The Henry Smith Foundation places immense importance on safeguarding. Everyone has the right to be safe from harm and must be able to live free from fear of abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Partner organisations (such as grant holders, contracted partners, or non-contracted partners whom we work closely with to deliver ad-hoc projects/programmes or other services) are responsible for designing, implementing, and reviewing their own safeguarding arrangements. We will seek to provide support and information proportionate to our role and enable them to meet their responsibilities.
Our expectations are proportionate to the risks of the activities we are supporting, with greater requirements for those in contact with children or adults with care and support needs.
We will:
- Undertake appropriate due diligence in advance of entering into a partnership relevant to the risks of the project or activity
- Ensure partners have proportionate safeguarding policy and procedures in line with good practice in the sector and a
- Designated Safeguarding Lead or equivalent, if they work with children or adults at risk of harm
- Ensure the organisation provides appropriate training to their staff and volunteers (including trustees)
- Ensure safeguarding is embedded across their service delivery
- Detail in agreements with partners our requirements to report safeguarding breaches to us (where permissible in law) and the right to audit compliance with their safeguarding obligations, if necessary.
- Always offer support and understanding to partners managing a safeguarding concern. We will meet our duties to report concerns to relevant regulators if necessary. We retain the right to pause or withdraw funding should we have concerns about a partner’s ability to keep people safe.
Safeguarding Policy guidance
The Charity Commission provides online information on safeguarding and protecting people for charities and trustees: Safeguarding and protecting people for charities and trustees – GOV.UK
For organisations who are not a charity structure, we will expect their safeguarding measures to be proportionate to charitable organisations.
Source: Charity Commission
A charity’s safeguarding policies and procedures for safeguarding should be:
- put into practice
- responsive to change
- reviewed as necessary, always following a serious incident and at least once a year
- available to the public
- compliant with all relevant legislation, noting this can vary depending on who the charity works with
All trustees, staff, volunteers, partners, and beneficiaries need to be aware of a charity’s policies and understand how to apply them.
A safeguarding policy needs to make clear how a charity will:
- protect people from undue harm
- make sure people can raise safeguarding concerns
- handle allegations or incidents
- respond, including reporting to the relevant authorities
The amount of detail in a charity’s policies depends on what a charity does, where it works, whether it operates in person or online, and the level of risk.
Specific grant programmes
Holiday Grants
We will want to make sure safeguarding is a priority in the planning and running of your trip.
We will ask you to share your organisation’s approach to managing safeguarding by asking you to select all that apply from the following statements
- We have a Safeguarding Policy and safeguarding reporting procedures
- We have a Safeguarding Lead or equivalent
- Our Board (or equivalent) regularly discuss safeguarding
- Our staff, volunteers and trustees receive safeguarding training relevant to their role
- Appropriate DBS/PVG/Access NI checks are conducted when required for staff, trustees, and volunteers
- None of the above
We will ask you to outline your planned safeguarding processes and procedures for the trip. The NSPCC provide useful guidance in this area on this webpage focusing on safeguarding and trips.
We will also ask you to share your risk assessment for the trip. This will identify risks that may take place, the steps you will take to reduce these risks, and the potential likelihood of a risk occurring.
This is an example of a suitable layout for your risk assessment Risk Assessment. You can either use this as a template, or submit your organisation’s own version, ensuring it covers the information we have requested.
We accept risk assessments generated through EVOLVEvisits from schools provided they have been authorised by the Headteacher/CEO and approved by the school’s Local Authority.
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