Safeguarding for Social Work

Aims:

This programme aims to examine the role of social work in Safeguarding under Section 42 of the Care Act 2014. It will consider the statutory obligation of local authorities and decision making which reflects and respects making safeguarding personal. It will also consider the importance of SMART outcomes to ensure that the focus and rigour of safeguarding work is maintained.

Objectives:

Using a range of teaching methods available via on-line platforms including discussion, lecture, groupwork and case study examples, the following will be examined.

• A brief revisit to the statutory framework underpinning safeguarding adults work. This will highlight the obligations under sections 42-27 of the Care Act 2014 and the inter play with Human Rights Law with particular regard to the right to respect for family and private life. This is to give clarity to the boundaries and extent of intervention available to a Council without recourse to the courts. This also considers the multi agency nature of safeguarding.
• Examination of the relationship between safeguarding and Mental Capacity.
• Consideration of the essence of Making Safeguarding Personal and how this reflects the section 1 wellbeing principles of the Care Act 2014 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005. This will examine the nature of the Making Safeguarding Personal conversation: how to support an individual to recognise the options they have in order for them to be able to identify the outcomes that are important to them. This will explore decision making about who is best placed to glean this information from the person at risk of harm.
• Examination of risk enabling and risk positive decision making around safeguarding. This will consider the importance of fact checking, accurate recording and consideration of the nature of the risk; the capacity and capabilities of the person, the circumstances in which harm may or has taken place and an evaluation of the trade off. This will be regarded through the lens of the duty of care and the tort of negligence.
• Exploring the building of partnership relationships with other agencies in order that collective consensus can be achieved so that all participants know what is expected of them in their involvement in safeguarding enquiries. This will be regarded in light of the decision made as to whether to progress through to an enquiry or whether the situation can be best managed through complex case work with agencies closest to the person.
• Consideration the use of SMART plans to help managers to support colleagues to prioritise safeguarding adults work. This is to stop new work pushing older tasks to the back without effective risk assessment or review. This will enable workers to use supervision more effectively to close cases to safeguarding in a timely way if the outcomes have been achieved.
• Examining supporting workers to record effectively; to clarify sources and to be clear about boundaries when decision making for safeguarding. This will consider the need to be open about what is, and what is not, for safeguarding.

Outcomes:

By the end of the session, participants will have gained awareness and understanding of key elements if their role when managing safeguarding adults outcomes. They will have examined a framework for defensible decision making, using evidence based practice and they will have considered best practice in prioritising risk management approaches in a positive way that aims to respect the desired outcomes arising from making safeguarding personal.