The Department of Health & Social Care has published important guidance on responding to individuals at risk of developing pressure ulcers, and preventing harm where they occur. It helps practitioners and managers across health and care organisations to provide caring, speedy and appropriate responses to people at risk of developing pressure ulcers. Prevention of pressure ulcers is not only ideal but, in most cases, perfectly possible.
The guidance offers a process for the clinical management of harm removal and reduction where ulcers occur, considering if an adult safeguarding response is necessary.
Click here for the guidance ...
Also see Lyn Romeo's (Chief Social Worker) blog - New safeguarding adults protocol for preventing pressure ulcers published
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This year’s Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) Mental Capacity Action Day will take place on Monday 5 March 2018 at the British Medical Association, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JP. The theme for action day 2018 will be ‘Supported Decision-Making’ and this will be explored via a range of speakers and workshops.
Places are limited and the Ministry of Justice will contact you to confirm your place at the event.
Click here for an application form ...
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These Pride at Parliament tours highlight the significant part played by LGBT people in the UK Parliament as leaders, legislators, activists, lobbyists and monarchs.
The story explores the struggle for civil rights from universal condemnation and victimisation to the freedoms and rights enjoyed today.
Click here for more information ...
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Please watch out for the Rogue Trader Alert:
Look out for the following email scams which are circulating:
Reporting any scam you receive helps to build up intelligence on the scammers and how they target people. You are report scams to:
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline 03454 04 05 06 or click here for Citizens Advice website
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office) 0300 123 2040 or click here for Action Fraud
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This Bill, sponsored by Dr Sarah Wollaston MP, aims to create a new civil Stalking Protection Order to protect members of the public from risks associated with stalking.
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Disclosure and Barring Service eligibility guidance for those working with children and adults. This information has been updated in line with the DBS' new online application for basic checks.
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Lyn Romeo, Chief Social Worker for Adults at the Department of Health writes the abuse or death of an adult receiving or in need of care rightly raises questions about whether the support they received could have been better and what can be learned to improve its provision in the future. Conducting Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs) became a statutory duty under the Care Act and – according to NHS Digital - 110 were carried out in 2016-17. But do SARs work to affect real changes?
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This training will have a focus on mental capacity and domestic abuse in the context of general practice but will be relevant and of value to all professionals (health, social care, housing, police). This training has been funded by NHS England.
Speakers will be
Click here for more detail ...
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On Tuesday 9th January Peers the main measures in the Secure Tenancies (Victims of Domestic Abuse) Bill, which will ensure councils are able to offer victims of domestic abuse a secure, lifetime tenancy when being re-housed in a council home.
Lord Porter, welcomed the Government’s commitment to safeguarding of those who have suffered violence in the home. He called for the legislation to go further, by extending the scope to all social landlords and by allowing councils to offer similar tenancies to other vulnerable tenants, such as those with serious mental health illnesses.
The Bill now moves to detailed scrutiny in Committee Stage.
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Norfolk Trading Standards are highlighting the following consumer news and scams:
Look out for the following email scams which are circulating:
Reporting any scam you receive helps to build up intelligence on the scammers and how they target people. You are report scams to:
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline 03454 04 05 06 or click here for Citizens Advice website
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office) 0300 123 2040 or click here for Action Fraud
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Updated information on E-learning and guidance on modern slavery for public sector organisations has been published. These training and awareness raising resources are to help public sector staff understand modern slavery and learn to spot the signs.
Click here for more information ...
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Reports of doorstep coldcallers in the Bacton and Ludham areas offering 'free boilers' & stating they need a range of personal & financial info to 'check eligibility'. If approached DO NOT give any info and report to Norfolk Trading Standards on 03454 040506.
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From the 8th January 2018, victims of domestic violence will get more support in taking abusive former partners to court.
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Leeway the independent charity providing support to adults, young people and children who are experiencing domestic abuse in Norfolk and Waveney are regularly looking for talented individuals to join their team. Due to an increase in the level of service they are able to provide, Leeway are currently recruiting for a number of roles.
Click here to find out more ...
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A guide for domestic violence and abuse victims about services from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
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A care worker who bullied and abused “incredibly vulnerable” elderly people with dementia has been jailed for nine months. Jailing Shari Childs at Norwich Crown Court, Judge Stephen Holt said “a message must be sent out” that abuse of vulnerable people will not be met with leniency.
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The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) have just published their first three year plan, which sets out how the GLAA will tackle labour exploitation and modern slavery across the UK economy. GLAA's single over-arching aim is ‘working in partnership to protect vulnerable and exploited workers.’
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A GP writes: I worried that the son of an elderly patient may be preventing his mother from accessing appropriate treatment - what should I do and what are my safeguarding obligations?
Not all elderly patients are automatically vulnerable adults simply by virtue of their age, but factors such as frailty and cognitive impairment may play a part in making an elderly patient more vulnerable to abuse than the general population. Doctors need to be aware of the importance of safeguarding considerations in such patients.
Click here to read more from GP Online ...
Also see below for a link to the first Adult Safeguarding Newsletter for GP practices (02 January)
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On Tuesday 9 January the Home Affairs Committee will be hearing evidence on the police and industry response to online fraud. Issues likely to be covered include:
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The Home Office publishes the Government Response to the Home Affairs Committee's report on Hate crime: abuse, hate and extremism online.
Click here to read the report ...
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Norfolk SAB has just submitted its report to the January meeting of East Anglia Quality Surveillance Group. This report looks at the important topic of loneliness as a safeguarding issue and makes a number of suggested actions for Clinical Commissioning Groups, health providers and other partners.
Click here to read the report ...
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Norfolk County Council's emergency duty team, which responds to adults and children’s social care referrals outside of normal office hours, dealt with 559 referrals (374 adult calls and 185 children’s services calls) from the evening of Friday, 22 December to 9am on 27 December – up from 238 referrals over the same period last year.
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Here is the first adult safeguarding newsletter for GP practices from Dr Pippa Harrold (Safeguarding Adult GP). Essential reading for all working in general practice.
Click here for the newsletter ...
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Change, Grow, Live (CGL) is the new provider for Norfolk's alcohol and drug service. CGL are running a series of events to find more about the new service.
Click here for more details ...
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Norfolk now has 518 people who have completed the Friends Against Scams training and 27 SCAMchampions & 2 Scambassadors (MPs).
Friends Against Scams aims to protect and prevent people from becoming victims of scams by empowering communities to "Take a Stand Against Scams".
SCAMchampions are Friends Against Scams who want to do more. SCAMchampions host awareness sessions to recruit Friends and drive Friends Against Scams forward in their communities or workplace. SCAMchampions attend an additional session to give them a fuller understanding of the laws surrounding scams and some presentation tips.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has opened a consultation on: draft NICE guidance around mental capacity and decision making.
This is a very timely document and an important consultation to respond to. The consultation closes on Monday 5 February 2018 at 5pm.
Click here for the consultation documents.
Please share with your networks, thank you.
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Family and friends can play a key role in spotting signs of dementia when visiting older people this Christmas according to one of the country’s top experts.
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Home Affairs Committee publishes Government Response to hate crime: abuse, hate and extremism online.
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In the UK, there were 3.6% fewer suicides registered in 2016 than in 2015; this equates to 5,965 in 2016, a decrease from 6,188 deaths in 2015.
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The government has published its response to the 14th report from the Home Affairs Select Committee Session 2016 to 17: Hate crime: abuse, hate and extremism online.
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Click here for the December newsletter ...
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Pandora Project have launched a new advice line that will be running on Fridays from 10am – 3pm. They will provide support around domestic abuse related issues and is open to both victims (male and female) and professionals. All the support provided will be confidential.
The number is: 07526 257857.
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This is a snapshot of safeguarding adults practice and challenges based on SCIE’s work in this area and experience of providing training and consultancy support to care and health providers. It is not a comprehensive review of safeguarding practice, but it is hoped it provokes further thinking about how to improve safeguarding, and the partnerships that need to develop for that to happen.
Click here for Highlights: Safeguarding adults ...
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Action on Elder Abuse (AEA) has produced a report on the Safeguarding Adults Collection (SAC) Annual Report for England 2016-17, published by NHS Digital on 15 November.
Click here for the AEA report - A Patchwork of Practice ...
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Making Research Count are to hold a seminar on Conceptualising and Responding to Self-Neglect: The Challenge for Adult Safeguarding on Wednesday 6 June 2018, 1 – 4pm at the University of Bedfordshire, Luton Campus.
This seminar will be presented by Prof Michael Preston-Shoot, University of Bedfordshire.
Places are limited so you will need to book by 23rd May 2018. Local authority bookings must be made via your Learning and Development Department. For all other bookings, please contact: [email protected]
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Whether you are in a long-term or casual relationship, you deserve to be treated well and ensure that you are treating your partner respectfully.
This personal relationship quiz is from a New Zealand website about domestic abuse which you can use in two ways either as the victim or the perpetrator. It gives you a score, to alert you to the state of your relationship or in fact about your own behaviour. It’s nice and short and easy to use, just yes/no answers. Have a look and try it!
Click here for the positive relationship quiz ...
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Norfolk County Council implemented a new client record system, LiquidLogic, on 22 November 2017. LiquidLogic has replaced Adult Social Services’ previous system CareFirst, and will replace CareFirst for Children’s Services in March 2018. As with the implementation of all large IT programmes, there has been a resulting slowing of the workflow across the Adult Social Services department as teams learn the new system and technical/process issues are resolved. The Adult Social Services’ department is working hard to clear any backlogs and cases are being risk assessed, with urgent matters prioritised for a quick response.
If Board members or partner agencies have any concerns about people who have been referred to Adult Social Services, they should contact the department on 0344 800 8020.
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Norfolk’s Chief Constable Simon Bailey says the nature of crime is changing fast - so police forces must change too.The increases in reports of rape, adult and child abuse, serious sexual offences and serious violence have led to a need for more detectives. We also need to use undercover and covert tactics to tackle child abuse.
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Norfolk Trading Standards are highlighting the following scams:
Reporting any scams you receive can help to build up intelligence on the scammers and how they target people. You can report scams to:
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline 03454 04 05 06 or click here for Citizens Advice website
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office) 0300 123 2040 or click here for Action Fraud
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Until the government is able to establish effective oversight of the modern slavery system as a whole, it will not be able to significantly reduce the prevalence of modern slavery or show that it is achieving value for money, according to today’s report from the National Audit Office.
Click here to read more and for the full report ...
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The Home Office has developed a range of materials to help raise awareness of county lines with both statutory and non-statutory partners. It is vital that staff know how to identify victims and report concerns to protect those exploited through this criminal activity. This forms part of the cross-government approach to ending gang violence and exploitation.
Click here for the materials ...
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On Tuesday 19 December 2017 the Home Affairs Committee hears from social media companies on impact of hate crime.
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The House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee has published its 3rd report on protecting pensions against scams and says Government should act now, through the Financial Claims and Guidance Bill, to ban pension cold calls.
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More is being done to protect adults from domestic abuse. But how can we protect children in abusive homes?
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This suite of resources published by the Local Government Association is intended to support Safeguarding Adults Boards (SABs) and partners in developing and promoting Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP).
Click here for the resources ...
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Police Scotland has warned domestic abusers "we are coming for you" in a Christmas crackdown on offenders. The force highlighted a 25% rise in reports of domestic abuse over the festive period last year.
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In Saturday's Guardian, the sister of a man who hadn't been seen by them for 26 years, tells her story. His family thought that he was dead as there had been no sightings of him. He had in fact been held by a slavery gang, the Rooneys, in Lincolnshire, who targeted homeless men and those with learning disabilities.
Read the story here.
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Trustees should take steps to ensure no one who comes into contact with their charity suffers distress or harm, as well as safeguarding children and adults at risk, says the Charity Commission. The new Charity Commission's safeguarding strategy sets out clearly that trustees are ultimately responsible for preventing any harm to volunteers, staff or beneficiaries and safeguarding should be a key governance priority.
Any failure by trustees to manage safeguarding risks adequately is of serious regulatory concern to the Commission.
To help charities meet this requirement a revised version of the strategy, published on 6th December, sets out the reasonable steps charities should take to safeguard beneficiaries, especially those charities that work with at-risk and vulnerable adults or any children aged under 18.
Click here for: Policy paper Strategy for dealing with safeguarding issues in charities
Click here to read: Charities warned over protection of vulnerable people after scandals (The Guardian 05/12/2017) ___________________________________________________________________________
On Wednesday 13 December there will be a House of Commons debate on male suicide led by Ged Killen MP, Labour, Hamilton West.
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Norfolk Trading Standards are highlighting the following scams:
Look out for the following email scams which are circulating:
Reporting any scams you receive can help to build up intelligence on the scammers and how they target people. You can report scams to:
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline 03454 04 05 06 or click here for Citizens Advice website
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office) 0300 123 2040 or click here for Action Fraud
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Click here to read the report ...
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Looking to extend the idea of early help hubs used by children services, this meeting aims to proactively bring together as many adult services as possible for case discussion, to improve links between services and help develop ongoing multi-agency plans to support individuals. At the first meeting 4 test cases were discussed with a way forward identified or advice offered in each. As Sergeant Tom Metcalfe from the Police Operational Partnership Team said ‘it was really great to see so many organisations working together and I anticipate the partnership will grow further’.
If you work for a service providing care, support and/or advice to adults in the west part of the county here are two things you can do:
The next meeting is 2pm on Tuesday 12th December 2017 at Freebridge Community Housing offices, Juniper House, Austin Street, King's Lynn Norfolk PE30 1DZ.
Please confirm your attendance if you haven’t already done so to [email protected]
Thank you to Freebridge Community Housing for offering a bigger venue for the next meeting!
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Here is a great idea from Tony Murray, a Durham Police Office seconded to City of London Police working on giving fraud & cybercrime prevention advice. Tell 2 people about how to keep safe against fraud and financial abuse and they each tell 2 others and so on (see the November blog Part 2 for how quickly we can spread this message). With a small tweak to this brilliant idea Tony has cleverly built in our love of tea with the #Tell 2 Over a Brew campaign.
As @DurhamFraud said 'a chain of 26 Tell2’ers would reach 67 million (more than the UK population). The power of people doing what we do best, talking and checking people are protected.'
Could this be an idea for our next awareness raising campaign?
See more information on #Tell2 on Twitter see @DurhamFraud
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The Mental Capacity Act 2005 protects people who may not be able to make their own decisions. But what about those who can? Where does the right to choose stop and the duty of care start?
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An elderly woman was defrauded out of £8,000 by a man pretending to be a police officer.
Norfolk Constabulary have now issued a warning after another woman was also targeted by a fake officer.
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Here is the Domestic Abuse Newsletter for November 2017 including pictures from the conference held on the Tuesday 28th November.
Christen Williams, Domestic Abuse Change Coordinator (North, East and Broadland) said 'a big thank you again to all that came, we had an incredible day and really positive feedback already'.
Click here for the newsletter ...
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According to the latest report from the National Crime Agency (NCA) on county lines it is estimated that there are 720 lines are operating across England and Wales, but the true number could be much higher. Guns, knives and boiling water is used to control children and vulnerable adults.
Also see PoliceProfessional.com
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Tomorrow, the first Norfolk Domestic Abuse ‘Champions’ Conference, takes place in Swaffham.
It will celebrate reaching 800 domestic abuse champions from community workplaces, such as social workers, CAB advisers, doctors and teachers who are trained to spot the signs of domestic abuse and how to help.
Also this week, organised by Norwich City Council there are 30 specially created white ribbon displays around Norwich supporting action against domestic abuse.
You can also find out more information on Twitter - @NorwichCC
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There will be a Backbench Business debate on a motion on mental health and suicide within the autism community. This will be led by Dr Lisa Cameron MP and will take place in the Commons Chamber on Thursday 30 November 2017.
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Text messages sent by a university student who killed herself following an abusive relationship will be shared on campuses across Scotland as part of a campaign to raise awareness of domestic violence among young people.
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Norfolk Trading Standards are highlighting the following consumer news and scams:
Look out for the following email scams which are circulating:
Reporting any scams you receive can help to build up intelligence on the scammers and how they target people. You can report scams to:
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline 03454 04 05 06 or click here for Citizens Advice website
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office) 0300 123 2040 or click here for Action Fraud
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Social workers responding to a study on adult safeguarding practice in England expressed support for new legal powers to obtain access to adults at risk.
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If you read one thing from this weekend's papers, read Deborah Orr's article in The Guardian (18-11-2017 pg 35). In - By knowing how abusers work, we can root them out - she describes how predators identify their victims and also manipulate others to being 'human shield' to cover the abusive behaviour.
Of predators Orr says 'Successful predators have an instinct for vulnerabilities in others, traits that they can manipulate. They sniff out shame, insecurity, self-consciousness, self-doubt, like pigs sniff out truffles. They know just as surely when a person is unlikely to accept their subjugations. These people are still useful though. They are the ones who will see model behaviour, a glossy presentation of respect, professionalism, friendship, that will further intimidate and isolate their designated victims'.
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A group of artists and businesses have joined forces to present a powerful Norwich city-wide exhibition of thought-provoking window art aiming to raise awareness of domestic abuse.
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Look out for the following email scams which are circulating:
If you receive one of these emails delete it without clicking on any links in the message. You can report scam emails to Action Fraud, details below.
See more advice and updates on Norfolk TS consumer alerts web page or follow Norfolk TS on Facebook or Twitter.
Reporting any scams you receive can help to build up intelligence on the scammers and how they target people. You can report scams to:
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline 03454 04 05 06 or click here for Citizens Advice website
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office) 0300 123 2040 or click here for Action Fraud
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The number of adults subject to a section 42 safeguarding enquiry under the Care Act increased by 6% in 2016-17, with almost 1,000 safeguarding concerns raised nationally per day, official figures show.
Click here for a summary infographic
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You’ve probably heard of the NHS Safeguarding Guide App on mobile phones, and may even have downloaded it, but here is the link for the same safeguarding guide for your desktop computer - see below for the link.
Click here for the NHS Safeguarding Guide App.
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This workshop is to raise awareness of Prevent (WRAP). The workshop will enable you to recognise when a person or child may be being targeted and groomed for radicalisation by people who support extremist ideologies and to know how to refer them for supportive intervention. Prevent is an important element of our safeguarding responsibilities. The workshop is delivered by a Home Office approved trainer and organised by Norfolk County Council. It is open to partners from all agencies.
Click here for more information and an application form.
