Adults risk Policy
Adult Safeguarding and Protection
Purpose & Scope
This policy formalizes our organization’s unwavering commitment to safeguarding adults at risk. Our approach is rooted in the protection of fundamental human rights, prioritizing the physical and emotional safety of every individual in our care and ensuring their absolute freedom from harm.
Definitions
For the purposes of this procedure, “abuse” is defined broadly to include emotional and psychological manipulation, physical and sexual violence, acts of neglect (including omissions of care), unlawful physical or chemical constraints, unjustified restrictive practices, and all forms of bullying or intimidation.
Application
These standards are mandatory and apply uniformly to all employees, contractors, volunteers, and visiting guests engaged with our services.
Procedures:
Our Commitment to Safeguarding
Happy Mates Support Care—including all staff, contractors, and volunteers—holds a legal, moral, and ethical duty to safeguard adults at risk. This duty is founded on three core principles:
Protection – We will actively protect adults at risk from all forms of abuse, bullying, and exploitation.
Shared Responsibility – We recognize that safeguarding is everyone’s business, and every team member plays a vital role.
Safe Management – We will manage the conduct of all guests appropriately and safely, ensuring a secure environment for everyone.
We firmly believe that every guest has the right to enjoy our events free from threat, intimidation, or abuse, whether from our personnel or fellow attendees. We equally acknowledge our responsibility to prevent neglect or exploitation by anyone acting on our behalf. Accordingly, we are committed to upholding and protecting the legal and human rights of our guests, staff, contractors, and volunteers alike.
Operationalising Our Safeguarding Commitment
To translate our safeguarding principles into measurable, everyday practice, Happy Mates Support Care commits to the following operational actions:
1. Rigorous Recruitment and Vetting
We will embed best-practice standards across our entire recruitment lifecycle from job design and value-based interviewing to final selection. This ensures we attract and retain only those individuals whose personal ethics align with our safeguarding culture. Crucially, we mandate a satisfactory national police check (or equivalent jurisdictional clearance) for every staff member, contractor, and volunteer before they are permitted to engage with any adult at risk. We reserve the right to decline or terminate engagement based on any disclosed or undisclosed history that poses a potential risk.
2. Clear Expectations and Policy Acknowledgment
We require all staff, volunteers, contractors, and even guests to actively review and formally acknowledge our Behaviour Policy, which is published on our website. This is not a passive exercise; it forms part of our induction and event-entry process, ensuring that every participant understands their obligations regarding respectful conduct, boundaries, and reporting obligations before they enter our spaces.
3. Zero-Tolerance Enforcement and Exclusion
We operate a strict zero-tolerance approach toward any behaviour that constitutes abuse, bullying, exploitation, or harassment. Any individual—regardless of their role or seniority—who engages in such conduct will be immediately removed from the current event and prohibited from attending all future Happy Mates Support Care activities. Where appropriate, we will also refer incidents to relevant statutory authorities (such as the police or safeguarding commissions) for further investigation.
4. Comprehensive Team Support and Wellbeing
We recognise that safeguarding is demanding work. To enable our staff, contractors, and volunteers to perform their duties effectively, we will provide ongoing supervision, role-relevant training, and access to wellbeing resources (including debriefing sessions and counselling support). This ensures our team members are not left isolated and are equipped to manage complex situations with confidence and compassion.
5. Continuous Policy Education and Review
Safeguarding is not a one-time event. We will schedule regular, periodic briefings and refresher sessions to clarify our policies, update the team on legislative changes, and rehearse procedural responses. This continuous learning culture ensures that safeguarding remains front-of-mind and that our practices evolve alongside emerging risks and best-practice guidance.
Breach of Policy and Disciplinary Action
8.1 Definition of a Serious Breach
It constitutes a serious breach of this policy and may also constitute a criminal offense if any Happy Mates Support Care staff member, volunteer, or contractor engages in conduct that harms, abuses, neglects, or exploits any adult at risk involved in our services. Such breaches undermine the fundamental trust upon which our organization is built and will be treated with the utmost severity.
8.2 Non-Exhaustive List of Prohibited Conduct
Breaches of this policy include, but are not limited to, the following:
Physical and Sexual Violations: Physically assaulting, sexually assaulting, or subjecting any adult at risk to inappropriate or non-consensual physical contact.
Psychological and Verbal Abuse: Verbally abusing, denigrating, threatening, intimidating, or bullying any adult at risk, including any form of harassment or coercive control.
Unauthorized Imagery and Data Privacy: Taking, reproducing, storing, or distributing photographs, videos, or any other personal media of adults at risk without obtaining their prior, informed, and freely given consent. This includes sharing such media on personal or public platforms for any purpose unrelated to official organizational communications.
Severe Exploitation of Imagery: Publishing, disseminating, or creating any material containing images of individuals (whether adults or children at risk) involved in our programs, where such material is intended for, or could reasonably be used for, the sexual gratification of others. We explicitly note that any breach involving child exploitation imagery carries mandatory external reporting obligations to law enforcement and statutory safeguarding authorities.
8.3 Immediate Response to Breaches
Any suspected or reported breach will be dealt with immediately. Our response will include:
Immediate Suspension: The accused individual will be immediately removed from their duties and suspended from all current and future events pending a formal investigation.
Internal Investigation: A prompt, fair, and thorough internal review will be conducted in accordance with our disciplinary procedures.
Statutory Referral: Where the breach may constitute a criminal act, we will report the matter without delay to the relevant external authorities (including the police, adult safeguarding boards, or child protection agencies) and will cooperate fully with their proceedings.
Permanent Exclusion: Any individual found to have committed a breach will be permanently prohibited from attending or volunteering at all future Happy Mates Support Care events and activities.
8.4 Management Discretion and Safeguarding Primacy
Our management team reserves the right to exercise discretionary judgment in the application and implementation of this policy, including decisions regarding investigation timelines, interim measures, and final sanctions. However, this discretion is strictly bounded by the paramount principle that the safety, welfare, and human rights of adults at risk must remain the absolute priority in every decision. Management’s discretion cannot be used to circumvent mandatory legal reporting requirements, to reduce consequences for zero-tolerance offenses, or to compromise the physical or psychological safety of any individual in our care.