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What is Section 11?

Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 places duties on a range of organisations and individuals to ensure their functions, and any services that they contract out to others, are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

What Does Safeguarding and Promoting the Welfare of Children Mean?

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children means: (from Keeping Children Safe in Education 2024):
  • safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is defined for the purposes of this guidance as:
  • providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems emerge
  • protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the home, including online
  • preventing the impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
  • ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care
  • taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes.
What is the responsibility of schools/education settings?

Section 175 of the Education Act 2002 places a duty on local authorities (in relation to their education functions and governing bodies of maintained schools and further education institutions, which include sixth-form colleges) to exercise their functions with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children who are pupils at a school, or who are students under 18 years of age attending further education institutions. The same duty applies to independent schools (which include Academies and free schools) by virtue of regulations made under Section 157 of the same Act.

Completing and Scoring the Self-assessment

The audits consist of a series of questions which relate to specific arrangements, including policies, procedures, managing allegations and training which help safeguard children and young people.

When agencies have completed their audit, a blank Action Plan template can be downloaded from the WSCP website and populated with any areas requiring further improvement. The WSCP will dip sample audits after each topic, and action plans on an annual basis.

PRINTING YOUR AUDIT
To keep a copy of your audit, fill in the questions and press print before you click 'done'. The WSCP keep copies of every audit, you can request a copy of your audit by contacting Kat Ryan.

To find out more about Section 11, follow the link to our website

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* 1. Please select your agency from the options below

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* 2. Please provide details of the professional completing this audit

Safer Recruitment

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* 3. Does your setting have a robust safer recruitment policy in place which all staff are aware of?

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* 4. Has a senior member of staff (including Governors) in your setting received Safer Recruitment training in the last 5 years?

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* 5. Do recruitment adverts include your setting's commitment to safeguarding children?

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* 6. Do all relevant staff have DBS checks or evidence of checks from a relevant agency?

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* 7. Do new staff receive an induction? (including Governors and volunteers, if applicable)

Information Sharing

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* 8. Does your setting have a clear procedure for sharing information with other professionals, agencies and the WSCP?

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* 9. Do staff in your setting have the opportunity to receive reflective supervision?

Whistleblowing, Complaints and Escalation

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* 10. Does your setting have a whistleblowing policy and systems in place for professionals and public?

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* 11. Does your setting have a complaints policy and systems in place for professionals, young people and their families?

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* 12. Do staff know how to access the WSCP multi-agency escalation procedure for disagreements about the course of action for a child?

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* 13. How does your setting  promote the use of the WSCP multi-agency escalation procedure?

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* 14. Do staff work in a safe culture that supports equality?

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* 15. Do staff feel supported in their safeguarding role?

Managing Allegations

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* 16. Does your setting have a clear policy (in line with WSCP guidance) for dealing with allegations against professionals?

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* 17. Does your setting have a procedure in the Managing Allegations against Professionals policy for dealing with low level concerns?

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* 18. Has the designated lead person for safeguarding attended managing allegations training in the last 3 years?

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* 19. Does the designated lead know how to contact and refer to the LADO?

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* 20. Are all staff aware of their responsibilities to the managing allegations process including compliance with the 24 hour reporting timescale?

Evidence

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* 21. If you have a good practice example or case study in this area, please upload it here.
If you have any evidence to support your response to this topic, please use the upload feature below or e-mail Kat Ryan with your evidence.

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