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County lines – also known as 'going country' – involves groups or gangs exploiting children or vulnerable adults to carry and sell drugs across county ...
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This report presents information about adults at risk for whom safeguarding concerns or enquiries were opened during the reporting period 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017, and case details for safeguarding enquiries which concluded during the reporting period.
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On the 15 November 2017, at 4:30pm, there will be a Westminster Hall debate on the effect of loneliness on local communities. The debate is sponsored by Rachel Reeves MP.
Click here to read more and for the full report ...
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One of the recurring findings from safeguarding reviews for adults and children is the challenge of information sharing. At the end of 2016 the Norfolk Public Protection Forum (PPF) commissioned the Centre of Excellence for Information Sharing (CoEIS) to help it develop better information sharing.
So far this work has included:
We are now moving to the online survey for frontline practitioners. This is a vital opportunity for all frontline staff from across health, social care and community sectors and voluntary workforce to feed in their views.
Please use the link below to access the survey - and please share it with colleagues and networks and encourage them to complete the survey too.
Norfolk Information Sharing Survey
Click here for Norfolk PPF's priorities.
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This suite of resources is intended to support Safeguarding Adults Boards (SABs) and partners in developing and promoting Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP).
Click here to read more and to see the resources ...
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The Church of England has a blindspot when it comes to the sexual abuse, assault, or harassment of women, a growing number of women are saying.
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This publication focuses on statistical data of individuals referred to and supported through the Prevent Programme from April 2015 to March 2016.
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See more advice and updates on Norfolk TS consumer alerts web page or follow Norfolk TS on Facebook or twitter.
Reporting any scams you receive can help to build up intelligence on the scammers and how they target people. You can report scams to:
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline 03454 04 05 06 or click here for Citizens Advice website
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office) 0300 123 2040 or click here Action Fraud
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Ineffective multi-agency working and a service restructuring meant opportunities to intervene were missed in the case of a woman with schizophrenia who died of malnutrition. A safeguarding adults review (SAR) by Plymouth Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) found that mental health services involved with Ruth Mitchell, who died aged 40 ...
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Following the death of a patient in a care home from pneumonia and hypothermia in November 2016, there is an on-going Safeguarding Adult Review (SAR E). Preliminary discussions at the
review panel have highlighted the important and positive role for GPs, using professional curiosity to raise an adult safeguarding concern if we notice that a patient’s home or care home feels significantly cold. With the cold months are now with us this has added importance. We could assume or argue that this is someone else’s role eg Care Quality Commission (CQC), environmental health, etc but adult safeguarding is everybody’s concern and the authorities have signalled that they would welcome a call from us if we feel concerned. Please call 0344 800 8020 if worried.
Dr Pippa Harrold GP Adult Safeguarding lead. Norfolk & Waveney CCGs.
Also see
Help vulnerable people in Norfolk stay well this winter.
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These statistics will be released at 09:30am on 15 November 2017.
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Next Wednesday, 15th November, Rachel Reeves MP has sponsored a Westminster Hall debate on effect of loneliness on local communities. A person is more at risk of abuse if they are isolated and have little contact with friends, family or neighbours. Research studies have found that there is a higher prevalence of mistreatment among people who reported feeling lonely in the past week compared with those who had not felt lonely. Loneliness in older people makes them more vulnerable to scams. Loneliness is a safeguarding issue.
The debate is scheduled for 4.30pm
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In October NSAB was very pleased to welcome Dr Adi Cooper to Norfolk. She gave two seminar presentations on Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP), which were well attended by partners and generated good debate about how well we are embedding MSP into our safeguarding practice.
Click here for the presentation (scroll down to Making Safeguarding Personal).
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Norfolk Trading Standards will be running a series of pop up scam advice shops in Norfolk's libraries during November and December. These will be a great opportunity to help raise awareness about scamming. Why not drop into a session near you?
Please sharing this information to your colleagues, contacts and networks and encourage staff and members of the public to attend.
Click here for a list of pop up advice shops.
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Statistics on hate crimes and racist incidents recorded by the police have been published (8:30am, 17 October 2017)
On Thursday 2 November lots of difference agencies attended the launch of the Stop Hate in Norfolk (SHiN) Protocol at the Cathedral in Norwich.
The protocol and the Stop Hate in Norfolk web pages are invaluable resources for everyone who wants to work towards tackling Hate in Norfolk.
You can also access FREE training on hate incident reporting, for staff, volunteers and residents.
Click here to find out more and download the protocol ...
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Click here to read the latest Domestic Abuse Champions Newsletter ...
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Writing in The Sunday Times, Anna Mikhailova describes how police forces are teaching branch staff how to identify victims and criminals, and what to do next
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The government is seeking views on significant changes to Working Together to Safeguard Children.
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This modern slavery awareness booklet provides an up-to-date, easy to read resource setting out some of the key facts about modern slavery. It may help inform staff as part of a wider awareness raising programme. Topics covered include:
To supplement this, Home Office research ‘A typology of modern slavery offences in the UK’ has broken down the broad categories of modern slavery into 17 distinct types of offences identified in the UK.
Click here for awareness booklet.
Click here for A typology of modern slavery offences in the UK.
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This report provides the key findings from the Mental Capacity Act 2005, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) data collection for the period 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017.
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Eleven people have been arrested this morning (26 October) in London, Birmingham and Gateshead as part of a Europe-wide investigation into suspected people smuggling.
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There is a growing evidence base around the challenges associated with loneliness and social isolation, and the role social workers [and all other practitioners] have to play in tackling these issues ...
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Look out for the following email scams which are circulating:
If you receive one of these emails delete it without clicking on any links in the message. You can report scam emails to Action Fraud, details below.
See more advice and updates on Norfolk TS consumer alerts web page or follow Norfolk TS on Facebook or twitter.
Reporting any scams you receive can help to build up intelligence on the scammers and how they target people. You can report scams to:
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline 03454 04 05 06 or click here for Citizens Advice website
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office) 0300 123 2040 or click here Action Fraud
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The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) are running a 1 day training event on hoarding on the 15 November delivered by Jack Moore
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A Backbench Business debate on Implementation of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 is scheduled for Thursday 26 October 2017.
Click here to read more about Modern Slavery.
Also see Modern Slavery Act
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One of the recurring findings from safeguarding reviews for adults and children is the challenge of information sharing.
Our Norfolk county boards have discussed this topic on many occasions during the last few years. At the end of 2016 the Norfolk Public Protection Forum (PPF) commissioned the Centre of Excellence for Information Sharing (CoEIS) to help it develop better information sharing.
So far this work has included:
We are now moving to the online survey for frontline practitioners. This is a vital opportunity for all frontline staff from across health, social care and community sectors and voluntary workforce to feed in their views.
Please use the link below to access the survey
Please also share the survey link with all your colleagues and networks and encourage them to complete the survey too.
Norfolk Information Sharing Survey
Click here for Norfolk PPF's priorities.
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Earlier this month NSAB was very pleased to welcome Dr Adi Cooper to Norfolk. She gave two seminar presentations on Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP), which were well attended by partners and generated good debate about how well we are embedding MSP into our safeguarding practice.
Dr Cooper is a former Director of Adult Social Services for Sutton, and Independent Chair of the Haringay Safeguarding Adults Board. She was awarded an OBE in 2016, recognising her significant contribution to Adult Social Services. Dr Cooper is now a nationally recognised academic in the field of adult safeguarding and has published numerous papers and more recently a book entitled Safeguarding Adults Under the Care Act. This book is a must have for anyone working in or interested in safeguarding adults.
Click here for the presentation (scroll down to Making Safeguarding Personal).
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This House of Commons Library briefing provides a summary of current policy for adults with learning disabilities, safeguarding guidance, NHS programmes, parliamentary coverage and recent reports.
Click here for the report.
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This report provides an overview of modern slavery in the UK and explains how the UK has responded to this threat over the last 12 months.
Also see:
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Vulnerable adults who are taken into police custody face a postcode lottery around the provision of 'appropriate adults' who help safeguard their rights and welfare while detained, a new study has found.
Click here to read more ...
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A Westminster Hall debate on the supporting and safeguarding adults with learning disabilities is scheduled for Tuesday 17 October at 2:30pm. The Member leading the debate is Catherine McKinnell MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North.
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Updated statutory guidance has been published for organisations on how to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in their business or supply chains
Click here to read more ...
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A new £15 million programme will train up to 1 million people in basic mental health “first aid” skills. The programme will improve personal resilience and help people recognise and respond effectively to signs of mental illness in others.
Click here to read more ...
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This recently published book is a valuable resource for all frontline practitioners, their managers and strategic leaders. Edited by Adi Cooper OBE and Emily White, it covers core areas of practice according to the Care Act and adult safeguarding principles.
The book describes what up-to-date practice should look like and how to provide the best quality care and support for adults who may be at risk of abuse or neglect. It also introduces the emerging challenges in the workplace.
Click here for a flyer
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The Royal College of General Practitioners have produced a Safeguarding Adults at Risk of Harm toolkit.
It provides infosheets, templates, and handy guides for all the primary care team. The toolkit highlights the relevant legislation when promoting good care for adults at risk of harm or lacking capacity to make decisions for themselves.
The toolkit can be used by any general practice in the UK.
Click here to access the toolkit
Click here for info about the toolkit
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Today NSAB publishes its annual report for 2016-17. The report contains lots of useful information about safeguarding activity in Norfolk during a busy year for the board and its partners. The report includes:
- standout headlines during the year
- an update on the business plan
- the work of the board's subgroups
Click here for a copy of the report.
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Last week NSAB was very pleased to welcome Dr Adi Cooper to Norfolk. She gave two seminar presentations on Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP), which were well attended by partners and generated good debate about how well we are embedding MSP into our safeguarding practice.
Dr Cooper is a former Director of Adult Social Services for Sutton, and Independent Chair of the Haringay Safeguarding Adults Board. She was awarded an OBE in 2016, recognising her significant contribution to Adult Social Services. Dr Cooper is now a nationally recognised academic in the field of adult safeguarding and has published numerous papers and more recently a book entitled Safeguarding Adults Under the Care Act. This book is a must have for anyone working in or interested in safeguarding adults.
Click here for the presentation (scroll down to Making Safeguarding Personal).
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Home Secretary Amber Rudd has announced a new national hub to tackle the emerging threat of online hate crime. It will ensure better support for victims and help drive up the number of prosecutions.The expert unit will channel all reports of online hate crime and reduce the burden on frontline officers.
Click here to read more ...
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Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has just published updates on some common safeguarding challenges identified from its work with health and care providers.
SCIE's latest paper highlights key issues including:
- local authorities’ decisions about enquiries
- implementing the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and
- supporting people at risk who do not have care and support needs.
Click here to read the briefing.
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Click here for some great social media graphics for businesses to raise awareness of modern slavery.
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Click here to read more ...
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Would you like to find out more about Norfolk's Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)? A new series of FREE briefing sessions are now available. These briefing sessions are to increase the understanding and knowledge about the MASH and how it works. These sessions prove very popular, so book early to avoid disappointment.
Click here to find out more and book a place.
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An updated version (August 2017) of the Adult Safeguarding Best Practice Guidance from the NHS Eastern Regional Safeguarding Adults Forum has been published.
There were some very minor amendments required but no changes have been made to the appendix pages 11-14.
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Norfolk's Friends Against Scams campaign now has 370 signed up (up from 303 on 25 August). We also now have 26 SCAM champions. Fantastic.
If you haven't signed up yet please do, your involvement will make a real difference to help protect vulnerable adults from financial abuse and scams.
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NHS England has appointed of Ray James as its first National Learning Disability Director, to drive improvement across the country in services to people with a learning disability, their families and carers. Ray is the former national president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.
Click here to read more ...
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Click here for the DA newsletter for September.
To book on the Great Yarmouth network event contact [email protected] with “GY Event” in the subject.
To book on the Sexual Abuse Workshop put “Sexual Abuse Workshop” in the subject.
These events are open to DA champions only!
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After a bit of a gap the NSAB Board Manager's blog is back. October's blog is titled Mapping Adult Safeguarding for Norfolk.
Click here to read more.
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Click here for the House of Commons Library website
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With Claire Fagin's (nurse, educator, academic, and consultant) quote in mind - 'knowledge will bring you the opportunity to make a difference' - why not take a few minutes to check out some of the other safeguarding adults boards (SAB) websites. They contain some really useful information that can benefit our work here in Norfolk. In no particular order, take a look at:
Birmingham SAB / Cheshire East SAB / Essex SAB / Hampshire SAB / Hull SAB
Somerset SAB / Solihull SAB / Suffolk SAB / Teeswide SAB / West Sussex SAB
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On 14 September over 230 delegates from 90 different organisations attended the Uniting Norfolk Against Financial Abuse and Scams conference.
Click here for the speaker presentations.
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This toolkit is intended to be used by practitioners and members of the public, to provide information to anyone concerned that somebody they know may be a potential victim of financial abuse.
Click here for the toolkit.
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A mother and son who conned vulnerable and elderly people out of £1.5m by carrying out unnecessary vacuum cleaner repairs have been jailed.
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Hot on the heals of the financial abuse and scams conference (14 September), here is great story showing how we all can play a part in tackling scams.
In the last few weeks community nursing assistants from Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust (NCH&C) have identified and acted on scams in two separate incidents, in two different parts of our county. In the first one, a visiting Health Care Assistant noticed that an elderly patient was receiving frequent phone calls while she was attending to his care - a possible indication of someone being targeted by scammers - and then talked with the patient. The second was a nurse who had noted the telephone number of a “visitor” to a patient who appeared to be taking money inappropriately. In both case NCH&C talked with the Police and follow up action was taken to protect these patients. Great work, well done all involved.
Find out more about how to spot the sign of a scam click here
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There are many signs that a person might be the victim of a scam. How many could you spot?
Click here for a picture quiz.
Click here for the answers.
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A two day conference for practitioners, managers and front line staff who are not specialists in childhood sexual abuse – to give them the confidence to
tackle the issue.
Click here for the flyer.
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Listen to Queen Elizabeth Hospital's Lead Nurse for Safeguarding Adults on how he advises and helps give back control to people of all ages who are suffering from some form of abuse.
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Where: Council Chamber, Norwich City Hall, Norwich, NR2 1NH
When: 5.00pm – 8.00pm
This year is theme is Black History, rooted in the past, shaping the future! The MC/Host for the evening will be Michael Gyapong.
Click here for the flyer or email Neil Howard for more details.
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Find the latest thinking and guidance on Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards from the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)
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The Stop Hate in Norfolk (SHiN) 3rd party reporting hate crime protocol will be launched on Thursday 2nd November at 09.30 at Norwich Cathedral.
This is a great opportunity for all organisations to publicly show their support for the protocol and NSAB is positively encouraging all its partners to be represented at this event.
If you would like your organisation to have a stand at the event please contact Neil Howard - [email protected]. More details about the event will follow shortly
Campaigners in Scotland are calling on the Scottish government to expand the scope of hate crime legislation, after a nationwide study revealed that about 90,000 elderly people in Scotland were the victims of abuse.
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Wonderful local story of a betting shop punter who wasn't seen for several days and whose life was saved by the staff of the betting shop. Read more here.
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To find out how you can join Norfolk's campaign against loneliness called In Good Company - click here.
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On the 12 September Baroness Donaghy (Labour) tabled an oral question on ensuring victims of domestic violence have access to safe and secure accommodation. She highlighted the financial pressures on local authorities, saying the effect of the local housing allowance cap on housing benefit could force some women’s refuges to close.
Responding for the Government, Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth confirmed legislation on domestic violence would be forthcoming and the Government would consult on the legislation's principles.
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Today over 230 professionals and partners from 90 organisations attended the Uniting Norfolk Against Financial Abuse and Scams conference. The event jointed hosted by NSAB, Norfolk Trading Standards and Norfolk Fire & Rescue was held as part of board’s safeguarding adults awareness week. It featured contributions from national experts in the field from Bournemouth University, City of London Police and Norfolk Public Health. The event was a call to action for the county to work more closely together to strengthen its response to financial abuse and scams.
The audience heard a number of very clear messages on the issue, including:
Click the link below to read more and see video:
WATCH: Scam experts share their tips on how to avoid being duped
Click on the link below for a collection of the media review for the day. Paul Maskall is at 1:44:30
BBC Radio Norfolk: Matthew Gudgin
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The Pandora Project is now able to offer a service to male victims of domestic abuse. The male service will cover the same geographic area as their female support - West Norfolk and Swaffham. They only accept referrals from other agencies, no self-referrals.
Please contact [email protected] for a referral form or more information.
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The financial abuse and scams conference (14th September) and the SALLY seminar (15th September) are great opportunities to keep updated on important safeguarding topics and add to your knowledge and skills. We have delegates from 86 organisations already booked to attend the conference. There are still some places left and both events are FREE to attend.
Click here to book on the financial abuse and scams conference
Click here for more information about the SALLY seminar. To register, please email: [email protected]
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The impact of financial scams can't be measured by monetary loss alone; in some cases, particularly when the victims are older and vulnerable people, they can cause permanent damage to a person’s quality of life ... click here to read this very useful article in Community Care.
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This is the last multi-agency DA Champions training course the Norfolk DA Champions network will be delivering. A staggering 770 champions have been trained so far.
The programme is now moving to Phase 2 of the project, focusing on ensuring that GPs, health and education staff are trained and knowledgeable in identifying and responding to domestic abuse
Contact [email protected] for further details.
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This 2-day conference will focus on raising awareness of the prevalence, context and complexity of child sexual abuse, and the
impact on the children and adults who have experienced such abuse. It will also give professionals the tools and skills to respond to disclosures and manage concerns.
The conference will cost £75 for one day’s attendance or £100 for both days. Discounts will be available for voluntary sector organisations.
Click here for the flyer.
Details of how to book your place will follow soon. Click here for the link to the Norfolk Safeguarding Children's Board
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At least 1 in every 4 people will experience domestic violence at some point in their lifetime. Although physical violence often happens in an abusive relationship, usually signs start showing long before this.
Forewarned is Forearmed have created a 90 second video clip that uses a hand to illustrate 12 signs of domestic abuse.
This can be used directly with people you are working with, or as a resource in training packages.
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Norfolk's Friends Against Scams campaign has now signed up 303 people, which is great news. If you haven't signed up yet please do, your involvement will make a real difference to help protect vulnerable adults from financial abuse and scams.
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Ahead of the Financial Abuse and Scams conference on the 14 September 2017 why not take a few minutes have a look at this guidance from The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) on how to protect vulnerable adults from financial abuse and scams.
