In this article, we will outline the different levels of safeguarding training and provide guidance on the information that they cover, helping you to choose the most appropriate course. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, so ensuring you are completing the correct training for your role is vital.

If you wish to find further information about any of the courses outlined below, you can find all of our Safeguarding training, here.

Who Needs Safeguarding Training?

The term safeguarding is used to define actions taken to protect at risk groups from harm. As someone working closely with groups who have care and support needs, it’s important you understand what safeguarding is and why it’s important. Anybody who works with children and/or adults at risk, no matter how frequently, is required to have knowledge of safeguarding to ensure they are supporting and protecting those in their care. You can learn more about safeguarding in our article: What is Safeguarding?

Schools, charities, hospitals and care homes, along with other organisations, must all be invested in safeguarding and they have a legal responsibility to provide safeguarding training for all staff. 

In the rest of this article, we will take you through the three different levels of safeguarding training and provide guidance on each, to help you decide which is required for your role.

What is Level 1 Safeguarding Training?

Level one safeguarding training is the most basic level and is an introduction to safeguarding, so no prior knowledge is needed to complete this level.

Level one safeguarding training will teach you what safeguarding is and why it is so important, as well as the different types of abuse and neglect, and how to identify that they are occurring. It will also cover how to respond to a disclosure, report your concerns and record information.

Jobs that Require Level 1 Safeguarding Training

Level one training is suitable for workers of all levels, including managers, supervisors, full-time staff, part-time staff and volunteers. 

Examples of people who may take this training include: 

• Teachers, nursery workers, teaching assistants, carers and childminders. 
• Doctors, nurses, paramedics and health workers. 
• Social workers, council staff and immigration workers. 
• Youth workers, activity leaders and volunteers. 
• Sports coaches and teachers. 
• Church leaders, religious leaders and volunteers. 
• NHS staff, such as GPs, nurses and healthcare assistants.
• Carers, both in a residential home or domestic setting.
• Private healthcare workers.
• Taxi drivers and bus drivers.
• Workers who enter people’s homes, such as gas engineers, maintenance workers and cleaners.
• Health and social care professionals, such as paramedics and health visitors.
• Council staff and immigration workers.

This list is not exhaustive and, depending on your duties, you may need a higher level of safeguarding training. If you are unsure, ask your employer. 

Take a look at our range of level one courses including Introduction to Safeguarding Children, Introduction to Safeguarding Adults and Safeguarding Essentials.

What is Level 2 Safeguarding Training?

Level two safeguarding training is often referred to as ‘advanced’. This level of training develops and maintains your safeguarding knowledge, so you should already have some prior knowledge of safeguarding. 

Level two training covers everything in level one but goes into further detail about safeguarding procedures, scenarios and what happens after a referral. It provides you with a thorough understanding of how to protect the children or adults you work with. 

Jobs that Require Level 2 Safeguarding Training

The jobs mentioned as requiring level one safeguarding training may also require a level two qualification. This is likely to be dependent on the job and can vary between employers. 

For example, teachers are expected to have an advanced level of safeguarding training. School staff have a duty of care to children and, being the ones who are likely to spend the most time with them, are likely to encounter the warning signs presented by abused children.

Anyone who engages in regulated activity will likely need level two safeguarding training. 

Example job roles include:

• People that work in hospitals and GP surgeries.
• Workers in nursing homes, care homes and domiciliary care.
• Workers in religious organisations and community groups.

Take a look at our range of level two courses including Advanced Safeguarding Children and Advanced Safeguarding Adults.

What is Level 3 Safeguarding Training?

Level three safeguarding training refers to the training of a Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL). This is someone who is the first point of contact for staff or those with access to the organisation you work for, and is a requirement in schools. DSLs are also responsible for ensuring that everyone in their organisation is following best safeguarding practices. 

Level three courses offer information on the Designated Safeguarding Lead’s specific responsibilities. This may include content, such as working with other organisations and sensitively sharing the information in accordance with data protection laws. 

The course is suitable for anyone wishing to understand the responsibilities of the Designated Safeguarding Lead, including those already in this position seeking further training and support, deputies and those assisting whoever holds the position, as well as those taking on a safeguarding lead for their organisation.

This level of training will include when and how to make safeguarding referrals, and how to work with other agencies to ensure all adults and children in your care receive the correct safeguarding support. 

Jobs that Require Level 3 Safeguarding Training

Level three safeguarding training is designed for anyone who is in a position of responsibility in an organisation where adults at risk and/or children are present. 

This includes, but is not limited to, managers, supervisors, and Designated Safeguarding Leads in: 

• Care homes and residential settings.
• Social housing settings.
• Charities.
• Social and religious group setting.
• Adult education establishments.
• Sports clubs and leisure centres. 
• Health and social care environments.

Take a look at our range of Level 3 courses including Designated Safeguarding Lead and Level 3 Safeguarding Adults Training.

If you are still uncertain as to what level of training you require, you should ask your employer for clarification. You must have an up to date knowledge of child and vulnerable adult safeguarding practices. As a result, it is recommended that you recomplete training every three years. Some training suppliers will offer refresher courses that are specifically tailored for this requirement.

If you work with children or adults in need, it is essential that you receive the correct level of training required for your role. Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and crucial to keep people safe. If you have any further questions or wish to find out more information on the topics covered in this article, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at High Speed Training!

Further Resources:

• Safeguarding Training Courses
• What is Safeguarding Training & Why is it so Important?
• Safeguarding Children Legislation: Guidance for School
• Safeguarding Adults Quiz
• Safeguarding Flowchart: Procedure for Reporting Concerns

The post Safeguarding Training Levels Explained: What’s the Difference? appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

In this article, we will outline the purpose of a food allergy policy and the information that it should include. We will also provide you with a downloadable food allergen policy template for you to use when writing your own food allergen policy. 

What is a Food Allergen Policy?

Food allergen policies demonstrate an organisation’s commitment to reducing the risk to staff, visitors and customers concerning food provision and production which could cause allergic reactions. Not only do food allergen policies demonstrate that you are conscientious and care about your customers, visitors and staff, but they also show your dedication to preventing allergic reactions wherever possible.  

Any business that produces, manufactures, distributes, sells and/or handles food needs an allergen policy. This will provide you and your staff with information on how to handle, store, prepare and serve allergenic food products safely. 

Those responsible for creating food allergen policies are senior leaders in the business. For example, the business owner, the head chef or the manager. This should be done in collaboration to ensure it meets the correct criteria and then should be communicated with everyone in the business. 

Food Allergens Report 2024

In our Food Allergens Report 2024, we have investigated the current state of allergy safety in UK eateries. Eager to uncover the truth? Read the report here.

Why is an Allergen Policy Important for the Food Industry?

Food allergen policies show staff, customers and food safety officers that you take the control of food allergens seriously. It also demonstrates that you have considered the hazards and have implemented control measures to prevent people from coming to harm. 

Having a food allergen policy is important to ensure you are complying with regulations. Not only does it benefit the customers at your business, but it also benefits your staff. 

Staff must be trained on allergens so they can do their job, the food allergen policy can be used to guide staff to giving customers the right information. As a customer, it is reassuring to know that you’re eating in a place where staff know exactly what is in each dish and have the paperwork that outlines the steps the business takes to create allergen safe dishes. 

Want to Learn More?

Our Food Allergen Awareness Training will teach you how to comply with UK allergen awareness regulations and increase your understanding of common food allergens. You can also read more about Food Allergen Risk Assessments and Near Miss Reporting in our articles.

A lack of understanding around food allergens and food hyper-sensitivity can have fatal consequences, therefore it is essential that you do all that you can to prevent allergy incidents. 
Unfortunately, not all businesses have the necessary safety precautions and controls in place which has had fatal consequences. These devastating cases of fatal food allergen incidents have led to advancements in regulations, such as with Natasha’s Law. Other campaigns, such as Owen’s Law, seek to further improve the way businesses communicate allergens with their customers.

Owen’s Law

The tragic case of Owen Carey highlights the consequences of providing inaccurate information to those with food hypersensitivities. Owen was 18 years old when he suffered a fatal anaphylactic reaction.

Owen, who was allergic to multiple foods, including dairy, had ordered a chicken burger at a Byron restaurant in London. He was informed by the waiter that the dish was dairy free, but the chicken was marinated in buttermilk.

Shortly after leaving the restaurant, Owen began to suffer from symptoms of anaphylaxis which became increasingly worse before he collapsed and died. An inquest into his death discovered that the allergenic ingredient, buttermilk, was not clearly declared on the restaurant’s menu or by the server with whom Owen communicated.

Since Owen’s tragic death, his family have fought to change the law so that restaurants must state the allergens in their products clearly on the menu. This change could save lives.

The FSA (Food Standards Agency) agreed at their board meeting on 13th December 2023 that written allergen information should be compulsory in food businesses like coffee shops and restaurants. This is an important step in allergen awareness and board members will now write to the Government calling for change, backing the Owen’s Law argument.

What Should my Business Include in the Food Allergen Policy?

