Your policy should include the date it was last reviewed, and when it will next be reviewed. Note that Registered Charities are required by the Charity Commission to update their policy annually.

Sometimes, policies are a high-level set of guidelines. They don’t contain much detail about organisational practices, which are outlined in other organisational procedure documents. Where this is the case, it’s important that these documents are also attached to the application.

While some organisations might base their safeguarding policy on another organisation’s template, these should always be customised to your practice. If a policy is very generic or not relevant to your context, it doesn’t tell us about your practices and doesn’t show us that you’re meeting our safeguarding minimum standards.

The name of your designated safeguarding lead (DSL) should be easy to find in your policy.

It can be good practice to include their contact details, so they are easily contactable. They should have professional rather than personal contact details where possible.

You should carry out the appropriate level DBS check for every position that is eligible. This should be reflected in your safeguarding policy. It’s also good practice to include how often DBS checks will be rechecked, or whether the update service will be used.

The level of check a position is eligible for depends on what the position-holder will be doing and who they will be working with. The government guidance on DBS checks gives more information about the different levels of DBS checks and which roles are eligible.

Safer recruitment is not just about DBS checks.

You need to have other safer recruitment practices in place alongside DBS checks. Some organisations might have this information in their recruitment policy rather than their safeguarding policy. If so, the recruitment policy should also be uploaded with your application. There is a dedicated section on safer recruitment in our Safeguarding Resource Hub.

When we talk about reporting procedures, we expect more than a sentence saying, “report all disclosures and concerns to the DSL” (although this is a good start!). It’s also:

•  How to respond ‘in the moment’
• What to do in different scenarios (if someone is in immediate danger, the police may be the first port of call)
• How to report it to the DSL
• What the DSL will then do with the information.

There shouldn’t be conflicting information around reporting (e.g. one part of the policy says speak to your manager, but another place says speak to the DSL) – make sure reporting procedures are consistent. If we’re confused reading it, then chances are your staff and volunteers will be too.

We wouldn’t normally expect staff to report to social services directly, as this duty usually rests with the DSL.

If your procedure for reporting concerns about staff/volunteers is in your Whistleblowing Policy, then you need to upload this policy with your application as well.

Sometimes, policies don’t outline what kind of training or induction staff will have into safeguarding policies and procedures, or how often this takes place.

Your policy should include:

• What safeguarding training forms part of inductions.
• How often staff/volunteers will receive training after that.
• Any ongoing support and supervision available to them.

We’d expect training to be repeated annually as a minimum.

If staff receive in-house safeguarding training or support, then you should state that in the policy. 

Some roles will require a higher level and frequency of training. For example, your designated safeguarding lead should receive more advanced training so they can fulfil their role effectively.