Under the Care Act 2014, councils are required to protect people from financial abuse, which includes mass marketing scams and doorstep scams. These scams make people part with their money and personal details through intimidation or promising cash and prizes.
This guidance will be of interest and use to all practitioners. Included is lot of useful information including tips on how to spot the signs of someone who may be responding to mass marketing or doorstep scams and some good cases studies at Annex 5.
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The analysis of 27 safeguarding adults reviews commissioned and completed by London Safeguarding Adults Boards since implementation of the Care Act 2014 on 1st April 2015 found issues with poor capacity assessments and an absence of best interests decision-making.
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Could you spot the signs of adult abuse and know what to do next? What is your duty of care to an adult at risk?
Our ‘Train the Trainer Safeguarding Awareness’ course answers these important questions and many more - equipping you to deliver safeguarding awareness training to your organisation’s staff and volunteers in your own workplace.
Organised in partnership with KP Social Care Training Ltd, the high-quality NSAB sessions will help you tailor your safeguarding awareness training to best meet the needs of your organisation. The course pack includes handouts, exercises, quizzes, case studies, power point presentations and a link to a safeguarding awareness film. The contents cover all the materials for a half day or full day awareness session and a 90-minute update session.
Book now! Places are limited to ensure maximum learning and participation:
Please click here to book your place. You will receive joining information nearer to the date of the training.
The total cost is £199; (£99 for the trainers pack and £100 for the training for trainers day).
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The Safeguarding Adults and Legal Literacy’ or ‘SALLY’ seminar series is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and investigates the impact of the Care Act 2014. The seminar is called 'Responsibility for and to safeguarding in civil society’
These seminars bring together researchers, educators, students, practitioners, policy-makers, service users and carers to consider how the Care Act 2014 has been made, how it is being and should be interpreted and how different stakeholders can learn about its provisions.
The central ethos of the series is promoting and encouraging links and collaboration between individuals and organisations concerned with adult safeguarding, cutting across disciplinary boundaries and organisational structures and connecting research, policy, practice and service user communities.
A valuable opportunity for all working in safeguarding adults.
To register for a FREE place at the seminar please email: [email protected]
(Please note this event is not organised by NSAB)
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Online hate crimes should be treated as seriously as offences in person according to new guidance for prosecutors in England and Wales. The pledge to toughen the response to online abuse is part of revised Crown Prosecution Service rules for hate crimes.
Also see Crown Prosecution Service.
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Following the recent convictions for modern slavery in Lincolnshire (see news 14 August) please have a look at the following:
Also see Modern slavery: resources for industry
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Norfolk Police are reminding residents to be vigilant following another incident involving a cold caller claiming to be a police officer.
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British gamblers spent a record £13.8bn on gambling in 2015-16, up from £7bn in 2006-7. Now, a study by researchers at King’s College London, ‘Adults at risk and gambling: exploring the nature of gambling-related harm’, is investigating how spending excessively or being unable to stop gambling activities such as betting, bingo, scratch-cards or fruit machines may particularly impact adults with care and support needs, who are also more likely to be victims of gambling scams.
There have also been several media reports of financial abuse by carers/family members to fund gambling habits. Have your say at: Community Care: How does gambling impact vulnerable adults?
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BBC news reports on a radical counselling scheme for some (first-time offenders) domestic abusers cuts offending by a third, researchers say.
The two-day course was more successful than other attempts to change behaviour, said Cambridge University.
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Government publishes its response to Health Select Committee’s inquiry into suicide prevention.
Policy paper: Suicide prevention: response to Health Select Committee.
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A retired senior judge has warned over the lack of safeguardings in the power of attorney system in England and Wales.
Although there is no official data on financial abuse, local authority safeguarding returns show that this is the third most common type of abuse.
Hear more about financial abuse at NSAB’s Financial Abuse & Scams conference on 14 September. Click here for more information.
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The Guardian newspaper (12 August) reports the shocking details of 18 victims forced to work for little or no pay and living in squalid conditions.
See Forced labour for 26 years - the reality of modern slavery in UK.
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The UK's growing modern slavery and human trafficking issue is highlighted here.
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On Saturday 29 July NSAB was very proud to join thousands of people and dozens of other organisations at Norwich Pride, click here for the Twitter feed.
Norwich Pride is a celebration for everybody, organised by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) community, to demonstrate that Norwich is a 'rainbow' city where everyone can feel safe and proud to be themselves.
The atmosphere was buzzing in and around the Forum before the parade left at 13:00. We met lots of people and handed out hundreds of 'Speak Out' information. As with last year's even, almost without exception, people were pleased to take the cards. AND just like last year, none of the cards ended up on the floor or in the bins - see NSAB Board Managers blog July 2016.
Thank you to Imogen, Kirsty and Helen (and special thanks to Imogen's sister) for helping on the day and making it a success for NSAB. NSAB will be involved at Norwich Pride 2018 so do sign up to help it's really worthwhile.
Clearly a great deal of planning and hard work went into the event. Well done Norwich Pride for organising a really great day. NSAB is already looking forward to being part of the tenth anniversary event in 2018.
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One of the organisations at Saturday's Norwich Pride was the LGBT+ Project. A community based charity, comprising nine groups,it provides support for the health, wellbeing and needs of the LGBT+ community in Norfolk & Waveney.
LGBT has new services, including support to victims and survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence and for parents of LGBT+ individuals.
LGBT+ is addressing homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools as a top priority - Think B4U Bully is a hard hitting workshop highlighting the consequences.
LGBT+ Project can be contacted on [email protected] or (01603) 219 299.
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A man has been jailed for 10 years for the manslaughter of his ex-girlfriend after she killed herself as a "direct result" of his stalking behaviour.
Click here to read more.
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BBC Radio 4 broadcast 'Understanding Prevent' on Tuesday 25 July 2017, and the programme will be repeated on Sunday 30 July at 5pm
The former Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, David Anderson QC, explored the origins of the strategy, its original purpose, and how it has evolved over the past decade. He spoke to a young former extreme far-right activist who has been through Prevent's de-radicalisation programme, Channel.
The man said it has led to a dramatic change in his behaviour. Anderson also spoke to Prevent professionals about how the strategy works in practice. The programme looked briefly at the statutory duty placed on public institutions, legally obliging staff to report concerns they might have about an individual, and students shared their views on how the Prevent policy has affected them, knowing that their teachers may be reporting their behaviour. It included the story of a mother whose two sons were wrongly referred by school staff. Anderson also spoke to critics and supporters of Prevent from within the Muslim community.
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Writing in his Saturday column in The Guardian Weekend magazine Oliver Burkeman notes
'another recent study concludes that it's psychologically far easier to declutter your home if you first take a photo of anything to which you're emotionally attached. People are readier to part with such items when they know they can trigger the same old feelings by consulting the picture later.'
A tip for working with someone who hoards perhaps?
See Actually, we can buy happiness.
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Norfolk's In Good Company campaign has been shortlisted in two categories for the regional Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) PRide Awards – Public Sector Campaign and Low Budget Campaign. Well done all involved. The winners will be announced on 28 September.
CIPR is a professional body in the United Kingdom for public relations practitioners.
In Good Company is a campaign to help combat loneliness in Norfolk. Is your organisation involved? Click here to find out more.
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Over the past few weeks St Thomas Training have been delivering a series of sessions around the country with Tim Spencer-Lane who led the Law Commission’s review of DoLS and the MCA.
St Thomas Training's Managing Director David Thornicroft has provided the following update:
'There is a lot of activity behind the scenes, but the continued uncertainty following the General Election means that so far there has been little concrete progress. One piece of good news is that there is now a Minister in the Department of Health who is responsible for DoLS – her name is Jackie Doyle-Price MP. (Her counterpart in the Welsh Assembly is Vaughan Gething AM).
The “official” line from the Law Commission is that the Government is considering its final recommendations. It remains hopeful that the Government will take forward its draft Bill, for instance via the introduction of the Bill into Parliament or pre-legislative scrutiny by a Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament.
And although the reform of DoLS/MCA wasn’t specifically mentioned in the Queen’s Speech on 21st June, that does not necessarily mean it’s totally ruled out for the next 2 years. There are various ways of getting legislation into Parliament which hasn’t been included in the Queen’s Speech.
So the (rather unsatisfactory!) position at the moment is that we continue to wait and see. Of course we will update you again if/when there is significant progress.'
By the way, a couple of organisations have asked if Tim deliver a bespoke session to their staff. The answer is yes, subject to his availability – just give St Thomas Training a call or drop them a line and they will set it up for you.
t: 02380 970 914
e: [email protected] www.stthomastraining.co.uk
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Norfolk Trading Standards have highlighted the following scams:
See more advice and updates on Norfolk TS consumer alerts web page or follow Norfolk TS on Facebook or twitter.
Reporting scams
Reporting any scams you receive can help to build up intelligence on the scammers and how they target people. You can report scams to:
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline 03454 04 05 06 or www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office) 0300 123 2040 or www.actionfraud.police.uk
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April 2017 was the second anniversary of the implementation of the Care Act, which shifted the guidance on safeguarding adults to statute. In those two years we’ve travelled a long way and I believe we have got things done
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In its annual report the CPS has the following on hate crime:
'Over the course of this reporting period we have also steadily increased the conviction rate achieved in cases alleging hate crime. At the end of quarter 4 this stood at 83.9% of all cases brought'
Click here to read more (see page 7).
Also see CPS - Hate Crime What is it?
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Following on from World Suicide Prevention Day (10th September) and as part of Safeguarding Adults Awareness Week a FREE multi-agency suicide prevention learning event will be taking place on Tuesday 12th September 2017. Norfolk suicide prevention learning event will bring together a range of county-wide developments linked into the Norfolk Suicide Prevention Strategy 2016-20.
When: Tuesday 12th September 2017
Where:The Space, Norwich
Who should attend: The event is for anyone working with vulnerable adults or young people where suicide is a risk, and aims to equip them with the skills, knowledge and confidence to support those affected by suicide, with a focus on prevention.
For more details please contact Nicola Gregory Public Health Officer, Public Health, Norfolk County Council
T: 07917 581128 | E: [email protected]
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Norfolk's Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) looks at the current and future health and care needs of our local populations to inform and guide the planning and commissioning (buying) of health, well-being and social care services within the county.
Two important documents on domestic abuse are available on the Norfolk Insights website:
Click here for the Norfolk Domestic Abuse Needs Assessment (2016)
There is lot of useful data and information about Norfolk on the Norfolk Insights website - click here. In particular, under the JSNA there is a section on Adult health and wellbeing which includes vulnerable groups.
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Norfolk Trading Standards have highlighted the following scams:
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The Home Office has awarded the Norfolk County Council £308,000 to recruit 575 more domestic abuse champions in schools and GP practices.
The three-year programme aims to reduce and ultimately prevent domestic violence in the county, building on the success of the current network of 700 champions.
In Norfolk, more than 80% per cent of people who have reported experiencing domestic abuse are women, over half of whom are girls, which amounts to over 13,000 cases per year.
Click here if you are interested in becoming a domestic abuse champion.
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On Tuesday 11 July, Paul Beresford MP (Conservative, Mole Valley) held a debate in the House of Commons on the Mental Health Act, raising the issue of places of safety. Home Office Minister Sarah Newton MP (Conservative, Truro and Falmouth) responded for the Government, and said the use of police cells as places of safety under the Mental Health Act has fallen significantly. She indicated that MPs would have the opportunity to consider the whole issue in the round, when reforms were made to the Mental Health Act.
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The Home Office has published guidance on 'county lines' - Criminal Exploitation of children and vulnerable adults: County Lines guidance.
County lines is the police term for urban gangs supplying drugs to suburban areas and market and coastal towns using dedicated mobile phone lines or “deal lines”. Operation Gravity is the Norfolk Police operation for county lines. Also see Eastern Daily Press.
This guidance is primarily aimed at frontline staff who work with children, young people and potentially vulnerable adults and is intended to explain the nature of this harm to enable practitioners to recognise its signs and respond appropriately so that potential victims get the support and help they need.
Click here to read the guidance.
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If you receive one of these emails delete it without clicking on any links in the message. You can report scam emails to Action Fraud, details below.
More advice and updates from Norfolk TS
For more consumer advice and updates, visit Norfolk TS consumer alerts web page or follow Norfolk TS on Facebook or twitter.
Reporting scams
Reporting any scams you receive can help to build up intelligence on the scammers and how they target people. You can report scams to:
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline 03454 04 05 06 or www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office) 0300 123 2040 or www.actionfraud.police.uk
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April 2017 was the second anniversary of the implementation of the Care Act, which shifted the guidance on safeguarding adults to statute. In those two years we’ve travelled a long way and I believe we have got things done
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Police have issued a warning about a new location-sharing feature in Snapchat, a mobile phone app.
Snap Map lets users share their exact location with people on their “friends” list in real time. The Eastern Daily Press reports a statement on Facebook from South Norfolk Police saying:
“It has been brought to our attention that Snapchat have introduced a new feature called Snap Maps. Snap Maps can allow you to ‘stalk’ people in real time and enables you to see what a friend is doing, along with where they are. Therefore this poses a great danger to children and adults alike. The only way to use this and prevent this from happening is to put Snapchat into ghost mode so that you are not visible.”
If users select ghost mode in their settings it means their location will remain hidden.
Also see National Crime Agency's Child Exploitation and Online Protection command (Ceop)
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July is Scam Awareness Month and Norfolk's Trading Standards are running a number of events to help people spot scams and help others to be scam-alert.
Click here to find out more about these events across the county and how to sign up.
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Last week Zoe Harding, Norfolk County Council's Domestic Abuse Change Co-ordinator, took part in Mustard TV’s discussion about the Government’s plans to change domestic abuse laws. Representatives from the charity Leeway and Dawn’s New Horizon also took part.
Click here to watch the programme.
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In a three-part series - Learning from Life and Death - (part 1 was broadcast on 02 July 2017), journalist and author Matthew Syed explores how and why individuals and organisations learn from their mistakes or fail to do so. He explores the common obstacles to learning lessons from experience and how they can be surmounted.
The series follows a wide-ranging approach, taking in government and public services such as the NHS and the Police, the commercial world from aviation to Google, the role of education, and underlying principles of psychology and philosophy, scientific method and individual decision-making.
This programme is helpful in considering how we can apply the learning for Norfolk from Safeguarding Adults Review (SAR) - see blog.
Click here to learn more about Safeguarding Adults Review
Click here to listen to the programme.
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The National Trading Standards Scams Team's campaign to have 1 million Friends Against Scams by 2020 reaches its first milestone.
But we still need your help to protect and prevent those in the most vulnerable of circumstances from scams and from being targeted by these criminals.
Click here to find out how you can get involved, spread the message to family and friends and supporting your community to Take A Stand Against Scams.
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July is Scams Awareness Month run by Citizens Advice. During this month everyone is encouraged to become scam aware and spread the message.
Please take a look at the article on the Friends Against Scams website for more information on how you can get involved.
See also the online resources on the Citizens Advice website
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A new quality mark has been launched this week for local businesses, community groups and parish councils that can demonstrate a strong commitment to combating loneliness in the county.
The new mark is part of the ‘In Good Company’ campaign being run by over 20 organisations from the statutory and voluntary sector to help combat the increasing problem of loneliness in Norfolk.
Louise Smith, Director of Public Health, said; 'This campaign is really important for public health services. We know that loneliness is associated with a heightened risk of mortality, depression, sleep problems, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and stroke. So anything we can do to stop people feeling socially isolated will have a positive impact on the number of people diagnosed with these problems and reduce the need for health care intervention.'
The campaign hashtag, #NoLonelyDay, reached almost a million Twitter accounts in the first six weeks as the Norfolk community rallied around the campaign.
The application form is now available online at In Good Company.
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Leeway currently have 4 vacancies for Management Committee Members. This is a voluntary position, ideally for someone who has previous board experience. There are 6-8 meetings held each year, which are approximately 2 hours long.
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In the Queen's Speech, delivered on 21st June, the Government has committed to bringing forward legislation "to protect the victims of domestic violence and abuse".
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Today the National Audit Office (NAO) published a report into online fraud. Fraud is the most commonly experienced crime in England and Wales and most happens online.
Just a couple of key facts from the NAO report:
Click here to read the report.
Also see BBC News: Online fraud overlooked by government, says watchdog
What can you do to help protect those vulnerable to this and other types of financial abuse? Find out more by booking a place at the Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB), Norfolk County Council Trading Standards & Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service FREE* conference (see below for details).
You can also take the Friends Against Scams training, click here to find out more.
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Email scams and phishing alerts
Look out for the following email scams which are circulating:
More advice and updates from Norfolk TS see, Norfolk TS consumer alerts web page or follow Norfolk TS on Facebook or twitter.
Reporting scams
Reporting any scams you receive can help to build up intelligence on the scammers and how they target people. You can report scams to:
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline 03454 04 05 06 or www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office) 0300 123 2040 or www.actionfraud.police.uk
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Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board in partnership with Norfolk County Council Trading Standards & Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service warmly invited you to attend this FREE* conference.
If you attend only one adult safeguarding event this year, this is the one to come to!
This conference is a call to action; to bring together the widest possible range of representatives, agencies and organisations to further strengthen and develop our countywide response to the issue of safeguarding adults at risk of financial abuse and scams.
The event is part of the Safeguarding Adults Awareness Week for 2017. Although every day is an opportunity to raise awareness of our shared safeguarding responsibilities, the awareness week acts as a focal point for activity.
Click here to book a place - Uniting Norfolk Against Financial Abuse and Scams
* Please note a non-attendance fee of £125 will be charged if you book a place but do not attend on the day.
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The vast majority of people across Northern Ireland support tougher legal penalties for criminals who abuse older people, new research shows. Almost 94% of those surveyed said they would like to see abuse against the elderly made an aggravated offence - similar to hate crimes
People across Scotland are overwhelmingly in favour of tougher legal penalties for criminals who abuse older people, new research by Action on Elder Abuse shows.
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This research briefing from the House of Commons Library provides information on the safeguarding responsibilities of schools in England, including the role of governing bodies, head teachers and school staff, the inspection of safeguarding, safe staff recruitment, and procedures for dealing with allegations against members of staff.
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Headlines from the National Trading Standards Scams Team (NTS):
Since its launch in October 2016 the Friends Against Scams (FAS) initiative has gone from success to success. Already, NTS have signed up:
The aim is to have 1 million Friends by 2020, have you sign up yet.
