All our employees who work with learners have a crucial role to play in shaping their lives. You have a unique opportunity to interact in ways that are both affirming and inspiring. This policy has been produced (and is supported by Information, Advice and Guidance) to help you establish safe and responsive environments which safeguard all and reduce the risk of you being unjustly accused of improper or unprofessional conduct. We all have a duty of care to safeguard and promote welfare, and to enhance awareness of the broader welfare spectrum, specifically the issues facing young people in society and create a culture where young people can speak out or share their concerns
The policy aims to ensure you are aware of and understand your responsibilities, those of others, signs that there might be a safeguarding concern, along with the reporting procedures for all safeguarding issues.
This policy covers the safeguarding of Children and Adults at Risk as defined below for Lifetime Group (Lifetime is the trading name for both Lifetime Training Group Limited and The IT Skills Management Company Limited.). This scope also extends to the safeguarding of children and adults at risk in settings where our learners are employed
Our learners across all nations include those in EPA, those within sub-contracted provision, and individuals in settings where we deliver services, falling into the category of children or adults at risk. This encompasses specific highlighted safeguarding agenda areas as defined by law, as specified in Keeping Children Safe in Education (2024), and, in the wider context, all our students and learners. This policy is also influenced by and aligns with the requirements set out in ‘The Education Act (2002) Section 175’ and ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2023) updated Dec 2023’. Additionally, this policy aligns with the government’s Counter-terrorism and Security Act 2015, which places a duty upon all education providers to consider the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism. This Prevent Duty forms part of the wider government’s CONTEST counter-terrorism strategy:
The Prevent strategy seeks to mitigate the threat of terrorism in the UK by preventing individuals from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorist activities. It has three specific strategic objectives:
For more details about how Lifetime meets the Prevent Duty, see our Prevent Policy
The safeguarding team can be contacted via supportme@lifetimetraining.co.uk
Head of Safeguarding and Health and Safety: Michelle Kent – 07795 486090
Safeguarding Board representative – Chief Learning Officer Paul Swindale - 07557431211
External Safeguarding Consultant - Learner Experience Committee Chair, Barbara Van Der Ecken - quality@bvde.co.uk
Additional Designated Safeguarding Officers listed below:
Lois Heighton - Quality Partner & Deputy Safeguarding Lead - 07870 747729
Debra Winder – Social Support Tutor and Deputy Safeguarding Lead - 07469 083838
Alex Butcher – Compliance Officer - 01173142816
Lesley Lacey - Social Support Tutor - 07557 433513
Claire Scott - Management Development Coach - 07970 036234
Sarah Gardner English and Maths Coach 07971397080
Safeguarding refers to the protection of children and vulnerable adults from abuse and neglect, while promoting health and development, ensuring safety and care, and ensuring optimum life chances.
The Safeguarding Agenda encompasses a broad spectrum of potential risks both within and outside apprenticeship settings, at home, and online. (see Appendix F for full definitions and indicators of a Safeguarding concern).
Alongside the Safeguarding Agenda mentioned above, this may be attributable to, but not limited to, any of the following:
The definitions of a child and an adult at risk provide the rationale for legislative intervention. It is important to note that learners can be temporarily vulnerable due to changes in circumstances or poor mental health. Additionally, a person may be deemed to be at a higher risk of a safeguarding issue affecting them due to various other factors. This is known as Contextual Safeguarding. These areas should be examined thoroughly when planning and agreeing on early help interventions. Areas to explore include:
Some groups of learners have been identified as possibility of being more vulnerable, and each has proportionate measures in place to ensure the learners are fully supported should they require additional support . These include learners on an EHCP, Coach Core learners and In Care learners
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children, young people and adults at risk, and their families has a role to play. To fulfil this responsibility effectively, all practitioners should make sure their approach is person-centred and should consider, at all times, what is in their best interests and that it complies with relevant governmental guidance and legislation.
