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Last updated: 22.04.25

What is the Role of Safeguarding?

Here in the UK, we have a wide range of laws and associated governing bodies that help ensure that children and other vulnerable people get the care and attention that they need. Safeguarding is one of the largest and most important parts of this, and it’s something that workers need to be aware of in a large number of business types. 

From schools and nurseries to care homes and hospitals, safeguarding is a critically important concept. In this article, we're going to explain the term safeguarding, deepen your understanding of safeguarding principles, investigate the role that safeguarding plays in these kinds of businesses and who needs to be involved in this issue.

If you’re searching for safeguarding training for your own staff, we offer comprehensive online courses.

What is Safeguarding?

Safeguarding is a term that encompasses a wide range of measures and principles that ensure that basic human rights of individuals are protected. More specifically, safeguarding aims to make sure that vulnerable adults, young adults and children can live their lives free from abuse, harm and neglect. 

Generally, any child will be under the remit of safeguarding, as will people who need help looking after themselves, such as individuals with certain disabilities, elderly people in care, and some people in hospital. In theory, anyone could at some point be vulnerable and need safeguarding.

It’s important to be aware that safeguarding aims to protect people from a wide range of types of abuse, neglect and harm. We tend to think primarily about it being a method of combating very serious issues such as child sexual abuse and physical violence towards vulnerable people, but this is only a proportion. Neglect is a common issue for those involved with safeguarding, particularly when it comes to children. 

Sometimes infants are not cared for properly - whether intentionally or otherwise - and it is the role of safeguarding to step in and try to ensure that the child is able to receive the care they require as far as basic human rights are concerned. When it comes to the elderly, abuse can often be financial or emotional, which is often the case when family members or acquaintances try to take advantage. Safeguarding would look to stop this too.

There are also many different ways in which safeguarding actually works, and it depends heavily on the environment and people involved. In the next section, we’re going to think about how we actually go about protecting people in society.

Recognising the Signs of Abuse

One of the most important roles of safeguarding is identifying when abuse or neglect might be taking place. This means being aware of the signs that someone may need help while carrying out your normal job role.

Spotting signs of abuse early can prevent serious harm before it escalates. When training staff about safeguarding, it's vital to cover the different types of abuse and their signs.

Physical Abuse

  • Unexplained bruises, burns or injuries that don't match explanations given
  • Flinching at sudden movements or when touched
  • Avoiding activities that require changing clothes (like PE or swimming)

Emotional Abuse

  • Unusual withdrawal from activities or friends
  • Sudden changes in behaviour or confidence
  • Development delays in children
  • Signs of depression in older adults

Sexual Abuse

  • Physical discomfort or injury in private areas
  • Age-inappropriate sexual knowledge or behaviour
  • New fears around specific people or situations

Financial Abuse

  • Sudden inability to pay bills despite adequate income
  • Missing personal belongings or money
  • Unusual bank account activity
  • Changes to wills or financial documents

Neglect

  • Consistently inappropriate clothing for weather conditions
  • Poor personal hygiene or untreated medical issues
  • Weight loss or constant hunger
  • Unsafe or unhygienic living conditions

Spotting these signs doesn't mean abuse is definitely happening, but they do suggest you might need to ask more questions. Whether you're teaching children, caring for elderly people or working in healthcare it’s extremely important to stay alert to these signs. 

Reporting Safeguarding Concerns

Knowing how to report concerns sits at the heart of good safeguarding practice. When concerns aren't reported properly, the whole system breaks down.

When to report

Report worries quickly if you spot signs of abuse, hear about it from someone, or see risky practices. While your workplace policy gives specific steps, don't forget that we're all responsible for safeguarding. A quick report could make all the difference.

How to report

Start by talking to your safeguarding lead, following your workplace procedure. Write down what you saw or heard using simple facts, not opinions. Note when and where things happened. Keep things private, but be clear that serious concerns can't stay completely secret.

Who to report to

You might need to tell your safeguarding lead, local safeguarding teams, or sometimes the police. Health issues might involve NHS teams too. Your workplace policy should map out exactly who needs to know what and when.

Good reporting helps get the right help to vulnerable people before more harm happens.

What Do Those Who Have Safeguarding as Part of Their Role Do?

The first thing that’s essential to understand is that, while safeguarding is certainly an integral part of many peoples’ job roles, it is something that many different people will be involved in that don’t necessarily work in safeguarding. There’s a communal aspect to safeguarding that means that lots of people may have to work together to help keep children and vulnerable adults safe.

