Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults

The Council has a legal duty to safeguard children and vulnerable adults. We are committed to excellent safeguarding practice and promote safeguarding as everyone's responsibility.

This is laid out more fully in our Icon for pdf Safeguarding Policy [413.21KB].

Our Responsibilities

The Council is committed to ensuring that children and vulnerable adults in our communities are supported and protected - this is known as Safeguarding.

We also have specific legal responsibilities under The Children Act 2004 and The Care Act 2014 which aim to make sure the welfare and development needs of children are met and that children are protected from harm.

This includes a legal duty to provide an annual audit of our safeguarding roles and responsibilities to the Devon Children's Safeguarding Board.

All adults have the right to protection from abuse irrespective of their:

Age
Class
Religion
Sex
Culture
Belief
Race
Disability
Gender
Ethnicity
Sexual orientation
Sexual preference

This abuse can manifest itself in many forms, including:

Domestic violence
Hate crime
Forced marriage
Drug and alcohol abuse
Discrimination
Human trafficking

How we meet our responsibilities

We have a set of safeguarding objectives and actions and are committed to supporting the community with regard to any safeguarding concerns they may have. We also support individuals and organisations in providing robust safeguarding policies and procedures and ensure they know who to contact if they have any concerns.

The named person responsible for safeguarding at senior management level, is our Chief Executive, Andy Bates.

Safer Recruitment

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

We provide a free DBS checking service for volunteers whose roles are within the eligibility criteria.

More information

If you wish to obtain more information on how the Council recruits safely, please contact HR@swdevon.gov.uk.