The food allergen policy is a tool your business can use to ensure safe procedures in handling allergens, it will help train your staff on the correct procedures to follow giving them information and it can also be used to demonstrate to customers the steps the business takes to reduce the risk of allergenic contamination. Therefore your food allergen policy should be detailed and thorough, and include what you need it to for your own business.

 As a guide, the policy should lay out the following:

• The purpose of the policy: start by outlining what the policy is and the main objectives. 
• The 14 food allergens: the policy should list the 14 food allergens contained within the law. You can find a free poster of the 14 allergens here. 
• Allergy labelling legislation and regulations: explain the relevant regulations and legislation that the policy covers and how the business complies with them.
• The business’ commitment: outline the ways in which your business takes precautions to ensure food allergen safety. 
• Background information: provide an overview of food allergens, food intolerances and who is at risk or affected by food allergies. 
• Responsibilities within the business: outline who is responsible for creating the food allergen policy and other documentation, the responsibility of the staff in the business, the chefs and senior leadership etc. 
• Allergen information: explain how food allergen information is gathered, including training and documentation. 
• Information for customers: describe how information about food allergens is shared with and provided to customers. 
• Procedures: explain the procedures and precautions taken to ensure safety. This should include kitchen procedures, such as storage and preparation of food, service procedures, cleaning procedures etc. 
• Emergency situations: explain what to do in an emergency situation, for example, if a customer has a severe allergic reaction. 
• Inclusivity: describe how the business ensures that those with food allergies and intolerances are catered for in the business. 

Food Allergen Policy Template

Below is an example of a food allergen policy we have created for our fictional company, High Speed Treats. The information provided in the example demonstrates what a policy could look like and what sections it should include. You can use this as a prompt for your own business’ food allergen policy, however, you should make sure you create a policy to suit your business’s specific needs.

We have also attached a blank food allergen policy template below that you can download and edit. Take a look at our example food allergen policy and download your blank template on the buttons below:

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article and have learnt about the importance of food allergen policies. If you have any further questions or wish to find out more information on the topics covered in this article, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at High Speed Training!

Further Resources:

• Food Allergen Awareness Training
• The Importance of Near Miss Reporting in Hospitality
• Food Allergen Risk Assessment & Checklist: Free Templates
• What Should a School Food Allergy Policy Cover?
• Food Allergen Labels: Free Download & Advice

The post Food Allergen Policy: Free Template appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

In this article, we will outline the careers available in the hospitality and catering industry and explain some of the skills that may be required. We will also provide you with some guidance and advice on how to secure a job.

What Jobs are in the Hospitality and Catering Industry?

The hospitality and catering industry is vast and includes businesses such as bars, restaurants, hotels and clubs. There are plenty of job roles to choose from, for example, you could work as front of house staff, in a management role or behind the scenes as a chef or technician. 

Careers in hospitality and catering include:

• Servers – duties include taking food and drink orders, serving customer orders and taking payments. 
• Chefs – responsible for creating and updating menus, preparing food and ordering stock.
• Hosts – this entails taking reservations, greeting customers and seating them.
• Cellar technicians – installing and maintaining drink systems in bars, pubs and restaurants. 
• Food suppliers – duties include taking stock orders and delivering to organisations.
• Cleaners – this involves cleaning businesses, including bars, restaurants and hotels, to a high standard to ensure cleanliness and hygiene. 
• Kitchen assistants – sometimes referred to as a ‘dishwasher’, a kitchen assistant is responsible for helping prepare food and cleaning the kitchen.
• Hospitality critics – this entails assessing hospitality businesses and publishing reviews about them. 
• Inspectors – responsible for ensuring businesses are safe and healthy, and that they meet the necessary requirements. 
• Food factory workers – required to prepare food that will be delivered to hospitality businesses. 
• Porters – this is a common role in hotels, duties include carrying customers baggage to their rooms, valet parking and room service. 
• Event planners – responsible for arranging events to customers wants and needs, this often involves liaising with others in the business such as managers, chefs and servers. 

This list is not exhaustive and the career opportunities within the catering and hospitality sector are endless. Finding the right role for you involves one that suits your needs, skills and abilities, as well as challenging you. 

Management Roles

There is also the opportunity to further your career in hospitality and catering by entering a management position. This can involve supervising staff, making shift rotas, schedules and being responsible for day-to-day running of the business. There are clear routes of progression too; for example, if you start as a server, you could step up to be a bar or restaurant manager. If you start as a kitchen assistant, you could become a chef then a sous chef, or a head chef. 

Benefits of Working in Hospitality

As with any role, in any sector, there are positives and negatives associated with working in the hospitality industry. It is helpful to be aware of them so that you can make an informed decision about whether it will fit with your wants and needs, and if it is the right sector for you. 

Some of the benefits of working in the hospitality and catering sector include:

Building on your skills 

Depending on the role you undertake, you will develop extensive skills. This includes, and is not limited to, teamwork skills, excellent communication skills, cash handling skills, time management skills and organisational skills.

Flexibility of hours 

Most hospitality and catering jobs will come with a range of hours, in comparison with a 9-5 job. You could work the morning shift, day shift or evening shift depending on the business you work in. 

Variety of roles

There are many different roles available in the hospitality industry, meaning you can change your job to suit your needs. Also, the skills you develop in one role will often provide you with transferable skills that will help you secure a different role within the industry. 

Opportunity for advancing 

Career progression in the hospitality industry means you can gain more responsibility as you go. Starting at an entry level position, such as waiter or dishwasher, you can build on your knowledge and skills to become a chef, supervisor, manager or even to start your own hospitality business. 

As with any job, there are some challenges and potential negatives. Despite having flexible hours compared to a normal 9-5 job, many hospitality businesses will be open late and open on weekends, meaning you could be working unsociable hours. It is also a high-pressure environment that is very fast paced, so a level of resilience and being able to cope under pressure is required. 

Looking to Learn More?

Our Food Hygiene courses and Food Allergen training course will help you to build your knowledge and skills on important topics in the hospitality industry.

How to Get into the Hospitality Industry

Careers in hospitality can be highly rewarding and even if you don’t have experience in the sector, you can still pursue a role. There are a few ways you can get into the industry and steps you can take to increase your chances of getting a job.

Before applying for a job, it is helpful to figure out what sort of role you are best suited to. Would you like to work in a hotel? Or would you prefer shifts in a restaurant? Knowing which business you would prefer to work in will help you identify a role you would like. Do you enjoy preparing food? Or are you more of a people person that would like to interact with customers? Identifying the role you would like to be in can help you know what steps you can take to stand out from others when applying for a job.

Upskilling yourself through online courses, classes and volunteering can help you develop desirable skills that employers will be looking for, too. For example, building on your knowledge of food hygiene, customer service skills or leadership and management can make you stand out from others that may be applying for the same role.

Tailoring your CV and cover letter to the role you want will also help you secure a position. Highlighting the skills and experience that you have which are relevant to the role you are applying for will increase your chances of being selected. Customer service, time management and communication skills are all important for jobs in the hospitality industry. Read the job specification and identify the desirable skills they are looking for, this will help you know what to include in your CV. This may mean altering your CV and cover letter for each job that you apply for. 

It is also important to thoroughly prepare for your interview. Take a look at our articles on the questions you may be asked when interviewing to be waiting staff, a bartender or a chef for more guidance. 

If you don’t get offered your dream job straight away, accepting a position in the industry will still help you gain experience while you continue to search for your perfect role. To get started, take a look at the current job advertisements in your local area. 

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article and have learnt about the variety of rewarding jobs available in the hospitality and catering industry. If you have any further questions or wish to find out more information on the topics covered in this article, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at High Speed Training!

Further Resources:

• Food Hygiene Courses
• What is the Importance of Effective Communication in the Hospitality Industry?
• What Skills Do You Need To Be a Chef?
• Top 8 Skills for a Successful Career in Hospitality
• Is There a Difference Between a Chef and a Cook?

The post Careers in Hospitality and Catering appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

In this article, we will provide an overview of the SEND Review and what it set out to achieve, as well as outlining what the SEND and AP Improvement Plan includes and how this might affect your practice. 

What are SEND and AP?

Before we continue, it is useful to clarify the key terms used:

Statutory guidance defines a child with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) as someone who:

• Has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
• Has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.

The SEND Code of Practice lays out four broad areas of need: communication and interaction; cognition and learning; social, emotional and mental health difficulties and sensory and/or physical needs. It is likely that a child may experience challenges across more than one area of need and SEND provision should always be based on the individual needs of the child.

The majority of children with SEND attend mainstream provision, whilst a smaller percentage may have their needs best met in a special school.

Alternative Provision (AP) refers to education provided by the local authority for children who cannot, for some reason, attend a mainstream setting (and do not attend a special school). This is sometimes full-time and sometimes provided on a part-time basis alongside some attendance at the mainstream setting. For example, some schools have a specialist resourced provision attached, usually focussing on a particular area of need, such as speech, language and communication or autism. Children who meet the criteria will spend a portion of their time receiving education in the unit, but joining their peers in the mainstream setting for certain learning activities. 