Lifetime has a duty of care to ensure children, young people and adults at risk are protected from harm, are informed about potential risks, and understand and feel confident to seek help. We ensure all concerns are dealt with discreetly, timely and appropriate manner, providing help and support to meet individual needs as soon as concerns are raised. We also have a responsibility to minimise the risk of harm and allegations against Lifetime’s team members.
All staff must comply with and pass the relevant background disclosure checks required by each UK nation. They must have a good understanding of what constitutes a safeguarding or welfare concern and the relevant legislation and government guidance in their country, sector and place of work.
All must have read and understand the requirements of the country in which they work, Keeping Children Safe in Education, 2023 (KCSIE) Part 1 for England and The Children & Young People (Scotland) Act for Scotland and know how to provide support, guidance, and the correct channels for escalating a concern.
Ongoing training and awareness raising will be provided to support confidence and ensure a clear understanding of individual roles and responsibilities as detailed below:
The topic of safeguarding can be very sensitive due to the content, and may be difficult for people to discuss. If anyone has concerns over issues raised, a member of the Designated Safeguarding team is available to support. The Employee Helpline and Mental Health Champions are also available.
Lifetime fully endorses the principles of Safer Recruitment. For a comprehensive list of actions applied when recruiting and employing individuals please refer to The Resourcing Policy Lifetime ensures that all appropriate checks are carried out on new staff who will work or come into contact with children and adults at risk in line with the Disclosure and Barring Service and Teacher Regulation Agency (TRA) requirements, KCSIE and The Children & Young People (Scotland) Act
Lifetime reserves the right to do online checks as part of Safer Recruitment. All recruiting managers complete ‘Safeguarding through Recruitment’ training as part of their Manager onboarding programme. Since November 2023, Trust ID and Experian have managed these processes on behalf of Lifetime. See the Resourcing Policy for further details on Lifetime’s recruitment procedures.
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and Disclosure Scotland, which manage the Protecting Vulnerable Children (PVG) Scheme, are government agencies whose primary purpose is to help employers make safer recruitment decisions and appointments.
By conducting checks and providing details of criminal records and other relevant information, DBS/PVG checks help to identify applicants who may be unsuitable for certain work and positions, especially those involving contact with children (those less than 18 years old) or adults at risk.
Depending on the type and regularity of contact with children or adults at risk involved in a particular role, employers are entitled to make appropriate types of enquiries about the applicant’s criminal record and seek a disclosure through either DBS or Disclosure Scotland.
In England, Lifetime can undertake six types of criminal records checks depending on the role applied for:
This will be for positions that are included in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975.
This type of check contains details of an individual’s convictions, cautions, reprimands or warnings recorded on police central records and includes both ‘spent’ and ‘unspent’ convictions that will be shown on a criminal records check.
This will be for positions included in both the ROA 1974 Exceptions Order and the Police Act 1997 regulations. This type of check contains the same details as the standard check, plus any information held locally by police forces that is reasonably considered to be relevant to the post applied for.
An enhanced check with information from the DBS’s children’s barred list is only available for those individuals engaged in regulated activity with children and a small number of posts as listed in the Police Act 1997 regulations.
An enhanced check with information from the DBS’s adults barred list is only available for those individuals engaged in regulated activity with adults and a small number of posts as listed in the Police Act 1997 regulations.
An enhanced check with information from the DBS’s children and adults barred list is only available for those individuals engaged in regulated activity with both vulnerable groups, including children and a small number of posts as listed in the Police Act regulations.
The Board, in consultation with the Head of Safeguarding and Health and Safety, are responsible for deciding which level of check is appropriate for a particular role and whether barred list checks are necessary. Even where a post has some contact with children or adults at risk, the definition of regulated activity may not be fully satisfied, but to safeguard our learners, any unsupervised contact with learners will result in an enhanced DBS check with the child barred list. The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (amended by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012) defines what types of activities involving children and adults at risk are regulated and therefore require barring list checks. Appendix A specifies current posts at Lifetime that require DBS and/or barring list checks.
Regulated Activity – is a term that defines activities that an individual engages in, defined by the Disclosure and Barring Service. The criteria for regulated activity differ for adults and children:
Children
Adult