Updated: 28th February 2024
Throughout this policy, the term ‘Lighthouse’ shall be taken to mean, collectively:
Lighthouse Beaconsfield Registered Charity No. 1198953
Lighthouse Burnham Registered Charity No. 1182190
Lighthouse Cressex Registered Charity No. 1183476
Lighthouse Derby City Registration applied for
Lighthouse Hazlemere, Registered Charity No. 1178562
Lighthouse High Wycombe Registered Charity No. 1114541
Lighthouse Langley Registered Charity No 1181000
Lighthouse Loudwater Registered Charity No. 1197125
Lighthouse Mansfield Registered Charity No. 1164680
Lighthouse Marlow Registered Charity No. 1178062
Lighthouse Princes Risborough Registered Charity No. 1178119
Lighthouse Safe Harbour Registered Charity No 1180779
Lighthouse Shelswell Registered Charity No 1187651
Lighthouse Central Registered Charity No. 1169839
And Lighthouse Water Eaton which is an associate Lighthouse through St Frideswide’s Church, a resource hub in the Diocese of Oxford for community organising and church growth.
These charities share a common administration system and database. Applicants may transfer between Lighthouses at any time. Data including DBS Disclosure information that is shared is done so under GDPR regulations.
This Safeguarding Policy has been written in line with the NSPCC recommendations:
NSPCC (2019) NSPCC safeguarding and child protection standards for the voluntary and community sector: children, young people and young adults aged 0-18 (UK). London: NSPCC.
And the BSCP Multi-Agency Information Sharing Code of Practice. \
Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (BSCP) replaced the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board in 2019
Lighthouse has a separate DBS Policy that should be read in conjunction with this Policy document and includes our policy on the Recruitment of Ex-offenders and Secure Storage, Handling, Use, Retention & Disposal of Disclosures and Disclosure Information.
This Safeguarding Policy covers:Lighthouse recognises the importance of our ministry with children and young people in need of protection and our responsibility to protect everyone entrusted to our care. We are fully committed to safeguarding and protecting their welfare.
Lighthouse recognises its duty of care to safeguard children and young people as detailed under the Children Acts 1989 and 2004 and Working together to safeguard children (Department for Education, 2018)
The purpose of this policy statement is:
This policy applies to anyone working on behalf of Lighthouse including the board of trustees, paid staff and volunteers
This policy has been drawn up based on legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England. A summary of the key legislation is available from https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/...
This policy statement should be read alongside our organisational policies, procedures, guidance and other related documents available in the Toolbox on our website: https://lighthousecentral.org/lighthouse-toolbox.
We believe that:
We are committed to:
We recognise that:
We are committed to using our safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. Specifically, we will
The abuse of children and young people can take many forms.
The most important consideration for all volunteers is to safeguard and promote the welfare of the children and young people in our care. Any allegation of abuse must be taken seriously, and Lighthouse has a duty to report it to the relevant statutory agencies. Allegations may come from a child, or young person, themselves and may relate to abuse from a family member, or someone outside the family that could be a teacher, youth leader, pastor etc. No group of people are exempt from being abusers.
If a child or young person begins to tell a volunteer about abuse, it is VITAL that you do the following:
Important things to remember
The best interest of the child or young person, and the need for the abuse to stop, comes before the interests of the organisation or the abuser.
If there is immediate risk of harm to a child, call the Police on 999
Lighthouses in Buckinghamshire:
If you are concerned about a child, call Buckinghamshire Council’s First Response Team on 01296 383962
Monday to Thursday, 9am to 5.30pm
Friday 9am to 5pm
If you need an urgent response outside of these hours, contact the Emergency Duty Team (EDT) on 0800 999 7677.
They will listen to your concerns and decide on the appropriate course of action. ~
Email: secure-cypfirstresponse@buckscc.gov.uk
For Allegations against Staff or Volunteers the Buckinghamshire Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) is responsible for overseeing the management of all allegations against people in a position of trust who work with children in Buckinghamshire on either a paid or voluntary basis.
For further information about Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) please visit the website www.bucks-lscb.org.uk/parents-carers/allegations-against-staff-or-volunteers-lado.
Lighthouses in Derbyshire:
In Derbyshire via Starting Point Telephone contact to StartingPoint 01629 533190 or via an online referral.
In Derby City: Urgent referrals (by Initial Response Team) during normal working days between 9 am and 5 pm on 01332 641172.
At all other times concerns can be discussed with Careline who can be contacted on 01332 956606
Remember: all telephone referrals should be followed up within 48 hours using the Derby Children's Social Care Online Referral System.
Non-urgent concerns should be submitted via the Derby Children’s Social Care Online Referral System.
Online referrals will only be checked during normal working days between 9am and 5pm, only urgent referrals made on 01332 956606 will be responded to out of hours, on weekends and bank holidays.
The Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership (DDSCP) website has more detailed information https://www.ddscp.org.uk/
Lighthouses in Nottinghamshire:
If you think a child is at risk of abuse, please call MASH on 0300 500 80 80.
Nottinghamshire's Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) operates between the hours of 08:30-17:00 Monday to Thursday and 08:30-16:30 on Friday.
If you require an urgent response outside of these hours, contact the Emergency Duty Team (EDT) on 0300 456 4546
The link to the form to report details to MASH is here: https://www.nottinghamshire.go...
Lighthouses in Oxfordshire:
If you have a concern about a child in Oxfordshire, and an immediate response from Children’s Social Care is necessary please call MASH on 0345 050 7666. (Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub).
The on line form to supply details is here: https://www2.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/content/childrens-social-care-request-service-form
Above all it is important that you talk to someone about this. Don’t ignore your concerns or delay taking action.
A vulnerable adult is any person aged 18 or over who is or may be unable to take care of him or herself against significant harm or exploitation. This may be because he or she has a mental health problem, a disability, a sensory impairment, is old or frail, or has some form of illness.
We live in an age in which digital technology has vastly increased the use, and potential misuse, of photography. Lighthouse seeks the consent of parents for photography/videoing of their child/children during the Lighthouse week and any such images will only be taken by an official photographer.
Any photos and/or video footage is checked by each Lighthouse's Admin team to ensure no child is shown where consent has not been given.
We have a strict policy of no photography/videoing using mobile phones on site.
Please refer to the Lighthouse DBS Policy document available in the Toolbox on our website: https://lighthousecentral.org/lighthouse-toolbox. An Enhanced DBS check with child barring is required for all volunteers aged 16 and over who have regulated contact with the children on site. An Enhanced DBS check is required for all other team co-ordinator roles including Trustees and other management committee members. Lighthouse uses the services of ‘The Software Charity’ (TSC) to collect and process data on its behalf, and TSC is the Data Controller of some of the information collected. DBS checks are carried out by APCS in a contract with TSC .