AP can also often be provided on a temporary basis – with a view to returning to the mainstream setting full time.

Children may need to access alternative provision for a range of reasons – these could relate to health needs (for example, where a child is recovering from serious illness) or due to exclusions from the mainstream school due to social, emotional and mental health needs impacting their behaviour.

Alternative provision includes, but is not limited to:

• Pupil Referral Units (PRUs).
• Specialist Resourced Provision (SRP).
• Hospital schools.
• Vocational providers.
• Therapeutic settings.
• Outdoor learning centres.

Overview of the SEND Green Paper

The SEND Review was a green paper that set out the proposals for the future of the SEND and AP systems.

It was commissioned to improve an inconsistent, bureaucratic and complicated system which often means delays in children and young people accessing the right support for their needs. 

The main proposals that the SEND Review initially set out to achieve include:

• Creating a single national SEND and AP system aiming for greater consistency of support and provision for children with SEND. 

• Excellent provision from early years to adulthood to ensure children and young people with SEND are prepared to thrive in employment and/or higher education. 
• Alternative Provision to support children whose behaviour and other needs present a barrier to learning. 
• System roles, accountabilities and funding reform to ensure clarity and effective collaboration. 
• Delivering change so children can thrive and families are able to navigate the system. 

After a 16-week public consultation, the government began work on the SEND and AP improvement plan. 

What is the SEND and AP Improvement Plan?

The SEND and AP Improvement Plan states its mission as:

• Fulfilling childrens’ potential through them enjoying their childhood, achieving good outcomes and being well prepared for adulthood and employment.
• Building parents’ trust, helping them navigate the system easily and making them feel confident that their children will get the right support, in the right place and at the right time. 
• Providing financial stability for local authorities while using the budget to meet children and young peoples’ needs. 

New national standards aim to aid early identification of children and young peoples’ needs and clearly show the types of support necessary so families can be more responsive. In turn, the hope is that fewer children will need to access support through an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). For parents of children that still require an EHCP, a clear and simple system will replace the old one to ease decision making and access to the support needed. 

The government also states that they are committed to delivering an alternative provision that is fully integrated in the wider SEND system as it plays a vital role in supporting children and young people to remain in mainstream education. This refers to all settings that provide alternative provision, including but not limited to, schools maintained by the Local Authority, academies, free schools and pupil referral units (PRUs). The alternative provision works by offering early and targeted support, as well as transitional places in alternative provision schools for pupils that need more intensive support. 

The issues with funding have also been acknowledged with the government explaining that £400 million will be allocated to local authorities in 2023-24 to help with the increasing costs of supporting individuals with SEND. In addition, the systematic changes are hoped to ensure a more sustainable and effective system for the future. 

The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan states the following key aims:

The National System Will be Underpinned by National Standards

The government have stated that to meet this aim they will:

• Include perspectives from education, health and care when developing the National Standards.
• Start testing elements of the national standards by the end of 2023 to identify any needed reforms. 
• By the end of 2025, publish the National Standards that are most deliverable in the current system. 
• Introduce local SEND and alternative provision partnerships to plan support for children and young people with SEND who are in alternative provision. 
• Create local inclusion plans to outline the needs of children and young people that will be met in line with National Standards. 
• Use the Change Programme to develop and share best practice of partnerships and plans, starting with the Regional Expert Partnership areas from spring 2023. 
• Invest £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025 to fund new places and improve existing provision for children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision. 
• Use the £30 million in funding to develop approaches for short breaks for children, young people and their families. 
• Review social care legislation relating to SEND children so families are clear around the support they are legally entitled to. 
• Deliver a standard EHCP template, with supporting processes and guidance from 2025. Including developing digital requirements. 
• Require local authorities to improve the information available to families, including providing a list of suitable settings informed by the local inclusion plan. 
• Create a three-tier alternative provision system, focusing on targeted early support within mainstream school, time-limited intensive placements in an alternative provision setting and longer-term placements to support return to mainstream or a sustainable post-16 destination. 

Ensuring a Smooth Transition

To meet this aim, the government will:

• Publish guidance to support transitions between all stages of education, and into employment and adult services. 
• Conduct a trial to consider the evidence required to access flexibilities to standard English and mathematics requirements for apprenticeships.
• Invest £18 million between 2022 and 2025 to double the capacity of the Supported Internships Programme. 
• Continue to support the Department for Work and Pensions’ Adjustments Passport to smooth the transition into employment. 
• Improve the Disabled Students’ Allowance process by continuing to work with the Student Loans Company to reduce the time for support to be agreed. 

Ensuring a Skilled Workforce and Excellent Leadership

The government have explained that in order to meet this aim they will:

• Introduce a new leadership level SENCo (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator) NPQ (National Professional Qualification) for schools. 
• Review the Initial Teacher Training and Early Career Frameworks. . 
• Provide funding for up to 5,000 early years staff to gain an accredited Level 3 early years SENCo qualification to support the early years sector, with training running until August 2024. 
• Invest £21 million to increase the capacity of specialists, including training two more cohorts of educational psychologists in the academic years 2024 and 2025. 
• Run Early Language and Support For Every Child (ELSEC) pathfinders to improve access to speech and language therapy for those who need it.
• Work together for a joint Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care approach to SEND workforce planning, including establishing a steering group in 2023 to oversee this work, which should be complete by 2025. 
• Publish the first three practice guides for frontline professionals, including the Nuffield Early Language Intervention, the work of the Autism Education Trust and the government’s guidance on promoting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.
• Propose new guidance on delivering a SEND casework service to families when consulting on the SEND Code of Practice.
• Develop a longer-term approach for teaching assistants to ensure their impact is consistent across the system, starting with a research project to develop the evidence base on current school approaches, demand and best practice. 
• Strongly encourage the adoption of the DSCO (Designated Social Care Officer) role in each local area, including by proposing an amendment to the SEND Code of Practice. 
• Extend funding until March 2025 of the AP specialist taskforce (APST) trial programme, which is testing co-location of a diverse specialist workforce in pilot alternative provision schools. 

Strengthened Accountabilities and Clear Routes of Redress

In order to meet this aim, the government will: 

• Publish a local and national inclusion dashboard from autumn 2023 to support the development of local inclusion plans, giving parents improved transparency of local performance, informing decision-making and driving self-improvement with ongoing updates and iterations. 
• Deliver updated Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) Area SEND inspections from 2023 with a focus on the outcomes and experience of children and young people with SEND and in alternative provision.
• Create a ladder of intervention for local areas from 2023, greater powers for the Secretary of State for Health through the Health and Care Act 2022 and action for all where statutory duties for children and young people with SEND and in alternative provision are not met, to strengthen accountabilities across all parts of the system.
• Require every Integrated Care Board to have a named Executive Board member lead accountable for SEND. 
• Facilitate a more joined-up response between the Department for Education and NHS England to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND, including social, emotional and mental health issues, and tackle systemic failings leading to significant concerns. 
• Strengthen redress for individual disagreements by clarifying who is responsible for resolving complaints, undertaking further investigation and testing of effective mediation approaches. 
• Set up an expert group to support the development of a bespoke national alternative provision performance framework. 
• Work with local authorities, trusts and school leaders to review processes and develop options for ensuring transparent and effective movement of pupils without EHCPs, such as those requiring alternative provision, to address behavioural needs. 

A Financially Sustainable System Delivering Improved Outcomes

To meet this aim, the government will: 

• Increase core school funding by £3.5 billion in 2023-24 compared to the year before, of which almost £1 billion of that increase will go towards high needs. 
• Support local authorities through the Delivering Better Value and the Safety Valve programmes and share the best practice from local areas with inclusive and sustainable high needs provision. 
• Develop a system of funding bands and tariffs so that consistent National Standards are backed by consistent funding across the country. 
• Publish a response to the consultation on the schools’ National Funding Formula in 2023 which includes proposals on funding for SEND, including the notional SEND budget, and a mechanism for transferring funding to high needs budgets. 
• Develop new approaches to funding alternative provision aligned to their focus on preventative work with, and reintegration of pupils into, mainstream schools. This will be done in consultation with mainstream schools, the alternative provision sector and local authorities. 
• Re-examine the state’s relationship with independent special schools to ensure comparable expectations for all state-funded specialist providers are set.

Responding to the SEND and AP Improvement Plan

The SEND and AP improvement plan aims to improve outcomes for children and young people, improve experiences for families and deliver financial stability. However, there are no immediate changes and it is likely to be a few years before the plans that have been set out will come into effect. Additionally, there may be a new government in place after the next general election which could also impact the roll out of the plan. 

Making sure your own level of knowledge and confidence, with regards to supporting children with SEND, is high can help equip you for the future changes. Essentially, your day-to-day practice will still continue to be grounded in providing effective, personalised support that meets the needs and aspirations of the individual children you work with – as laid out in the SEND Code of Practice.

