The 1st April 2015 marks a significant turning point in relation to Safeguarding Adults due to the implementation of the Care Act 2014. The Care Act 2014 replaces the ‘No Secrets’ Guidance. The Joint Safeguarding Adults Policy replaces all previous Policy documents for the participating Local Authorities and reflects the new legal requirements of the Care Act 2014, together with its associated guidance.
Home Office publishes updated guidance to help frontline workers identify and protect victims of county lines gands: HO County Lines Guidance
County lines refers to a model used by criminal gangs, whereby urban gangs supply drugs to suburban areas and market and coastal towns. These gangs frequently exploit children and vulnerable adults to courier drugs and money. Some vulnerable adults have their homes taken over by the gangs (cuckooing) using force or coercion. The guidance is available here.
Alongside the guidance, there are resources (available here) to help policing and statutory staff recognise the signs to look out for, that could indicate that someone is a victim of county lines gangs.
The Home Office is also raising awareness of county lines across a range of non-statutory sectors. (Click the links for details) These are:
- Private security sector
- Licensed taxi and private hire company staff
- Bus and coach company staff
- Train operating company staff
- Private landlords and letting agents
Materials for the social housing sector are currently being developed and will be available shortly.
Modern Slavery Toolkit
The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s (IASC) office, in collaboration with the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham, has launched an online toolkit to help local organisations and agencies work better together to tackle modern slavery.
This toolkit has been developed in response to research undertaken by the IASC and the Rights Lab in 2017 showed that anti-slavery partnership work was developing across the UK, however it lacked consistency and resources. It also found there to be a lack of monitoring and evaluation of partnership activity and limited understanding of what constituted good practice.
This toolkit aims to help guide practitioners in their work to tackle modern slavery through the sharing of resources and good practice examples, to inspire action and prevent duplication. You can view the toolkit here
NHS England
Royal College of Nursing
- Joint Safeguarding Adults Policy
- NSSAB001.1 Orgnisational Abuse Protocol
- NSSAB002 Self Neglect Protocol
- NSSAB003 SAR Protocol and NSSAB003 SAR Referral Form (word version)
- NSSAB004 Medication Error Protocol
- NSSAB006 Responding to Safeguarding Concerns Local Practice Guidance
- NSSAB007 Financial Abuse Toolkit
- NSSAB009 Pressure Ulcer Protocol
- BNSSG Multi-agency Strategy for the Prevention and Management of Pressure Injuries
- NSSAB010 Threshold Support Tool
- NSSAB011 Referral Form
- NSSAB012 Quality Assurance Framework
- NSSAB013a MCA DOLS Local Practice Guidelines (2014)
- NSSAB013b MCA DOLS Local Practice Guideline - Best Interest Pro-Forma (Oct 2014)
- NSSAB013c MCA DoLS Local Practice Guidelines - Capacity Pro-Forma (Oct 2014)
- NSSAB014 Multi-agency Procedures
Joint NSSAB and NSSCB Policies
- NSSB002 Domestic Abuse Strategy For further information and for the DASH and MARAC referral forms visit the North Somerset Safer and Stronger website: Information for professionals.
- NSSB003 FGM Joint Guidance (see section above)
- NSSB004 Transitions Safeguarding Position Statement
- NSSB005 Safeguarding Boards Memorandum of Understanding
- NSSB007 Joint Sexual Exploitation Strategy and Guidance
- NSSB019 Escalation Policy