To find out how you can become a Friend Against Scams click here.
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The Queen's Speech on the 21 June included new legislation to protect the victims of domestic violence and abuse with a draft Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill.
This Bill will provide a statutory definition of domestic violence and attempt to ensure more robust protective orders in place to ensure justice for victims.
The Bill will also establish a Domestic Violence and Abuse Commissioner to represent victims and survivors and monitor the response of the authorities. Additionally, under the new Courts Bill, domestic violence victims will no longer be subject to direct cross examination by their alleged perpetrators in the family court.
Click here for Local Government Association's response.
Family of murdered Norwich mum Kerri McAuley welcome domestic violence proposals in Queen's speech.
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The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) has just issued new guidance on how to protect vulnerable adults from financial abuse and scams.
Under the Care Act 2014, councils are required to protect people from financial abuse, which includes mass marketing scams and doorstep scams. These scams make people part with their money and personal details through intimidation or promising cash and prizes.
The guidance states that older and disabled people are often targeted by fraudsters and the average age of a victim is 75. The scams can cost UK consumers up to £10bn a year.
This guidance will be of interest and use to safeguarding adults boards, regional safeguarding networks, health and well-being boards and all practitioners. Included is lot of useful information including tips on how to spot the signs of someone who may be responding to mass marketing or doorstep scams and some good cases studies at Annex 5.
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Consumer watchdog Which? has collated the data UK cyber-crime centre Action Fraud showing that Norfolk is dating scams hotspot.
Dating or romance scams are a type of online fraud in which criminals pose as desirable partners on dating sites or email, win the hearts of their victims and end up stealing their money or enough personal information to steal their identity.
To read more click here - BBC news.
Also see - Online dating fraud victim numbers at record high BBC News
With this in mind the guidance from The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) see above is something all practitioners and services are strongly encouraged to read.
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This recently published book from Bournemouth University is a must read for all social work and health care practitioners. It provides an accessible guide to adult safeguarding in the context of mental capacity and financial abuse.
Drawing on evidence and contemporary examples from practice, this book will help readers understand the new landscape of safeguarding adults since the implementation
of the Care Act 2014 and the introduction of Adult Safeguarding Boards.
AND you get a 25% discount on price with this flyer!
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The recent terrorist events in Manchester and London have starkly underlined that we all have an important role to play in safeguarding people and communities from the threat which may be posed by extremists. This FREE to attend workshop will enable you to recognise when a person or child may be being targeted and groomed for radicalisation and to know how to refer them for supportive intervention.
Click here for more information and how to book on. (This is word document).
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13 June 2017
In April’s blog I wrote about using an idea from economist Glen Whitman to write two succinct yet complete answers to the question, ‘what is adult safeguarding?’
I invited readers of this blog to have a go and send in their suggestions.
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This House of Commons Library Briefing Paper provides an outline of what an individual can do to stop junk mail and to remove their name from direct marketing mailing lists. It also briefly considers how unsolicited emails (known as ‘spam’) can be stopped through the use of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.
Section 2.4 has information on scams and fraudulent activity.
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Somerset SAB have published a Serious Case Review which may be of interest to the wider safeguarding adults network.
It centres on a man who took his own life in 2014 (pre-implementation of the Care Act) and the failure of organisations in providing him with a more coordinated service following his brain injury (from a traffic accident 20 years previously), insomnia, misuse of substances, suicidal ideation and vulnerabilities.
It highlights that services do not easily respond to individuals whose lives appear chaotic and struggle with compliance, and reinforces that multi-agency working with people with multiple and complex needs has to hinge on coordinated assessment, care management and working together to address the risk of harm.
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There have been calls to review the law covering online harassment and cyber bullying.
The Conservative and Labour manifestos both contained proposals to deal with the issue. So will the law change? This House of Commons Library Briefing Paper focuses mainly on England and Wales, but also touches on the law and relevant guidance in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Click here for more information and the full report.
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Thirteen people have been convicted after an inquiry into "organised and systemic" abuse at two care homes for adults with learning disabilities.
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Following implementation of the Care Act, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is funding a series of safeguarding adult seminars called - Safeguarding Adults and Legal Literacy (SALLY).
Seminar 6 in the series will be hosted by Bridget Penhale from the University of East Anglia and is called - ‘Responsibility for and to Safeguarding in Civil Society’.
The full day seminar is free to attend and will be on Friday 15th September 2017 at the Julian Study Centre, University of East Anglia (UEA).
(select the Seminar Series tab and then Year 2)
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Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) means putting the individual at the centre of everything we do during a safeguarding enquiry, from the very beginning to the very end.
The Care Act 2014 guidance required adult safeguarding practice to be person-led and outcome-focused, aiming towards resolution or recovery.
Norfolk County Council Adult Social Care’s recent audit has shown a huge improvement in the way our safeguarding practitioners are recording outcomes in their assessments. All safeguarding cases completed over a 3 month period were checked, comparing the outcome the person wanted to achieve at the beginning of the safeguarding enquiry, and their view on the actual outcome at the end of the process.
In 92% of the 169 cases sampled, a satisfactory standard of recording was achieved (compared to only 45% the first time the audit was carried out), with 50% of the cases sampled showing really good outcomes recording.
The best examples were the ones where the voice of the service user was heard clearly.
Click here to see some examples
How well does your organisation work in a way which supports MSP?
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This event is an official meeting of the East of England Migration Research Network. Partners will present current research projects and will introduce avenues for new research. This networking event will allow partner organisations and academics to come together in pursuit of research aimed to benefit refugees, migrants and host communities.
More information and booking details here.
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Shelter’s Policy Manager has published a new blog based on two reports published last week on the impact of homelessness and bad housing on health and social care.
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The University of East Anglia has carried out research with another local authority into the impact of slow stream work with people who self-neglect.
Consistent with the advice given by Professor Michael Preston-Shoot when he presented training in Norfolk last summer, the findings suggest that outcomes for people who self-neglect are improved by intensive work with a practitioner over a longer period of time, to work towards improving quality of life.
Adult Social Care are currently running a pilot in the Norwich locality in conjunction with Stonham Housing to investigate the potential benefits of longer term work with people who self-neglect, and the outcomes of this should be known by the summer.
See "Social work intervention with adults who self-neglect in England: responding to the Care Act 2014", Journal of Adult Protection, Vol. 19 Iss: 2, pp.67 - 77
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Champions are trained to ask, respond to and support people affected by domestic abuse, and to use their knowledge to help colleagues respond effectively and appropriately.
Click here for the new training dates.
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Article from Journal of Social Policy (April 2017)
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Pandora Project offers advice, support and information to women and children affected by domestic abuse, who are living in West Norfolk and Swaffham. The project now has a Facebook page in Russian and a support worker speaking Russian, Lithuanian and Latvian, offering 1-1 support in West Norfolk.
Details here: https://www.facebook.com/pandoraprojectrusskij/
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The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has produced a handy, concise guide on modern slavery for nurses and midwives, which will also be useful to others.
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Back in February, staff of Norfolk’s largest care home provider, NorseCare, were issued with the NHS-developed Safeguarding App.
Why not follow NorseCare’s example and encourage your organisation to get the Safeguarding app?
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Since the launch of Norfolk's Friends Against Scams campaign, 187 people have been trained and 19 of these have also signed up as ScamChampions.
Click here to find out more about ScamChampions.
Click here for information about how to become a Friend Against Scams in Norfolk.
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Email scams and phishing alerts
Look out for the following email scams which are circulating:
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New dates are:
Wednesday 5th July 2017 - Cotman Housing Association, Norwich
Thursday 27th July 2017 - The Green Britain Centre, Swaffham
The day-long session aims to train staff to deliver safeguarding awareness training to other staff and volunteers in their organisation. Participants will be provided with a set of training materials that they can use back in the workplace, including handouts, exercises, quizzes, case studies, power point presentations and a link to a safeguarding awareness film. The pack contains all the materials for a half day or full day awareness session and a 90 minute update session.
The total cost is £199. A great investment for your organisation and its role in adult safeguarding.
Click here for the flyer and how to book.
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The Sentencing Council has published proposed new guidelines for how people convicted of intimidatory offences and offences involving domestic abuse should be sentenced.
The intimidatory offences guideline covers harassment, stalking, disclosing private sexual images, controlling or coercive behaviour, and threats to kill.
The 13-week consultation runs until 30 June 2017.
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The Safeguarding Adults Lead at Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Swindon has worked with Oxford Brookes University to develop an innovative learning opportunity for student nurses with the adult safeguarding team. Could we develop something similar for Norfolk?
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The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee (HAC) announced this inquiry into hate crime and its violent consequences in early July 2016. It was set up after the murder of Jo Cox MP in June in the lead-up to the EU referendum.
Click here to read the report.
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As Norfolk launches its Friends Against Scams campaign, news from the National Trading Scams Team highlights the growing number of SCAMchampions.
The initiative now has 67 registered SCAMchampions.
Click here for more information.
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The House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee launched an inquiry examining the Department for Work and Pensions' policies and processes in relation to recognised victims of modern slavery and to asses potential changes in policy after Brexit.
The committed published its 12th Report - Victims of modern slavery on 30 April 2017.
Also see:
HoC Work and Pensions Committee - Victims of modern slavery inquiry
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Although published in 2015 this guide is really useful and well worth a look.
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Source: NHS England Midlands & East (Safeguarding Newsletter)
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How can you give someone a really succinct yet complete answer to the question, ‘That sounds interesting, tell me - what is adult safeguarding?’
Perhaps economist Glen Whitman can help us?
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Email scams and phishing alerts:
If you receive one of these emails delete it without clicking on any links in the message. You can report scam emails to Action Fraud, details below.
Reporting any scams you receive helps build up intelligence on the scammers and how they target people. You can report scams to:
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline:03454 04 05 06 or www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office): 0300 123 2040 or www.actionfraud.police.uk
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Email scams and phishing alerts
Look out for the following email scams which are circulating::
If you receive one of these emails, delete it without clicking on any links in the message. You can report scam emails to Action Fraud, details below.
Reporting any scams you receive helps build up intelligence on the scammers and how they target people. You can report scams to:
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline:03454 04 05 06 or www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office): 0300 123 2040 or www.actionfraud.police.uk
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Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB) in partnership with KP Social Care Training Ltd is pleased to present Train the Trainer Safeguarding Adults Awareness.
The day-long session aims to train staff to deliver safeguarding awareness training to other staff and volunteers in their organisation. Participants will be provided with a set of training materials that they can use back in the workplace, including handouts, exercises, quizzes, case studies, power point presentations and a link to a safeguarding awareness film. The pack contains all the materials for a half day or full day awareness session and a 90 minute update session.
The total cost is £199. A great investment for your organisation and its role in adult safeguarding.
Thursday 18th May 2017 at The Abbey Conference Centre, Unilever UK Foods, Carrow Works, Bracondale, Norwich
Click here for the flyer and how to book.
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At the beginning of April the Home Office launched a new community-led pilot in partnership with Afruca and the Salvation Army. The pilot aims to protect young people affected by Modern Slavery, specifically Domestic Slavery.
In the UK the scale of hidden crimes like Modern Slavery is significant and the impact on the lives of the victims is considerable. Domestic Slavery in particular happens behind closed doors and isn’t an issue that is frequently spoken about, even within the communities most affected. We need your help to change this.
Watch Have You Heard? film.
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This year's Leeway’s annual conference will be held on Friday 14th July at Norwich City Football Club. The theme this year is:
‘The impact of domestic abuse on children and young people’
Guest speakers include: Amna Abdullatif, Women’s Aid; Min Grob, Survivor of childhood domestic abuse; and Katharine Bundell, Barrister. There’s also a theatre production from Certain Curtain Theatre, with their powerful short play ‘Lady in Red’.
Last year's event was oversubscribed, so early booking is advised – and there’s an early bird offer if you book before 15th May.
Please contact [email protected] or call 0300 561 0077 to book your place.
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North Norfolk Older People’s Forum in partnership with Norfolk Trading Standards are hosting a scam awareness event on Tuesday 2nd May, St Benet’s Hall (behind St Nicholas Church, North Walsham), 10.00am – 12 noon.
The event will offer advice and information about protecting people from scams. While the event is open to the public, it will also benefit people who work and support older or vulnerable people who may become scam victims.
Please promote the event to your staff or colleagues and also encourage people you support to attend.
For more information contact:01692 582616 or email [email protected]
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Norfolk's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Lorne Green, has published his first Police and Crime Plan. The Plan, which sets seven core priorities for Norfolk, outlines the PCC's vision for tackling and preventing crime, protecting the most vulnerable and supporting victims.
A positive link between the PCC and the adult safeguarding board is made under strategic objective 12 - Tackle all forms of violence and abuse.
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The number of people reported as potential victims of slavery and human trafficking in the UK has more than doubled in the past three years.
Statistics released by the National Crime Agency (NCA) show there were 3,805 people referred for help in 2016 - up from 1,745 people in 2013.
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Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service are supporting Norfolk's In Good Company campaign to combat loneliness with a series of coffee mornings at their fire stations.
It's a great chance to find out what's happening in your community, meet and chat with neighbours, and even make new friends.
Click here for the flyer with dates and times.
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Vulnerable adults should be protected in the same way as children who are at risk of abuse, a safeguarding review into the death of an ex-charity worker has found.
The man was found beaten to death at his Rochdale home in May 2016. He had a long history of alcohol problems and was well known to statutory and voluntary agencies.
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Norfolk Trading Standards have introduced Friends Against Scams, a new training programme in our county.
Friends Against Scams aims to protect and prevent people from becoming victims by empowering communities to "Take a Stand Against Scams".
You can do the short training session by visiting the National Trading Standards website and completing the online session. It takes around 60 minutes and contains loads of great information about how scams target people and how you can spot possible victims in your community.
The target is to train 600 people, but let's see if we double this number!
Click here for more information.
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Norfolk Trading Standards are highlighting the following scams. Please share:
Email scams and phishing alerts
Look out for the following email scams which are circulating:
If you receive one of these emails delete it without clicking on any links in the message. You can report scam emails to Action Fraud, details below.
More advice and updates from Norfolk TS see, Norfolk TS consumer alerts web page or follow Norfolk TS on Facebook or twitter.
Reporting scams
Reporting any scams you receive can help to build up intelligence on the scammers and how they target people. You can report scams to:
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline 03454 04 05 06 or www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office) 0300 123 2040 or www.actionfraud.police.uk
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An updated Action Plan taking forward recommendations from this SAR is now available.
Click here for the Action Plan / Updated 23-03-2017.
For details of the SAR for Mr AA, click here.
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This guidance has been developed by the Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board to promote a joint approach to the assessment and management of risk to adults with care and support needs, across agencies. It is intended to:
- identify the circumstances in which there is a need for a structured partnership approach;
- identify a lead professional;
- clarify the role of agencies and professionals.
The guidance is for use by all practitioners and managers who work with adults with care and support needs, to promote joint working and information sharing, which are factors which are frequently highlighted in Safeguarding Adult Reviews, as problematic.
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A Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) film demonstrates how an open learning environment can encourage older people to speak out if they have seen or experienced abuse. Drawing on two examples - The Elders Forum based at the Malcolm X Community Centre in Bristol and the Ivybank House Residential Home in Bath - the film shows how good communication with older people can improve safeguarding and how people are encouraged to look out for each other and to report any concerns about the safety of individuals.
Key learning:
It is only 11 minutes long, so you can make use of this material even in the most busy day. How about showing the film at your next team meeting?
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Norfolk Trading Standards are highlighting the following scams:
Email scams and phishing alerts
Look out for the following email scams which are circulating:
Reporting scams
Reporting any scams you receive can help to build up intelligence on the scammers and how they target people. You can report scams to:
Action Fraud (UK’s National Fraud Office) 0300 123 2040 or www.actionfraud.police.uk
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline 03454 04 05 06 or www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer
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The number of potential human trafficking victims identified by councils has increased by 78 per cent in a year, the LGA has warned.
Referrals of potential victims by councils rose from 172 in 2014 to 306 in 2015. The Local Government Association (LGA) is urging people to be more aware of modern slavery in order to help tackle criminal gangs exploiting vulnerable workers living in squalor and on scandalous wages.
Cllr Simon Blackburn, Chair of the LGA's Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said: "Many people may think modern slavery is a problem which doesn't affect them, but nowhere is immune because it can happen everywhere. This isn't someone else's problem and we all need to be alert to it, wherever we live."
This story is also running across Sky News bulletins today. Independent Online, Mirror p23
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From Monday 3rd April 2017 coroners will no longer have a duty to undertake an inquest into the death of every person who was subject to an authorisation under the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (known as DoLS) under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
In these cases an inquest will still be required if the person died before Monday 3rd April 2017. However, for any person subject to a DoLS authorisation who dies on the 3rd, or any time after, their death need not be reported to the coroner unless the cause of death is unknown or where there are concerns that the cause of death was unnatural or violent, including where there is any concern about the care given having contributed to the persons death.
Any person with any concerns about how or why someone has come to their death can contact the coroner directly. This will not change where a person subject to a DoLS authorisation. What will change is that the coroner will no longer be duty bound to investigate every death where the deceased had a DoLS in place.
For more information on coroner services please see the Coroner Services Guides.
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Research in Practice for Adults (RiPfA) and Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) have announced a new piece of work commissioned by the Department of Health aimed at improving the quality and use of Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs).
The initial phase of work will run from March 2017 to March 2018 to draw together and develop an online library of open access resources on the SCIE website containing reviews, reports, guidance and tools to support practitioners working in safeguarding. National safeguarding networks will be involved to ensure that stakeholder views and knowledge are represented in the development of the resources.
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Tuesday 21st March is World Social Work Day. In my role as NSAB board manager I have the privilege to work alongside so many different people, including social workers, all of whom are helping take forward our safeguarding adults work for Norfolk.
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Alex Ruck-Keene, an experienced barrister with 39 Essex Chambers in London has been working with the Law Commission (LC) about the possibility of a Vulnerable Adults legal project (the LC are currently deciding what their next project will be and this is one of the short-listed ideas).
Click here for a one page briefing on the project.
One of the things that Alex is asking for is case studies that can be presented to the LC as part of the supporting evidence about why this work is needed.
Contact details
For further inquiries or to lend support, please contact Alex Ruck Keene at [email protected].
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Tim Spencer-Lane from the Law Commission will be delivering briefing sessions on the Law Commission's report (see News items 13 March below) & draft legislation made to ministers on the abolition of the DoLS, and amendments to the Mental Capacity Act.
