Safeguarding and abuse

We want our residents to feel safe in their homes, and their local communities and to be protected from harm and abuse. We're committed to doing what we can to safeguard the well-being of children, young people and adults who work with our staff, benefit from our services and receive care from us.

What is abuse?

There are many different types and patterns of abuse and neglect and varying circumstances in which abuse and neglect can take place.

Abuse may be:

Sexual
Physical
Financial or Material
Organisational abuse
Discriminatory abuse
Domestic violence
Modern slavery
Psychological abuse
Self neglect
Neglect and acts of omission
Hate crime.

Adult safeguarding aims to stop abuse or neglect wherever possible and to support our residents to make choices and have control over how they want to live.

Who might abuse someone?

Anyone can carry out abuse or neglect, including:

Spouses and partners
Other family members
Neighbours
Friends
Acquaintances
Local residents
Paid staff and professionals
Volunteers and strangers.

Abuse can happen anywhere – in a resident's own home, in the street or in our extra care services.

What is safeguarding?

Safeguarding means protecting an adult’s right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect. For children and young people, safeguarding means promoting their welfare, protecting them from maltreatment, preventing impairment of their health and development, and ensuring that they grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care.

How we work to prevent harm and abuse

Adult safeguarding means working alongside other organisations to prevent and stop both the risk and experience of abuse or neglect while respecting our residents' views, feelings and wishes.

We will work with our residents to establish what being safe means to them. Our residents, children and young people have the right to live safely and free from harm
We will actively promote awareness of adult and child safeguarding across Notting Hill Genesis to ensure we are taking a proactive approach and empowering our staff to be clear about the roles and responsibilities under safeguarding.
Our safeguarding work is underpinned by the six principles which govern safeguarding: Empowerment, prevention, proportionality, protection, partnership and accountability.
We will work under the ethos of making safeguarding personal. This means we will work in a person-centred and outcome-focused manner.

I'm concerned for myself or somebody else. What should I do?

If there is an immediate risk to a child, young person, adult or yourself, please contact the police.

If you have concerns about the well-being of a child, young person or adult, you can report your concerns to a member of staff, their line manager or a senior manager. If the abuse is being carried out by a manager, then you can report it to higher management on 020 3815 0000.

You can also raise a safeguarding concern directly with the local authority, the lead organisation in safeguarding.

How we will help

We will treat your concerns with confidence, but we cannot guarantee confidentiality. If you raise concerns regarding a child or young person, we may need to share the details with other agencies in order for them to investigate further.

If you raise concerns regarding another adult which place him or her at risk of harm or neglect, we may need to share the details with the local authority and other agencies in order for them to investigate further.

If you raise concerns regarding your own well-being, we will discuss this with you and work with you to empower you to safeguard yourself. We will also discuss with you whether you would like a safeguarding concern to be raised. There may be occasions where we need to raise a safeguarding concern with the local authority, as other residents may be at risk or a crime may have been committed.

We will offer help to support you in coping with the effects of the abuse or neglect you have experienced or witnessed, as well as signpost you to specialist organisations.