Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland Safeguarding Children Learning. Safeguarding Competency Framework. Minimum Requirements for

Transcription

1 Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland Safeguarding Children Learning Safeguarding Competency Framework Minimum Requirements for Safeguarding Children Learning April 2014 (Reviewed June 2015)

2 Contents Page No. LSCB statement on use of Document, Permissions & Intellectual Property 2 Introduction: Competency Framework Flowchart & Explanatory notes Identification of Groups / LSCB table (comparing previous Levels to Groups) 6 Large Scale organisations & Settings: eg Hospitals, Leicestershire Police & Schools 8 Stand alone Practitioners: self-employed / those who do not work for an organisation eg Child-minders, tutors, private sports coaches etc Context & Essential Information 12 A Flexible Approach to Learning 13 Assessing Evidencing & Recording the Competencies 15 Staff who have multiple roles within an organisation 19 Values, Golden Threads and Best Practice in Safeguarding Training 20 The Competency Framework 21 Group 1 Induction to Safeguarding 23 Group 2 Essential Awareness in Safeguarding 26 Group 3 Specialist Front Line Practitioners: Staff who may contribute to 29 assessment Group 4 Specialist Front Line Practitioners: Staff undertaking or directly 33 involved with Child Protection Enquiries Group 5 Specialist Front Line Practitioners: Designated and Named Persons 37 including stand alone practitioners. (Including supplementary advice on role of Designated lead / person) Group 6 Operational Managers 44 Group 7 Senior Managers 48 Group 8 Governance Roles : those involved with strategic governance: e.g. 51 Management committee members, school governors, Executive Board members, LSCB Board members, voluntary sector management committee members and owner managers. Group 9 Trainers and facilitators of safeguarding learning 54 Appendix Index Appendix 1 Competency Framework and Health Settings 58 Appendix 2 Examples of the Competency Framework in practice. 59 Appendix 3 Examples of Learning for different groups 64 Appendix 4 Templates / examples of Logs: 70 Group 1 template / Group 2 (completed example ) / multiple role: Group 5 & 6 / Competency Framework Sign off template Group Appendix 5 Essential Awareness training suggested content 85 P a g e 1 o f 86

3 The Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland Learning, Development & Training Strategy and associated documents are the intellectual property of Leicestershire & Rutland and Leicester City Safeguarding Boards, and cannot be used without expressed permission of those LSCB s and must not be reproduced or used for commercial or financial gain. 1. Introduction & Flowchart This Safeguarding Children Competency Framework is for use by the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Children s Workforce to support individuals and organisations to undertake their safeguarding roles and responsibilities in a committed, confident and competent manner. There is an expectation that organisations will ensure that all staff providing a service are able to respond to concerns in line with local and national agendas. 1 Some individuals will work in settings which provide both universal and specialist services for Children and Adults. It is the responsibility of the organisation to determine the knowledge and learning that is required. This Competency Framework is for use by: The Children s Workforce defined as.everyone who works or volunteers with children and young people and their families, or who is responsible for improving their outcomes. 2 Adult Workforce Practitioners who may be in a position to contribute to assessments of parenting capacity. Workforces that support a Whole Family approach. 3 Wider workforce and other individuals, who have contact with children and their families in their role, however do not work directly with children or their families: i.e. Housing maintenance staff, environmental health officers, receptionists of community centres etc, where there is a responsibility to safeguard both adults and children. There is a separate Competency Framework for the Adult Workforce based in Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland. 4 This document is structured so that you need only refer to the section that correlates with the appropriate Group The Common Core of skills and knowledge for the Children s Workforce P a g e 2 o f 86

4 Additional Information Health: If you work for the Health sector, you must refer to the Safeguarding Children and Young People: Roles and Competences for Health Care Staff. Intercollegiate Document: Third Edition: March %20Roles%20and%20Competences%20for%20Healthcare%20Staff%20%2002%200%20%20 %20%20(3).pdf The LLR Learning, Development and Training Strategy will apply locally to CCG, UHL and LPT, in terms of a Competency Based approach and Best Practice in Safeguarding Training Standards for delivery. UHL, LPT and CCG will use the 2014 Intercollegiate Document rather than the LLR Competency Framework to determine minimum knowledge requirements for different roles and provide appropriate learning opportunities to support safeguarding learning. This position has been endorsed by the strategic learning, development and training group and Safeguarding Children Boards. Voluntary Sector: Leicestershire & Rutland and Leicester City Safeguarding Boards endorse and recommend the use of the Safe Network standards and resources. Safe Network provides a range of accessible and useful information, tools and guidance for safeguarding for non-statutory organisations. These nationally recognised tools and standards provide guidance and template documents / policies in relation to safeguarding and governance of organisations. Additional advice and guidance available from Safe Network: Local information is available from Children Workforce Matters: The framework also determines the LSCB local minimum standards and requirements for safeguarding children learning; use of this framework may support in providing evidence for inspections, i.e. Ofsted Inspection framework, CQC etc. P a g e 3 o f 86

