TNRA safeguarding policy and procedures
Key principles
The welfare of vulnerable people whether they be adults or children is paramount. They have the right to protection from abuse, whether physical, verbal, sexual, financial, psychological, bullying, exclusion or neglect.
All members of the Trinity and Newington Residents’ Association (TNRA) have a duty to ensure that whenever they undertake activities on behalf of the Association they take care to safeguard any vulnerable people they may come into contact with.
TNRA members should respond to any concerns they may have regarding the safety of vulnerable people regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or faith.
TNRA members should keep colleagues safe from allegation and deter anyone looking to use this as an opportunity to abuse others.
Key procedures
TNRA will appoint a specific Committee member as a Safeguarding Lead each year to hold secure records and pass on reports.
TNRA will require that all children and vulnerable adults attending events it sponsors are accompanied by parents/carers responsible for their safety.
Parents/carers will specifically not be allowed to leave their children and vulnerable adults unattended during activities.
Where TNRA supports community activities organised by others (e.g. by providing funding) it will strongly recommend that the organisers adopt the same policy.
TNRA will promote good practice that encourages a safe environment and protects all parties to the extent that it is able to do so.
Participants in TNRA events will be encouraged to bring any safeguarding concerns they may have to the attention of the Committee as soon as possible and will be assured that they will be investigated.
Where concerns are drawn to the attention of the Committee it will make every effort to ensure their investigation in a timely manner by Southwark’s Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub or Adult Social Services and respect confidentiality when it does so.
Records of such concerns and their subsequent investigation will be held securely and only shared with statutory agencies.
TNRA has no power to oversee arrangements parents may make to leave their children in the care of others (e.g. other parents or carers) and cannot take any responsibility for these arrangements.
TNRA is not in a position to demand Disclosure and Barring Service checks from those who participate in its activities, nor to ban from its activities those who do not wish to apply for such checks. Nevertheless, TNRA will never run unsupervised activities and will always ensure that no TNRA member or volunteer is ever left one-on-one with a vulnerable person.
This policy and its procedures will be reviewed annually.