Please note: places booked via St Thomas Training not NSAB. See fly for details.
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This National Competency Framework for MCA has been produced in association with The National Mental Capacity Forum and a number of key national organisations working in this area.
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The Law Commission today published a report setting out how thousands of vulnerable people with dementia and learning disabilities are being detained in hospitals and care homes without the appropriate checks, due to a law unfit for purpose.
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Cyber Security is a concept that has been pushed into the public consciousness recently, with widespread data breaches, news of vulnerabilities and compromised organisations seemingly every week, but why is cybercrime as a whole such a threat? Short Answer: Risk, Mysticism and Stigma.
Welcome to Project Breach, where the Norfolk and Suffolk Cybercrime Unit and Paul Maskall, the Cyber Security Advisor will help you re-evaluate your perception of risk.
This FREE to attend event is open and applicable to all, whether you are a small business owner or a CEO of a large public or private sector organisation.
For more information and how to book a place click here.
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A Mental Capacity Act (MCA) Workbook and the film clips developed by colleagues from the NHS Eastern Region Safeguarding Adult Forum are now available on the Social Care Centre for Excellence (SCIE) website.
The forum is facilitated by Eleanor Sherwen & Sarah Robinson. The workbook is hosted on SCIE's MCA Directory on behalf of the forum.
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Elaine Aspinwall-Roberts writes in Community Care about the failure to require councils to collect data on self-neglect means we don't know the scale or scope of the problem.
Norfolk partners are working hard to response to this issue, don't forget we are currently running a pilot for our High Risk Panel for self-neglect cases. The pilot is running to the end of September 2017.
Click here to find out more about the self-neglect pilots.
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Click here for details on articles on Safeguarding Adults Reviews, abuse in care homes and the role of the general practice surgery in safeguarding adults.
For an excellent source of articles on adult safeguarding see The Journal of Adult Protection.
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Dr Grant Gibson, Lecturer in Dementia Studies, University of Stirling
Please note: Edith Cavell Building is NOT on the main university campus, it is near Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. Use postcode NR4 7UL for satnav purposes. Reception will advise about parking: 01603 597 001.
Prof Fiona Poland and Dr Linda Birt, School of Health Sciences, UEA.
Seminar 13:00 – 14;00, workshop 14:00 – 15:00
Details of all the School of Health Sciences (HSC) seminars, including some video recordings and slide presentations of previous sessions, can be found by following this link: https://www.uea.ac.uk/health-sciences/school-seminars
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The report on the first year of the National Mental Capacity Forum, chaired by Baroness Finlay has been published. The report details of the forum’s membership, its early achievements and the chair’s priorities for the coming year.
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BBC File on 4 investigated the state of UK home care services highlighting issues of abuse. Writing in Community Care Gary Fitzgerald Chief Executive of Action on Elder Abuse argues that until we shake off an ageist attitude nothing will change,
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SafeLives will be working with local organisations in Norwich to pilot five innovative holistic interventions tailored to the varying needs of domestic abuse victims and their children as part of a new coordinated approach to enable men, women and children in Norfolk to be safer, known as the Beacon Project.
The first of these interventions is aimed at people at medium risk of harm and is being developed by Expert Partner, Oasis Domestic Abuse Service. Deborah Cartwright, the CEO at Oasis, and Rachel Ozanne, SafeLives Practice Advisor will explain the rationale behind the new intervention and the current testing of the model. As part of the development it is important to collect feedback from survivors and people who work with domestic abuse in Norwich to build into the model.
The workshop aims to provide detailed information on the proposed intervention, collect local feedback and identify organisations that may be interested becoming delivery partners.
Date: Tuesday 14th March 2017
Venue: Blackfriars Hall, St Andrew's Plain, Norwich, NR3 1AU
Time: 12.30- 14.00
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Safeguarding adults leads from across NHS England - Midlands and East (East) have helped developed a Mental Capacity Act (MCA) Workbook and film clips.
These are now available on the SCIE website. The scenarios are well worth a look.
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The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) are offering FREE workshops which will provide visitors with a comprehensive understanding of how they works and how the partner agencies link together, as well as giving an insight in to each agency's responsibilities within the MASH.
To book a place please via this link:
http://www.norfolklscb.org/people-workng-with-children/nscb-training/
to access our online training bookings system. The event is called 'Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub Briefing Sessions'
Please note that the link will take you to the Norfolk Safeguarding Children Board's (NSCB) website, but please ignore this as the booking system is for Adults also.
The sessions are FREE of charge and the dates/times are listed.
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People from across Norfolk and beyond got involved in Norfolk County Council's (NCC) In Good Company Twitter day on 14 February, using the hashtag #NoLonelyDay.
The campaign received new pledges, people donated money to NCC partner charities, shared their stories about loneliness, success stories and highlighted volunteering opportunities.
Tweets and retweets included Norfolk Libraries, Great British Bake Off's Kate Barmby, Paralympian Jessica-Jane Applegate, Cedric Anselin, Age UK Norfolk and Baileys Fish and Chip Shop. In Good Company made:
- 33,400 impressions
- 53 link clicks
- 45 retweets
- 41 likes
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You may remember a series of beer adverts for Heineken shown in the 1970 and 1980s for which the tag line was ‘Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach’. What does this have to do with safeguarding adults? Click on the link below to find out.
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The Prime Minister Theresa May announced on 17th February 2017 that she will be making work to transfer the way the country thinks about tackling domestic violence a key personal priority. A law to increase prosecutions for domestic violence and eradicate a postcode lottery in the way victims are dealt with by police forces will be brought forward.
Prime Minister May has made a call for ideas about how treatment of victims could be improved and more convictions secured against abusers.
As Home Secretary, Theresa May brought in laws criminalising coercive and controlling behaviour, domestic violence protection orders and a disclosure scheme allowing people to ask police whether their partner has a history of abusive behaviour – Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme – known as Clare's Law.
Liz Truss the Justice Secretary announced in a speech on the 13th February 2017 that domestic violence victims would no longer face being interrogated by their former partners in court. She said:
‘I am going to take action to spare victims of sexual abuse the trauma of giving evidence in open court in criminal cases. In family courts I will end the appalling practice of domestic abuse victims being cross-examined by their attacker.’
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Research in Practice for Adults (RiPfA) have produced five (open access) in-depth case studies describe situations of coercive and controlling behaviour with learning activities including sample assessment and safety plans which look at the kind of questions that a practitioner might ask, and how they might begin to record evidence or concerns.
Evidence shows that people with care and support needs are more likely to experience coercive or controlling patterns of behaviour. All professionals need to be confident that they are acting in a way that prioritises the safety of people accessing services.
Also see Polly Neate, CEO of Women’s Aid blog on what social workers [and others] need to know about coercive control.
Coercive control – at the heart of domestic abuse.
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The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals (NNUH) Safeguarding Team will be holding an important safeguarding conference on Friday 24 March 2017. Presentations include Human Trafficking, The Magdelene Group, and the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC).
Plus a choice of workshops on:
Cost £35 per head (for non NNUH staff) including lunch. Date Friday 24 March 2017.
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Staff of Norfolk’s largest care home provider, NorseCare, are to be issued with the NHS-developed Safeguarding App. NorseCare, who manage residential homes and Housing with Care schemes across Norfolk, have added the app to their home/scheme iPad/tablets and web-based internal ‘Learning Management System'. All 1800+ NorseCare staff now have access to this resource for increasing their awareness and understanding of safeguarding requirements. Excellent.
Why not follow NorseCare’s example and encourage your organisation to get the Safeguarding app?
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Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board has partnered with Citizens Advice, Norfolk Trading Standards and Norfolk Fire and Rescue to promote a much more systematic approach to raising public awareness of financial abuse/scamming across Norfolk and beyond. As part of this NSAB is very pleased to announced a financial abuse conference will take place on
Save the date in your diary, more details to follow soon.
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A leading homelessness charity, The Passage, has found that rough sleepers on the streets of the UK are at risk of becoming victims of modern slavery.
The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner has previously identified that slave masters prey on vulnerable homeless people but noted a significant lack of evidence. He therefore commissioned the Passage to investigate this issue. The Passage report was launched on the 26 January.
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This new forum is an opportunity for professionals to come together to network and develop good practice.
The first meeting is Tuesday 14th March at Wayland House, Watton from 10.30 am to 12.30pm.
Contact [email protected] to confirm your attendance.
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After six years as chair for the Western Locality Safeguarding Adult Partnership (WLSAP) Steve Fuller is stepping down. This is due to ever growing work commitments as manager of the Forward Day Centre.
During his time as chair Steve has shown a strong commitment to the work of the LSAP and has helped to build a strong local partnership in support of safeguarding adults work. The board wishes to record its thanks to Steve for all his hard work and dedication. Steve will continue to support the work of the locality partnership as local provider.
Jerry Green (Safeguarding Adults Lead Nurse, Queen Elizabeth Hospital), currently the vice chair, will take over as chair.
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In a guest blog for Learning Disability Today Richard Crompton from Dimensions writes a very interesting piece talking about the complexity of safeguarding decisions in relation to people with learning disabilities, and balancing taking risk with keeping them safe from harm.
In Safeguarding and quality of life – a question of culture Richard explores the complexities behind Mr Justice Munby’s famous 2007 judgement in the case of MM and Local Authority X, which is familiar to safeguarding commentators. In particular he notes:
‘Good safeguarding decisions can be complex. They raise profound questions concerning individual rights, the capacity to make decisions, make mistakes and take risks, and the moral and legal duty of an organisation – or the state through its institutions – to protect the vulnerable from harm.’
Dimensions is a not-for-profits organisation supporting people with learning disabilities, autism, challenging behaviour and complex needs. Richard Crompton is external chair of Dimensions’ safeguarding panel. He is also chair of Plymouth Hospitals Trust and a former chief constable. He is the current Chairman of the Somerset Safeguarding Adults Board.
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Exploratory research by Women’s Aid for the TUC by Marilyn Howard and Amy Skipp.
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Colleagues and family members of the murdered Labour MP Jo Cox have launched a campaign to tackle loneliness. Mrs Cox had started work on the cross-party campaign before she was killed in her constituency last year.
The commission, in her memory, will work with 13 charities including Age UK and Action for Children to come up with ideas for change.
Norfolk has been doing its bit and our campaign against loneliness - In Good Company - is coordinating some great activity to combat loneliness and it's having a real impact.
Go to In Good Company for more information about how you and your organisation can get involved, it's really easy.
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The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) are offering FREE workshops which will provide visitors with a comprehensive understanding of how they works and how the partner agencies link together, as well as giving an insight in to each agency's responsibilities within the MASH.
To book a place please click:
http://www.norfolklscb.org/people-workng-with-children/nscb-training/
to access our online training bookings system. The event is called 'Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub Briefing Sessions'
Please note that the link will take you to the Norfolk Safeguarding Children Board's (NSCB) website, but please ignore this as the booking system is for Adults also. The sessions are FREE of charge and the dates/times are listed.
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A multi-agency suicide prevention strategy and action plan – which will be led by Public Health – was agreed by Norfolk County Council’s Communities Committee on the 25th January 2017.
Norfolk’s suicide rate is above the national average, and the unveiling of the strategy kicks off a new campaign to reduce the number of people taking their own life and raise awareness of mental health and reduce the stigma around it. Former Norwich City footballer Cedric Anselin will be an ambassador for the campaign.
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Durham University have recently finished a national study examining sexual violence against people aged 60 and over in the UK and have designed a guide for practitioners based on the findings.
See the article in the British Journal of Criminology:
Rape of Older People in the United Kingdom: Challenging the ‘Real-rape’ Stereotype
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One of the programmes in BBC Radio 4's The Untold series features David.
David is a hoarder and lives alone in a house in south Belfast that's reached gridlock. Rooms are filled with his accumulated belongings and doors won't open against piles of furniture and random possessions. He won't let anyone come round for a visit - not even members of his own family.
Now David has discovered the house has a potentially devastating case of dry rot. Floors and ceilings may be in danger of collapsing but with all his piles of stuff, dealing with it is a far from straight-forward process.
To listen again go to the iPlayer Radio.
Broadcasted on Monday 23 January 2017.
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Channel 4 is showing a documentary titled The Modern British Slave Trade on Tuesday 31 January at 10pm. This is quite timely following the recent case in Nottingham where two brothers were jailed for trafficking vulnerable men from Poland. The victims had their passports taken from them, were found employment in a Sports Direct warehouse, and had two thirds of their weekly pay taken from them, leaving them with just £90 each week.
The programme shows the modern slave trade through the eyes of the people trapped in forced labour and through the investigators who are tackling this criminal industry.
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Dr David Orr has written a very useful blog on hoarding at Research in Practice for Adult.
Read Norfolk SAB's Self-neglect and Hoarding Strategy. NSAB has decided to extend the current pilot on the strategy until the end of September.
For how to refer a case to the pilot areas.
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The National Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Centre is keen to share learning from its work in the past 18 months and is facilitating two free seminars in our area. The aim of the seminars is to raise delegates’ confidence around key issues such as:
The seminars are aimed at a multi-agency audience on the 6th March 2017 at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Bob Champion Research and Education Building, Colney Lane, Norwich, NR4 7UY
This is a not to missed opportunity for all practitioners to gain further awareness about FGM.
See flyer with Eventbrite booking system.
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In its first six weeks, the In Good Company campaign has reached almost 1 million twitter accounts! Information about it has been circulated to 900 people at events and activities (generating considerable media coverage), for example Independence Matters are developing their plans around ‘In Good Company' and the 'Friends Against Scams' Campaign.
Watch out for the launch of the In Good Company ‘quality mark’ for organisations, businesses and communities coming soon.
Use the #nolonelyday
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Operation Gravity is a joint action by Norfolk police and a range of partner agencies to reduce the trafficking of drugs into Norfolk from London. A short information sheet has been produced to explain how all agencies can support this work to protect young people and adults with care and support needs who are being targeted by drug gangs.
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Norfolk has just seen another storm surge. Watching the news coverage I was impressed by the multi-agency nature of the response: all sorts of people working together to keep everyone safe and protect our communities. Read more ...
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Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) means [safeguarding] should be person-led and outcome-focused. It engages the person in a conversation about how best to respond to their safeguarding situation in a way that enhances involvement, choice and control, as well as improving quality of life, wellbeing and safety.
Click here for a helpful best practice fact sheet.
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‘Safeguarding Adults and Legal Literacy’ or ‘SALLY’ is a seminar series funded by the Economic &Social Research Council investigating the impact of the Care Act 2014.
The next seminar explores ‘Dignity, wellbeing and human rights’ and will be on Friday 10 February 2017 at Keele University.
Click here for the flyer which give details on how to book on.
For more information on SALLY click here.
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The third progress report of the suicide prevention strategy sets out what's being done to reduce deaths by suicide in England.
This report is being used to update the 2012 strategy in 5 main areas. Click here to read more.
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Of the many films on over this Christmas period was “Lady in the Van”.
Adapted by Alan Bennett from his own story, this film is about the proud, argumentative homeless woman Miss Shepherd (played by Maggie Smith) who bullied him into having her camper van in his driveway for 15 years.
Smith’s performance, honed from the previous stage and radio versions, is extremely good and this is a chance to see her play something very different to her role in Downton Abbey as the Dowager Countess of Grantham. From a 1970’s perspective Miss Shepherd is eccentric while a contemporary view would now highlight aspects of her behaviour as self-neglect.
This film serves as a timely reminder that Norfolk is currently running a pilot of the Self-neglect and Hoarding Strategy in two parts of the county (Western and Central). For more details on the pilot see Self-neglect and Hoarding.
If you have a case of concern for a person with self-neglect and/or hoarding behaviours and it meets the criteria for discussion at the High Risk Panel (HRP) click here for the guidance how to refer.
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Writing in the Huffington Post UK before Christmas Gary FitzGerald Chief executive of Action on Elder Abuse, a UK charity working to keep older people safe from all forms of abuse, highlights the 10th December which marked Human Rights Day. Instigated by the UN, the day encourages people across the globe to “stand up for someone’s rights today”.
Click here to read more.
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Eastern Daily Press 14 December 2016
Properties where vulnerable people are being exploited by drug gangs will be a focus of a new operation from Norfolk Police. The Police warned that “Drug dealers use a range of tactics such as violence or exploiting vulnerable individuals by taking over their homes. They also prey on adolescents, some of whom are already involved in the drugs lifestyle either directly or through their family, by getting them to conceal the drugs".
Click here to read more.
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Norfolk police are currently carrying out action to reduce the trafficking of drugs into Norfolk from London. They have identified that a number of vulnerable adults and adults with care and support needs, have been targeted by drug dealers who set up their operations in the service users’ home.
This is known as ‘cuckooing’ and people with mental health problems have been particularly targeted.
Some signs that a person’s home may have been cuckooed include lots of people coming and going from the property, drug paraphernalia such as syringes or cellophane and general antisocial behaviour. People in this situation are at risk of being coerced into behaviour they don’t necessarily want to be part of. There may be opportunities to talk to person about what they would do if something like this happened to them and how they can keep themselves safe.
The police will soon be issuing a specific telephone number for individuals to report concerning activity, but in the meantime, if you become aware that a vulnerable person may have been targeted in this way, please make an alert to the Police and if necessary, Adult Social Services, via the Norfolk MASH on 0344 800 8020.
If you believe the person is at immediate risk, dial 999.
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The House of Commons Health Select Committee has published an interim report to allow the emerging themes from witnesses to be presented to government in time to inform the updated suicide prevention strategy. A full report will follow next year.
Click here for the report.
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Today the Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board publishes a Safeguarding Adults Review for Mrs BB. For more details and the report click here.
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In mid-November I was very pleased to play a part in the joint Norfolk and Suffolk Trading Standards conference against financial scams – Join the Flight
In its second year, the event brought together the two county Trading Standards Services and regional partners to raise awareness of collaborating to fight scams.
Click here to read previous blogs.
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Article in Nursing in Practice, click here.
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The government has published a short guide to modern slavery including a definition, a person's rights if they are a victim and how to report it. It only takes a few minutes to read, giving you essential information on this important topic.
Click here for the guidance: How to report modern slavery
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The Office for National Statistics publishes data on domestic abuse. An estimated 1.8 million adults aged 16 to 59 said they had been a victim of domestic abuse in the last year, ending March 2016.
Women were more likely to report having experienced domestic abuse than men.
A large number of domestic abuse-related incidents were recorded by the police (1.03 million). Following investigations, the police concluded that a domestic abuse-related criminal offence was committed in approximately 4 in every 10 (41%) of these incidents (421,000).
