Calderdale Safeguarding Adults Board

The Vision for the Calderdale Safeguarding Adults Board is for the Borough of Calderdale to be a safe place to live for all its Citizens, regardless of their circumstances. This means that

All Citizen’s of Calderdale, irrespective of age, race, gender, religion, disability or sexual orientation live in Community that protects their rights and freedoms, and allows them to live free from abuse and neglect, and the fear of abuse and neglect.

This vision is one that promotes a zero tolerance of all forms of abuse and underpins a commitment to ensuring that no “adult at risk of abuse” has to tolerate or be exposed to abuse, neglect or exploitation. This means that as a Board we will work with all local partner agencies, people who experience services and their families / informal carers and the wider community to:

• Ensure everyone works together to reduce the likelihood of people experiencing abuse and neglect.
• Ensure that all people (especially those that experience services) know how to recognise when abuse and neglect is occurring and how to report this.
• Ensure that all partners work together to end abuse that is occurring when the “adult at risk of abuse” is not able to keep themselves safe.
• Ensure that when abuse and / or neglect has occurred people are supported to access their full civil and criminal rights.
• Ensure that all safeguarding adults responses keep the person at the heart of the process and supports them to meet their own individual expectations and outcomes.
• Ensure that people who experience services and their families / informal carers can help shape and influence the development of safeguarding services in Calderdale.
• Ensure the Board learns from people’s experiences and has a system that enables it to end practice that does not keep people safe or at the heart of the safeguarding response.

In setting this vision the Board is aware that people have the right to make “unwise decisions” (including those that are associated with harm and risk) as outlined in the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

The Board will ensure that all partners have the necessary knowledge and understanding of the
Mental Capacity Act 2005 so the rights of all people it serves can be protected.

The strategic aims reflect the vision of the Board and the principles and values that govern how the safeguarding adults procedures should be implemented in Calderdale. We are committed to supporting the ongoing implementation and embedding of the following principles & values:

Empowerment: We will work in a way that supports people to have control of their own lives and enables them to manage risks in their own risks. This will be done by working with people to support their decision making to ensure safeguarding responses meet people’s expressed wishes and outcomes. When the person does not have the Mental Capacity to make decisions around managing their own risks we will ensure the person is involved to the fullest extent possible with appropriate representation, and decision making is done in their best interests, which recognise their wishes, feelings, beliefs and values.

Prevention: We will ensure that all partners work together to meet the primary strategic aim of the Board, which is to prevent people experiencing abuse and / or neglect. This involves supporting people to safeguard themselves from the risk of abuse. We will also ensure that all partner organisations have systems in place which reduce the likelihood of abuse occurring. This will include ensuring prevention of abuse is a core element in the development, commission and delivery of services.

Protection: We will ensure everyone understand their duty of care and/or moral responsibility to act upon suspicions of abuse within the context of these procedures; and ensure that adults at risk as citizens receive the protection afforded to them in law. This will include ensuring safeguarding responses are in keeping with the expectations of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Proportionality: We will ensure that responses to safeguarding adults alerts are proportional to assessed risk and the nature of the allegation/concern. This will ensure the safeguarding adults procedures are not used in an inappropriate manner.

Partnership: We will ensure all parties work together as partners to prevent and respond effectively to incidents or concerns of abuse. This includes working together effectively to support the adult at risk in making informed decisions about identified risks of harm and helping them to access sources of support that keep them safe. We will also work with relatives, friends, informal carers or other representatives such as advocates as partners, as appropriate, to achieve positive outcomes for the adult at risk.

Accountability: We will ensure transparency and decision making that can be accounted for. This involves each individual and organisation fulfilling their duty of care, making informed defensible decisions, with clear lines of accountability. It involves organisations, staff (and volunteers) understanding what is expected of them, recognising and acting upon their responsibilities to each other, and accepting collective responsibility for safeguarding arrangements.

The Calderdale Safeguarding Adults Board is comprised of a number of sub groups. These include:

• Safeguarding Adults Board Business Group
• Safeguarding Adults Review (SAR) Subgroup
• Learning and Improvement Subgroup
• Performance and Quality Subgroup
• Communication and Engagement Subgroup

When required, task and finish groups will be set up to deliver on specific priorities within the work programme. These task and finish groups will comprise of representatives nominated by board members who have sufficient knowledge and skills to contribute to the required task.

To see the full structure chart for Calderdale Safeguarding Adults Board, please see: Strategic Plan 2021-2024.

Calderdale Safeguarding Partnerships Secretariat

The Safeguarding Partnership’s are supported by a shared Secretariat Unit, who comprise of:

• Julia Caldwell (Partnerships Manager) who works with statutory partners of the CSAB and with the wider partnership to understand how safeguarding interventions impact on adults at risk, who directs the work of the sub groups to ensure they deliver against the objectives set out in Strategic Business Plans;
• Sophie Wrafter (Quality Assurance Officer) who manages and delivers a programme of Multi-Agency Audits and leads on a programme of engagement with children and young yeople, adults at risk, parents and carers and practitioners and managers, and leads on policy and procedural development for West Yorkshire;
• Jacquie Hellowell (Performance Management Officer) who co-ordinates multi-agency data and produces a Performance Management Report for partnership scrutiny and assurance to allow CSAB members to be assured about multi-agency safeguarding work and who administers the Organisational Safeguarding Assessment which examines quantitative and thematic results to be able to understand how well organisations and professionals safeguard people in Calderdale;
• Sally Fletcher (Learning & Improvement Officer) who co-ordinates and delivers Calderdale’s multi-agency safeguarding learning and development programme for professionals across both adults and children services, leads on policy and procedural development for Calderdale and produces easy to use tools and guidance to help practitioners safeguard children and adults effectively;
• Laura Crossley (Inspection Readiness Officer) who supports the Safeguarding Partnerships to prepare for multi-agency inspections including the Joint Targeted Area Inspection (JTAI) and the multi-agency aspects of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection;
• Julie Hartley (Serious Incident Review Co-ordinator) – who co-ordinates the Child Death Overview Process (CDOP) for Calderdale, Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (CSPR), Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs) and Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) on behalf of the multi-agency partnerships in Calderdale. Supports the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO);
• Lisa Golding-Smith (Business Support Co-ordinator) who provides business support to the CSAB, the Sub-groups of both partnerships, the Independent Chairs and Scrutineers, and to the Partnerships Manager.