5 The Process The Competency Framework This document covers a range of competencies which reflect the variety of roles and responsibilities held by workers and volunteers within the workforce Role types have been separated into 9 groups and this document presents the required competencies for staff and volunteers in each of these Group. Each competency group is presented separately so that users of this document will have one reference point for each Group. Read 'Introduction' and 'explanatory notes' in the Competency Framework Document' Identify which Group reflects the role, responsibilties and duties of the individual Refer to Safeguarding Competencies for the identfied Group Learning Opportunities: Appropriate learning opportunities provided / learning may be recognised from a range of experiences. Recording & Evidence: Manager and worker provide the evidence and record that the competencies have been achieved. (evidence provided must refer to a learning activity that has taken place within the last 12 months) Update & Refresh: Minimum of every 3 years / (2 years for Designated Safeguarding Lead - Education.) P a g e 4 o f 86

6 Notes to support the use of the document This Competency Framework document: Provides guidance regarding how to identify the appropriate competency group for members of the Children s Workforce Outlines the minimum competency for staff and volunteers within each Group Clarifies the requirement for the Safeguarding Competencies to be evidenced every 3 years, (2 years for Designated Safeguarding Lead, Education) as a minimum. Provides suggestions regarding a range of training, learning and development methods and opportunities through which the competencies may be achieved (Appendix 2 & 3) Suggests formats for recording this evidence 5. (Appendix 4) This document presents the competencies for each group separately; users therefore have one reference point for each group. The LSCB have collated resources on essential knowledge that can contribute to safeguarding learning (e.g. law, legislation and signs & indicators) which can be used to support safeguarding learning. 6 This Framework became operational in April 2014, and organisations, agencies and individuals will use the competency framework to determine their safeguarding learning needs from this date. By April 2017 all organisations, agencies and individuals from the Children s workforce, should have used this Framework to evidence their Safeguarding learning in line with the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Boards requirement. 5 Appendix 4 Template Evidence log for Group 1. Templates for other groups are available to download on the LSCB website. This is a suggested template: it is for individual organisations to decide on which format can be used to record the evidence 6 P a g e 5 o f 86

7 Identification of Competency Groups Some roles with the same job title may have very different responsibilities and duties. It is the employer s responsibility to match the roles and responsibilities of a particular role with the descriptions of roles and responsibilities provided for each Group within the framework; Please refer to descriptors of role to ensure that it is appropriate to the role to help you select the correct competency requirements. It is the responsibility of the organisation to determine the competency group of the practitioner. Table 1, presents a comparison of previously used LSCB training levels (Pre April 2014) against the new Competency Groups It is essential to read the description of roles and responsibility presented in the Framework to make an informed decision regarding which Competency Group is appropriate for the role. There is further advice available from the LSCB, Children s Workforce Matters and own agency work force / learning & development leads. Staff who have Multiple role and responsibilities: It is acknowledged that a number of individuals will have a range of roles and responsibilities within their organisation, and therefore could fall into a number of different competency groups; one person within an organisation can have 3 different roles which fall into different groups in relation to safeguarding. For example an operational manager may be the designated person, who also delivers the internal in-house safeguarding training; therefore the job role reflects 3 different competency groups. The Framework supports a pragmatic approach to managing this, and does not expect the individuals to undertake 3 separate activities to complete 3 separate evidence logs. As the Framework is structured where each group is a standalone group, rather than a building block approach, many of the competencies are repeated in each group. The framework is also non prescriptive about the format recording of evidence, so will allow evidence forms to be adapted to individual need. There are template evidence logs for multiple roles available. See Appendix 4 for an example of a multiple role template log. P a g e 6 o f 86

8 LSCB Level to Group Comparison (table 1) Previous LSCB Training Level (Until March 31 st 2014) Possible Competency Group (From 1 st April 2014) Level 1 Induction Group 1 Induction to Safeguarding Level 2a Basic Awareness Group 2 Essential Awareness in Safeguarding Level 2b Level 3 Further Confidence Building Building Knowledge & Skills Group 2 Group 3 Essential Awareness in Safeguarding Specialist Front Line Practitioners: Staff who may contribute to an Assessment Level 4 Further Enhancing Knowledge & Skills Group 4 Specialist Front Line Practitioners: Staff who undertake Child Protection Enquiries Group 5 Designated & Named Persons Level 5 Skills in Supervision. Group 6 Operational Managers Group 7 Senior Managers Group 8 Governance Roles : those involved with strategic governance: e.g. Management committee members, school governors, Executive Board members, LSCB Board members, voluntary sector management committee members and owner managers. Group 9 Trainers & facilitators of Safeguarding Children Learning. P a g e 7 o f 86

