Corsenside Parish Hall Safeguarding Policy

1. Purposei

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk from abuse or neglect.

This policy defines how Corsenside Parish Hall operates to safeguard children, young people, and adults at risk of abuse or neglect.

We have a duty of care and are committed to the protection and safety of everyone who enters our premises including children, young people and adults at risk involved as visitors and/or as participants in all activities and events. We also have a duty to safeguard and support our trustees, volunteers, and staff. The policy described below will apply to all staff, contractors and volunteers and it will be used to support their work.

The following policy applies to:

All trustees, volunteers, and staff.

All those attending any activity or service that is being delivered from the Parish Hall property.

All visitors and contractors

2. Definitions

'Corsenside Parish Hall' is a charity registered with the Charity Commission of England and Wales. The 'Trustees' of the charity comprise 'Corsenside Parish Hall Management Committee' (The Committee). These terms are used interchangeably in the following text.

• Children and young people are defined as: Persons aged under 18 years old.

 Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined as:  

protecting children from maltreatment

preventing impairment of children’s health and development

ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe  and effective care

taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.

• Adult at risk

• In the context of this policy, ‘adult at risk’ refers to someone over 18 years old who, according to Section 42 of the Care Act has care and support needs
  

Persons affected

• • experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect

  • as a result of their care and support needs is unable to protect himself or herself

  •       If someone has care and support needs but is not currently receiving care or support from a health or care service, they may still be an adult at risk.

3. Policy principles

There can be no excuses for not taking all reasonable action to protect children and adults at risk from abuse or neglect. All citizens of the United Kingdom have their rights enshrined within the Human Rights Act 1998. People who are eligible to receive health and community care services may be additionally vulnerable to the violation of these rights by reason of disability, impairment, age, or illness.

Corsenside Parish Hall has a zero-tolerance approach to abuse.

Corsenside Parish Hall recognises that under the Care Act 2014, it has a duty for the care and protection of adults who are at risk of abuse. It also recognises its responsibilities for the safety and care of children under the Children Act 1989 and 2004.

Corsenside Parish Hall is committed to promoting well-being, harm-prevention and to responding effectively if concerns are raised.

Corsenside Parish Hall is aware of the work of their local safeguarding partnership (Northumberland Strategic Safeguarding Partnership) and other support organisations on the development and implementation of procedures for the protection of children and adults at risk. The policy is about stopping abuse where it is happening and preventing abuse where there is a risk that it may occur.

Corsenside Parish Hall Management Committee is committed to the following principles:

• The welfare of the child, young person or adult at risk is paramount.

• All children, young people and adults at risk have the right to protection from abuse.

• Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility: for services to be effective each professional and organisation should play their full part; and

• All suspicions and disclosures of abuse must be properly reported to the relevant internal and external authorities and dealt with swiftly and appropriately.

4. Procedures

1. All members of the committee will sign the Declaration of Acceptance of Office for trustees which includes a declaration that they have no convictions in relation to abuse.

2. All members of the committee will familiarise themselves with safeguarding responsibilities, undertake training where appropriate on safeguarding issues including whistle blowing where it is available and offered by their local safeguarding partnership or other local support organisation and ensure that they understand the principles set out in this policy at 3 above.

3. All members of the committee will work together to promote a culture that enables issues about safeguarding and promoting welfare to be addressed.

4. All members of the committee, helpers or other volunteers will not have unsupervised access to children or adults at risk unless appropriately vetted.

5. The hall committee will follow safe recruitment practices.

6.        A member of the committee will be appointed to be responsible for child and adult at risk safeguarding matters. This person will have responsibility for reporting concerns that arise, as a matter of urgency, to the relevant safeguarding agency.

The named person is Mrs Frederica McComb until the end of the AGM, May 2026.

7. All suspicions or allegations of abuse against a child or adult at risk will be taken seriously and dealt with speedily and appropriately. The appointed person will know who to contact and where to go for support and advice in relation to an allegation, a concern about the quality of care or practice or a complaint. An allegation may relate to a person who works with children or adults at risk who has:

Behaved in a way that has harmed a child or adult at risk or may have harmed a child or adult at risk

Possibly committed a criminal offence against, or related to, a child or adult at risk; or

Behaved towards a child (or children) or adult at risk in a way that indicates they may pose a risk of harm to children or adults at risk.

8. The hall committee will ensure that all hirers of the hall have signed a hiring agreement. This will require all hirers who wish to use the hall for activities which include children and adults at risk, other than for hire for private parties arranged for invited friends and family, to either produce a copy of their Safeguarding Policy and evidence that they have carried out relevant checks through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) when requested to do so or, confirm that they have understood and will adhere to the hall’s principles and procedures with regard to safeguarding.

9. This policy was approved on 25th June 2025and is next due for review in June 2026. 

Endnote i) We thank Community Action Northumberland for drawing our attention to Acre Information Sheet 5, April 2021 which has assisted us in drawing up this Safeguarding Policy.