Safeguarding is about protecting a person's right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect. It is about working together to prevent and stop both the risk and experience of abuse or neglect.
Safeguarding is the action that is taken to promote the welfare of children and protect them from harm.
Child protection is part of the safeguarding process. It focuses on protecting individual children (under 18), identified as suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. This includes child protection procedures which detail how to respond to concerns about a child.
Abuse and neglect come in the following forms:
- Discriminatory abuse
- Domestic violence or abuse
- Financial or material abuse
- Modern slavery
- Neglect or acts of omission
- Organisational or institutional abuse
- Physical abuse
- Psychological or emotional abuse
- Self-neglect
- Sexual abuse
The signs may include changes in behaviour, absence from class or social groups, physical marks or bruising, lack of personal care.
For further information on the types of abuse and spotting the signs please see this document prepared by The Social Care Institute for Excellence: Safeguarding adults: Types and indicators of abuse (scie.org.uk).
Call 999 if there is an immediate risk to life, violence or other emergency.
Contact campus security on 020 8417 6666, where appropriate.
Where there is an urgent concern and out of hours, but not immediate risk, please contact the Local Authority out of hours number on 020 8770 5000.
As soon as you can, fill out safeguarding reporting concern form.
What happens next?
Your concerns will be managed by one of the lead safeguarding officers within 24 hours. Your concerns will be taken seriously and investigated.
If you have filled out the safeguarding reporting concern form following an out of hours and urgent safeguarding concern, a safeguarding lead will follow up any necessary referrals and liaise with internal services to make contact with the person at risk within 24 hours.
The member of the safeguarding team dealing with the concern will refer to Appendix G of the Safeguarding Policy, which outlines Kingston Council's referral process, the contact details for the Access Team including out of hours number and contact details for children's services.
Any necessary referrals or communication to internal and/or external services will be made by the safeguarding team dealing with the incident.
Someone from the safeguarding team will feed back to you following you reporting a concern, where possible.
Concerns should be reported in the first instance to your Local Safeguarding Officer (LoSO) or Deputy LoSO in the Faculty/Professional Services Department (PSD), who will liaise with the relevant Lead Safeguarding Officer and provide you with support, advice and guidance. (For the name and contact details of your LoSO, please see 'Who to contact' on this page.)
You should also complete the safeguarding concern reporting form.
What happens next?
Your concerns will be managed by one of the lead safeguarding officers within 24 hours, is our aim. Your concerns will be taken seriously and investigated.
If you have filled out the safeguarding reporting concern form following an out of hours and urgent safeguarding concern, a safeguarding lead will follow up any necessary referrals and liaise with internal services to make contact with the student within 24 hours.
The member of the SG team dealing with the concern will refer to Appendix G of the Safeguarding Policy, which outlines Kingston Council's referral process, the contact details for the Access Team including out of hours number and contact details for children's services.
Any necessary referrals or communication to internal and/or external services will be made by the safeguarding team dealing with the incident.
Someone from the safeguarding team will feedback to you following you reporting a concern, where possible.
Concerns relating to children and vulnerable adults (including VAWG, bullying and harassment)
* The Lead Safeguarding Officers have overarching responsibilities regarding safeguarding at Kingston University.
Concern relating to prevent/radicalisation
Concerns relating to matters in departments
Each faculty, professional services department and HR, has a Local Safeguarding Officer (LoS) and a Deputy Local Safeguarding Officer (Deputy LoSO). They are the first point of contact for any safeguarding matters within their department, providing timely, relevant support and advice in order to safeguard the student concerned. They form part of a wider Safeguarding network along with the Lead Safeguarding Officers.
If your LoSO or Deputy LoSO is not available, you can contact any other officer in their absence.
Faculty of Business and Social Sciences
Kingston School of Art
Faculty of Health, Science, Social Care and Education
Faculty of Engineering, Computing and the Environment
Access, Participation and Inclusion
Graduate outcomes and Employability Skills
HR
Library and learning services
Recruitment and Admissions
Student Services
Student Wellbeing