9 Large scale organisations: schools, hospitals, Leicestershire Police. The LSCB recognises that some large scale organisations have a large number of staff in one organisation with a variety of roles and responsibilities. For these staff (teachers and some nursing/hospital staff) to attend separate training events to meet individual needs, may not be practical or achievable, given the nature of the service they provide. There are recognised benefits to large scale delivery as they provide opportunities for shared learning, and for this learning to be set into the organisational context. These organisations may choose to use single agency training to meet the competency requirements, but ensure there is understanding about interagency working, and that the importance and principles of interagency working are fully considered and understood including; Understanding of interagency working and different roles and responsibilities may be achieved via the inclusion of a number of different activities, including case discussion, scenarios, case studies etc., and consideration of some of the blocks and challenges in interagency work, and strategies to manage these. The LSCB would also support and encourage staff to attend multi-agency learning opportunities where possible and appropriate. Stand Alone / Self Employed practitioners. (Group 5.) It is recognised that there are a significant number of self-employed practitioners within the Children s Workforce who do not work within an organisation across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Roles such as child-minders, private tutors, private sports coaches etc all work closely with children, young people, parents and carers in a range of ways, and these individuals have a responsibility to ensure that they have the skills and knowledge to allow them to undertake their safeguarding requirements and duties for their role. These practitioners need to be able to undertake these duties in a committed, confident and competent manner. It is recognised that safeguarding and child protection may be a highly emotive and anxiety raising process at times, it is important that guidance is followed and also support is gained both for the child, family and practitioner to ensure best practice and improved outcomes. For those who do not work within an organisational infrastructure, and do not have colleagues or designated members of staff to refer to, there is an acknowledgement of different dynamics and the potential for additional challenges in safeguarding arena for standalone practitioners, given the specific nature of the close working relationship, and lone working as a practitioner. P a g e 8 o f 86

10 Stand-alone practitioners need to ensure that they receive their required safeguarding training and also any specialist training for their role; however it is also recognised that they need to have additional insight and understanding into some of the unique blocks and challenges that may impact on safeguarding children when working as a stand-alone practitioner. For these practitioners there should be increased understanding and focus on blocks and challenges within safeguarding learning, and also knowledge about how to access support and advice when concerns are raised, and how to take action. Standalone practitioners have been identified as a Group 5 (Designated Role), and should receive appropriate learning from a range of sources to support the competency requirements for their practice to be met. The knowledge requirements in Group 5 address some of the additional challenges in safeguarding which could potentially increase or intensify as a lone worker, and learning will aim to increase understanding of these potential challenges and minimise blocks to safeguarding. Suggested areas of focus / increased emphasis for safeguarding learning for stand-alone practitioners: (Remember that learning does not all have to come from delivered formal training some of it can come from other opportunities such as self-directed, support meetings, reading etc.) Increased focus on designated elements: How to refer / consultation and advice / how support can be accessed / If in doubt consult. How are safeguarding responsibilities introduced to the family: (at the start of the contractual relationship) i.e. do parents have sight / explanation of practitioner s duties and responsibilities? Blocks and challenges: personal relationship with family, dynamics of this relationship, issues about home address being known in some circumstances, may work with children from local community, children go to same schools etc. Reflections on other blocks : Risk / Reputation / Fear / Anxiety / What if I am wrong? / What if I am right? Implications of referrals: Possible breakdown of relationship / How to continue the working relationship. What policies and procedures do you have in place as an organisation? Where to get support? Anxiety: how is this managed for the child / family / practitioner? P a g e 9 o f 86

11 How to access learning / support / advice: For child minders - LLR Child Minders support line. / PACEY NSPCC helpline Duty / referral points / consultation and advice line numbers for each local authority. Ofsted (for early years / teachers / tutors etc) Children s Workforce Matters Essential awareness and multi-agency learning to support your role. Safe Network information / guidance. It may be helpful to create and develop your own referral / reference pack to support you in this process, so that if a concern is noted all the information is to hand. This could include: Signs and indicators information / Core information leaflets (NSPCC) Relevant Duty desk numbers Leicester City, Leicestershire, Rutland, EDT Early years teams numbers / NSPCC advice line numbers. Copy of your own child protection policy / processes / forms Link to LSCB website Ofsted advice line number. P a g e 10 o f 86

