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These standards were updated in September 2024.
Dorset Council commissioned services for children and young people have an obligation to ensure appropriate safeguarding policies and practices are in place to ensure they are protected from harm.
We are committed to safeguarding children and young people, including when they receive services from commissioned providers. Therefore, these safeguarding standards must be followed by all providers who we have contracts with.
The areas of Dorset’s safeguarding standards are:
1. Policies to safeguard children and young people include but are not limited to:
1.1 Safeguarding policy
1.2 Safer recruitment policy
1.3 Managing allegations policy
1.4 Whistleblowing policy
1.5 Code of conduct
2. Staff records (or single central record)
3. Safeguarding training
4. Annual safeguarding self-audit
5. Review and oversight
These policies and practices must be in line with the Dorset Safeguarding Children Partnership policies and procedures (DSCP) manual and follow Working Together to Safeguard Children.
All commissioned education providers, including alternative provision, must also following the latest version of Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE), which is updated each September.
Safeguarding leads for contracted providers should register to receive updates to the DSCP manual. They can view the most recent updates to this manual. They should also subscribe to the DSCP newsletter.
If your service relates to adults aged 18 to 25 years, commissioned providers must also ensure that your policy is in line with policies and procedures under Dorset Safeguarding Adults Board.
Providers must have up-to-date safeguarding policies and procedures.
To safeguard children and young people providers must ensure their safeguarding policy sets out clearly safeguarding expectation for members of the organisation, staff, volunteers, proprietor, children and their families. The policy must also set out clearly how the following will be identified and managed in line with current DSCP procedures:
Additional information about key safeguarding areas can also be found in Keeping Children Safe in Education (Annex B) and the NSPCC website - types of abuse.
Providers must include information on reporting concerns about children in the policy, covering:
Please refer to the DSCP guidelines on safeguarding referrals.
The policy should include information on recording, storing and sharing of information, explaining:
The policy must detail how you will ensure effective inter-agency working around safeguarding including compliance with:
Providers will have a policy or section within their safeguarding policy on online safety that includes:
Refer to the DSCP online safety guidance and support for parents to keep children safe online government guidance .
Providers must ensure their safeguarding policy:
To manage a positive DBS disclosure (stating a criminal conviction or caution), providers will ensure:
Providers must ensure you have clear internal procedures and policies for managing allegations against staff and volunteers and that this is known by and operated by everyone in your organisation, either as part of your safeguarding policy or as a standalone policy.
These should:
Where there are any convictions, concerns or relevant information on DBS checks, providers must ensure these are reported to Dorset’s LADO by completing the managing allegations referral form.
Our standard contract requires providers to immediately notify Dorset Council’s commissioning and/or referring teams when they become aware of any allegations, concerns or safeguarding information which in provider’s view, deems their staff/ volunteers may be unsuitable to work with children or young people.
The requirement to have a managing allegation policy includes providers working alone for example self-employed or sole-traders. Information on how to report concerns pertaining to yourself should be promoted prominently to children, young people and their parents/cares. For example, stating the contact details of the LADO.
Providers recognise the importance of raising concerns at work in the public interest or ‘whistleblowing’ and must have a clear guidance for ‘whistleblowing’. See the DSCP guidance on whistleblowing.
Providers should have an effectively implemented code of conduct which covers staff behaviour policy. The list isn’t exhaustive, but it should include:
2.1 Providers must complete and update records of all staff, trustees, governors, volunteers and agency staff. Education providers know this as a single central record (SCR) and must follow requirements in KCSiE. A template SCR can be found in Dorset’s safeguarding standards resources.
2.2 Providers must evidence any checks (including DBS) in their staff records. The record must be completed immediately when any changes occur and reviewed annually. If this is held centrally i.e. head office, providers must be able to provide assurance that this information is available on request.
2.3 Providers must ensure any staff/volunteers requiring DBS checks have valid and up-to-date certificates that are renewed as required. Dorset Council recommends DBS check are updated at least every three years. To evidence this, the last check must be recorded in the staff record or SCR. If you are inspected by a regulatory body such as Ofsted or CQC, you will follow their requirements on DBS checks renewal.
2.4 The record should include names, addresses, dates of birth of all:
2.5 The record should include:
Providers will ensure:
Providers must complete Dorset Council’s safeguarding self-audit when requested. Where identified, they must implement action plans resulting from the audit.
All policies listed in this document: