Safeguarding and protection from abuse: requires improvement

S1. How do systems, processes and practices safeguard people from abuse?

Characteristics of services we would rate as requires improvement in this area

Safeguarding is not always given sufficient priority and people are not always safe and protected from bullying, harassment, avoidable harm, abuse, neglect and discrimination.
Safeguarding policies and procedures are not fully embedded and staff do not always respond quickly enough to concerns. The service is not always fully engaged with local safeguarding systems.

Staff do not always involve or listen to people or act on their concerns about safety.

The service may have policies and procedures about upholding people’s rights and making sure diverse needs are respected and met, but these may not be fully understood or consistently followed.

People's preferences in relation to equality and diversity may not always be treated with respect.

Staff may not always be up to date in safeguarding training and practice. Staff do not always recognise when abuse or neglect may be occurring, and do not always follow required procedures if they do.

Some staff are not clear how to raise concerns or are wary of doing so.

Where the service is used by children, it is not always child-centred in its approach. It may not have up-to-date safeguarding procedures aligned with local arrangements. Even where it does, staff do not always follow them or have not always been trained in child protection. The service has limited engagement with local child protection systems.
People may not know about the service's safeguarding policy and are not always told how to raise concerns. If they do, they do not always get the information and support they need.