12 Descriptors of Competency Groups Competency Group Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Group 6 Group 7 Induction to Safeguarding Descriptor Essential Awareness in Safeguarding Specialist Front Line Practitioners: Staff who may contribute to an Assessment Specialist Front Line Practitioners: Staff who undertake Child Protection Enquiries Specialist Front Line Practitioners: Designated and Named Persons Operational Managers Senior Managers Group 8 Group 8 Governance Roles : those involved with strategic governance: e.g. Management committee members, school governors, Executive Board members, LSCB Board members, voluntary sector management committee members and owner managers Group 9 Trainers & facilitators of Safeguarding Children Learning. P a g e 11 o f 86

13 2. Context & Essential Information Context This guidance is for all staff and volunteers within the Children s Workforce in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and is endorsed by the Local Children Safeguarding Boards for these areas. This document has been prepared to support individuals and managers across the Children s Workforce to identify the minimum competencies for safeguarding learning, training and development according to their role, function and responsibilities. National Overview / Local Perspective This Competency Framework has been prepared in accordance with Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to Interagency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of Children March The Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Learning, Development and Training Strategy is underpinned by the principles and structure of Working Together 2010, but has been adapted to reflect local need, especially in relation to large scale deliveries in UHL (University Hospitals Leicester) and some Education settings. The Competency Framework also reflects national guidance, research and local drivers and priorities. Some sectors will have their own guidance around safeguarding National Occupational Standards, competencies, and requirements for learning, that are underpinned by Working Together, and will work to this as their minimum requirements. If you work for the Health sector, you must refer to the Safeguarding Children and Young People: Roles and Competences for Health Care Staff. Intercollegiate Document: Third Edition: March %20Roles%20and%20Competences%20for%20Healthcare%20Staff%20%2002%200%20%20 %20%20(3).pdf The Training Strategy also recognises the potential opportunity for joint safeguarding learning for Adults and Children across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. 7 The programme is underpinned by the principles of Working Together 2015 and uses the detailed guidance provided within Chapter 4 Working Together 2010 to determine the basis of the minimum requirements for Safeguarding Learning and relevant skills and competencies required in order to undertake the role. Working Together P a g e 12 o f 86

14 Opportunities should be utilised, where appropriate, for training to reflect strategic approaches such as Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Whole Family' Approach 9, and also local strategies such as THINK Family, Supporting Leicestershire Families and Families First across the Local Authority Areas. The use of the Competency Framework allows organisations, trainers and those involved in the provision of learning to have flexibility in relation to the structure and delivery methods used to support staff in meeting their minimum requirements. The learning and knowledge requirements should be proportionate to the individual s roles and responsibilities, in order to provide learning that is meaningful and relevant. 3. Flexible Learning Approach Essential Information The Safeguarding Learning, Development and Training Strategy supports a flexible approach and acknowledges different types of learning and development, in addition to traditional training events; it recognises and places value on the many alternate ways to gain valid learning experiences. There will be a focus and emphasis on safeguarding learning being discussed and reflected upon after the event. Staff and volunteers will need to be given opportunities to undertake discussion and reflection on their learning, with their managers, and for this to be recorded in order to ensure that the minimum requirements are met. Learning activities help to provide the knowledge and skills that contribute to staff being able to meet their competencies. Attending a training course does not automatically mean that the competencies will have been met discussion and verification after the event is always required. Different recognised activities that could contribute to competency could include: Taught courses (single agency, multi-agency, joint courses - in house or external provider) Practice based workshops (single, joint and multi-agency) ELearning/workbooks, use of articles self-directed learning, distance learning Mentoring, shadowing, reflective supervision Conferences, LSCB briefings / Serious Case Review briefings Formal education/qualification pathway Peer reviews, conferences Learning/knowledge from previous qualifications Learning from practice / experience. 9 LLR LSCB Procedures Think family /. Whole Family Approach Protocol Section P a g e 13 o f 86

15 It is the responsibility of individual organisations to: Identify which Competency Group and National Occupational standards individuals, organisations and volunteers need to meet Ensure that relevant training, learning and development opportunities are accessible and individual members of staff or volunteers are supported to meet these needs effectively Identify on-going developmental needs Evidence and record that the minimum competency has been achieved following learning activities that have taken place within the previous 12 months Ensure that staff and volunteers are given learning, development and training opportunities within the appropriate timescales to enable individuals to meet their minimum requirements over a 3 year period, (specifically the opportunity for some interagency learning Group 3-9) Many staff will regularly receive support for their on-going professional development, and by virtue of the nature of their specialist roles, will access a variety of different learning opportunities. These opportunities should be recognised as learning that contributes to meeting the competencies for their group. The LSCB Training Project Officer, Learning and Development Officer and Learning & Development Teams for organisations will also be able to give advice about how individuals and organisations can meet their training requirements. Frequency of Learning The Safeguarding Competencies need to be evidenced for Children s Workforce every 3 years as a minimum and include at least 1 formal safeguarding learning activity. (Evidenced every 2 years for Designated Safeguarding Lead in Education staff 10 and 3 years for the Children s Workforce.) 10 Keeping children safe in education. April Department for Education. P a g e 14 o f 86