With regards to what can be expected, parents should expect clear information on what support their child can get, where they can turn for help and how to make use of support. The plan aims to remove the current situation where there are inconsistencies in support, depending on where you live in the country. All children and young people with SEND should expect access to the right support to thrive and reach their full potential. Finally, providers should expect further clarity on the support they should be providing and clear explanations of who they should be working with to ensure this. 

The SEND and AP improvement plan aims to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND and to rebuild families’ confidence in the system. The government has outlined their plans to deliver their aims with changes expected to come into place over the next few years. 

Further Resources:

• Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in the Classroom Course
• Supporting Pupils with SEN in the Classroom: Guidance for Teachers
• 5 Ways to Maximise Pupil Voice
• SEND Review: Summary of the Green Paper 2022
• What is the Local Offer?

The post Summary of the SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

Choosing to homeschool is not a decision to be made lightly. Permanent homeschooling may not be what you expect and the education provided for children that are homeschooled must be efficient, full-time and suitable. To help you make an informed decision, we will look at the debate around homeschooling, thinking about the potential positive and negative effects, and how to tell if it is right for your child.

What Does Homeschooling Mean?

Legally, every child in the UK needs to have an education. However, they don’t have to attend school to get this education; they could also be educated somewhere else, such as at home.

‘Homeschooling’ is also known as ‘home educating’ or ‘elective home education’ (EHE). Some people distinguish between EHE and homeschooling, defining EHE as permanent home education, and homeschooling as temporary with continued support from their previous school (like the situation during the COVID-19 pandemic). However, the UK government uses the terms interchangeably to mean permanent home education, and this article will follow their lead.

Parents that decide to homeschool their children must ensure that the education provided is efficient, full-time and suitable for the child’s needs. However, the education provided does not have to follow the National Curriculum. 

Being homeschooled means that the child’s parents or carers have to take sole responsibility for their child’s education. This doesn’t mean that you have to teach your child yourself – for example, you could hire tutors, or use online tuition – but rather if their education is found to be inadequate, you are accountable for this. The Local Authority monitors the quality of education being provided at home, including annual assessments and visits to your home. They have the power to issue a School Attendance Order or an Education Supervision Order, if necessary.

You are also responsible for covering the costs of the education, including public exam fees. Schools and Local Authorities are not required to give homeschooling parents any support, even special educational needs support. Additionally, when you withdraw your child from their school roll, their place will not stay open. If homeschooling doesn’t work, you may not be able to send your child back to the same establishment.

Flexi-Schooling

There is sometimes the option for a child to do flexi-schooling. This is where you arrange for your child to receive part of their education at a school, college or other education provider, so that they can take subjects that are difficult to teach from home. Schools and education providers don’t have to agree to doing this, but some are happy to do so; you might find a list of these particular establishments on your Local Authority’s website.

Why Do People Choose to Homeschool?

The most common reasons for parents and carers choosing to homeschool a child are:

• The child’s health issues, particularly mental health issues – for example, anxiety, school phobia, separation anxiety or depression. 
• Special educational needs and/or disabilities not being met within the school system – for example, dyslexia, autism or gifted and talented needs. 
• The child being bullied.
• The child’s unwillingness or inability to go to school.
• As a short-term intervention for a particular reason.
• The parent’s ideological or philosophical views – for example, they might support the concept of ‘unlearning’.
• Dissatisfaction with the school system – for example, disliking the National Curriculum, believing that children start school too early or that the school system does not suit their child.
• Distance to a local school.

Some parents also choose to homeschool as a way of avoiding their child being excluded. However, this is often more harmful than helpful, and the government advises against it.

What are the Advantages of Homeschooling?

There are a number of benefits that homeschooling has for children and their parents, including:

Individualised Learning

One key benefit is the fact that, if you homeschool, you can personalise the education that your child receives according to their interests, needs and ability. This might include spending more time outside doing physical exercise or letting them learn more about a subject that has piqued their interest. When education is personalised, children are more engaged.

Additionally, subjects that they are less confident with can take up more of the day, when necessary. In schools, whilst teachers are required to adapt their practice to meet the needs of each pupil, they have to balance the needs of the whole class. Teaching one-to-one gives the child much more attention, and leads to less wasted time. In fact, some parents report getting a day’s worth of learning completed in two hours.

The efficiency of homeschooling – and the fact that you don’t have to follow the National Curriculum or the typical timings of a school day – leaves you with time to spend broadening your child’s learning. You can make more time for play, projects, experiments and the arts. Real-life skill building – including cooking, cleaning, volunteering and learning to budget – could form a part of your school day. You could also choose to learn in different places, like museums, parks and science centres.

Achievement Without Stress

Even if you are following the curriculum – which you will need to do if you intend to enter your child in GCSE or A-Level exams – you don’t purely need to teach to the tests. Your child won’t have continuous mock exams and assessments. They will have time to learn things that they want to learn on top of what they have to learn. As a result, they could be less stressed, and less likely to experience burnout.

A lack of stress could be the reason behind the success that homeschooled children seem to achieve. Research from the National Home Education Research Institute found that, on average, children that are homeschooled scored 30% higher than public school students on their public exams. 

Children who are homeschooled often have much more well-developed CVs than other children’s, due to the extra time available to them. Although some universities and employers might not understand homeschooling, many (including Oxford and Cambridge) are happy to accept homeschooled children, as long as they meet their grade requirements.

Flexibility for Your Whole Family

Being able to homeschool from anywhere, at any time, means that you could move as much as you wanted (or needed) to. For this reason, it often suits Armed Forces families, or those that need to travel.

You can schedule schooling around work shifts and appointments and go on holiday out of peak seasons. If your child or someone in your family is ill, homeschooling gives them a way to spend more time together.

There’s also the advantage of no school run – you and your children are able to get up at the time that suits you. This is a particular advantage for teenagers, since their biological clocks shift during this period of life.

Social Development

If you homeschool, your children have the ability to socially develop in a different way. For example, you might have close family relationships with strong shared values. Rather than feeling the pressure to change to fit in, they can be themselves – whatever that might look like.

Moreover, your child can be involved in the local community, and meet people of all ages and backgrounds to develop their social skills. You might join local homeschooling groups, where you can socialise with families in the same situation. Parents sometimes share their skills within these groups so that the children are taught most effectively. Your child could also join local activities, such as Scouts, sports clubs or volunteer at community events.

Continuing Education for Parents

Homeschooling is not just about your child’s education – it also helps your own. By teaching your child, you might learn things that you never knew before, whether that is a foreign language, algebra or history. You can share your interests and areas of skill with your child in a meaningful way, too. You might choose to go on trips that you both enjoy, or work together on a project, this leads to personal growth and fulfilment.

In the next section, we will explain some of the challenges that you may be faced with if you are homeschooling.

What are the Challenges of Homeschooling?

In order for you to make a balanced decision, the challenges of homeschooling need to be taken into account alongside the benefits.

Commitment

By homeschooling, you are making it your responsibility to meet all your child’s educational needs. You have to be able to deliver the depth and breadth of learning that they require in order to meet their potential. This takes time and energy, even if you’re hiring tutors for some lessons; you will still need to ensure that they’re teaching effectively, and that they are suitable to have access to children. Homeschooling also involves preparing the child for any exams that they will sit and taking them to external examination centres to sit them. 

In effect, you are adding two more jobs to your role as parent: you are also becoming a teacher and an administrator. As well as doing everything you do already, you have to plan and implement lessons, organise trips, coordinate activities with other parents and make sure that you meet the Local Authority’s requirements. You will be spending a lot of time with your child – perhaps the whole day, every day – and you might not be able to do things that you normally do whilst they are at school. This can lead to stress and fatigue on your part.

Additionally, there is not much help available for homeschooling parents. Some Local Authorities operate support groups or forums, or are willing to give advice, but this is discretionary. There are plenty of internet resources but, unfortunately, the quantity of information does not guarantee quality, and they may not be as helpful as you hoped.

Cost

The greatest cost of homeschooling is that you will have to give up your full-time job in order to do so. This has implications for your lifestyle – you will need to be able to budget more than you already do. Your energy bill will also likely increase, because of spending so much more time at home.

Aside from this, you will have to buy textbooks, stationery and a computer. If your child participates in sports activities, or if you go on educational visits, you will likely have to pay for these things too. Exams are a particularly notable expense: rather than the school paying for your child to enter them, you will be responsible for doing so. Each GCSE costs around £36 or more if you’re paying the exam board directly, and each A-Level is at least £50 (or much more, if they choose an unusual subject). You also have to pay the exam centre for letting your child sit the exam there – this costs around £40 per exam, but could be as much as £100, depending on the centre.

Some Local Authorities might provide financial assistance to home-educating families, but this is discretionary. You cannot rely on any outside source of help being provided to you.

Loss of Experiences

Although we acknowledge in the ‘advantages’ section that homeschooled children do still develop socially, they naturally lose some interaction by spending more time at home. They may be out of touch with their peers, have fewer friends and have less experience interacting with people from different backgrounds. Their view of the world could be very narrow and biassed. In the worst cases, they could be brought up to be intolerant and misinformed, with little knowledge of general societal values. This could disadvantage them in the future.

