We’ll help you look after your people, beneficiaries and local community.
If your organisation works with children or vulnerable adults, it naturally strives to protect these people. But in the wake of the “me too” movement and recent press coverage on exploitation and breaches of proper conduct, media and regulatory focus has also landed on the duty of care organisations have to their employees and volunteers, beneficiaries and the local community.
Regulators and the public are rightly paying even more attention to policies, processes and codes of conduct. And they’re doing more to make sure those standards never slip.
If you’re dealing with an issue, we’ll work quickly, sensitively, practically and, above all discreetly to deal with the matter. We’ll develop policies and processes to help you protect people and enable you to more easily manage these matters should they happen again.
How we help
If you’re affected by a safeguarding issue, no matter how contentious, we’ll advise you on your next steps. Whether you’re a service provider or purely a funder, working internationally or locally, not-for-profit or otherwise, we can help you review all the relevant policies and processes – especially those related to whistleblowing, harassment, disciplinaries and keeping staff and volunteers safe.
We’re specialists in national and international charity regulation, employment law, information law, human rights, equalities, education, health and social care and inquests and inquiries (in fact several team members are leaders in those fields). We also help businesses rethink their ways of working.
Relevant work
Shaping policy
DfID/Bond working group on Safeguarding Governance
Emma-Dowden Teale was invited to join the steering committee following the DfID |International Safeguarding Summits in 2018 and contributed to the production of Bond’s new good governance guide for safeguarding..
High-profile allegations
Major international charity
We offered in-depth advice in response to safeguarding concerns covered in the national press. We also looked at fundraising and governance policies and procedures, and engagement with the regulator.
Keeping up to speed with the latest regulations
A charity focused on vulnerable service users
We advised senior management on regulatory requirements, including the conduct of reviews, Serious Incident Reporting to the Charity Commission and reporting to local authorities and other regulators.
DBS advice
A Royal College
We advised them on DBS checks: when a new one is needed, what roles fall within regulated activity, in the context of references and how to report to the DBS.
Crisis management
A young person’s charity
We advised a client on reporting and handling of a serious allegation. This included crisis management and ensuring the client had appropriate communications and public relations advice in place.
Historic allegations
A household-name children’s charity
We advised them on handling of allegations, including reporting to the Charity Commission, police in the UK and overseas and other regulators. We also advised on involvement with the IICSA.
Preventing future problems with training
An international client
Our client, which operates in a country with a less robust safeguarding regime, wanted training to improve practices. We ran a tailored training program on safeguarding and UK best practice.
Developing policies in line with recent guidance
An international charity
Updating our client’s suite of policies and procedures, including central policy, regional branches and related forms and policies, to reflect the recently evolved meaning of ‘safeguarding’ by the Charity Commission.
Our Safeguarding Team
Insights