16 Assessing, Evidencing and Recording the Competency Requirements Assessing competence in the workplace is necessary to ensure that practitioners are confident, competent and committed to safeguarding. Individuals are considered competent when they are able to consistently apply their knowledge and skills to the standard of performance required in the workplace. The employing organisation has a responsibility to: Ensure that staff meet the required safeguarding competencies. Record and evidence how staff have met the requirements for their Group. Recognise and consider different learning activities, in addition to traditional training events that will contribute to meeting the required competencies. Identify and use a system to record learning that has been undertaken. The training strategy does not aim to be overly prescriptive about how this is recorded, but has provided a template 11 that could be used to provide the evidence to record that the competencies have been met, if the organisation does not currently have its own systems in place. Provide evidence for the Competency Framework based on learning activities that have been undertaken within the previous 12 months. For example, this could include: Supervision and appraisals /performance reviews / induction & probationary processes that have included opportunities to review the competencies. Where there is whole organisation training that contributes to the knowledge and skill requirement in the competency group, the organisation may keep a centralised record of the competencies met, the date, who delivered the training and which staff attended. It is important that the opportunity to reflect on learning is also provided and recorded, to ensure the competencies were fully met. Assessment: This is the process of collecting evidence and making judgements on whether competence has been achieved. This confirms that an individual can perform to the standard expected in the workplace, in line with the competency framework. Evidence collected may be direct, such as observation of workplace performance, indirect, such as formal testing, or supplementary, such as testimonies from others. Evidence is used by an assessor (usually the supervisor) to make a judgement about whether an individual is competent. 11 Appendix 4 sample evidence log P a g e 15 o f 86

17 It is the responsibility of the assessor to determine what and how much evidence is required to make the assessment judgement. The assessment must be valid, reliable, flexible and fair. Many organisations are embedding this assessment of competence and evidence into existing systems and infrastructures (for example): Regular review and discussion within supervision. Reflective logs after training events to use as a running record. Embedding into induction processes / probation assessments. Embedding into annual appraisals / Personal Development reviews (PDR s) Using an annual sign off form to confirm competency templates available via the LSCB. This use of existing systems, allows organisations to use allocated time effectively, and discussions around competencies can support the organisation in undertaking inductions, probations / appraisals and looking at continuing professional development. Understanding the role of evidence Evidence is the information gathered which, when matched against the requirements of the competency, provides proof of competence. Evidence can take many forms and be gathered from a number of sources. Types of evidence Direct Indirect Supplementary / third party Direct observation Questions / discussions Demonstration of skills Participation in team meeting safeguarding discussions Assessment of quality of a final product Review of previous work undertaken. Written tests that demonstrate underpinning knowledge. Testimonials from others Reports from supervisors Work diary Log book Records Examples of reports / work documents. Formal training sessions, whether classroom based or e-learning, can provide the underpinning knowledge to inform practice and support competence being met. However, they do not provide evidence of competence, unless there is some formal testing. P a g e 16 o f 86

18 Individuals should be deemed competent when they can relate theory to practice, in their everyday practice. Rules of evidence collection: Any evidence collected must demonstrate the 4 rules of evidence listed below. Relevant: Relates to the appropriate competency / competency group. Current: Recent enough to show that skills / knowledge can still be applied to a current work situation. Authentic: Is the individuals own work. Sufficient: Provides enough to make a judgement about an individual s competence. Holistic Assessment Holistic assessment is the process of assessing across the competencies, rather than each competency in isolation. For example, an observation of an individual working directly with a service user may demonstrate some of the required competencies of the competency group. While the process of holistic assessment is encouraged, assessors must be confident that an individual is demonstrating competence against the full unit(s) of competency. Assessment Decisions The evidence of competency must be reviewed and recorded by the organisation, and all assessment decisions must follow the 4 rules of evidence, detailed above. The LSCB have developed evidence template logs which can be used, however this is not prescriptive as the final recording format. This is to allow organisations to be flexible in their approach, and to use existing processes and systems allowing them to embed this process into existing systems more easily. Many organisations are using an approach of using the evidence log templates (appendix 4) and a running document within supervision and then using the template sign off document as a formal sign off document. These forms are downloadable from the LSCB website. Data Protection All assessment decisions must be recorded in a way that does not provide identifying personal information about service users P a g e 17 o f 86