There are also other experiences that homeschooled children miss out on. Schools offer work experience opportunities, the ability to participate in sports leagues and opportunities for recognition and reward (for example, during assemblies). Those who are taught at home do not experience these things, and might feel as though they have missed out.

School-Home Imbalance

A natural disadvantage of homeschooling is that you cannot truly separate home from school. Attempting to maintain structure and balance requires intense self-discipline, focus and planning. It is extremely easy for everyday distractions to get in the way of schoolwork. You might also get into an unhealthy, ineffective routine. As a result, you might not fulfil your duty of providing a good education for your child. You will need to think of strategies to prevent this: for example, you could do schoolwork in a purpose-made room. You could also have regular ‘school’ hours and rules against interruptions. However, you can’t always stop distractions from occurring, and these strategies might not work, depending on your home environment.

Further Education Difficulties

Homeschooled children may well have the ability to get into university, but the application process can be hindered by parents’ lack of knowledge about it. School staff know how to fill in the forms, and have the ability to give you references for UCAS. Parents, on the other hand, are often inexperienced and unsure who to turn to for support. Specialist admissions tutors could be hired to help, but this means further costs for you.

Additionally, homeschooling might be straightforward during the early years, but at A-Level, parents sometimes struggle providing the support and resources that students need to achieve high grades. Subjects that require practical assessments might be particularly tricky to plan for – especially if you have little to no knowledge of the subject that your child is taking. In fact, homeschooling might limit your child’s choice of A-Levels, and thus impact their future career. This is because many courses are not developed with homeschooled children in mind.

Stretched Capacity of Local Authorities

Local Authorities are obliged to check on everyone who is homeschooling. The inspections and assessments might be a stressful experience for you, but they are also a struggle for the authorities themselves: the increase in the number of children being home-educated has severely stretched their capacity to maintain contact with them. This has led to less available support for parents and carers, and less ability for children to be safeguarded – any potential harm to a child might be missed without the presence of trained school staff to pick up on warning signs. 

If a child is taken out of school for homeschooling, the school is obliged to tell the local council. However, parents are not obliged to tell the Local Authority. Due to the soaring number of children being homeschooled, local authorities now struggle to attend the home of, and keep track of, all homeschooled children.

Is Homeschooling Right for My Child?

Considering whether homeschooling is right for your child or not is difficult. You need to think about:

• Why you want to educate them at home. Is it because doing so would be in their best interests?
• What your child thinks about the idea. They should be agreeable to it, because they are the person that it will impact most.
• If you have the time, resources and ability to teach your child properly. Think honestly about this.
• If your home is suitable in terms of noise, space and the general environment. Do you have the right set-up to sit comfortably – with no distractions – and work for hours?
• What support you, as a parent, have from others. There will be times when homeschooling will be difficult and you need some sort of help. Is there anywhere that you could guarantee this support from?
• What would happen if you couldn’t teach your child for a period of time (for example, if you were ill). Before you start, you need a back-up plan. If you were ill for a long period of time, you couldn’t just stop all lessons – this would mean that your child would be illegally out of education. Who would replace you as a teacher if anything happened?
• Whether you can provide the social, physical and cultural experiences to help your child develop. You need to think outside the box, and actively take your child out into the community. These opportunities won’t just come to you if you homeschool – you have to make it happen.
• Your long-term intentions for your child’s education. Will they be home-schooled forever or only for a few years? Thinking about these things could influence what you teach your child, so that they are prepared for the future.

You should also consider the advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling that we have outlined in this article, and weigh up which is greater for your child. Homeschooling can be a great decision for some, but disadvantage others – it all depends on the case, and only you know whether it will work for your family.

If you decide that it is right for you, you will need to take a number of steps to start homeschooling, such as removing your child from the school roll. You can find a list of everything you will need to do in our article ‘How to Begin Homeschooling: Guidance & Requirements’.

Choosing to homeschool your child is a big decision, and you should be aware of the reasons for and against doing so before you take action. Research has shown that being homeschooled does not impact a child’s social, emotional and psychological development, or their achievement levels – in fact, they often achieve more – but it is a huge, expensive commitment to make. Homeschooling is not right for every family, but if you have the time, money, effort, and home set-up to make it work, your family might thrive in this environment.

Further Resources:

• Safeguarding Children Courses
• Why is Reading so Important for Children?
• The Importance of Routine for Children: Free Weekly Planner
• How to Begin Homeschooling: Guidance and Requirements

The post The Homeschooling Debate: Advantages & Disadvantages appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

In this article, we will explain what is meant by the term LAC and the relevant legislation and guidance. We will also outline the role of the designated teacher in supporting LAC as well as discussing the additional safeguarding risks that they should be aware of.

What is a Looked After Child?

The term ‘looked after child’ refers to any child up to the age of 18 that has been in the care of their Local Authority for more than 24 hours. This includes children in the care system, such as those living in a children’s home, those in foster care and those living away from their parents. This can happen with agreement from the child’s parents or by court order. 

The definition of a LAC under the Children Act 1989 is, any child that is provided accommodation by the Local Authority for more than 24 hours and/or is subject to a care order or a placement order from court.

Children enter the Local Authority’s care to ensure their safety and protection. There are many reasons why a child may need to be protected. For example, their parents or carers may be ill, have substance misuse issues, be maltreating them, unable to cope financially or the child may be an unaccompanied asylum-seeker. In the United Kingdom (UK), Local Authorities must support children that leave care at the age of 18 until they are at least 21 years old. 

The definition of LAC varies slightly between nations in the UK and follows different legislation, policies and guidance. The main difference between the definition of a LAC in England and Scotland is that in Scotland children under a supervision requirement order are included. This means that some LAC will live at home, but have regular contact from social services.

Legislation and Guidance

There are various pieces of legislation in place to protect LAC. These vary slightly between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Here we will discuss the legislation in place in England, for information on other nations in the UK visit the government website here. 

In England, the legislation and guidance relating to LAC includes:

• The Children and Young Persons Act 2008.
• The Children and Families Act 2014.
• Department of Education (DfE) guidance on care planning, placement and case review. 
• DfE guidance on reducing criminalisation of looked after children and care leavers. 
• DfE guidance on promoting the education of LAC and previously LAC. 
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance for LAC and young people.

The adverse events often experienced early in life by LAC can have a huge impact on their emotional and mental wellbeing. As a result, each child will have their own needs in order to live a fulfilled life. It is important that those with safeguarding responsibilities understand the additional duties they have for LAC to keep them safe, while meeting their specific needs.

Safeguarding Looked After Children

LAC are often at greater risk than other children their age, therefore require additional safeguards to keep them safe and protected. 

As mentioned, being a looked after child can have an impact in different ways, including:

• Being at risk of bullying from peers. 
• An increased risk of running away or going missing. 
• An increased risk of being a victim of exploitation. 
• Being more likely to have a mental health issue. 
• An increased risk of substance abuse. 
• Difficulty forming relationships and trusting people. 
• Struggling with education. 

LAC must be supported so they have the same opportunities as other children their age. This can help them to have a fulfilled childhood and enter adulthood successfully. 

It is important to acknowledge the multitude of different backgrounds that LAC come from. Some LAC may be victims of child maltreatment, they may have moved in and out of care or between foster homes, they may have run away from home or care and they may show challenging behaviours due to their early experiences. 

Research from the NSPCC identified five ways to improve LAC’s emotional and mental health. They are:

• Embedding an emphasis on emotional wellbeing throughout the system.
• Taking a proactive and preventative approach through thorough assessments of each child’s specific needs. 
• Giving LAC a voice and the opportunity to make decisions about their own care and support.
• Supporting children’s relationships by being sensitive, understanding and resilient. 
• Helping children identify and strengthen their support networks. 

Supporting the Birth Family

In some instances, LAC can return to their birth family, therefore maintaining a positive relationship with them is crucial. If approved by court, LAC should be supported to stay in contact with their birth family if they want to and wherever possible, arrangements should be made to accommodate this. 

The quality of a LAC’s relationship with their birth family can have a detrimental effect on their emotional and mental wellbeing, therefore it is important to prioritise their preference and decision regarding whether they maintain their relationship with their birth family.

Supporting those Leaving Care

When a looked after child turns 18 years old, they will leave care. However, they are entitled to support from the Local Authority until they are at least 21 years old. For some, transitioning from care to can be very challenging. But receiving the appropriate care and support can help them adjust to adulthood. 
When LAC leave care, some will continue to live with their foster family, others will be provided with accommodation. Some LAC may be entering work full time, while others may be continuing their education. In the UK, LAC should be provided with a pathway plan that outlines their wishes and needs on leaving care, ensuring the individual has a suitable place to live will form part of this plan.

Looking to Learn More?

Our range of Safeguarding Courses will help you to understand your responsibility for safeguarding children. Our courses include Designated Safeguarding Lead training, as well as Introduction to Safeguarding Children and Advanced Safeguarding Children.

