The growth of online threats, cyber-bullying and radicalisation shows that organisations must continue to evolve in order to keep young people safe from harm.

In most cases safeguarding is a legal requirement and organisations must have in place policies and procedures that deal with safeguarding.

A culture of good safeguarding practice is essential in order to reduce the risks to young people and to ensure you can respond effectively if a safeguarding issue arises.

Our specialist team of lawyers can advise you on all aspects of safeguarding in schools and related settings, to help you to meet your legal responsibilities, manage risk and most importantly help safeguard the health and wellbeing of the young people under your care.

What we advise on

Issues that we regularly advise on include:

• Application of the relevant law and guidance including ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ and ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’
• Effective governance arrangements
• Safeguarding policies and procedures
• Effective record keeping
• Safeguarding clauses in contracts and land agreements
• Training
• Responding to accusations of sexual abuse committed by or against young people
• Working with the statutory agencies
• Investigating safeguarding allegations
• Crisis management
• LADO referrals and investigations
• MASH referrals
• Communications management
• Reputational risk
• Prevent duty
• Safer recruitment and regulated activity
• Safeguarding investigations and disciplinary processes involving members of staff
• Dismissals and employment references
• Referrals to the Teaching Regulation Agency and Disclosure and Barring Service
• Dealing with safeguarding issues following a family breakdown