19 Additional hints on learning, evidence and assessing competence. Below are tips and hints that have been gained from direct application of the framework: Many people may feel overwhelmed when the see the competencies as a big list. A good way to assess competence is to discuss a safeguarding / potential safeguarding scenario with the practitioner. Then after this return to the competencies and look at how many the example has met / potentially met. This works really well and makes the evidence more meaningful than working through the competencies individually. Remember one example may evidence many competencies; you do not need to provide a separate / different piece of evidence for each individual competency! You can cross reference evidence; i.e. if there is evidence in a supervision log or a report (just refer / cross reference) rather than having to re-record, this is more efficient and also will allow you to work in a data protection compliant way. You will have many existing skills as a supervisor which will support you in assessing competency, i.e. performance management skills, reflective supervision skills etc. these are fully transferable and relevant. Use of the framework can identify strengths and areas for development and can be used as a supportive management tool both for the practitioner, the organisation and may also identify learning / practice gaps & strengths in the organisation. Good assessment and recording can be useful evidence for inspections (internal and external). Record relevant learning that happens in team meetings and briefings centrally: if there is a discussion about a new policy and procedure relating to safeguarding and all staff are briefed via and in a meeting record this centrally as evidence of learning. There is lots of evidence from successful situations and also when things have been more challenging; do not be afraid to recognise and draw from both experiences its potentially all useful learning and evidence. Don t forget that we all naturally find it hard to recognise our own strengths and at times will minimise good practice as just doing the job. The time to discuss and explore practice supports the development of the practitioner and recognition of existing practice! P a g e 18 o f 86

20 4. Staff who have Dual/Multiple Role and Responsibilities It is acknowledged that a number of individuals will have a range of roles and responsibilities within their organisation and therefore could fall into a number of different competency groups. One person within an organisation can have a number of different roles which fall into different groups in relation to safeguarding. For example a manager may be the designated person who also delivers the internal in house safeguarding training therefore the job role reflects 3 different competency groups. The Framework supports a pragmatic approach to managing this, and does not expect the individuals to undertake 3 separate activities to meet the competencies. As the Framework is structured where each group is standalone, rather than a building block approach, many of the competencies are repeated in each group. The framework is also non prescriptive about the format recording of evidence, so will allow evidence forms to be adapted to individual need. Identification & Evidencing of Competency Group: For those with dual / multiple roles it is recommended that the main group is identified, as the main group. In addition to this the organisation would identify any extra or additional competencies from the other groups, and add these to their competency requirements. There would be no requirement to repeat and duplicate competency that has been met by another group. The competencies are grouped into themed areas for ease of use. See Appendix 4 for an example of a merged evidence log for dual role of Designated Person and Designated officer / Lead) The LSCB has created a range of templates for recording of evidence and has templates for different combinations. These can be accessed by visiting Example: The Designated and named person for Leicestershire Fire & Rescue has three separate roles within her work, and therefore would meet: Named / designated person (Group 5) Represent their organisation on the Local Safeguarding Children Board (Group 8) Deliver s internal safeguarding learning for their organisation (Group 9) A merged evidence log is created taking the biggest group of competencies (Group 5), and then any different competencies in Group 8 & 9 are added in; for example the competence around strategic planning and organisations procedure (Group 8d & 8e) and competence in safeguarding training delivery (Group 9h 9n) are added to the evidence logs. Again the principles of proportionality and relevance apply to this process. P a g e 19 o f 86

21 5. Values, Golden Threads & Best Practice Guidance in Safeguarding Training. Core Values The Safeguarding Children Learning Competencies are underpinned by two Core Values. 12 All safeguarding learning should: Place the child at the centre and promote the importance of understanding the child s daily life experiences, ascertaining their wishes and feelings, listening to the child and never losing sight of his or her needs Create and support an ethos that values working collaboratively with others (valuing different roles, knowledge and skills), respects diversity (including culture, race, religion and disability), promotes equality and encourages the participation of children and families in the safeguarding processes Golden Threads These Core Values provide a series of Golden Threads, which should be promoted through all formal Safeguarding Learning opportunities, where practicable: 1. Maintaining a child focus in Safeguarding, including supporting the Voice of the Child 13 being recognised and represented. 2. Recognition of factors that create additional vulnerabilities (e.g. disability, age including safeguarding babies, looked after status, socio-economic factors etc.) 3. Diversity and Difference 4. Effective Multi-Agency working 5. Roles and Responsibilities (including use of relevant policy and procedures, including information sharing guidance and including whistleblowing and reporting procedures.) Best Practice Guidance in Safeguarding Training The Learning, Development and Training Strategy requires that learning opportunities be delivered in accordance with the Best Practice Guidance. 14 A Matrix has been developed to assist agencies to undertake discussions with potential training providers and assess their suitability. These standards support the delivery of high quality training events. 12 Working Together The Voice of the Child; learning lessons from serious case reviews. OFSTED April P a g e 20 o f 86