Role of the Designated Teacher for Child Protection

In maintained schools and academies, there must be a designated teacher for LAC. The role of the designated teacher is to support LAC to reach their full potential, whilst accommodating their specific needs. They do this by liaising with the Local Authority and the Virtual School Head to promote the LAC’s educational achievement. The designated teacher’s role also extends to children who have left the care system, this could be through adoption, guardianship or child arrangement orders. 

Some responsibilities that the designated teacher for child protection has, include:

• Communicating with different agencies to ensure the child is cared for and supported, as well as having their needs communicated. 
• Continual training and education around ways to support LAC.
• Awareness of the child’s age and preventing adultification wherever possible. 
• Following guidance, policies and procedures to ensure the child is fully supported. 
• Reporting any concerns to the designated safeguarding lead, escalating concerns when necessary.  
• Listening to the child and their needs, being patient and understanding. 

Each LAC will have a personal education plan, also referred to as a PEP. This will outline the child’s developmental and educational needs, so should be followed to ensure the child is supported appropriately. The PEP will also contain goals for the child, both long-term and short-term, to ensure they are on track to achieve their full potential and their progress is monitored. The designated teacher for child protection has a responsibility to make certain that the PEP is followed. 

It is not possible to undo or change a LAC’s history, however with the appropriate care and support, LAC can overcome their earlier experiences and lead a fulfilled life. 

The term ‘looked after child’ refers to any child that has been in the care of their Local Authority for more than 24 hours. There are additional safeguarding duties in place relating to LAC to ensure they are safe, protected and supported to achieve their full potential. In maintained schools and academies, a designated teacher for child protection is responsible for supporting LAC and following their personal education plan.

Further Resources:

• Safeguarding Courses
• How to Create an Effective Culture of Safeguarding in Schools
• Safeguarding Children Legislation: Guidance for Schools
• What is Professional Curiosity in Safeguarding?
• Safeguarding Flowchart: Procedure for Reporting Concerns

The post Guidance on Safeguarding Looked After Children (LAC) appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

DoLS and LPS refer to the protection of your rights if you are, or may become, deprived of your liberty in a hospital or care home.

If you work with adults that lack the capacity to make particular decisions for themselves, DoLS and LPS are especially important to your role. There are also some key changes that you need to be aware of. In this article we will outline the aim of LPS and why it is changing from DoLS.

What is the Aim of Liberty Protection Safeguards?

Liberty Protection Safeguards provide protection for people aged 16 and above who are, or need to be, deprived of their liberty. This is to enable their care or treatment and only for people that lack the capacity to consent to their arrangements. This includes people who are sectioned and detained under the Mental Health Act and people with learning disabilities, autism or dementia.

LPS hopes to deliver improved outcomes for people and has been designed to put the rights and wishes of those people at the centre of all decision-making. To deprive someone of their liberty means they are not allowed to leave where they live without being accompanied and are always under supervision.

LPS applies to a person’s own home or family home, shared living and supported living, hospitals and care homes. If an individual lacks the capacity to consent to being deprived of their liberty, due to illness, injury or disability, decisions will be made for them and within their best interests.

It is important to note that if you work in health and social care, you may be called upon by an approved mental capacity professional (AMCP). The role of an AMCP is to review a person’s capacity to make decisions about their care; they call upon people involved in the individual’s care, powers of attorney and the person themselves to make this decision. Consequently, as part of your role you may be asked questions about an individual you care for as part of their assessment.

If an individual in your care has LPS in place, their care will be different to those without LPS. You must be aware of whether individuals have LPS as it will affect every aspect of their care. This should be documented in their care plan and is part of your duty of care as a health and social care worker to implement when you support or care for them.

Why is the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Being Changed?

In 2014, the same year the Care Act was implemented, the need for safeguarding people who lack capacity and need to be deprived of their liberty increased. As a result, there was a large increase in the number of DoLS applications which left local authorities with a backlog of cases and struggling to cope. Therefore, the DoLS procedure was reviewed and subsequently the government formed the Mental Capacity Amendment Act (2019), which outlines a new system – LPS.

LPS have the same goals as DoLS but with some streamlining to make the system run a little more smoothly. It is worth noting that DoLS will run alongside LPS for a year after implementation to ease the transition of existing cases.

It is also important to point out that the five principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 remain in place; from a person being assumed to have capacity unless it is established that they don’t, to a person not being treated as unable to make a decision merely because they make an unwise decision.

The aim of the new scheme is to spread the responsibility across hospitals, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and social care so as to share the administrative burden, whilst also building the LPS process into the care planning procedure itself. LPS also broadens the scope to treat people, and deprive them of their liberty, in a medical emergency, without gaining prior authorisation.

Summary of the LPS Update

LPS will replace the DoLS system to deliver improved outcomes for those who are, or need, to be deprived of their liberty. It is designed to put the rights and wishes of those people at the centre of all decision-making on deprivation of liberty.

The key changes include:

How Might Health and Social Care Professionals Put LPS Into Practice?

If you work in health and social care, it is important you have an awareness of what is covered by the safeguards and the Mental Capacity Act 2005. This ensures you know what level of support people need in line with their abilities and ensures you are providing high-quality care. Awareness of the legislation also protects and empowers people using any care services, which is an important element of person-centred care. 

Workers across the adult social care system should prepare for the LPS as the changes will affect direct work with adults, and in some cases young people. LPS will require new systems and ways of working at all levels across these organisations and it is vital that implementation of LPS is successful so that the new system provides the safeguards needed.

Areas where partner agencies come together in good time to plan how they will prepare for the LPS will be well equipped for their implementation. This includes colleagues across: local authorities, Clinical Commissioning Groups, Hospital Trusts, care provider organisations, ambulance services, the police force, and prisons (as it is possible that arrangements for securing care and treatment in prison will require authorisation under the LPS).

Liberty Protection Safeguards protect individuals aged 16 and above who are, or need to be, deprived of their liberty. These changes aim to streamline the safeguarding system by sharing responsibilities between services. If you work in health and social care it is important that you are aware of the changes that are going to be made so you can prepare in advance and provide the appropriate care and support.

Further Resources:

• Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) Training
• Duty of Care in Health and Social Care
• Whistleblowing on Safeguarding Adults

The post Liberty Protection Safeguards: Guidance on Key Changes appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

In this article, we will explain what is meant by the term County Lines and why it is a safeguarding issue. We will also outline how you can spot the signs that someone is being exploited and what action you should take. 

What is County Lines?

The term County Lines refers to a form of criminal exploitation in which illegal drugs are transported from one area to another, usually by children, young people or adults at risk that have been exploited and coerced by criminal gangs. County Lines can also involve the transportation of money and/or weapons, as well as involving other crimes, such as robbery, burglary, theft, modern slavery, sexual offences and cuckooing. 

County Lines gangs mostly operate for the exchange of something, whether that is money, drugs, sex or weapons. The ‘line’ in County Lines refers to the mobile phone line that is often used as a supply line for the drugs. This is also referred to as a ‘trap line’ or a ‘deal line’. 

Recruitment into County Lines can take place online and offline, with victims being manipulated through violence, threats and promises of rewards, as well as sexual and mental abuse. This manipulation and intimidation continues once the victim becomes involved. 

County Lines can have a devastating impact on individuals, families and communities. The consequences of the crimes involved are far-reaching, resulting in countless victims. Therefore, it is important to be aware of County Lines and to know how to identify if someone is being exploited. 

Is County Lines a Safeguarding Issue?

County Lines is a safeguarding issue as criminal gangs coerce and manipulate victims into being involved. Criminal gangs often target children, young people and adults at risk, as they believe they are easier to manipulate. Therefore, the victims of County Lines must be protected and safeguarded to prevent their involvement and help them leave behind the gang they are under the control of. 

Having an awareness of the certain risk factors that can increase the likelihood of a child, young person or an adult at risk being exploited can help to ensure the appropriate safeguards are in place. For example, certain areas of the country have a greater occurrence of child criminal or sexual exploitation, increasing the risk to children living in that area. Certain schools may also have high rates of student exclusion and being absent from school increases the risk of a child being exploited or groomed. 

As a result, it is crucial that children, young people and adults at risk are in an environment that prioritises safeguarding. For more information, take a look at our article on how to promote an effective culture of safeguarding in schools. 

Another way to safeguard those at risk of exploitation and grooming is to teach them about healthy relationships. This can help potential victims learn the difference between a genuine relationship or friendship and someone who is manipulating them. 

Looking to Learn More?

Our range of Safeguarding Courses will develop your knowledge of how to keep children, young people and adults at risk safe. We also have courses on Child Sexual Exploitation & Child Criminal Exploitation and Online Safety & Harms containing detailed information for identifying and responding to exploitation.

