Safeguarding is not an administrative add-on to Youth Futures. It must sit underneath every activity, partnership, mobile hub and interaction. Young people, families and partners should be able to trust that our programmes are designed around safety, dignity, respect and responsible practice.
Everyone involved in Youth Futures should understand that protecting young people is a shared responsibility, supported by clear leadership, appropriate training and consistent procedures.
Young people should be taken seriously, treated respectfully and given safe ways to raise concerns.
Staff and volunteers should understand indicators of harm, abuse, exploitation and vulnerability relevant to their role.
Concerns should be reported promptly through clear safeguarding routes rather than handled informally.
Where appropriate, safeguarding requires effective cooperation with families, schools, statutory agencies and specialist partners.
As Youth Futures develops, our operating model should be supported by formal policies, role-appropriate checks, training, supervision and clear accountability.
Clear ownership of safeguarding with appropriately trained designated safeguarding leadership and escalation arrangements.
Appropriate recruitment processes, references, identity checks and role-appropriate DBS checks where legally eligible and required.
Safeguarding induction and refresher training appropriate to the responsibilities of employees, volunteers and delivery partners.
Clear expectations covering professional boundaries, behaviour, communication, transport, physical contact and one-to-one working.
Activities, venues, mobile hubs, equipment, travel and events should be appropriately risk assessed before delivery.
Delivery partners should have appropriate safeguarding arrangements, insurance, competence and checks for the work they undertake.
Clear processes around consent, emergency information and age-appropriate participation requirements.
Images, video and young people's stories should only be used under clear consent, safeguarding and privacy arrangements.
Gaming, streaming, social platforms and digital activities require specific controls around communication, accounts, content and privacy.
People working with young people should never feel they have to investigate a safeguarding concern themselves. Their role is to respond appropriately and get the concern to the right person quickly.
Notice a disclosure, behaviour, injury, interaction or other indicator that creates a safeguarding concern.
Listen calmly, take the young person seriously and avoid promising confidentiality that cannot be maintained.
Make an accurate factual record and pass the concern through the organisation's safeguarding procedure promptly.
Safeguarding leadership determines appropriate next steps, including referral to statutory agencies or emergency services where necessary.
Youth Futures may use aggregated information to understand local harm and target provision, but intelligence-led prevention must be designed around privacy and responsible information governance.
Where possible, harm intelligence should focus on aggregated trends, locations, service gaps and patterns rather than creating unnecessary profiles of individual young people. Access should be proportionate, controlled and linked to a legitimate purpose.
Personal information should only be collected, stored and shared where there is an appropriate lawful basis and clear purpose. Safeguarding information may sometimes need to be shared without consent where necessary to protect a child, but decisions should follow applicable law, policy and professional guidance.
As the organisation moves into delivery, this page should sit above a formal policy framework that partners can review during due diligence.
Roles, responsibilities, reporting routes, responding to disclosures and referral arrangements.
Professional boundaries and expected behaviour for staff, volunteers and delivery partners.
Recruitment, vetting, references, checks and management of people working with young people.
Gaming, social media, messaging, streaming, devices, accounts and digital communications.
How personal information is collected, used, secured, retained and shared.
Clear controls around images, video, case studies, publicity and young people's stories.
Risk assessment, equipment, venues, mobile buses, incidents and safe delivery.
Safe routes for young people, families, employees and partners to raise concerns.
Accessible, respectful provision designed to include young people from different backgrounds and circumstances.
Before programmes go live, this section should contain the name and contact details of the Youth Futures Designated Safeguarding Lead and a clear route for reporting concerns or complaints.
Designated Safeguarding Lead:
To be confirmed
Email:
To be confirmed
Urgent danger:
Contact the appropriate emergency service.
We want schools, families, young people, funders and community partners to have confidence not only in what Youth Futures delivers, but in how it is delivered.
Contact Youth Futures