Assessing safeguarding risks

Activities, events and services

Start by thinking about the main activities or services that your group or organisation provides for children and how these take place. 

It can be helpful to make a list that covers areas such as:

• the contact you have with babies, children and young people, for example do you meet in person or online?
• how often this happens – every day, once a week, occasionally or rarely? 
• the different activities or services you offer.

Where and when do your activities happen?

Consider how you can ensure children are safe in the spaces they spend time in.

It’s likely that there will be existing safeguards in place. For example, the building you use may have controlled access or other security features. However, you should think about whether the current measures are sufficient and if there are any other challenges or risks that are posed by the places you hold your activities.

For example: 

• physical spaces: if you meet somewhere like a village hall or a playing field, do you have sole use of this area or do others hire or use the space? 
• online spaces: if you run an online community does it use a specially designed platform or an existing technology? Is it a closed or open group?
• occasional spaces: if you’re holding activities in places outside of your usual space, such as a specialised activity centre or local community hall, do you need to consider any additional safeguards? 

> Find out more about running safer events and activities

> Learn about social media, online communities and safeguarding

> See example safeguarding scenarios for different spaces

What challenges do activities present?

Like with spaces, different activities may present challenges and risks which might make safeguarding more complex. You should think about who is involved: 

• how many babies, children and young people are taking part and how much supervision do they need? This will depend on the type of activity and the ages of the children
• are staff members and volunteers familiar with your organisation and the activity or do they require any additional information? 
• are you including any external groups, companies or individuals who may not be used to working with children?

As above, you should also think about the spaces where the activities are taking place and whether these present any different challenges. 

Make sure to consider all these factors whenever you are running a new, or one-off, activity. 

> Find out about recommended adult to child ratios

> Learn more about running safer activities and events

> Take our introduction to safeguarding and child protection training

Assessing children and young people's needs

Make a list of the demographics and characteristics of the babies, children or young people who attend (or might attend) your group or use your services. 

Think about the needs of these children including specific children who may have additional needs. You should consider:

• age or stage of development
• gender identity
• religion
• cultural and/or ethnic background
• sexual identity
• language needs, including different communication methods such as Braille or sign language
• whether the child has a disability and, if so, the impact this has
• looked after child status.

The clearer you can be about the children’s needs, the better your safeguarding and child protection arrangements will be able to meet these needs.

Keeping young adults safe

Safeguarding responsibilities don't stop when a young person reaches 18. Adults can still be at risk of abuse. If you work with young people aged 18 or over, you will need to consider their safeguarding needs. 

Our elearning course sets out the key things you’ll need to think about when safeguarding young people and young adults. It was produced in association with the Ann Craft Trust which provides a range of information and advice about safeguarding adults. 

> Take our Keeping 16–25 year olds safe from abuse elearning course

Your current arrangements

There are likely to be many things that you already do to keep babies, children and young people safe, and you should build these into your safeguarding and child protection arrangements.

What you already do well

Think about the strengths of your group and write them down. 

You could include:

• how your organisation, its staff and volunteers value children 
• the way you welcome and include children from many different backgrounds and who have different characteristics
• your understanding of babies', children’s and young people's specific needs
• how you communicate with children and ask them what they think
• the contact you have with the local community
• the way your group or organisation is managed
• the training you give to staff and volunteers
• how you recruit and select your staff and volunteers.

Assessing your current practice

Our self-assessment tool for voluntary and community organisations takes a step-by-step approach to help you review and improve your child protection and safeguarding arrangements. 

> Start your self-assessment

Assessing and managing risk

Whatever activities or support you provide, there will be child protection and safeguarding risks that you need to be aware of. 

These risks may affect everyone equally, or some babies, children and young people may be more at risk than others. 

You should consider risk during all your interactions with children.

Think about:

• the physical or online environment where the group meets 
• staff and volunteers – make sure to include freelance workers, agency staff and those from other organisations who may be involved on an occasional basis
• other people who use the same venue as you
• specific activities that you undertake and any equipment you may use
• other children and young people in your group
• how you promote your group
• risks faced by babies, children and young people in the group in their everyday lives – for example a family situation or risks within the community or online.

As well as thinking about each risk individually, consider how they might impact on one another. Make notes of how you try to manage each of these areas of risk you have identified and where you feel the gaps might be. 

Putting it into practice

When you have identified and assessed the safeguarding risks and vulnerabilities that exist in your group, the next step is to consider specific  roles and responsibilities for safeguarding in your group or organisation.

Every member of staff and volunteer has a responsibility for safeguarding the babies, children and young people in their care.

However every group or organisation also needs somebody at a senior level who is responsible for leading on safeguarding and child protection. There also needs to be at least one person acting as the nominated child protection lead, who is available to respond to any child protection concerns as they arise. 

This role may be shared between more than one person, depending on the size of your group or organisation and the level of need.

> Find out more about safeguarding roles and responsibilities

Training and support

The person, or people, responsible for safeguarding and child protection should be trained to carry out their roles and this training should be refreshed regularly. 

They should also receive ongoing support and supervision from leaders. 

However, all staff and volunteers should be fully trained to recognise the signs of abuse and neglect.

> See our introduction to safeguarding and child protection course

> Find out more about our training for designated, named and lead officers