County Lines Signs

Children around the ages of 14-17 are most likely to be exploited, but children as young as seven can be targeted. There are some signs to look out for that may indicate that someone is being exploited, they include:

• Regularly missing from home and school.
• Often being found some distance away from home.
• Having lots of train or bus tickets. 
• Having unexplained injuries.
• Owning several phones and receiving lots of calls and texts.
• Being unable to explain their extra cash or expensive new items.
• Having friendships with older people or gang associations.
• Displaying negative changes in mood and behaviour.
• Leaving the home or care setting without an explanation.
• Parental concerns.
• Being found in possession of drugs and/or weapons. 
• A decline in school performance.
• Isolation from peers or a change in social network activity.
• Self-harm.
• Being secretive, especially if this is out of character for them.
• Being fearful, especially of going out of the house. 
• Starting to use alcohol or drugs. 
• Being involved in low level criminal offences. 

This list is not exhaustive and it can sometimes be hard to identify if someone is at risk. If you have any concerns, you should raise them and report them as soon as possible. 

How to Respond to County Lines

Early intervention and prevention are highly important in County Lines as they can stop harm before it occurs. It involves recognising and reducing the risk factors in a person’s life, whilst working to implement and develop positive, protective elements. 

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility, so it is crucial that you know how to respond to disclosures and concerns. A disclosure refers to when a person tells someone of the harm that they, or someone else, is experiencing. A concern refers to something that is witnessed or an observation of certain signs and indicators of harm. If you witness one of the signs that someone is being exploited from the list above, this is a concern. 

All disclosures and concerns need to be reported, you should never keep them to yourself. Remember to listen, remain calm, reassure the individual and inform them that you will have to pass the information on. You should also make a written record of what was said during the disclosure or what was witnessed, as soon as possible, to ensure accuracy. 

Who you report the concern or disclosure to will vary depending on your environment. If you are in an environment where there is a designated safeguarding lead (DSL), you should inform them. If you are in an organisation without a DSL, you should inform your manager or supervisor. You may also need to report directly to your Local Authority. You can find the contact details of your Local Authority here.

If there is an immediate risk of harm, you should ring 999 or 112. Remember, you are never alone and you must never keep any safeguarding issues or concerns to yourself. Even if your concerns do not turn out to be County Lines involvement, the individual may still be being exploited in some other way. 

Looking to Learn More?

Our dedicated County Lines training course covers what is meant by the term County Lines, who is at risk and how to identify County Lines, as well as the impact it can have on a victim. The course also outlines in detail the importance of early intervention and prevention and how to respond to County Lines, including next steps and the multi-agency response after a report is made.

County Lines is a form of criminal exploitation that has a devastating and far reaching impact. Children, young people and adults at risk are most likely to be targeted. It is crucial that the necessary safeguards are in place to help those at risk of being exploited and those already involved in County Lines activities. 

Further Resources:

• County Lines Training Course
• What is Cuckooing?
• How to Teach Children About Healthy Relationships

The post What is County Lines? appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

If you work in health and social care, it’s important that you understand your duty of confidentiality. You must abide by this duty and ensure that you respect your patients’ and clients’ legal right to privacy. In some rare cases, it may be necessary to override your duty of confidentiality, particularly if people are at risk of harm. Read on to find out more.

What is Confidentiality in Healthcare?

The definition of confidentiality in health and social care is keeping sensitive information private and respecting someone’s wishes. It means that professionals shouldn’t share personal details about someone with others, unless that person has said they can or it’s absolutely necessary. ‘Professionals’ in this context includes people like doctors, nurses, social workers, support workers, and employers.

In a health and social care setting, confidentiality means that the practitioner should keep a confidence between themselves and the patient, as part of good care practice. This means that the practitioner shouldn’t tell anyone what a patient has said and their details, other than those who need to know. This also includes not showing anyone – again, other than those who need to know – an individual’s personal notes or computer records.

Want to Learn More?

Our Information Governance Training is designed to help those who work in health & social care, giving you the tools to understand your obligations around data protection. See how else we might be able to support you with our full range of Safeguarding Courses.

Why is Confidentiality Important in Health and Social Care?

Confidentiality in health and social care is important for building relationships with service users. Keeping the necessary information private and respecting an individual’s wishes regarding sensitive information will help build trust. If a service user knows that their private information is going to be kept confidential, they will feel confident in sharing information to get the help and support they need.

It is also important to maintain confidentiality in health and social care as it is your legal duty. There are many different pieces of legislation and different policies in place to ensure that you maintain confidentiality.

How to Maintain Confidentiality in Healthcare

There are many ways that you can maintain confidentiality in health and social care, including:

• Reporting any breaches of confidentiality to the appropriate person.
• Remaining vigilant to whether the information you share is confidential.
• Following your organisation’s policies and procedures relating to confidentiality.
• Seeking guidance from the appropriate person when you are unsure about confidentiality.
• Communicating with service users to build trust.

How to Maintain Principles of Confidentiality in Childcare

It may also be the case that you frequently handle confidential information about children. The same principles of confidentiality apply in this situation: you should maintain confidentiality but override it if you think the child is at risk. Always be vigilant to recognising the signs or abuse and neglect and tell somebody if you think the child is at risk.

You should view confidentiality on a need to know basis, which means that you only share information when it’s necessary and with people who need to know. Relationships between professionals and children are built on trust, so it’s essential that you uphold a child’s confidentiality unless they are at risk. If you need to share a child’s information, ask for their consent unless there is a compelling reason not to do so. This is important for transparency, trust, and building a relationship.

Confidentiality Policy in Health and Social Care

There are many legislative requirements surrounding confidentiality in health and social care. If you work with patients and their records, then it’s important that you’re aware of patient confidentiality law and the following legislation.

The Common Law of Confidentiality

The principle of confidentiality is broadly taken from common law, which is why it’s called a common law duty of confidentiality. Confidentiality is important for encouraging people to come forward with issues and concerns.

However, there are certain offences and provisions where the duty of confidentiality is overridden. For example, if a girl has been a victim to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), then this is a criminal offence and the appropriate authorities need to know. Additionally, if there is a serious safeguarding concern and somebody is at risk, then you have a duty to share this information to keep people safe.

The Human Rights Act 1998

The Human Rights Act gives every individual the right to respect for their private and family life. This includes having any personal information held in confidence. This right, however, is not absolute and can be overridden if necessary, such as for a safeguarding concern.

The Care Act 2014

This Act encourages caregivers to take a person-centred approach when safeguarding adults at risk. It also sets out a new way of thinking in relation to adult social care by explaining the importance of sharing information at early stages so that people stay safe.

The Health and Social Care (Safety and Quality) Act 2015

This Act sets out a number of provisions relating to the health and social care services in England. It covers the integration of information relating to users of health and social services. It also explains the sharing of information for individuals who use health and social care services.

The Data Protection Act 2018 and the GDPR

The Data Protection Act and the GDPR both have provisions that explain the way organisations, charities, and businesses must handle information. This includes care settings and provisions relating to clients, patients, and employees. Under Data Protection and the GDPR, personal information must be:

• Processed lawfully, fairly, and transparently.
• Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes.
• Adequate, relevant, and limited to what’s necessary for the purposes of why it was collected.
• Accurate and up to date.
• Not be kept for longer than is necessary.
• Processed in a manner with appropriate security, including protection against accidental loss.

Examples of Confidentiality in Health and Social Care

Some examples of information that should be kept confidential include the following:

Relationship concerns – if a service user shares with you information about their relationships or family and asks you not to share the information, you have a duty to keep that information private. For example, if they have begun a romantic relationship with someone. However, if the relationship is a cause for concern, such as a child beginning a relationship with someone much older, you will have to break confidentiality.

Details of health – if a service user discusses their health or condition with you but doesn’t want other service users to know, you have a duty to keep that information confidential. For example, if a service user asks you about another service user’s health, you should inform them that you cannot discuss other service user’s conditions.

Personal details – information regarding a service user’s name, address, age, bank details and more, should be kept confidential. This information should only be shared with individuals that need to know, for example, the service user’s doctor.

When Can You Break Confidentiality in Health and Social Care?

There are many uncertainties surrounding confidentiality in health and social care. Common questions express concerns like ‘when shall I disclose confidential information?’ and ‘will I be breaching confidentiality in expressing my concerns?’.

To provide a simple answer: you may, in certain circumstances, override your duty of confidentiality to patients and clients if it’s done to protect their best interests or the interests of the public. This means you may override your duty if:

• You have information that suggests a patient or client is at risk of harm.
• You have information to suggest that a patient or client is posing a risk of harm to someone else.

In these instances, you should always report your concerns to your manager or supervisor. You should also help and contribute to any further actions that are taken to reduce the risk of harm.

However, sometimes things are not this simple and it can be easy to misread and misunderstand the signs. If you have any concerns about someone, or a confidentiality issue arises, you should always ask your manager or supervisor for advice.

Consider the following scenario, which explains why over-riding confidentiality is sometimes necessary.

Scenario

You are a care worker and you have gone to assist an elderly male at his home. You don’t usually assist this man, but his usual care worker has gone away for the week.

When you are helping him to get dressed, you notice several bruises on his back. When you enquire about these, he explains that his usual nurse attacked him last week and caused the bruises. He believes that he said something silly because the care worker started calling him names and then hitting him.

