Children and Young People Safeguarding Policy 2022

View  Children and Young People Safeguarding Policy 2022 (PDF) [873KB]  as a PDF document, alternatively the information is available in an accessible format below.

Should you require any forms associated with this policy they are available within the  Children and Young People Safeguarding Policy 2022 (PDF) [873KB] PDF document.

Chorley Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and to delivering services for children that promote good practice and expects all Council representatives, colleagues and partners to share this commitment.
All children and young people have the right to be safe in the services provided for them and the activities they choose to participate in and the Council is committed fostering a safeguarding culture across the organisation.

This policy sets out the Council's guidance on best practice in dealing with children and young people, protection procedures and specifies the roles and responsibilities of the Council's representatives for whom this policy is mandatory. The aim of the policy is to promote good practice, providing children and young people with appropriate safety/protection and to allow Council representatives to make informed and confident responses to specific child safeguarding issues.

Key Definitions:

Child Protection - The process of protecting individual children identified as either suffering, or at risk of suffering, significant harm as a result of abuse or neglect.

Lancashire Family Safeguarding has replaced the Children's Trust - the local statutory partnership that has a remit to ensure children and young peoples issues are effectively addressed by all relevant agencies.

View more information on family safeguarding on the Lancashire County Council website.

Children/Young people -  In line with the Children Acts 1989 and 2004 a child is anyone who has not yet reached his or her 18th birthday. 'Children' therefore means 'children and young people' throughout. The fact that a child has reached 16 years of age, is living independently or is in further education, is a member of the armed forces, is in hospital, in prison or in a Young Offenders' Institution, does not change his or her status or entitlement to services or protection under the Children Act 1989.

Chorley Council representatives are defined as:

• employees
• agency Staff
• members
• contract Staff
• volunteers - when working for and on behalf of Chorley Council

Common Assessment Framework has been replaced in April 2022 by the Request for Support process. This is an intervention with a family to gather, explore and analyse with them information about all aspects of the child or young person (and their family's) life and then to identify areas where change will address support needs and positively impact on their lived experiences. You can report concerns about a child on the LCC website.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) - this is the agency that administers applications for criminal records. Legislation, guidance and local job descriptions indicate which representatives need to undergo a DBS check prior to working with children and young people.

Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO) - a role undertaken by some Council officers following appropriate training. These officers act as a point of contact for other Council employees and advice on safeguarding issues.

Lancashire County Council Family Safeguarding - the upper tier authority service responsible for delivering child protection and safeguarding services across the County.

Lead Safeguarding Officer - the Chorley Council officer with overall responsibility for ensuring the Councils obligations and responsibilities with regard to safeguarding issues are carried out.

Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) - this is a specific designated officer within the Lancashire County Council involved in the management and oversight of individual cases of allegations of abuse made against those who work with children Their role is to give advice and guidance to employers and voluntary organisations; liaise with the Police and other agencies, and monitor the progress of cases to ensure that they are dealt with as quickly as possible consistent with a thorough and fair process. The Police also have an identified officer to fill a similar role.

Lancashire Family Safeguarding - the statutory, multi-agency body that has strategic oversight for the delivery of safeguarding issues. The overall role is to coordinate local work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and to ensure the effectiveness of what the member organisations do individually and together.

Monitoring Officer - a statutory Council appointment held by the Head of Governance at Chorley Council. The role includes the responsibility for ensuring elected Members actions and activities are within set standards.

Parent is used throughout this document as a generic term to represent parents, carers and guardians.

Safeguarding is the generic term which refers to the whole spectrum of ensuring children and young persons are protected from harm.

Substantial Access to children and young people is defined as:

• where individuals are regularly caring for, in contact with, training or supervising a child, young person.
• where an individual has sole charge of children or young people.