Tag Archives: Regulated Activity

Safeguarding Adults at Risk

Health, Social Care, Uncategorized, Vulnerable Adults, , ,

The Care Act 2014 makes it clear that abuse of adults links to circumstances rather than the characteristics of the people experiencing the harm. Labelling groups of people as inherently ‘vulnerable’ is seen to be disempowering.

Definitions

The definition of “vulnerable adult” originated in the 1997 Consultation Document “Who Decides?” ‘No Secrets’  was published in 2000 as government guidance for developing and implementing multi-agency policies and procedures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse. It encouraged organisations to work together to protect vulnerable adults from abuse.

The definition and use of “vulnerable adult” from No Secrets (2000) will have been used in many older safeguarding vulnerable adults policy and procedures but should now be replaced with the new definition from the Care Act (2014).

Terminology: “Adults at risk of harm”

The terminology of ‘vulnerable adults’ has moved towards ‘adults at risk of harm’, usually shortened to ‘adults at risk’ in policies and procedures.

‘Adult with a care and support need’ may also be used.  Refer to specific categories of people who may be at increased risk of harm, for example ‘adults with a physical or learning disability’ or ‘older people’.

Safeguarding Adults at Risk

The policy and procedures that any organisation implements should reflect this and include the current definition of adults at risk rather than that of vulnerable adults.

All organisations have a duty to ensure that the welfare of all adults is ensured. As part of this they need to understand when to implement their safeguarding adults reporting procedures.  Safeguarding duties apply to an adult who:

  • Has needs for care and support (whether or not the local authority is meeting any of those needs) and;
  • Is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect; and;
  • As a result of those care and support needs is unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of, abuse or neglect.

Definition of Regulated Activity for Adults

Criminal Records and the CRB, Health, Justice, Legislation, Social Care, Voluntary, Vulnerable Adults, ,

Regulated activities are the activities that the DBS can bar people from doing. It is a criminal offence for a barred person to seek to work, or work in, activities from which they are barred. It is also a criminal offence for employers or voluntary organisations to knowingly employ a barred person in regulated activity.

The CQC provides guidance on which activities are considered regulated.

This is their quick reference guide, showing how regulated activities and service types are likely to link to each other.  It is important to review the regulated activities
regulations, decide which regulated activities your service carries out, and then apply to register for those activities. If you carry on a regulated activity without being registered for it, you may be prosecuted and liable to a fine.

The Department of Health has also published information on the scope of regulated activity in relation to adults.

Freedoms Bill committee stage

Background to Safeguarding, Parliamentary Affairs, , , ,

The Protection of Freedoms Bill Committee will hear oral evidence on Tuesday 22 and Thursday 24 March, these meetings are open to the public. The Committee will then continue to consider the Bill every Tuesday and Thursday from that point concluding on Tuesday 17 May.  The relevant times for the safeguarding regime aspects of the Bill are below: Continue reading Freedoms Bill committee stage →

Sport challenges safeguarding changes

Children, Faith, Parliamentary Affairs, Reviews, Sport & Leisure, Voluntary, , , , , , , ,

An alliance of Sports Governing Bodies are challenging the new definition of Regulated Activity that is emerging from study of the Protection of Freedoms Bill. Some of the proposed details are open to interpretation and will have significant impact on established practice and policies.   For instance :

  • Regulated Activity will no longer include any supervised teaching, training or instruction. In a sporting context, this requires clear definition. as the environment is so different to a school.  The Faith sector are also likely to be unhappy with the implications of this change.
  • Current proposals are that only the applicant will receive the CRB disclosure. Clarity is needed on how National Sports Governing Bodies, and other professional regulators will receive this
  • There will be a charge for the updating service. How this will work for volunteers and whether they will still be able to get checks for free is not clear.

Continue reading Sport challenges safeguarding changes →

Expert briefing – London 14th April

Background to Safeguarding, Sex Offender profiles, , , , , ,

Following a number of enquiries, we are organising a briefing event in London on Thursday, 14th April with Simon Morrison, previously Head of Communications for the VBS , Mark Williams-Thomas,  a criminologist who is frequently interviewed in the media about child protection issues and Liz Morrison who led the VBS roadshow programme.  Continue reading Expert briefing – London 14th April →

CCPAS consider proposed changes ‘are unacceptable’

Children, Faith, , , , ,

 The chief executive of the  Churches Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS), Simon Bass, has highlighted that there are major loopholes in the Protection of Freedoms Bill that will be exploited by those determined to abuse children and vulnerable adults.  He said that the Government’s plans to scale back the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) “will make it easier, not harder, for unscrupulous sexual predators to abuse in churches.”

The VBS Remodelling Review document recognises that removing barring arrange­ments for some activities could give rise to an increase in safeguarding risks.   He was concerned  that the review gave Sunday-school helpers as an example of where criminal records checks would not be required .  He explained that a convicted abuser who is banned from working in a ‘regulated activity’, such as teaching, may, without any checks, altern­atively gain access to children through becoming a Sunday-school helper, with potentially devastating consequences.  Mr Bass said

“these changes show that the Government is prepared to tolerate a level of risk in churches that we — with long and painful experience of dealing with abusers in church — find unaccept­able. We think it inevitable that potential predators will see children in churches as soft targets and will act accordingly.”

He agreed with other commentators that pro­posals in the Freedom Bill to allow the sharing of CRB checks between employers was “eminently sensible”.

Judicial review of unlawful child restraint

Children, Justice, Reviews, Vulnerable Adults,

The Children’s Rights Alliance for England (Crae) has applied for a judicial review of the refusal by the justice secretary, Ken Clarke, to identify and contact children who may have been unlawfully restrained in privately run secure training centres.  

Under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act,  all prison and probation officers would have been checked and monitored for their ongoing suitablity for the role as prisoners and people on probation would have been considered as being ‘vulnerable  adults’.  It remains to be clarified whether this promised level of protection will be compromised under the halving of the numbers defined as doing ‘regulated activity’ under the Protection of Freedoms Bill. Continue reading Judicial review of unlawful child restraint →

Drawing the Line – Sir Roger Singleton’s Review

Background to Safeguarding, In the News, Reviews, ,

Folowing the media attention on the ‘author’s story’, Sir Roger Singleton was invited to review aspects of the definition of Regulated Activity and its impact on the scope of the Vetting & Barring Scheme. His recommendations in Drawing the Line Dec 09 reduced the number of people who would need to be members of the scheme to 9 million