You are very concerned about this man’s safety when his normal care worker returns. He tells you that he doesn’t want you to tell anybody because the care worker is usually nice and it was just him making a silly comment that caused this to happen. He has become upset and he doesn’t want to get the care worker into trouble.

Conflict

There is a clear conflict in this situation. You believe that you should inform your manager immediately and report the other member of staff. However, the gentleman has begged you not to do this and has told you in confidence, so you don’t want to breach his confidentiality.

Resolution

In this situation, it is acceptable to override your duty of confidentiality. This is necessary to protect the man from further harm.

You should explain to him that you understand why he is upset and doesn’t want to speak out. However, explain that he has experienced a form of abuse that he has a right to be protected from and how you can help him.

Here, you are acting on behalf of the man’s best interests and within the Public Interest Disclosure Act. This means you can override your duty to protect his confidentiality and speak to your manager about what you have found.

You have a duty to protect patient confidentiality in health and social care. However, when a patient or client is at risk of harm or posing a risk to someone else, you may, in certain circumstances, override this duty if it’s done to protect their best interests or the interests of the public.

What to Read Next:

• How to Conduct Effective Handovers in Nursing and Patient Care
• What is Person-Centred Care and Why is it Important?
• Duty of Care in Health and Social Care: Responsibilities & Examples
• Champions in Healthcare: Role and Responsibilities
• Guidance on Complaints Procedures in Health and Social Care
• What are Difficult Conversations in Health and Social Care
• Managing Conflict in Health and Social Care: Guidance on Recognising and Handling Confrontations
• What is Professional Curiosity in Safeguarding?
• Promoting Effective Communication in Health and Social Care
• Using Technology in Health and Social Care
• Information Governance Online Training

The post How to Maintain Confidentiality in Health and Social Care appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.

In this article, we will outline what mental health in the workplace is, along with some of the common struggles you may recognise. We will also cover the importance of mental health awareness and how you can help promote positive mental health at your place of work.

What is Mental Health in the Workplace?

Mental health is different from mental illnesses in that everyone has mental health, but not everyone has a mental illness. To learn more about mental health, read our article on Types of Mental Health.

Your mental health will fluctuate throughout your life from being positive, negative and somewhere in between. It is important to be able to recognise when you are struggling or feeling low so that you can identify how to improve your own mental health. This will also help you to notice and respond when other people are struggling.   

One factor that can affect your mental health is the environment you are in, such as at home or at work. As mentioned, people spend around 35 hours a week at work, so it is important that it is not having a negative effect on your mental health. 

Work can give people an identity, a team, goals to work towards and a structure to everyday life. On the other hand, however, the workplace can also cause stress and worry, which can lead to poor mental health. 

There are a number of reasons why employees might struggle with their mental health at work, including: 

• Persistent pressures.
• Unclear responsibilities. 
• A poor working environment. 

You may notice that a colleague at work is more tired than usual, quieter than usual or making uncharacteristic mistakes. They may be short-tempered, struggling to keep time or unmotivated. All of these signs can suggest that the individual may be struggling with their mental health and it is everyone’s responsibility to respond appropriately. 

Research shows that in 2021/2022, there were an estimated 914,000 workers affected by work-related stress, depression or anxiety. Therefore, it is important that everyone in the workplace knows how to recognise and respond when a colleague is struggling. It is also crucial that employers promote positive mental health in the workplace and support their employees. 

The Importance of Mental Health in the Workplace

People spend a lot of time at work, so ensuring that the workplace is a positive and supportive environment should be a top priority. 

There are a number of benefits to promoting positive mental health in the workplace, including: 

• Increased productivity.
• Improved staff morale.
• High-performing employees.
• Reduced sickness days and staff absence. 
• Improved staff retention and lower staff turnover. 
• Increased innovation. 

As well as promoting positive mental health in the workplace, employers should be equipped to provide support to employees if they are struggling or if issues emerge. As we have outlined, mental health fluctuates throughout our lives. So it is likely that no matter how positive the work environment is, any employee may struggle with their mental health.

Knowledge and awareness of how to recognise and respond to an employee when they are struggling are equally as important as promoting positive mental health. One way to respond if you notice someone is struggling is to talk to them about their mental health. This can sometimes be hard to do, especially with the stigma surrounding mental health, but being open and talking with the individual can make a huge difference and show them that you are there. You can learn more about how to talk about mental health here. 

Looking to Learn More?

Our Mental Health Training Courses are written with experts to provide you with knowledge and awareness of mental health, as well as the necessary skills to support people who are struggling. Take a look at our courses in Mental Health Awareness and Mental Health Awareness for Managers.

How to Support Positive Mental Health at Work

There are many ways that the workplace can promote, encourage and support positive mental health, take a look at the following ideas. 

Start conversations

Encouraging open discussions about mental health can help reduce the stigma and show others that you are there for them. Over time, the topic of mental health will become more and more normal, which will help people feel that they can share when they are struggling. 

Try this: Organise a half an hour one-to-one chat with your team members each month and let them control the conversation. Give each person a chance to talk, whether it’s to ask your advice, get a problem off their chest or simply enjoy a good conversation that they may not have had otherwise. 

Complete mental health training

Training in mental health will help debunk some myths and raise awareness of what mental health is and how you can help others who are struggling. Training can also equip you with tools to help you talk to someone who you think is struggling and educate others. 

Try this: Take a look at our Mental Health Awareness course for employees and Mental Health Awareness for Managers training courses. The courses cover common mental health problems, as well as the symptoms and effects they can have. It also outlines the adjustments you can make to promote positive mental health in the workplace. 

Organise wellness activities

Whilst mental health problems can affect anyone, on any day of the year, dedicating time to wellness activities can help people tune in to how they are feeling and encourage open discussion around mental health. There are many different activities and initiatives you can get involved in or create at work, whether they are full-day activities or 20-minute workshops. 

Try this: Find out when the next wellbeing awareness day or week is and plan a company wide activity or event to mark the date. This could be a workshop, tea break, a fun competition or team-building activity. Anything that will bring attention to the importance of mental health and start discussions around it. 

Assign mental health champions

Mental health champions are a dedicated group of people that can support the organisation’s wellbeing strategy, raise awareness of mental health and provide useful resources for everyone in the company. 

Mental health champions can complete training so that if employees have any questions or concerns regarding mental health, they can reach out to a dedicated mental health champion for support. 

Try this: Put out an advert within the company for recruiting mental health champions to see how many people, and who, would be interested. The advert should include what their role and responsibilities would be as a mental health champion, the aims of the group and what training will be provided to them. 

Promote active listening

Active listening is when you listen with focused intent – when you are truly invested in the speaker and experience empathy towards them. It involves being present and aware, rather than just quiet. Speakers are given the room to explore and assess their thoughts in a safe space. 

Active listening is different to passive listening as it shows you are focused on what the speaker is trying to say. When someone is opening up or talking about their mental health, passive listening and interjections can quickly make them feel as though they are not being heard and will discourage them from talking to you. This can be very damaging if someone is trying to reach out for help or share with you that they are struggling. 

Try this: Next time you have a conversation with someone, rather than thinking about when it will be your turn to speak or thinking about what to say, try to focus on what the person is saying. When they finish speaking, leave a moment for you both to reflect on what has been said before filling the silence by talking. This will give the person space to keep talking if they want to.

Challenge mental health discrimination 

Despite there now being more awareness than ever about mental health, there is still a lot of stigma surrounding it. Everyone has a responsibility to challenge mental health stigma and discrimination. As an employee, you have a right to raise your concerns regarding any mental health discrimination, as an employer you have a responsibility to take necessary action to challenge mental health discrimination. 

Try this: In your next meeting, as an icebreaker activity, make a list of mental health myths and facts. Open a discussion around whether people think the statements are true or false and discuss each one. This will help to start a conversation around mental health stigma and challenge people’s perceptions. 

Encourage breaks

Taking regular breaks is important for our mental health, especially in the workplace. Depending on where you work, this will be easier for some than others, but regular breaks can include going outside, doing some movement or exercise, being away from your screen, doing a five-minute mindfulness activity or meditation and having an informal chat with others. All of these things may seem small, but they can make a huge difference for our mental health.

Try this: As an employer, actively encourage employees to take their annual leave and to take regular breaks throughout the working day. This could be to make a drink, go for a walk or just go outside for some fresh air. Breaks don’t have to be long, even five minutes every hour will help promote positive mental health. As an employee, take your entitled breaks and take full advantage of your annual leave entitlement. 

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article and have a greater awareness of how to promote positive mental health in the workplace. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about the topics covered in this article, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at High Speed Training! 

Further Resources:

• Mental Health Training Courses
• What To Do If You Suspect Mental Health Discrimination at Work
• How to Talk About Mental Health
• Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Quiz
• How to Deal with Anxiety at Work
• How to Manage Stress at Work
• Workplace Health & Wellbeing Quiz
• How to Support Hidden Disabilities in the Workplace
• Rest Breaks at Work: What are the Requirements?

The post How to Promote Positive Mental Health in the Workplace appeared first on The Hub | High Speed Training.