Click here for the full report.
Click here for information on the Domestic abuse champions
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To improve identification of victims of modern slavery, under a duty in the Modern Slavery Act, public authorities are required to notify the Home Office when they encounter a potential victim, including human trafficking. The duty to notify applies to public authorities, including the police, local authorities and the National Crime Agency.
Other public authorities and non-government organisations, such as frontline NHS workers and teachers, are also encouraged to make a voluntary notification, in order to help build the picture of modern slavery in the UK. You can find further guidance on how to notify the Home Office of a case of suspected modern slavery, together with the National Referral Mechanism and duty to notify forms.
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Under the Care Act, local authorities must arrange an advocate if people have substantial difficulty in being fully involved and if there is no one appropriate available to support and represent their wishes. See ebulletin for emerging good practice, new research and key steps to improve commissioning.
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Guidance: Violence against women and girls: national statement of expectations.
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Do you know how to help someone who may lack capacity, to make decisions? In a new film, Baroness Finlay, Chair of the National Mental Capacity Forum, explains how the Mental Capacity Act can support care staff with difficult decisions. "The MCA isn't a blanket judgement over people's mental capacity."
Click here to watch the film.
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This report provides the key findings from the Safeguarding Adults Return (SAR) data collection for the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016. This year will be the first year of data after the Care Act 2014 became law, making safeguarding mandatory for all councils to do.
Click here for useful reports & resources, see Prevalence.
Also see Safeguarding Adults 2015 to 2016, Experimental statistics.
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In mid-November I was very pleased to play a part in the joint Norfolk and Suffolk Trading Standards conference against financial scams – Join the Flight. In its second year, the event brought together the two county Trading Standards Services and regional partners to raise awareness of working together to fight scams. Read more ...
Click here to read previous blogs.
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The final report of a major government-commissioned review of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) legislation has been postponed until next year, it has been announced.
The Law Commission was due to report to ministers with their final recommendations, including draft legislation, on a proposed replacement for the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) by the end of this year. However, the project has been pushed back to March 2017.
See - Mental Capacity Law and Policy
See Community Care - Deprivation of liberty reforms postponed
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Self-neglect: the tension between human rights and duty of care. This article is about a case which was subject to a Serious Case Review published by Bristol Safeguarding Adults Board.
See Community Care - Self-neglect: the tension between human rights and duty of care
See - Bristol Safeguarding Adults Board
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To help support the safeguarding adults network, a new page has been added to the website to build a library of useful reports and resources. The aim is to add to this over time so creating a live resource of important and vital information on safeguarding adults.
The new page has been added to the Professionals drop down menu on the home page.
Click here to see the new page.
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The Department of Health as released a number of update to guidance on FGM including:
Guidance: Statement opposing female genital mutilation
Correspondence: Response to the Home Affairs Select Committee's report on female genital mutilation
Guidance: Mandatory reporting of female genital mutilation: procedural information
Guidance: FGM protection orders: factsheet
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SafeLives, a national charity dedicated to ending domestic abuse, have recently released a report highlighting the necessity of having domestic abuse services within hospitals. It also recognises the need for mandatory domestic abuse training for all staff, and the importance of a robust domestic abuse policy. Click here to for the report.
The Royal College of Nursing have developed new resources for nurses and midwives to support patients who are victims of domestic abuse. The resources have been compiled by a panel of experts, and also support professionals who are either victims or perpetrators themselves.
Read more and access the resources here.
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Within the care home sector there are many good quality care homes, but there are also many where quality of care is poor and abuse and harm occurs. As the former Care Minister, Alistair Burt MP said in a House of Commons debate on care homes for older people (House of Commons Hansard) on 3 November 2016, ‘there are still dark corners on which the light must be shone’.
New research from older people’s charity, Independent Age, – ‘Shining a light on care: Helping people make better care home choices’, makes interesting reading. It notes how the sector is often viewed negatively by the public, because of a perceived risk of abuse and neglect.
Interestingly from a safeguarding perspective the report said:
Independent Age says is there is a need to improve the information the care home sector and public bodies provide to older people and their families. Also, that a common approach is needed to measure quality in care homes that works in the interests of both providers and the public. To this end Independent Age has developed 10 care home quality indicators to provide the help people need to make more confident choices.
Click here to read more.
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This pack covers a wide range of issues related to violence against women and girls. It includes:
It also signposts other useful research and how to access various support materials available to partners.
Click here for the updated document.
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The House of Commons Health Select Committee has visited a number of key organisations as part of it's suicide prevention inquiry.
Click here to read a summary.
Also on Tuesday 29 November 2016 the Health Committee is to hear oral evidence from Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Secretary of State for Health and others relating to suicide prevention. Subjects covered are expected to include suicide prevention measures, anti-depressant medication and the role of the media, social media and the internet.
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The Guardian Newspaper reports how hidden camera footage filmed by BBC Panorama reporters recorded vulnerable people left unattended, including one left on a bedpan for 40 minutes, an out-of-date prescription supplement relabelled for use by another resident and the threat of morphine being used to silence a resident in two care homes in Cornwall.
This will no doubt be a disturbing programme and while not minimising the seriousness of these cases, there are also care home staff and providers who provide excellent care and take every step to safeguard residents. We need to highlight such examples and help root out individual abusive staff and/or providers who are failing and even harming vulnerable people.
The programme Panorama: Nursing Homes Undercover will be broadcast on BBC1 on Monday 21 November at 8.30pm.
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Norfolk has set up a Thunderclap for 25th November 2016 - White Ribbon Day against domestic abuse. The campaign has started circulating the link below and encouraging people to support the campaign. If you could help to promote this on your social media and send to some of your contacts, that would be much appreciated.
The Thunderclap is http://thndr.me/7KJFMt
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What should organisations do when an allegation is made against an employee, volunteer or student (paid or unpaid) who may pose a risk to adults with care and support needs?
The Care Act statutory guidance 14.120 to 14.132) March 2016, sets out the responsibilities of the Safeguarding Adults Board, its partners, and those providing universal care and support services for circumstances where allegations are made against a person in a position of trust and how they must respond.
Where such concerns are raised about someone who works with adults with care and support needs, it will be necessary for the employer (or student body or voluntary organisation) to assess any potential risk to adults with care and support needs who use their services, and, if necessary, to take action to safeguard those adults.
To help the Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board has produced this guidance. Click here to download the guidance.
To report a concern please ring 0344 800 8020, select Option 1 and ask to speak to a member of the adult social care safeguarding team in the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH). Then ask them to send a Safeguarding Adults Data Sharing Referral (SADS) Form. Email the completed form to [email protected]
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On Friday 28th October, James Paget University Hospital (JPUH) in Gorleston held its first Annual Safeguarding Conference. The event has previously been a purely children’s event, but this year reflected the development of the JPUH Safeguarding Team by bringing together adults, children and maternity safeguarding practice and knowledge.
The conference aimed to support health staff to develop their confidence in some of the most challenging areas in everyday safeguarding practice. Topics included:
Joan Maughan, Chair of Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB), gave a presentation outlining the work of NSAB and the essential role of health in the safeguarding of our most vulnerable patients. Feedback from attendees was that Joan’s presentation was particularly informative, along with Mark English’s presentation about Modern Slavery.
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Every year the Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Board runs a campaign, to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
25 November is White Ribbon Day and marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. A new domestic abuse (DA) campaign was launched in June this year by County community safety partners under the banner #iwalkedaway, which is Norfolk’s campaign for this year. Later this month, will see the launch of ‘Is this You?’ campaign to encourage self-reflection of perpetrators’ behaviour.
Here is the link to the domestic abuse campaign posters that you can download.
I Walked Away and White Ribbon campaign
If each of us did something, big or small, to raise awareness, we could reach thousands of people. Please let the campaign know what you are doing (either a photo or a short blurb) by emailing [email protected].
Don’t forget to link the I Walked Away website to your own website/intranet, so it can be found by visitors to your organisation's website and internal staff alike.
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This is a really good informative video, please share with your colleagues:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/safeguarding/our-work/modern-slavery/
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In June 2016 Action on Elder Abuse (AEA) launched a campaign to introduce a new aggravated offence of elder abuse. Click here to see AEA's detailed report in support of their campaign.
The campaign will be featured on Monday's (07-11-2016) You And Yours programme on Radio 4 at 12.15pm.
To listen again click here.
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At its development day in September the Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB) discussed the topic of suicide and how this issue links with the adult safeguarding agenda. The House of Commons Health Select Committee held its first evidence session on 01 November as part of its inquiry into the action which is necessary to improve suicide prevention in England. Giving evidence were
Click here to watch the session.
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Following the launch of the Self-neglect and Hoarding Strategy (see 14 September below), a six month pilot of the High Risk Panel (HRP) opens today in two of the locality safeguarding adults partnership areas (LSAP) - Central and Western.
Click here for a map showing the LSAP areas.
Click here for the guidance on the pilot. This guidance is to help support partners think about when and how to make a referral of a high risk self-neglect case under the pilot.
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Next month, Norfolk County Council and around 20 other organisations launch a campaign called In Good Company – which aims to tackle the problems of loneliness. Loneliness is understood to be a key factor in people needing services from the local authority, and which also causes the same sort of long term health problems as smoking. Loneliness is known to be an important factor in increasing the risk of abuse and harm including financial abuse and scams.
The first stage of the campaign looks to encourage individuals, organisations, businesses and communities to make a pledge to take an action which helps ensure that no one in Norfolk needs to spend a lonely day, if they don’t want to. As well as gathering and sharing pledges, the campaign will use this first three month phase to highlight what organisations and communities in Norfolk are already doing in this area, both to find volunteers and donations of help where needed, but also to give ideas to others about what they could do or start in their own area. As such this will help support work to encourage our communities take a stand against abuse and harm.
The campaign will launch on November 14 2016 with features in the local media and a day long twitter activity involving the range of organisations who work with older and vulnerable people in Norfolk sharing their pledges, and suggestions or opportunities for people to get involved.
The campaign is preparing to launch an In Good Company webpage with links to volunteering, events and activities on the county council site.
From end of January the aim is to launch an In Good Company ‘quality mark’ for businesses, organisations and communities with further steps they can take - with a good head of steam built up from the pledging activity.
For more information about how to get involved please contact Jemma Walker [email protected]
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Home Secretary Amber Rudd today pledged £11 million to a dedicated Modern Slavery Innovation Fund, set up to tackle the horrendous crime in high-risk countries from which victims are trafficked to the UK. The announcement made in her speech at the Santa Marta Conference in the Vatican, which brings together senior law enforcement chiefs, representatives from the Roman Catholic Church and civil society organisations to strengthen the global response to modern slavery and eliminate human trafficking.
Perhaps your organisation would like to bid click here to read more.
Click here for the Modern Slavery Act
The National Trading Standards Scams Team has put this very helpful guide together to assist local authorities to see the role that Trading Standards plays in tackling financial abuse of vulnerable people.
Click here for the guide.
Also there is a useful briefing paper on the scamming and its effect on vulnerable individuals from the House of Commons Library. Click here to download the report.
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I popped into my local corner shop at the weekend to buy a paper and some milk and Angie, the woman who served me, asked ‘How have you been? Haven’t seen you in recently!’ (I normally go in most Saturdays). Read more ...
Click here to read previous blogs.
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Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB) in partnership with KP Social Care Training Ltd is pleased to present Train the Trainer Safeguarding Adults Awareness
The aim of the day session is to train staff to deliver safeguarding awareness training to staff and volunteers in their own organisation. Participants will be provided with a set of training materials that they can use back in the workplace, including: handouts, exercises, quizzes, case studies, power point presentations and a link to a safeguarding awareness film. The pack contents cover all the materials for a half day or full day awareness session and a 90 minute update session.
The total cost is £199. A great investment for your organisation and its role in adult safeguarding.
Click here for the flyer and how to book on.
To book a place click here.
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This FREE* not-to-be-missed event is open to all organisations and agencies. It's a valuable opportunity to get new training or refresh your knowledge on key safeguarding adults issues. The aim is to come together, learn, recognise the important role each sector plays in this vital work and develop stronger safeguarding networks for the benefit of our communities.
The day-long programme offers sessions on the following topics:
To book a place please click here.
* terms & conditions apply, see flyer
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One of the recommendations made from the Safeguarding Adult Review (SAR) for Mr AA was to develop a whole community approach to adult safeguarding. The aim is to raise awareness in the community about its safeguarding role. Mr AA used to visit his local garage every day to buy his sandwiches and a drink for lunch. The staff at the garage were well placed to see changes in his appearance over time and saw that all was not well.
A fantastic safeguarding story in the press recently was the waitress who became concerned after a regular older customer had not been into the restaurant where she worked for a number of days. The waitress called the police who found the elderly lady had been stuck in the bath for 4 days.
See Women stuck in bath for four days 'saved by waitress'
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Do take a few minutes to read this very powerful article on 'safeguarding' Elsie. It asks some important questions of us all when working with individuals with self-neglecting and or hoarding behaviours and illustrates well how we need to truly consider the person in all that we do.
Click here to read more
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The latest figures from NHS Digital shows that almost half of the safeguarding investigations undertaken by local authorities in the last year resulted in reduced risks for service users.
Annual safeguarding figures (published 6 October) show that the risks were reduced in 47% of cases, up from 40% the previous year. But the number of cases where the risk was completely removed fell from 23% in 2014-15 to 20% in 2015-16.
The proportion of enquiries where the risk remained was 8%, the same as the previous year, and a quarter required no further action to be taken by local authority safeguarding teams.
Between April 2015 and March 2016 there were 102,970 individuals subject to enquiries under section 42 of the Care Act 2014, 930 fewer than in 2014-15.
Click here to read more (Source: Community Care).
For the Safeguarding Adults Annual Report, England 2015-16 click here.
The National Trading Standards Scams Team has put this very helpful guide together to assist local authorities to see the role that Trading Standards plays in tackling financial abuse of vulnerable people.
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New Crown Prosecution Service guidance has set out the range of offences for which social media users could face prosecution. The guidance, published today (10 October), will be used to inform decisions on whether criminal charges should be pursued. Released during Hate Crime Awareness Week, it has also been updated in order to help prosecutors identify and effectively prosecute hate crime on social media.
For more information click here.
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Linked to the story below, it is reported in the press today that the Business Minister is meeting with Royal Mail today to discuss urgent action over a multi-million pound global letter scam that preys on the elderly. Ms James said an immediate probe was needed after an investigation found thousands of vulnerable pensioners were at risk from organised criminal scammers who used Royal Mail to send their letters.
Also see Royal Mail and Trading Standards launch new joint initiative to tackle scam mail.
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Clive Lewis, Labour MP for Norwich South, has joined the campaign to stop people becoming victims of scams (Eastern Daily Press 08-10-2016). The campaign has been launched by the National Trading Standards Scams Team. Scams often target people in vulnerable situations - the Friends Against Scams campaign aims to protect and prevent these people from becoming victims of scams by empowering communities to ‘Take a Stand Against Scams’.
Mr Lewis said 'Scams often target the most vulnerable people in society but the reality is that anyone can be a victim of scams. Scams damage lives and can affect people financially and emotionally'.
We can all something do to stop this. We can :
- attend a short awareness session either in person or online.
- become a SCAMchampion. These are Friends Against Scams who want to do more.
- get your business or organisation to become involved as a Friends Against Scams organisation
See Care Act Guidance on safeguarding - and go to section 14.24 on financial abuse.
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In the first 6 months of the Coercive and Controlling legislation being introduced it was used just 62 times. Eight police forces across the UK had no charges, and nine forces had fewer than 2. However, in Norfolk it has been reported that there have been 10 prosecutions. Lucy Hastings, a director at the independent charity Victim Support, said: “These findings demonstrate that there is still some way to go in improving the support provided to victims and witnesses, before they will be getting the information they need and the respect they deserve”.
For the full article, please click here.
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A Norwich survivor of domestic abuse has broken her silence on how she walked away from her attacker and backs the #IWalkedAway campaign.
For the full story click here.
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File on 4 has revealed the alarming scale of alleged sexual offences taking place in adult care, residential and nursing homes.
Figures obtained by the programme under a Freedom of Information request show that, in the last three years, around 2,000 sex offences had been reported to UK police forces.
The CQC are aware of 6,000 safeguarding alerts and concerns in care homes within the same period, ranging from inappropriate touching to more serious allegations. Other residents are the most common perpetrators, followed by employees.
The programme highlighted some shocking cases, including a sexual assault on a 101 year old woman by a care worker. First aired on Radio 4 on Tuesday 20 September, the programme is available now on podcast http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07vs2ny
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Every year more than three million people in the UK fall victim to scams, losing hundreds and sometimes even thousands of pounds. Norfolk and Suffolk Trading Standards are inviting you to Join us in the Fight against scams at our free conference on 16 November 2016.
Conference details
This dynamic conference, now in its second year, brings together our two County Trading Standards Services and regional partners to raise awareness of how vital it is we join together to fight scams. A varied agenda will feature many different scams including scam phone calls, scam mail, online scams and rogue doorstep traders.
This year, the conference is looking at how we can better identify and assist scam victims we will focus on exploring the much wider impact of scams on our communities.
To book a place please email - [email protected]
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Click here for more information.
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The government is currently holding a consultation to seek views on the possible introduction of mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect or a duty to act in relation to child abuse or neglect. Did you know the consultation is also seeking views on whether the scope of these possible changes should extend to vulnerable adults?
See the fourth bullet point under additional information (section 17), page 27. This asks for comment on: "the operational impact of extending either of the statutory measures to vulnerable adults".
For a copy of the consultation document click here. Please encourage your organisation to respond.
Consultation closes 13 October 2016 12:00pm
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The national referral mechanism (NRM) is a victim identification and support process. The NRM is designed to make it easier for all agencies that could be involved in a trafficking case (eg the police, UK Visas and Immigration, local authorities, non-governmental organisations) to share information about potential victims and facilitate their access to advice, accommodation and support.
The guidance document gives information on:
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A backbench business debate was held on 8 September 2016 on scamming and its effect on vulnerable individuals.
Nusrat Ghani MP, chairwoman of the all party parliamentary group on older people and ageing, said: "I would also like to suggest that the scams targeting the elderly be re-categorised as an aggravated crime because they especially target a vulnerable person."
To support the debate the House of Commons Library has produced a briefing paper which sets out why people can be vulnerable to scams, what they can do to protect themselves and what action is being taken by the government and the regulators.