22 The Safeguarding Competency Framework: The learning to support achieving the minimum competencies for each Group is underpinned by the following Core Values: All Safeguarding learning should place the child at the centre and promote the importance of understanding the child s daily life experiences, ascertaining their wishes and feelings, listening to the child and never losing sight of his or her needs. All Safeguarding learning should create and support an ethos that values working collaboratively with others (valuing different roles, knowledge and skills), respects diversity (including culture, race, religion and disability), promotes equality and encourages the participation of children and families in the safeguarding processes, and Should also promote best practice and understanding of roles and responsibilities around safeguarding including whistleblowing and reporting procedures. All formal delivered learning opportunities should adhere to the Best Practice Guidance in Safeguarding Training 15 where possible. The content of the learning opportunities should be proportionate to the individual s roles and responsibilities, in order to provide learning that is meaningful and relevant to the individual P a g e 21 o f 86

23 Competency Group Descriptor Page No. Group 1 Induction to Safeguarding 23 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Group 6 Group 7 Group 8 Group 9 Essential Awareness in Safeguarding Specialist Front Line Practitioners: Staff who may contribute to an Assessment Specialist Front Line Practitioners: Staff who undertake Child Protection Enquiries Specialist Front Line Practitioners: Designated and Named Persons Operational Managers / supervisors Senior Managers Governance Roles : those involved with strategic governance: e.g. Management committee members, school governors, Executive Board members, LSCB Board members, voluntary sector management committee members and owner managers Trainers & facilitators of Safeguarding Children Learning. P a g e 22 o f 86

24 Group 1 (Competencies 1a 1h) Target group: All Staff/Volunteers within the Children s Workforce: Those in regular contact with children and young people and with adults who are parents or carers who may be in a position to identify concerns. Overview: Induction to Safeguarding to ensure a basic awareness of what is meant by safeguarding, and the requirements of the local procedures, and also consideration of personal attitudes and values, and tests confidence in applying this knowledge. Suggested methods as to how competencies can be met: Integrated into induction processes as a minimum Commissioned training event that supports staff to receive required knowledge. Single agency training, however could be achieved via multi-agency opportunities. Combination of activities, elearning, reading of information / fact sheets and face to face discussion. Consideration of delivery with safeguarding Adult s courses for those staff, who work with both adults and children. Examples as to how the above competencies can be achieved/demonstrated: Delivered by Induction processes e.g. CWDC Induction Course* Induction workbook* elearning* Face to face training event Competency assessed through line management supervision. *any learning that is undertaken via elearning work books etc., must be followed up by face to face discussion with manager to test confidence and attitudes and this be recorded. There could be use of text scenarios / case discussions etc. This is also important to ensure that issues around staff care and support are identified and acknowledged, and an opportunity to share concerns or support needs have been offered. P a g e 23 o f 86

25 The learning to support achieving the minimum competencies for each Group is underpinned by the following Core Values: All Safeguarding learning should place the child at the centre and promote the importance of understanding the child s daily life experiences, ascertaining their wishes and feelings, listening to the child and never losing sight of his or her needs. All Safeguarding learning should create and support an ethos that values working collaboratively with others (valuing different roles, knowledge and skills), respects diversity (including culture, race, religion and disability), promotes equality and encourages the participation of children and families in the safeguarding processes, and Should also promote best practice and understanding of roles and responsibilities around safeguarding including whistleblowing and reporting procedures. The content of the learning opportunities should be proportionate to the individual s roles and responsibilities, in order to provide learning that is meaningful and relevant to the individual. All formal delivered learning opportunities should adhere to the Best Practice Guidance in Safeguarding Training 16 where possible. Competencies Staff at all levels, both paid and voluntary from the children s workforce, should be able to demonstrate competence in: a) Identifying the difference between what is meant by safeguarding and child protection as defined by Working Together b) Recognise the types of abuse and recognising some of the signs and indicators for each category of abuse, and also include signs and indicators on Child Sexual Exploitation, risks around the use of technology, and Domestic Abuse. c) Awareness of factors that increase children s vulnerability, for example: disability, age, looked after status etc. d) Ability to maintain a child focus including supporting the Voice of the Child 17 being recognised and represented. e) Responding appropriately to be able to manage disclosures, appropriately supporting the child / young person in line with local guidance, and in line with role and responsibility. f) Awareness and understanding relevant legislation for their role. g) Understanding their role and responsibilities to multi-agency and internal policy and procedures, including how to report concerns of abuse of children or adults using appropriate systems, and how to use the whistleblowing procedures The Voice of the Child; learning lessons from serious case reviews. OFSTED April 2011 P a g e 24 o f 86

