1

Explain policies and procedures that are in place to protect

children and young people and adults who work with them.

The policies and procedures that affect day-to-day work with children and young

people have been discussed in Section 1.3. Specific policies and procedures relating

to the protection of children, young people and the adults who work with them are

outlined in the government document Working Together to Safeguard Children

(2013), which is informed by the Childcare Act (2006) and, for children aged 0-5

years, the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (2014). The

main policies and procedures include:

Roles and responsibilities

All professionals who work with children and young people must have a clear

understanding of the signs, symptoms, indicators and behaviours that may cause

concern about possible abuse, harm or neglect. This includes knowing how to

respond to disclosure about abuse, specific responsibilities and the action to take in

any safeguarding situation, including any allegation being made against a member of

staff. This is discussed in Section 4.2. Policies must also include the requirement to

have a named person to take lead responsibility for safeguarding children within the

setting.

Anyone who has concerns about a child’s welfare should make a referral to local

authority children’s social care and the relevant contact details should be signposted

clearly in the setting so that children, young people, parents and other family

members are aware of who they can contact if they require advice or support.

In school settings, both paid and volunteer staff need to be aware of their

responsibilities for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, how they

should respond to child protection concerns and make a referral to local authority

children’s social care or the police if necessary.

2

Policies and procedures in place.

Staff recruitment and training

Policies must include the requirement for Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

checks for all staff, volunteers and students working in the setting. This checks for

spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings, plus any

additional information held by local police that is reasonably considered relevant.

DBS checks are designed to ensure that unsuitable people are prevented from

working with children and young people.

There is also a statutory requirement for all staff to undertake safeguarding training

on a regular basis.

Safe working practices

Policies should include the use of mobile phones and cameras by children, young

people and staff in the setting. This is important in order to prevent the possibility of

digital images of children being used inappropriately. In 2009, a child abuse case in

Plymouth exposed a paedophile ring, which centred around photographs taken of

children by a nursery worker. She was jailed for a minimum of seven years and

Plymouth City Council initiated a serious case review.

Policies should also include the procedures for carrying out children’s intimate

personal care, including toileting and physical contact. This is important in order to

protect children and staff against any allegations of improper conduct and is

particularly significant when working with children and young people who have

special educational needs.

There should also be a policy for responding to situations when a child arrives at the

setting with existing injuries. This is important in order to avoid any possibility of false

allegations about injuries occurring to children or young people whilst at the school

setting. Any bruising, scrapes or sores that are evident on the body of a child or

young person should be noted and recorded, and many school settings use a body

map for this purpose, as shown below:

3

An example of a Body Map.

Record keeping and information sharing

Accurate records must be kept about any concerns relating to the safety and

wellbeing of children and young people. This includes accident and injury reports

and first aid records in addition to any concerns about safeguarding issues. Regular

observations should be made on children and young people and accurate records

kept about their development and behaviour. Those working in schools are often in

situations to observe children and young people engaged in role play or dressing up

activities, changing for sporting activities or going swimming and this provides an

important opportunity to closely monitor children’s physical condition. This should

always be done discreetly to avoid drawing attention to the child or causing

unnecessary embarrassment.

School settings must have clear processes for sharing information with different

organisations, other professionals, parents, carers and the LSCB. No professional

should assume that someone else will pass on information which they think may be

critical to keeping a child safe. If a professional has concerns about a child’s welfare

and believes they are suffering or likely to suffer harm, then they should share the

information with local authority children’s social care (This is discussed in Section

1.5).