Our purpose

Our overarching purpose is to help and protect adults with care and support needs.

To do this we have to make sure that:

• local safeguarding arrangements are in place
• our safeguarding practice is person-centred
• we work together to prevent abuse and neglect
• agencies and individuals give timely and proportionate responses when abuse or neglect have occurred
• our safeguarding practice is continuously improving and enhancing the quality of life for adults in our area

Responsibilities

The Safeguarding Adults Board is responsible for leading safeguarding arrangements across the borough and for overseeing, co-ordinating and challenging the effectiveness of the work of our members and partner agencies.

We also have a responsibility to develop and actively promote a culture among our members, partners, and our communities, that recognises the values and principles contained in Making Safeguarding Personal.

Put simply, 'making safeguarding personal' means putting the person at the centre of everything we do during a safeguarding enquiry, from the very beginning to the very end.

Our statutory duties

Under the Care Act 2014, we have to:

• develop and publish a strategic plan setting out how we'll meet our objectives and how our member and partner agencies will contribute
• publish an annual report detailing how effective their work has been
• commission safeguarding adults reviews (SARs) for cases where an adult dies or is seriously harmed as a result of abuse or neglect

The six safeguarding principles

All the work we do, as a safeguarding board, is underpinned by the following principles; they inform the ways in which we work with adults. and help us to develop and improve our local arrangements.

1. Empowerment - people being supported and encouraged to make their own decisions and give informed consent.
2. Prevention - it's better to take action before harm occurs.
3. Proportionality -the least intrusive response appropriate to the risk presented.
4. Protection - support and representation for those in greatest need.
5. Partnership - local solutions through services working with their communities – communities have a part to play in preventing, detecting and reporting neglect and abuse.
6. Accountability - accountability and transparency in safeguarding practice.

The principles apply to all sectors and settings, including care and support services, commissioning, further education colleges, welfare benefits, housing, regulation and provision of health and care services, social work, healthcare, wider council functions and the criminal justice system.

Our members

The following organisations are involved in keeping adults safe.

The board meets six times a year to agree a work plan and review how well we're doing. Our findings are published in our safeguarding adults annual report.