26 h) Understanding the potential impact and importance of personal values and attitudes around recognising and responding to abuse and neglect, and tested personal confidence levels in responding to and reporting concerns.* *These Competencies must be achieved through face to face delivery, discussion or learning. The content of learning opportunities should be proportionate to the individual s roles and responsibilities, in order to provide learning that is meaningful and relevant to the individual. Requirements & Responsibilities The employing agency/organisation has the responsibility for: Ensuring staff within this group meet the required competencies. The organisation, delivery and recording of learning undertaken to enable staff to meet these competencies. Ensuring that the learning opportunity supports these competencies being met, reflects the LSCB Core values (as above) and Best Practice Guidance for Learning, Development and Training. In addition to this the employing agency should consider: Opportunities for joint learning about adults safeguarding if appropriate to role, (as long all competencies can be effectively met.) The LSCB has the responsibility for: Monitoring and quality assurance of the training/learning provided to enable staff to have the opportunity to meet these minimum requirements. Refresher: Minimum of one formal learning event every 3 years. Re-test competency every 3 years as a minimum. To include: Refresh knowledge on what harms children and how to respond appropriately. Refresh knowledge on local and national guidance. Highlight any changes in local and national guidance and their implications for practice P a g e 25 o f 86

27 Group 2 (Competencies 2a 2l) Target group: Those who work regularly, or have a period of intense but regular contact with children and young people or with staff who may be in a position to identify concerns and who may be expected to contribute to the assessment of the child s developmental needs or the adult s parenting capacity. Overview: Essential Awareness in Safeguarding to increase awareness and confidence building in respect of identification, responding, recording and reporting processes involved in child protection. Also considering legislation, attitudes & values and blocks & challenges in safeguarding. Suggested methods as to how competencies may be met: Single agency training; however could also be achieved via multi-agency opportunities. The delivery method is the responsibility of the agency, however it may be a combination of elearning* and face-to-face delivery *any learning that is undertaken via elearning work books etc., must be followed up by face to face discussion with manager to test confidence and attitudes and this be recorded. (There will be materials available via the LSCB to support this process test scenarios, fact sheets etc.) This is also important to ensure that issues around staff care and support are identified and acknowledged, and an opportunity to share concerns or support needs have been offered. Large scale organisations/settings (schools, hospitals, Leicestershire Police): The Training Strategy recognises that some large scale organisations have a large number of staff in one organisation with a variety of roles and responsibilities. For these staff (teachers and some nursing/hospital staff) to attend separate training events to meet individual needs, may not be practical or achievable, given the nature of the service they provide. There are recognised benefits to large scale deliveries as they provide opportunities for shared learning and for the learning to be set into the organisational context. These organisations may choose to use single agency training to meet the competency requirements, but ensure there is understanding about interagency working, and that the importance and principles of interagency working are fully considered and understood. Understanding of interagency working and different roles and responsibilities may be achieved via the inclusion of a number of different activities, including case discussion, scenarios, case studies etc., and consideration of some of the blocks and challenges in interagency work, and strategies to manage these. P a g e 26 o f 86

28 The learning to support achieving the minimum competencies for each Group is underpinned by the following Core Values: All Safeguarding learning should place the child at the centre and promote the importance of understanding the child s daily life experiences, ascertaining their wishes and feelings, listening to the child and never losing sight of his or her needs. All Safeguarding learning should create and support an ethos that values working collaboratively with others (valuing different roles, knowledge and skills), respects diversity (including culture, race, religion and disability), promotes equality and encourages the participation of children and families in the safeguarding processes, and Should also promote best practice and understanding of roles and responsibilities around safeguarding including whistleblowing and reporting procedures. All formal delivered learning opportunities should adhere to the Best Practice Guidance in Safeguarding Training 18 where possible. The content of the learning opportunities should be proportionate to the individual s roles and responsibilities, in order to provide learning that is meaningful and relevant to the individual. Competencies Staff at all levels, both paid and voluntary from the children s workforce, who may be in a position to identify concerns about maltreatment, including those arising from an early help offer, should be able to demonstrate competence in: a) Identifying the difference between what is meant by safeguarding and child protection as defined by Working Together b) Recognising types of abuse and recognising some of the signs and indicators for each category of abuse and also include signs and indicators on Child Sexual Exploitation, risks around the use of technology, and Domestic Abuse.* c) Identifying factors that increase children s vulnerability, for example: disability, age, looked after status etc. d) Ability to maintain a child focus including supporting the Voice of the Child 19 being recognised and represented.* e) Responding appropriately and be able to effectively manage disclosures, appropriately supporting the child / young person in line with local guidance, in line with role and responsibility f) Understanding of the potential impact and importance of personal values and attitudes around recognising and responding to abuse and neglect, and tested personal confidence levels in responding to concerns.* The Voice of the Child; learning lessons from serious case reviews. OFSTED April 2011 P a g e 27 o f 86