Click here for the House of Commons Library's Briefing Paper.
Click here for the Hansard record.
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A judge urged care homes to be vigilant that its workers were not feeling under too much pressure after he imposed a suspended jail term on a 48 year-old carer, who ill-treated two vulnerable adults.
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Norfolk Community Law Service (NCLS) in partnership with Leeway Domestic Violence and Abuse Services annual public law lecture will be given by VERA BAIRD QC, Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria. Vera will be speaking on:
“Violence and Abuse against Women and Girls: Striving to Ensure Accountability within the Police and Judiciary”
Tickets £10, £5 for students, including wine and nibbles. To pre-book tickets, email: [email protected]
All proceeds to NCLS and Leeway. The lecture will held in The Cathedral Hostry, Norwich.
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This year's awareness week will take place Monday 12th to Friday 16th September. Across the county there will be a range of events from distributing information at supermarkets to a multi-agency conference on Friday 16th September.
BUT everyone can get involved. Here are 6 simple actions everyone can take to help, click here to download the action sheet.
Click here for a table and list of events. If your organisation, service or club is doing something please let us know by emailing [email protected]
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Gavin Thomas, who will be speaking at the PSA's annual conference in Stratford-upon-Avon will propose that there should be national standards for protecting people such as domestic abuse victims and children. At the conference, Ch Supt Thomas will say: "We have standards, accreditation and skills to practice in firearms, public order and driving patrol cars. But currently there is no such requirement for protecting children and vulnerable people."
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A fun game to play with film-loving friends is Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon – that is, to find the shortest path between any given actor and Footloose movie star Kevin Bacon. Here’s an example, starting with George Clooney: Clooney was in Ocean's Eleven with Matt Damon, Matt Damon was in The Departed with Jack Nicholson, and Jack Nicholson was in A Few Good Men with Kevin Bacon.
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The Care Act gives a clear requirement that all commissioners or providers of services in the public, voluntary or private sectors should have safeguarding adult multi-agency policy and procedures (14.231 Care Act Guidance March 2016). The policy needs to cover a ranges of topics, including recognising types of abuse, who may be at risk, information on terms and conditions of appointment and other employment procedures to name but a few. All individual staff members need to be aware of their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding adults - what to do when they suspect or encounter abuse of adults in vulnerable situations. Organisations have to disseminate information about this to staff.
To help, NSAB has published a model safeguarding adults policy. Organisations and partners can use this in two ways:
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Norfolk Community Law Services (NCLS) provides a important service giving access to justice and equality in Norfolk. All NCLS services are free, independent and confidential with funding for the service coming from grants and donations - they do not charge clients for their services.
NCLS's next fundraising event is on Thursday 15th September, a Scavenger Hunt.
Follow the trail around Norwich, answer questions and tweet pictures to earn points. Prizes awarded to the top 3 teams. Optional pit stops at pubs along the route! Concluding with food at the Dog House, 18 St Georges St, Norwich.
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Also see News item for 4 August.
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‘If adults are scared, how might children living with domestic abuse feel?’
With Ofsted planning joint area inspections on domestic abuse, Community Care has published eight factors which social workers (and others) should consider when working on these complex cases. These factors draw on Analysis of serious case reviews which suggests that practitioners do not always assess and follow through on all identified risks of domestic abuse.
See ‘If adults are scared, how might children living with domestic abuse feel?’ Community Care August 15, 2016
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Today NSAB publishes its annual report for 2015-16. Here are a few of the key achievements of the last year:
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A 48-year-old carer was convicted of the ill-treatment of two vulnerable adults on Friday 12th August. The care worker, who worked at a care home in the Fakenham area, was found guilty of seven counts of ‘ill-treatment or neglect of a person who lacks capacity’.
Read more click here
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Coming up over the next couple of months there are a number of conferences covering some important topics. Don't miss out - have a look at the following flyers:
23 September 2016 - Leeway's National Domestic Abuse Conference Norwich, Norfolk. In order to register your interest please email: [email protected]
28 September 2016 - ‘Mind the Gap’, a local Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) conference focusing on online offending, Mercure Hotel, Norwich
16 November 2016 - Join the Fight 2016: Norfolk and Suffolk Trading Standards Fight Against Scams conference, see below.
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Bournemouth University and partners have produced a very handy and short booklet on Next of Kin. Click here to download.
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Every year more than 3 million people in the UK fall victim to scams, losing hundreds and sometimes even thousands of pounds. Norfolk and Suffolk Trading Standards are inviting you to join in the Fight Against Scams at its free conference on 16 November 2016.
This dynamic conference, now in its second year, brings together Norfolk and Suffolk Trading Standards Services and regional partners to raise awareness of joining forces to fight scams.
Key Note Speaker
Professor Keith Brown, Bournemouth University ‘The Financial Impact of Scams’
To book a place email [email protected]
Spaces are limited, so don’t delay in booking!
Trading Standards will contact you by email to register you and confirm your place.
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The free FGM e-learning course has been updated.
The course now includes information on the changes to the law introduced through the Serious Crime Act 2015, updated prevalence data, the NHS England enhanced dataset, and new guidance for UK Visas and Immigration.
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The government’s plan for dealing with hate crime in England and Wales was published on 26 July 2016. To access the plan click on the link below.
Policy paper: Hate crime action plan 2016
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In the run up to Norwich Pride, The Canaries posted a story about the upcoming Pride parade and how the club would be flying the rainbow flag above Carrow Road. The club's mascot Captain Canary joined in the festivities before Saturday afternoon’s pre-season friendly against German club Hannover 96.
One supporter responded, ‘What the hell has this to do with football?’
Norwich’s reply? ‘Everything.’
Brilliant. While the man's comment was later deleted, the club's reply elicited dozens of positive messages from other fans.
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Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Safeguarding Minister Sarah Newton meet campaigners to outline new government action to end slavery.
Home Office unites with charities to end slavery
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Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Safeguarding Minister Sarah Newton meet campaigners to outline new government action to end slavery.
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The NHS have developed a Safeguarding App – a resource for healthcare professionals to increase their awareness and understanding of safeguarding requirements. Although it is aimed at healthcare staff there is lot of really useful information in it which would be helpful to other sectors. Do check it out.
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The DA campaign marketing team has set up a Thunderclap to go out from all accounts signed up on 18th August. Please encourage all to participate, go to and sign up:
#NoToDomesticAbuse Thunderclap
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An invitation to ‘Mind the Gap’, a local conference on child sexual exploitation (CSE) focusing on online offending on 28th September at the Mercure Hotel, Norwich.
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An independent review into the effectiveness of the criminal justice provisions in the Modern Slavery Act 2015 one year after coming into effect.
Corporate report: Modern Slavery Act 2015 review: one year on
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An article in Community Care (21 July) report on how researchers want safeguarding managers to tell them how they proceed with enquiries when someone is barring access to the adult at risk.
The government has set out plans to review the response to hate crime, as figures show there have been more than 6,000 reports of hate crime to police since mid June 2016. The plan outlines actions the government will take to:
The Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, has commissioned Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) to carry out a "scoping study" into England and Wales police forces' understanding of and response to hate crime of all types, including crimes against the disabled.
Click here to see the government's plan.
Also see
Hate crime: Prosecutors told to push for tougher sentences
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A Norfolk campaign aims to make the people of Norfolk more aware of the issue of domestic abuse. Domestic abuse can take many forms - physical, emotional, psychological, financial or sexual - and anyone can be affected. People experiencing abuse often feel unable to tell anyone, so much of it goes unreported.
A range of Norfolk organisations and agencies - Norfolk County Council, district councils, health services, Norfolk Constabulary and voluntary sector organisations - have joined forces to launch a new campaign led by the Norfolk County Community Safety Partnership. NSAB fully supports this campaign.
The campaign focuses on the stories of survivors of domestic abuse and how they found the strength to walk away. That first step is often ringing a confidential helpline or looking for advice online. The campaign encourages us all to look out for family and friends and help them take this first step.
Find out more: iwalkedaway.co.uk
Twitter - #IWalkedAway and #NoToDomesticAbuse
Domestic Abuse Campaign Guidance
Call the National Domestic Violence 24 hour Helpline on 0808 2000 247
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At the end of June we sent out an information pack to all Norfolk's parish and town councils. This included a number of leaflets, posters and a suggested article for local newsletters. On Friday (22-07-2016) I was out for a cycle ride, from Norwich to Loddon, via Reedham Ferry. Trying to keep on a reasonable(ish) pace, on two occasions a flash of purple suddenly caught my eye. I hit the brakes (it was safe to stop suddenly!) and went back to have a look. There was one of the 'Speak up' posters on the parish council notice board. Great stuff.
So, thanks to Langley with Hardley Parish Council and also Woodbastwick Parish Council for displaying the posters. If your parish council is using the posters, please let us know. I have also heard from Geldeston and Foulden Parish Councils who have used the short article provided on their website or in their newsletter.
You can download materials here or contact us and we can send you what you need. Please contact Tessa Pike at [email protected]
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Over 1,000 Forced Marriage Protection Orders have been made to prevent people being forced into a marriage or to assist in repatriating victims
See #RightToChoose
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To refer potential victims of modern slavery/human trafficking to the national referral mechanism, click here.
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This year’s Forced Marriage Unit's (FMU) campaign begins on Tuesday 12 July, timed to target the spike summer period where families use the opportunity of the long holiday to take individuals overseas for marriages. The FMU use this time to make potential victims aware of the risks, and potential perpetrators aware of the consequences. The campaign will run for a minimum of a week, but this information remains useful.
The FUM have provided a full campaign digital content and guidance document for all partners. Click here for the guidance document.
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Like many, I was wondering how England's last 16 game against Iceland on Monday 27 June would turn out. After the 90 minutes were up, I saw the benefits of Iceland's teamwork and strong connections, which are equally important for adult safeguarding . To read more click here for the Board's blog for June 2016.
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Further to the news item about Domestic Abuse Champions (see below, 17 June), the Eastern Daily Press on 18 June reported on news from the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital's (NNUH) of the recruitment of 22 champions.
Tristan Johnson, Named Lead Nurse Adult Safeguarding, said:
'Having undertaken the domestic abuse champion training myself it has enabled me to understand the importance of responding appropriately when concerns are first raised'. [Having champions at the hospital] will ensure that the individual gets the right services to support them to reduce their risks and to break the cycle of abuse they are facing'.
Can your organisation support this work and have Domestic Abuse Champions? For more information on Domestic Abuse Champions click here
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The Western Locality Safeguarding Adults Partnership (WLSAP) has set up a Facebook page, providing the partnership with a new way to share important safeguarding information within its network. With 50 'friends' already, it has got off to strong start.
You can find the Facebook page at Western LASP Facebook Page.
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An article in the Guardian today's by Keir Starmer highlights the important of multi-agency work needed to tackle domestic abuse. The article describes work in Northumbria to introduce domestic abuse champions. In Norfolk we have a similar coordinated programme to train Domestic Abuse Champions. The aim is to bring lasting and positive change, to make Norfolk a place where people affected by domestic abuse can be supported from first contact to reduce risk and prevent harm. The Champion's role is to:
For more information about becoming a Norfolk Domestic Abuse Champion click here.
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‘Why we need to make elder abuse an imprisonable offence’
Action on Elder Abuse head Gary FitzGerald explains why the charity has launched a campaign for new laws to protect abused older people.
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A SHORT REPORT published in the Journal of Age & Ageing (May 2016), the scientific journal of The British Geriatrics Society by Drennan et al (2016), reveals that over one-third (36.8%) of family carers engage in behaviours that may act as early warning of abuse. These behavours may predict more seriously harmful future psychological or physical abuse of an older person in their care.
The authors sent out a self-completion questionnaire to 4,000 family carers of older people across Ireland, and a total of 2,311 eligible completed questionnaires were returned, yielding a response rate of 58%. The main outcome measures were potentially harmful psychological and physical behaviours by family carers towards their relative, in the previous 3 months. Behaviours like ‘using a harsh tone of voice, insulting or swearing at the older person or calling them names’ was reported by 12.6% of the carers as occurring at least sometimes. This was followed by ‘screaming or yelling’, engaged in by 8.2% of carers at least sometimes. Smaller proportions of carers reported threatening older relatives with a nursing home placement (4.8%).
The authors conclude that early identification and intervention with family carers involved in these types of “precursor” behaviours would help prevent more serious elder abuse in future and improve quality of care. And that if potentially harmful behaviours (PHB) can be detected earlier, interventions can be introduced to avert situations from deteriorating into serious cases of elder abuse.
Title: The prevalence of potentially abusive behaviours in family caregiving: findings from a national survey of family carers of older people
Lafferty, Fealy, Downes & Drennan (2016) Age & Aging 2016; 0: 1–5
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Court finds UK gangmaster liable for modern slavery victims Landmark civil ruling finds in favour of six trafficked Lithuanian men who were exploited by Kent chicken-catching firm The Guardian, Friday 10 June 2016
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Promotion for the forthcoming Norfolk Safeguarding Adult Partnership Events has been circulated today. Click here for the flyer.
These FREE* not-to-be-missed events are open to all organisations and agencies. It's a valuable opportunity to get new training or refresh your knowledge on key safeguarding adults issues. The aim is to come together, learn, recognise the important role each sector plays in this vital work and develop stronger safeguarding networks for the benefit of our communities.
The day-long programme offers sessions on the following topics:
To avoid disappointment, early booking is strongly advised. To book a place please click here.
* terms & conditions apply, see flyer
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We asked delegates to explore the following 3 questions
Click here to see a 3 minute video of the answers.
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An opportunity has arisen to join the Adult Safeguarding Team in Norfolk County Council. The post is a permanent contract for 18.5 hours per week covering the Southern part of Norfolk, which includes Dereham, Attleborough, Wymondham etc. The post is for a qualified social worker or someone with an Occupational Therapist qualification to work at Practice Consultant level undertaking Adult Safeguarding Enquiries as laid out in the Care Act 2014.
Further details are on the Norfolk County Council Job Vacancies site from Thursday 7th July.
For an informal discussion please call Toni Scattergood on T: 01603 729 233.
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Although developed for young people, this will be of wider interest. The Shelf Help Collection is a new national initiative in all of Norfolk’s public libraries. Supported by Norfolk County Council Public Health services. It is essentially a list of 35 books, selected by mental health specialists and recommended by young people, to help cope with the pressures of life, feel better and boost confidence.
The scheme is an extension of the successful Reading Well/Books on Prescription schemes for adults with mental health problems and people with dementia and their carers. The Shelf Help Collection is to support young people aged 13 -18 and their friends and families dealing with mental health problems and to raise awareness of common issues, including advice and information about anxiety, stress and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and difficult experiences like bullying, body image and exams.
All of the Shelf Help books are now available and can be borrowed by young people, their friends, parents or carers, and professionals and any interested people from all of Norfolk’s libraries. See here for the link to the Shelf Help Collection on the Public libraries catalogue. Young people under 18 can request that any book in the County is sent to their local library or mobile library, free of charge, to be picked up by them.
Health professionals, like GPs and school nurses, can also recommend the books as a way of supporting young people experiencing pressures in their day to day lives, as well as with specific issues. You can print off a page of the attached leaflet as a reminder of the titles.
If you would like a supply of the Shelf Help leaflets, or further information, contact Kirsten Francis, Manager - Schools and Young People's Library Services, Norfolk County Council Library and Information Service e-mail: [email protected] Tel: 01603 222 266
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Norfolk Safeguarding Children Board (NSCB) now has the highest number of followers of all 60 LSCBs currently on Twitter.
Click the link to follow Norfolk LSCB on Twitter.
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In May Zahira Kelly, who tweets under the handle @bad_dominicana, started a conversation about non-physical types of abuse with her viral hashtag #MaybeHeDoesntHitYou. The hashtag, which was primarily aimed towards women in heterosexual relationships, triggered a very strong response - with stories about relationships that were abusive and dangerous, even in the absence of physical assaults. The Independent published an article as did The Huffington Post about how to spot coercive control in abusive relationships.
There have also been at least two prosecutions under the new Coercive control law. Adrian Lee was jailed for six months in Liverpool (details here) and Sam Williams of Newcastle pleaded guilty to controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate relationship, see Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) blog for details
Source: Newsletter from the Norfolk DA Champions Network
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Families of victims of the abuse at the now closed Winterbourne View Hospital near Bristol have written an open letter to the prime minister, demanding he shuts outdated care home institutions.They said there is a "painfully slow lack of change", five years after abuse at the former private hospital near Bristol was exposed by BBC Panorama. It led to the Government pledging to move all people with learning disabilities and/or autism inappropriately placed in such institutions into community care by June 2014. However, some 3,500 vulnerable people with learning disabilities are still resident at inpatient units.
See A report by the Transforming Care and Commissioning Steering Group, chaired by Sir Stephen Bubb – 2014
Also see Department of Health / Winterbourne View
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Juliet Sargeant has designed a garden titled The Modern Slavery Garden for The RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The garden displays a brightly painted front door and colourful plants, yet the door opens to a world of darkness, where people are being kept in captivity and forced to work. This, unfortunately, is a representation of the UK today, where there are estimated to be around 13,000 victims of slavery. The garden has raised a lot of interest and will do much to highlight what could be happening on our own street. This comes in the week in which 3 members of the same family were convicted by a jury at Cardiff Crown Court and jailed for forced labour, see BBC News - 'Modern slavery' family jailed for Cardiff forced labour.
Click here to see The Chelsea Flower Show / The Modern Slavery Garden
Thank you to Andrea Smith for this news piece.
Click here for a link to the Modern Slavery website and watch a very powerful 30 second video.
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Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board’s (NSAB) Self-neglect and Hoarding Strategy is open for consultation from today until 12:00 on Monday 6th June 2016. Partner agencies, organisations and individuals are invited to give general comments on the strategy.
In addition there are a number of specific questions NSAB would welcome comment on:
Please email your comments to Nigel Andrews (NSAB’s Housing Sub Group Chair) by 12:00 on Monday 6th June 2016.
Nigel’s email is [email protected]
Please cascade via your networks as NSAB is keen to share this document as widely as possible. The strategy will presented the NSAB meeting on Tuesday 12 July 2016 for sign off and it will be formally launched as part of Safeguarding Adults Awareness week 2016 on Wednesday 14 September 2016.
Please ignore questions of formatting as these will be pick up later.
Click here to download the Self-neglect and Hoarding Strategy.
Thank you for your support here.