If we think for example about protecting elderly people who still live at home, then the local authorities will have to work with care workers to make sure that they get the help that they need. However, they might need help from friends, family or even neighbours if any kind of abuse or neglect is suspected.

However, there are of course many people who have safeguarding specifically part of their role. People such as care home workers, nursery staff and teachers all need to think about safeguarding every single day while they’re at work. All places of work that are legally obliged to think about safeguarding will have a dedicated policy that deals with the principle, and it will involve everything from how to recognise signs that abuse, harm or neglect is taking place, to instructions on what to do when that happens and how to resolve the situation.

It’s worth bearing in mind that on the ground, much of safeguarding is about knowing how to spot the signs that abuse might be happening, and everyone can get involved with this.

What are the Principles of Safeguarding?

When it comes to adult safeguarding, there are six principles of safeguarding that are generally recognised. The concepts behind several of them are applicable to children, too. Importantly, these principles will help with understanding how safeguarding should work at a top level.

The six principles are as follows:

  • Empowerment - This means helping the vulnerable people and/or their family and friends to make their own decisions about how the safeguarding issue might be handled.
  • Prevention - The number one function of safeguarding should always prevent abuse, harm or neglect from occurring, for example by having a good security policy on-premises.
  • Proportionality - Any response to a safeguarding issue needs to be done with care, sensitivity and proportionally to the incident(s).
  • Protection - Those who are in need of safeguarding protection should always have it, however they might be vulnerable and whatever issues they face.
  • Partnership - Safeguarding requires multiple agencies working together to protect individuals from abuse. Local authorities, healthcare providers, schools, police and care services all have different roles in safeguarding, and they must collaborate to be effective.
  • Accountability - Transparency is very important in safeguarding, and all professionals will need to know exactly what is expected of them.

What Does the Law Say About the Role of Safeguarding?

There are a number of important bits of legislation that determine exactly how safeguarding should work, and whose responsibility it is. When it comes to care, there are four major laws that workers will need to be aware of, and they are the following:

The Children Act 1989 - One of the major pieces of legislation when it comes to children in the United Kingdom, this act enshrines most of the really important aspects of safeguarding and also sets child welfare as a major priority for the authorities. It sets out laws and responsibilities in many different ways, particularly when it comes to social work.

The Children and Social Work Act 2017 - This Act built on many of the principles of the initial Children Act, increasing provision for care leavers, giving clinical commissioning groups more responsibility, protecting whistleblowers, and generally ensuring that child safeguarding practices work and are being followed.

The Care Act 2014 - This act is the main legislation for safeguarding when it comes to vulnerable adults. Similar to the Children Act, it sets out a framework for how everyone involved in safeguarding, from local authorities to care home workers, can protect adults from abuse, harm and neglect.

The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 - This Act deals with the vetting process for those that will be working with vulnerable people. Safe recruitment is one of the most important safeguarding principles and involves DBS checks and more.

In addition to these laws, there is also a wide range of statutory guidance on safeguarding, such as â€˜Keeping children safe in education’, which is a document aimed towards schools and colleges, and ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’, the government’s key document for anyone who works with children.

What Does Safeguarding Training Involve?

Given how complex policy can be and how delicate certain situations can be, it’s no surprise that safeguarding virtually all people who have safeguarding as part of their roles will need regular and dedicated training on the subject. This helps them ensure they have all the skills and knowledge they need to effectively protect people from abuse, harm and neglect. 

In many workplaces, safeguarding will be part of statutory or mandatory training - that is to say that it’s training which is essential to the role or mandated by law. 

At Virtual College, we’re pleased to be leaders in the development and delivery of online safeguarding training courses. They cover current legislation to help you grasp the complex nature of safeguarding in a clear and simple delivery.

FAQs

What is the title of the role of the named person responsible for safeguarding in a school?


The named person responsible for safeguarding in a school is called the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL). This is a legal requirement for all UK schools. Most schools also appoint at least one Deputy DSL to provide cover when needed. 

DSLs must complete Level 3 Safeguarding Training and refresh it every two years, as well as staying up to date on any safeguarding developments at least annually.

Why is safeguarding important in health and social care?

Safeguarding matters hugely in health and social care because these workers help vulnerable people daily. Patients often can't meet their own needs, which can put them at risk. 

Good safeguarding means people get treated with respect and dignity. Staff learn to notice when something's wrong and know what to do about it. This keeps people safe in hospitals, care homes and during home visits. Without proper safeguarding, the people who most need protection could face neglect or abuse. That's why training staff to understand safeguarding is so vital in these settings.