Safeguarding Policy

Aim and Scope

University of Leicester Students’ Union (ULSU) is committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for all students, staff, volunteers, and visitors. This policy applies to all representatives of ULSU, particularly anyone who has contact with children and vulnerable adults. We are committed to protecting everyone’s health, safety, and welfare in the Union.

We recognise that:

The welfare of the child, young person or vulnerable adult is paramount
All people, regardless of age, disability, gender, race, religious belief, sexual orientation, or identity, have the right to equal protection from all forms of harm, abuse, discrimination, and indirect discrimination.
We will endeavour to work in partnership with children, young people, vulnerable adults, the university, carers, and parents. This is essential in promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults.
This policy applies to all paid staff, elected officers, students, and volunteers.

The purpose of this policy:

To ensure protection of all children, young people and vulnerable adults who utilise ULSU services and the building space.
To provide staff and volunteers with guidance on procedures they should adopt when someone is potentially at risk or in immediate danger.

We will seek to safeguard children, young people, and vulnerable adults by:

Appointing and training staff with specific responsibilities for Safeguarding (Designated Safeguarding Officers)
Adopting a robust approach to procedures and guidelines which will serve to protect children, young people, and vulnerable adults.
Recruiting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made.
Providing effective guidance and management to all staff and volunteers.
Providing safeguarding awareness training to all front-line staff and volunteers undertaking activities with children or vulnerable adults.
Working in partnership with university and relevant agencies.

Children/Adults

For the purpose of this policy, the term child or children refers to anyone under the age of 18.
ULSU does not act in loco parentis and is not recognised as having a duty of care to children or vulnerable adults on the premises. Where students, visitors or staff bring children into the building, they are solely responsible for the child and should always monitor them. The Union reserves the right to eject any person regardless of age in the building at any time.
The University of Leicester has a policy that all students joining the university that are under 18 must have written consent by a parent or guardian, stating that they have read and agree to the policy. This can be found here and ULSU agree with the requirements it states.

Staff and Volunteers working in Union

Continuously act as a representative of the Union and uphold its values, acting as an example to those whom you work with.
Respect an individuals’ right to privacy.
Ensure appropriate and up to date risk assessments are in place, particularly for any activity taking place with children or vulnerable adults.
Aim to not be in a lone and unobserved environment with a student (regardless of age) and report the situation to your line manager or appropriate person as soon as possible. Should the role require confidential conversations (i.e., ED advisors, aim for someone to be aware of your meeting or make accurate reports of such meeting and store in the appropriate folder)
External visitors invited to the ULSU must adhere to all union policies and the external visitor procedure.

Training

Training is available for all staff through BrightSafe e-learning portal for all staff. It is compulsory for student facing staff and volunteers whose engagement activities will bring them into contact with children or adults who may be at risk.

DBS

A Disclosure and Barring Service Check (DBS) searches a person’s details against criminal records and other sources depending on the level of the check.
ULSU staff and volunteers who will have substantial, unsupervised access to children and vulnerable adults should be DBS checked to the appropriate level. All individuals will be made aware of this process and that appointment will be subject to satisfactory checks. All information received during this process will be treated in the strictest confidence and in accordance with ULSU policies and procedures.
With any activity undertaken by staff/ volunteers which encompasses working with children and or vulnerable adults in partnership with another institution. We must request the institution’s safeguarding policy and comply with their regulations.
If an institution fails to present a safeguarding policy, it then must be discretionary to the safeguarding team as to whether this activity can take place under the Unions’ remit.
Any staff/ volunteers that undertake an activity off campus in a school or college environment may need a DBS check to do so. To determine the appropriateness of this, the school/ college are required to provide written confirmation of whether they require a DBS check or not. If they do not require a DBS certificate, the staff/ volunteer will comply with their safeguarding regulations as an accompanied visitor.
All recruitment (Paid or Voluntary) is made on a case-by-case basis and in line with current policies and procedures. When working with the Students’ Union, the HR representative, senior management, and safeguarding team will decide if a DBS is necessary for the role. If it is required, the Union will make appropriate arrangements.

Participation and Protection

Societies and Clubs have a responsibility to create a Master (and if needed, individual) risk assessments for all trips, socials, and activities. Should the Society/ Club knowingly have a member who is under 18 or is classed as a ‘Vulnerable Adult’, the committee should update their risk assessments to include the additional risk and inform the Activities team.

Reporting Concerns

Should a student or member of staff report any concerns, these should be directed to a designated Safeguarding Officer who will liaise with the Lead Officer to come to an appropriate decision and course of action. The Lead Officer may have to contact the University Safeguarding Team, the University departments, the local Council Safeguarding board or Police on a case-by-case basis.

The Safeguarding team can also be called upon in any situations where a staff member/ child/ adult feels necessary, such as:

A first aid incident where the female student is uncomfortable with the male first aider. Also, to act as a witness where the male student is uncomfortable with a female first aider.
Where a member of staff is unsure about being in a 1:1 situation with a student.
Act as a witness to the removal of a child from the building.

If any of these instances or other safeguarding arise, the Safeguarding Officer must complete a written account of the situation immediately after the event and forward on to Lead Safeguarding Officer and or appointed member of Senior Leadership Team.

See Appendix 1 for the reporting procedure.

Confidentiality and Sensitivity

Information of this kind is always sensitive and can be very emotive, therefore confidentiality must be always maintained. This is also regarding any allegations or suspicions as they may be proved false or unfounded. All notes and records must be kept in a secure place and shared only with those who need to know about the incident or allegation.

No assumptions or guilt should be made until a proven conviction has been obtained, a nominated ULSU staff member will maintain impartial contact during the process.

Key Contacts

Lead Designated Safeguarding Officer

Ambalavanar Kumaran

Email: ak11@le.ac.uk

Tel: 0116 2231157

Location: Students’ Union Office, Percy Gee Building

Designated Safeguarding Officer

Molly Creese

Email: mmb20@le.ac.uk

Tel: 0116 223 1140

Location: Students’ Union Office, Percy Gee Building

Designated Safeguarding Officer