Voluntary, Community & Faith Sectors

Safeguarding in the Voluntary, Community & Faith Sectors

Safeguarding - the process of making sure that children are protected from harm - is a big concern for organisations in the third sector.

As well as providing protection for individuals, charities have a responsibility to safeguard their own reputation. It is therefore vital that they establish robust policies that are kept in constant review.

Charities that work with children or come into contact with them, should have procedures in place to keep them safe from people that could pose as a risk.

To ensure best practice there should be a clear understanding among staff about how to respond to concerns about a child whose welfare may be in danger. For this to work, all employees, including volunteers, must receive safeguarding training and go on regular refresher courses. It is also important for charities to use safe recruitment practices and promote open communication across the entire organisation to minimise any risk.

Safeguarding includes being aware of the protection of data and security of online computer systems. Any data stored by an organisation, including data held on a volunteer, donor, or service user, needs to be kept safe. Anyone without authority trying to gain access to children or their records is acting illegally and this can be extremely damaging for an organisation’s reputation. 

Halton & St Helens VCA is an infrastructure organisation that provides advice, information and development support services to voluntary, community and faith organisations and volunteers in St Helens and Halton.

Whether you are a small group running completely on volunteers or a larger organisation, finding the right kind of help with policies, procedures, your management committee or other ways of improving what you do and how you do it, can be a minefield and you sometimes need a bit of a helping hand. 

Halton & St Helens Voluntary and Community Action works alongside St Helens Safeguarding Children Partnership in supporting the voluntary sector with regards to the Safeguarding of Children and Young People. We do this by:

• Providing Safeguarding Children & Young People Awareness Training
• Development of policy and procedures inline with relevant local practice
• Signposting to other provision and support

St Helens Voluntary and Community Action