Responding to Allegations against Professionals who hold positions of trust

We have a duty to help inform and educate infants, children, young people on the harms or abuse they may face AND essentially to ensure that exactly those harms do not happen in our settings.

We, as proprietors, heads of service, head teachers, principals and managers have a duty to :

• function with professional integrity and candor particularly in light of the many, many examples of professional people in our organisations who abused their positions of trust
• enact protection procedure when an allegation or complaint is made against an employed practitioner or manager, volunteer, student, governor or trustee

Are you absolutely sure that you understand what should happen if anyone complains or alleges that a member of your team has abused a child, young person, vulnerable adult, or parent?

Are you equally confident that your HR Provider is working in a clear partnership with you? I.e. in such a way that your legal obligations under the Children Act legislation is being followed whilst also applying disciplinary processes in a timely and appropriate way.

With the background of Professor Alexis Jay's Inquiry into Historic Abuse, National Sporting Bodies and Catholic Church Inquiries and most recently the Everyone's Invited social media platform exposing the actual extent of professional people who have abused their position of trust, NOW IS the time to get yourself properly informed.

Why you need to know about the recent changes to the Keeping Children Safe in Education 2021

Are you aware of the recent changes to the Keeping Children Safe in Education 2021, guidance (in light of these enquiries), which distinguishes between ‘allegations which meet the threshold’ and those which might be viewed as ‘lower level concerns’.

This is an aspect of safeguarding practice that never goes away. And during this nineteen months of pandemic, there are some important facts to note:

• Many people, our students or clients, parents or staff members have been 'locked down' with triggered memories of trauma ... an experience of abuse by a professional trusted person who abused that position of trust.
• Many professionals in larger or smaller organisations and in solopreneur kinds of roles have had an open season to groom and mould relationships with vulnerable people.
• Changes to working patterns during the pandemic, including home and online working, have reduced levels of scrutiny upon day to day practice and in some cases offered a gap for offenders to exploit.

If you want to feel reassured that:

• You know how to deter those who confidently apply for jobs in our organisations, purely to get easy access to vulnerable adults including parents, their children or young people
• You can spot the kind of behaviours in your Practitioners, Managers and/or colleagues that should cause you to take action
• Your professional behaviour policy actually reflects expectations for modern professional conduct and behaviour
• All members of your organisation including: trustees, governors and practitioners within the team challenge each other, rather than close ranks
• If you or members of your team heard a complaint or allegation being made that you would recognise it as a child protection matter
• You know your procedural responsibility if an allegation is made against a member of your practitioner team, including what should happen if that allegation concerns the Head of Service, Manager and/or Proprietor/Owner.

This course is being offered face -to-face 'live' in a COVID-19-secure setting in Central London.

Strictly 16 places available. The cost is £220 + VAT per delegate, which includes refreshments and a delicious light lunch where we can cater to most dietary requests.

This course is being lead by Catherine, our Director. She, as many of you will know, holds a deep commitment to the development of emotionally intelligent, mature teams ; teams who can own all aspects of their safeguarding duties in a meaningful way. She promises a lively, rich and deeply informative day.