Local and national support

When you’re getting started with safeguarding, you can turn to voluntary organisations in your area that support small groups, organisations and charities. In some places there’ll be just one of these organisations, while in other areas there will be more.

• Find your nearest member of NAVCA. These member organisations support community groups and voluntary organisations in most areas.
• Find your nearest member of ACRE. These member organisations support village halls and other community groups in rural areas.

Local authorities have teams who are responsible for safeguarding. These connect to safeguarding boards and partnerships. These organisations often have free or low cost training available.

• Find your local adult safeguarding board by asking your local council or searching for your local area together with the phrase 'adult safeguarding board'.
• Ask your local council, or search for your local area together with the phrase "safeguarding board or safeguarding partnership", to get a local contact for safeguarding children. The names of the children’s boards are changing so using both terms will help.

You may also turn to national organisations to support you in a range of different ways

• Online advice and guidance. You’ll find links throughout our Knowhow safeguarding pages to other key organisations who cover topics in more detail or from a specialist angle.
• Helplines. At different times you can need different support from a helpline. As well as containing links for reporting, our page on what to do if you have immediate concerns page also has numbers and links to helplines for a range of different situations.
• Training. You can find guidance on how to choose training and links to some face to face and online training on our training page.
• Consultancy. Sometimes you need to turn to someone external to assist with formal audits or less formal reviews of your safeguarding processes. You can find individual consultants who offer these services, or go to an organisation. Below you can see which of the partners in this project offer consultancy support
• Networking and support. Whether you choose to join a membership organisation, a movement or an informal network, it’s great to be part of a group of similar organisations tackling safeguarding together. Different groups will be able to offer different things. Some of the partners in this project offer membership options.
• Many organisations can provide these services. You can find them by searching the internet for safeguarding in charities or safeguarding in the voluntary and community sector.

We have included services offered by some of the project partners who have helped develop Knowhow’s safeguarding content here.

NCVO

NCVO membership is home to over 15,000 voluntary sector organisations across England. In relation to safeguarding, benefits of membership include access to discounted face to face training and events, free sample HR policies and a HR telephone advice line. Members also receive discounts when using an NCVO trusted supplier or key quality assurance tools that help you improve your organisation.

The Ann Craft Trust (ACT)

The Ann Craft Trust are a leading UK authority on safeguarding disabled children and adults at risk. They support all organisations and individuals to do safeguarding well and minimise harm. As well as safeguarding training, and a safeguarding adults checklist (link) which connects to lots of resources, ACT offer consultancy services. You might want to work with them on a formal audit or informal reviews of your safeguarding work.

NSPCC

The NSPCC works to protect children today and prevent abuse tomorrow, to transform society for every childhood. You can report your worries and concerns about children to them on their helpline. They provide training and a huge range of learning resources. You might also want to use their information service which answers your questions by email or phone to help you find the resources you need to develop your safeguarding policy and practice. They also offer consultancy in a range of situations

Children England

Children England is the voice of children’s charities. Join them as a member to be part of a movement to change the world for children. Membership of Children England is on a sliding scale and benefits include an information service, training, events and consultancy as well as using collective power to campaign for children and families.

UK Youth

UK Youth is a leading national charity, committed to providing access to appropriate, high quality services in every community so that young people are empowered to build bright futures, regardless of their background or circumstances. Joining its movement as a changemaker is free and offers access to newsletters, events and funded programmes.

Protect

Protect aims to stop harm by supporting whistleblowing. They provide advice and support to anyone who wants to speak up about wrongdoing in the organisation they work for but doesn’t know what to do. They can also advise and train organisations on developing whistleblowing policies and making sure they are effective.

NCVO Trusted Suppliers

Our trusted suppliers provide specialist products and services that can save your organisation time and money. The suppliers include organisations that can support your HR needs and insurance. Each has undergone a selection process, signed up to a Code of Conduct and offers discounts to NCVO members.

You can use checklists, tools and frameworks to review what your organisation is already doing for safeguarding and what else needs doing.

• Work with 0-18 year olds and want to focus on safeguarding? NSPCC Learning has a safeguarding and child protection self-assessment tool which helps your organisation audit current safeguarding and child protection arrangements.
• Want to look at safeguarding children and young people alongside wider practice in youth work? UK Youth has safeguarding information including a quality assurance framework. You can download an interactive PDF that covers safeguarding, youth engagement and helping young people be heard.
• Thinking about safeguarding adults? The Ann Craft Trust has a safeguarding adults checklist. You can complete it as an individual or as an organisation. It helps you assess your understanding of safeguarding and provides links to resources so you can learn more.
• Want to work through a full process of thinking about safeguarding online, and make sure your digital safeguarding policy and procedures line up with the rest of your practice? Work through the Digisafe toolkit.