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A report to the Department of Health (DoH) has recommended that a Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) is set up to improve investigation capability throughout the NHS. The aim of a HSIB is to act as an exemplar for the whole health system on how to undertake learning-oriented safety investigations, helping those in the system improve rather than taking on the majority of investigations itself. A learning-oriented safety investigation has read across to our Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs)
The report by the independent Expert Advisory Group (EAG) makes 13 recommendations: 10 aimed at the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch and 3 for the Department of Health and the wider healthcare system.
The Department of Health (DoH) has welcomed the report and is now considering the recommendations to the wider system include creating a ‘just culture’ taskforce, improving the wider infrastructure of investigation and resolving outstanding and unresolved cases. Of particular interest is the section on a long-term vision for effective investigation in healthcare (see page 12).
DoH has already formed the legal basis for HSIB in the NHS Trust Development Authority Directions 2016. How and in what ways the HSIB will impact on and assist with adult safeguarding issues will be an important issue to watch.
See Establishing the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch - News stories - GOV.UK for more information.
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Norfolk Trading Standards Service are joining up with local businesses and organisations to identify and support victims of financial abuse.
The Trading Standards Community Champion Scheme aims to improve the flow of information into the Service regarding scammers and rogue traders who financially abuse their victims. The Champions are key members of financial institutions, local councils and community groups.
By working with the Community Champions, Trading Standards is also making it easier for everyone to access information about scam awareness and consumer matters. In doing so this builds resilience against rogue traders. Trading Standards has worked with two of the major banks, Nat West and Barclays by taking part in bank led initiatives at their banking halls. Together with Norfolk Police, Trading Standards Officers were able to engage with the bank’s customers, giving them first-hand information and knowledge to protect themselves from scams and doorstep rogue traders.
Advice, information and support regarding scams and a range of other consumer related issues are available from our partner advice service at Citizens Advice or by telephoning 03454 04 05 06.
Thank you to Brian Chatten Community Safety and Fair Trading Manager for this information.
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The Care Act (2014) guidance talks about advocacy support in Chapter 7. Specific to safeguarding adults Chapter 14 of the guidance says each local authority must:
Knowing when to make a referral for advocacy support as part of a safeguarding referral can be difficult. To help POhWER (the advocacy organisation working in Norfolk) have produced this short guide about when a referral should be made in safeguarding cases? .
Thank you to Daniel Anderson (Community Manager POhWER) for providing this document.
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Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board is keen to support organisations to deliver high quality safeguarding adults awareness training. Would your organisation be interested to purchase a safeguarding awareness training pack? If so the Board is keen to develop training materials and deliver training for trainers sessions to enable representative from organisations to deliver the training confidently and effectively. The cost would be £99 for the training pack plus £100 for a place on the training for trainers event .
Please complete this short survey so that we can understand whether there is sufficient demand for us to go ahead and develop the training materials. Click here to complete the survey.
The Board would also like to know how safeguarding awareness training is being delivered across the County so please would you also answer a few questions about how you deliver the training and what topics you cover.
Thank you for your responses.
Joan Maughan (Independent Chair)
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The Norwich Legal Walk is a 10km sponsored walk around Norwich to raise money for local advice services, including Norfolk Community Law Service (NCLS). The need for free legal advice centres has grown in the past few years. The recession has increased poverty and reduced support services. Meanwhile funding for the advice centres themselves has reduced. All funds received will be donated directly and without deduction.
NCLS offers free, confidential and independent legal advice to people in Norfolk who might not otherwise be able to access legal assistance. More information on their services can be found on their website: Norfolk Community Law Service
To sponsor NCLS on the Norwich Legal Walk please visit: Norfolk Community Law Service's Fundraising Page
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To make the public aware of the kinds of fraud that can commonly occur when they are shopping or banking online, the Home Office has produced a guide for consumers, which draws on real life, anonymised examples of crimes reported to Action Fraud.
As well as setting out some of the common methods used by fraudsters to target members of the public when using online financial and retail services, the report also provides advice on how the public can protect themselves from these types of frauds.
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Protecting women and girls from violence and supporting victims remain government priorities. The government published its new violence against women and girls strategy on 8 March 2016, to coincide with International Women’s Day.
The strategy sets out an ambitious programme of reform to ensure all victims of abuse receive the support they need including:
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The number of cases of theft and fraud happening in vulnerable older people’s homes is believed to have more than doubled in 2015, prompting calls for hidden cameras to be installed to catch thieves. Calls to a national helpline run by Action on Elder Abuse from elderly people who believe they are suffering financial abuse rose from 3,500 to 7,529 last year, an investigation by The Times found. The charity estimates money and goods worth £18m was stolen from older victims last year, many of whom were targeted by friends, family or care workers.
To read more click here
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BBC1 will be showing a documentary on Monday 11 April 2016 at 8:30pm which records the stories of those who broke their silence in recent years about sexual abuse sandals. Following the death of Jimmy Savile in 2011, the truth about his prolific sexual abuse emerged. This documentary meets some of the thousands who subsequently came forward to allege abuse by Savile and other public figures. It also interviews the police and prosecutors who had to make sense of a logistically and emotionally challenging case.
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A recent story in the Guardian magazine (2 April 2016) highlights the role of the corner shop in communities. The article explores how this group of people can be the eyes and ears of the community and claims that they know their neighbourhood better than anyone. It means they can often pick up and identify when something might not be quite right.
The article features a couple of examples, including Kishor Vithlani of Hollands, Rickmansworth, Herts, who says: ‘customers like to talk, and nowadays a lot of the elderly who come in tell me their stories and I listen.’ Kishor explains that she likes to do this as she learns a lot from her customers.
Meanwhile, in Brighton, Mo Shah of Preston Foods says, that to him, it is more than a place of work: ‘you meet and talk to a lot of people and really get to know your clientele. I know them by name and I have their phone numbers in case they don’t come in’. Despite being the victim of several burglaries, Viraj Patel of Best-One, Gorton in Manchester, says that he feels part of the community and, if older people don’t come in, he will ask neighbours to check on them.
These are good examples of how our corner shops can be part of a safeguarding network (in the widest sense of the word), and indeed this was one of the themes picked up in the Safeguarding Adult Review for Mr AA, published by Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB) in November 2015, see Recommendation 13.3 in the Action Plan.
To support this work, one idea currently being worked on by NSAB is the development a credit card size format with key adult safeguarding information on which can be left on a shop counter for customers to pick up.
Read the full article - The Guardian ‘We put our baby in a box on the counter’: meet Britain’s corner shop owners
(Thanks to Andrea Smith for helping with this news piece).
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News stories this morning have reported that fans of The Archers (BBC Radio 4’s drama) have been left shocked by the dramatic climax to the slow burn plot line about domestic abuse. Listeners tuned into Sunday night's (03 April 2016) edition of the farming soap expecting more of the same village dramas that the radio show is known for, but they were left reeling as long-standing character Helen Titchener (nee Archer) played by Louiza Patikas, finally fought back against her abusive husband Rob (Timothy Watson).
This storyline has promoted listener Paul Trueman to set up a JustGiving page to raise money for domestic abuse charity Refuse. Trueman wrote:
‘If over the last year or two you’ve sworn at the radio, tweeted in outrage, taken the name ‘Robert’ in vain, or posted your disgust at the worsening situation in Blossom Hill Cottage, then now’s your chance to do something constructive about it.’
It is reported that this attracted almost 5,000 donations from listeners raising over £80k, the most raised by an individual in Refuge’s 45 year history (The Guardian Friday 1 April 2016 pg18).
For more on this story see NSAB Manager’s April 2016 Blog.
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There have been some important changes to Chapter 14 which covers safeguarding adults. Please make sure you read and familiarise yourself with the changes. This statutory guidance sets out clearly the responsibilities of the local authority, partner agencies and organisations for safeguarding adults.
Click here to see a quick overview of the changes.
Click here for NSAB Manager's March 2016 BLOG - overview of changes to adult safeguarding
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Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB) hosted a successful Partnership Event on 4 March 2016 in Norwich, bringing together 170 colleagues from a range of sectors including housing, the voluntary and community, social services and the police.
Speakers included Sue Garwood, an expert on mental capacity, deprivation of liberty and housing, was one of a panel of nationally recognised guest speakers on the day. Sue was joined by Imogen Parry, whose topic of Engaging the Housing Sector in Adult Safeguarding was particularly thought provoking, and Jack Moore, who looked at Understanding Hoarding Disorder and Self Neglect.
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A leaflet outlining the support available for victims of modern slavery in 11 foreign languages.
Click here for link to the Home Office website.
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At a court hearing in February a Fakenham woman pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position. She admitted to taking over £500 a month from her mother’s bank account between October 2008 and August 2014 after concerns were raised by care staff at the care home where her mother lived.
See - Fakenham woman jailed for stealing £57,000 from her elderly mum
Also see - Norfolk Constabulary: Women jailed after stealing money from mother
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Community Care reports on the findings of a Safeguarding Adults Review (SAR) in which a family member waged a campaign of obstruction against services while his father accumulated conditions that led to his death. The SAR has recommended developing guidance on dealing with obstructive family members after a man continually blocked attempts by social care and other services to provide help or to assess the mental capacity of his father by waging a campaign of non-cooperation, complaints, disruption of safeguarding meetings and legal action.
See Review of adult neglect case calls for guidance on handling obstructive families | Community Care
See Newcastle SAB / Safeguarding Adults Review - January 2014
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On Friday 4 March over 170 of Norfolk's frontline practitioners from housing, adult social care, health, fire and rescue, district councils and the voluntary and community sector attended the Adult Safeguarding Partnership Event at the King's Centre in Norwich. The presentations from Imogen Parry, Sue Garwood and Jack Moore generated lively and enthusiastic discussion among the delegates. There was a notable excitement and desire in the room to use the event to strengthen our multi-agency safeguarding adult work.
NSAB used social media for the first time at this event to help deliver its message and there was a positive response. Thank you to all those who tweeted. See #NSAB16 for comments on the event.
The workshop session focused on 3 key questions: i) the challenges / barriers we face, ii) the issues practitioners have when dealing with cases of self neglect and iii) a key action needed to improve partnership working for safeguarding adults. This material will be available in the near future and will be posted on the website, but meanwhile here are the presenters' slides.
Click here for the PowerPoint Presentation.
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National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care and has just published a Quality Standard on domestic violence and abuse in adults and young people aged 16 years and over. It covers adults and young people who are experiencing (or have experienced) domestic violence or abuse, as well as adults and young people perpetrating domestic violence or abuse. It also covers children and young people under 16 years who are affected by domestic violence or abuse that is not directly perpetrated against them. This includes those taken into care.
For more information see NICE's domestic violence and abuse topic overview.
Click here for NICE's Quality Standard on domestic violence and abuse
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New health and social care guidance [NG43] from NICE – the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence – aims to improve support for thousands of young people receiving health or social care as they become adults.
In regards to safeguarding, the issue for young people moving from children to adult services is picked up at 14.5 of the Care Act (2014) Statutory Guidance which notes:
Where someone is 18 or over but is still receiving children’s services and a safeguarding issue is raised, the matter should be dealt with through adult safeguarding arrangements. For example, this could occur when a young person with substantial and complex needs continues to be supported in a residential educational setting until the age of 25 (see also chapter 16). Where appropriate, adult safeguarding services should involve the local authority’s children’s safeguarding colleagues as well as any relevant partners (e.g. the Police or NHS) or other persons relevant to the case. However, the level of needs is not relevant, and the young adult does not need to have eligible needs for care and support under the Care Act, or be receiving any particular service from the local authority, in order for the safeguarding duties to apply – so long as the conditions set out in paragraph 14.2 are met.
The NICE guideline highlights the safeguarding issue with recommendations at 1.1.7 and 1.4.7. Click here to download a copy of NG43.
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Sir Stephen Bubb has called today for the appointment of a Learning Disabilities Commissioner to drive reform and protect the rights of those with learning disabilities. In 2011, the BBC's Panorama uncovered serious patient abuse and neglect at the Winterbourne View private hospital, near Bristol.
The government’s response was a commitment to move thousands of people out of hospitals and into community care by June 2014. This commitment was not met. In light of the need to achieve progress Sir Stephen, who is chief executive of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, was appointed by Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive Officer of NHS England, in July 2014 to review care facilities for learning disabled people.
In November 2014, Sir Stephen's review was published and recommended the closure of in-hospital care units. A further review by the National Audit Office in February 2015 found progress very slow.
Today in his final report Sir Stephen is critical of the lack of progress since his 2014 report ‘Winterbourne View – Time for Change’ (November 2014) and suggests radical changes to the way the nation treats people with learning disabilities. The Bubb report proposed two key reforms, which have been broadly welcomed by the Government and NHSE. The priorities were:
the closure of inappropriate institutions and the ramping up of community provision
That Government legislate for a Charter of Rights for people with learning disabilities and their families.
Today Sir Stephen calls on the government to appoint a Learning Disabilities Commissioner, adding that the challenges of reforming support for the vulnerable are larger than first thought. Click here to read his report Time for Change The Challenge Ahead. His findings are based on further research and consultation since the NHSE roadmap for change was first published in the autumn.
Also see:
BBC - Learning disabilities treatment in care homes is 'shocking' (22/02/2016)
Winterbourne View - Time for Change report launch
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The Housing and Safeguarding Adults Alliance (HASAA) has launched a new website: http://www.housinglin.org.uk/AdultSafeguardingAndHousing.
The enhanced and expanded website now has separate links for legislation and practice issues.
Housing providers will be particularly interested in the example of the Together Housing Group’s Safeguarding Adults’ policy and procedures, provided as part of HASAA’s commitment to share good practice.
Together Housing’s policy and procedures have been updated to reflect changes arising from the Care Act 2014. They include revised definitions, types of abuse, ‘Making Safeguarding Personal’, making enquiries, and Safeguarding Adults Reviews. HASAA invites housing providers to copy, adapt and use these and other materials on the website, as long as they acknowledge HASAA as the source.
Partners are reminded to ensure there is read across from their safeguarding adults policy to the Norfolk Multi-Agency Safeguarding Adult Policy.
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Today we have added new resources to the website to support our safeguarding adults work in Norfolk, all free to download from the website.
The first is an Information Leaflet for Taxi and Transport Drivers click here to download. The transport sector has contact with many people, some of whom are vulnerable. The leaflet is designed to give key information to the driver to help keep passengers safe, what to look out for which might raise a concern about a child or adult and who to contact.
You may not work in the transport sector, but you or your organisation may have contact with taxi companies. Please share this leaflet with them and encourage them to download copies for their drivers, thank you.
The second is our Information Leaflet, which is now available with different main images. So you can choose a leaflet or leaflets with an image most suitable to your organisation or the people who use your service.
Click here to see the leaflets
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National experts from the housing sector will be speaking on Friday 4 March at a unique event organised by the Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board. Speakers will include:
Imogen Parry on Engaging with the housing sector in adult safeguarding
Sue Garwood on Safeguarding - Dealing with dementia, The Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty
Jack Moore on Understanding hoarding disorder and self-neglect
The free, day-long event, chaired by Joan Maughan (Chair of the Norfolk Safeguarding Adult Board), will also provide a key opportunity for frontline professionals from a range of organisations to discuss the forthcoming Self Neglect and Hoarding Strategy.
The programme will bring together partners from across Norfolk to share perspectives and develop their networks to support and safeguard vulnerable adults in our communities.
To book your place, email: [email protected]
For further details click here for the event flyer.
Places are limited so please respond promptly. Registration for places closes at 16:00 on Friday 12th February.
Adult Safeguarding Partnership Event
Friday 4 March, 9.30am – 3.45pm
The King’s Centre
63-75 King Street
Norwich NR1 1PH
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The government has introduced a new measure to support victims of domestic abuse who are subject to coercive or controlling behaviour.
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Trading Standards receive priority referrals from the national team, but had been finding it difficult to get information from Norfolk County Council’s Adult Social Services department about whether or not these individuals are already known by the department. If Trading Standards have access to this information, they can quickly identify if anyone else is working with the victim. It also gives Trading Standards the opportunity to risk-assess their visits and consider who is best placed to discuss the issue of scams with the victim.
This is where Noroflk County Council's ‘front door’ services come in. Since June, the Customer Service Centre (CSC) team has been co-working with Trading Standards. Karl Smith (CSC Team Leader) and Teresa Haxell (Trading Standards) are in regular contact to assess the need to improve any areas or address any obstacles to better links between the teams, all helping to support local victims of scams.
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The Department of Health has updated an e-learning tool to help staff identify and support trafficked people. Although aimed at NHS staff this package can also be used by staff from any sector. The tool sets out situations in which health staff may come into contact with a trafficked person, explaining the legal situation regarding potential victims' rights to medical care and explores way in which health staff can provide support. The short videos are particularly useful.
The Human Trafficking e-learning project is available to access using the Open access sessions page in the left hand menu. If you access the content using this link, you will not have to log in but your activity will not be tracked and you will not be able to generate a record of completion.
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This leaflet provides facts relating to female genital mutilation (FGM).
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While this statutory guidance is for the police and criminal justice agencies, it may also be relevant to assist other organisations and voluntary organisations. It extends to England and Wales only. This guidance provides information on:
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The Home Office is planning to introduce a new court order to tackle ‘stranger stalking’ in England and Wales ('Stranger stalking' targeted in new protection plans - BBC News 05 December 2015), and has opened a public consultation on the matter, see Introducing a stalking protection order - Consultations - GOV.UK .
It follows a rise in so-called "stranger stalking", where people target victims they have never met or barely know. However, there is criticism that this action is not enough, see National Stalking Advice Service. A major part of the government’s plans will be the launch of a new coercive or controlling behaviour offence, which comes into force on 29 December 2015. The legislation will target perpetrators of coercive and controlling behaviour that stops short of serious physical violence, but amounts to extreme psychological and emotional abuse.
The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 created two new offences of stalking by inserting new sections 2A and 4A into the Protection from Harassment Act (PHA) 1997. Although the new offences, which came into force on 25 November 2012, are not retrospective, they provide further options for prosecutors to consider when selecting charges. The Home Office has issued guidelines in relation to the stalking offences.
It is important that frontline staff have this information. If your agency would like to submit a response to the consultation, please use the link above. The consultation closes on the 30 January 2016.
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From 1 November, public authorities, including local authorities, the police, and the National Crime Agency, have a legal duty under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to notify the Home Office when they encounter a potential victim of modern slavery, including human trafficking. Full guidance is available here. For additional information, please contact [email protected].
