Darlington Safeguarding Adults Procedures

Introduction

Welcome to Darlington Multi-Agency Safeguarding Adult’s Policies and Procedures which have been revised by Darlington Safeguarding Partnership (DSP) and signed off by the Partnership Learning & Development Group on 7 March 2025, following a full multi-agency consultation.

The procedures are applicable to all those working in the Darlington locality, whether in paid employment or as a volunteer in DSP organisations and in private or voluntary sector organisations with responsibility for adults with care and support needs. They are also relevant to those who commission services to adults with care and support needs.  

Darlington Safeguarding Partnership was established in 2019 with safeguarding responsibilities placed on Darlington Borough Council,  Durham Constabulary and North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board to work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and adults with care and support needs in the local authority area.  The three organisations have responsibility for setting out the safeguarding arrangements in Darlington.  The arrangements provide a greater opportunity of strengthening partnership working across adults and children, ensuring everyone in Darlington can live their lives safely.

Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and for services to be effective each individual and organisation should play a part. Darlington Borough Council, as the local authority, is the lead agency for adult safeguarding but all agencies within Darlington Borough Council boundary have safeguarding responsibilities.

These procedures reflect the Care Act 2014 and should be used in conjunction with organisational guidelines. If you are in any doubt about what you should do you need to consult with safeguarding specialists within your organisation. 

You will also find additional guidance outlined in the Department for Health and Social Care - Care and Support Statutory Guidance [external link]

You can access a range of additional information and guidance as well as signposting to National and Statutory guidance to support the Adult Procedures on the DSP website, see additional practice guidance [new window]. 

The Procedures have been broken down into an number of key sections to help and support navigation and are available below.