Responding to Abuse and Neglect

The Local Authority as the lead agency will undertake an Initial Enquiry to determine how to respond.  This includes working to understand the adult’s desired outcomes and agreeing with the adult (or their appropriate representative or advocate) how their concerns will be acted upon.

Where the concern is not resolved by the Initial Enquiries, the Local Authority will need to decide on the most proportionate response.  This may include either a Risk Management Response (the term given to a range of actions that may be required to safeguard the adult from the risk of abuse and neglect) or a Formal Enquiry to establish the facts and gather evidence to support a Safeguarding Plan. This will involve a Safeguarding Planning/Discussion meeting.

Risk assessment, safeguarding planning, and the provision of support to enable the adult at risk to be in control of decisions about their own life are core elements throughout.
The following procedure explains how to raise a Safeguarding Concern and the expected processes that can subsequently follow.

SCIE: The six key principles of Safeguarding [external link] should be considered in all instances.
The Principles of Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) should apply, safeguarding should be person-led, and outcome focused, engaging the adult with care and support needs in a conversation about how best to respond to their safeguarding situation. See additional information on MSP on DSP website [new window] and also SCIE: Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) [external link].  

There are four key stages to the process, which are outlined below: