The aim of this procedure is:

At Balham Community Centre, we are committed to the highest standards of openness, honesty, and accountability. This Whistleblowing Policy is in place to enable staff to raise genuine concerns about wrongdoing or risks to children, staff, or the wider setting, without fear of reprisal or victimisation.

We recognise that children and staff cannot be expected to raise concerns in an environment where such concerns are ignored. We actively encourage a culture where staff feel confident to report concerns at an early stage.

What to do if an allegation is made or information is received

There are potentially two issues that need to be dealt with as a matter of urgency:

1.    Is a child in immediate danger or does she/he need emergency medical treatment?

·       If a child is in immediate danger and is with you, remain with them and call the police.

·       If the child is elsewhere, contact the police and explain the situation to them.

·       If the child needs emergency medical attention, call an ambulance and while you are waiting for it to arrive, get help from a first aider.

·       If a first aider is not available, use any first aid knowledge that you may have yourself to help the child. You also need to contact your line manager or named person for child protection to let them know what is happening.

The member of staff or manager should also inform the child’s family if the child is in

 need of emergency medical attention, and arrange to meet at the hospital ormedical

 centre. The parent/carer should be informed that an incident has occurred, that the

 child has been injured and that immediate steps have been taken to help.

2.    Is this person at the centre of the allegation working with children now?

If this is the case, the concern needs to be discussed immediately with the Centre manager. The centre manager should then in a sensitive manner, remove the staff member involved in the allegation from direct contact with children.

It should be explained to the person; in private that there has been a complaint made against them although the details of the complaint should not be given at this stage. The person should be informed that further information will be provided as soon as possible but that, until consultation has taken place with LADO, they should not be working with children. It may be best that the Centre manager telephone them later.

The information provided to them at this stage will need to be very limited. This is because discussions need to take place first with other agencies who need to be involved, such as LADO or the police.

If the person is a member of a trade union or a professional organisation they should be advised to make contact with that body. Arrangements should be made for the member of staff or volunteer to receive ongoing support in line with the responsibilities Balham Community Centre has towards their welfare.

Conducting an investigation

Once any urgent steps have been taken, attention can be given to dealing with the

full investigations of the allegations.

There are three possible lines of enquiry when an allegation is made:

·      A police investigation of a criminal offence

·      Enquires and an assessment by the local authority children’s social care department about whether a child is in need of protection

·      Investigation and possible disciplinary action being taken against the person in question. This includes implementing a plan to manage any risk posed by the individual to children and young people in the workplace until the outcome of the investigations and enquires is known If the individual is a volunteer, then they are unlikely to be subject to the disciplinary procedure, but nonetheless the Balham Community Centre will need to consider whether they can continue in their role and, if so what steps should be taken to manage any risk that they may pose.

Reporting an allegation or concern

If the allegation is made by a child or family member to a member of staff, or if a member of staff observes concerning behaviour by a colleague at first hand, this

should be reported immediately to the staff member’s manager or the Centre manager. If a staff member has received an allegation or observed something of concern about their own manager, the staff member should report the allegation or concern to the Centre Manager.

Issues that need to be taken into account:

·    The child’s wishes and feelings

·    The parent’s right to know(unless this would place the child or someone else in danger, or would interfere with a criminal investigation)

·    The impact of telling or not telling the parent

·    The current assessment of the risk to the child and the source of that risk

·    Any risk management plans that currently exist

When to involve the local authority designated officer or team

The allegation should be reported to the Balham Community Centre Manager and to LADO within one working day if the alleged behaviour suggests that the person in question:

·        May have behaved in a way that has harmed or may have harmed a child.

·        Has possible committed a criminal offence against or related to a child.

·        Has behaved towards a child in a way that suggests that they may be unsuitable to work with children.

This should also happen if the individual has volunteered the information themselves.

The local authority designated officer or team may be told of the allegation from other source. If this is the case, then the first information received by Balham Community Centre may be when the local authority makes contact in order to explain the situation.

Whoever initiates the contact there will be discussion between the local authority designated officer and the Centre Manager to share information about the nature and circumstances of the allegation, and to consider whether there is any evidence to suggest that it may be false and unfounded.

If there is any reason to suspect that a child has suffered, or be likely to suffer, significant harm and there is no obvious indications that the allegation is false, the local authority designated officer, in cooperation with Balham Community Centre, will initiate a strategy discussion within the local authority.

It should be asked from the outset that the children’s social care department shares information obtained during the course of their enquiries with Balham Community Centre if it has relevance to the person’s employment.

Dealing with a criminal offence

If there is reason to suspect that a criminal offence may have been committed (whether or not the threshold of ‘significant harm’ is reached) the local authority designated officer will contact the police and involve them in a similar strategy discussion, which will include the Centre Manager.

The Centre Manager and any other representative from the Balham Community Centre should cooperate fully with any discussion involving the police and should ask for similar cooperation from the police in terms of sharing information relevant to the person’s employment.

Discussions with the police should explore whether there are matters that can be acted on in a disciplinary process while criminal investigation takes place, or whether disciplinary action must wait until the criminal process is completed.

Taking to parents about the allegation or concern

The person at the centre of the allegation should be informed as soon as possible after the initial consultation with the local authority designated officer or team. However if a strategy discussion within the local authority children’s social care team or the police is needed, this might have to take place before the person concerned can be spoken to in full. The police and children’s social care department may have views on what information can be disclosed to the person.

Only limited information should be given to the person in question, unless the investigating authorities have indicated that they are happy for all information to be disclosed or unless there is a need for involvement from these statutory agencies.

The Centre Manager will need to keep close communication with the local authority designated officer and other agencies involved in order to manage the disclosure of information appropriately.

Taking Disciplinary action

If the initial allegation does not involve a possible criminal offence, the Centre Manager and the line manager of the person at the centre of the allegation should consider whether formal disciplinary action is needed.

If the local authority children’s social care department has undertaken any enquires to determine whether a child or children are in need of protection, the Centre Manager should take account of any relevant information from these enquires when considering whether disciplinary action should be brought against the person at the centre of the allegations

The following timings should be kept to whenever possible, depending on the nature of the investigation.

·      If formal disciplinary action is not needed, other appropriate action should be taken within three working days.

·      If disciplinary action is required, and can be progressed without further investigation, this should take place within 15 days.

·      If Balham Community Centre decides that further investigation is needed in order to make a decision about formal disciplinary action, the Centre Manager should discuss with the local authority designated officer the possibility of this investigation being done by an independent person to ensure that the process is objective. Whether or not the investigation is handled internally or independently, the report should be presented to the Centre Manager within 10 days.

·      Having received the report of the disciplinary investigation, the Centre Manager should decide within two working days whether disciplinary hearing is needed.

·      The Centre Manager should continue to liaise with the local authority designated officer during the course of the investigation or disciplinary proceedings, and should continue to use the local authority officer as a source of advice and support.

If criminal investigation is required, it may not have been possible to make decisions about initiating disciplinary proceedings or about the person’s future work arrangement until this is concluded. The police are required to complete their work as soon as reasonably possible and to set review dates, so the Centre Manager should liaise with the police or via the local authority designated officer to check on progress of the investigation and criminal process.

If the allegation is substantiated and if, once the case is conclude, Balham Community Centre dismisses the person or ceases to use their services, or person ceases to provide his/her services, Centre Manager should consult with the local authority designated officer about referral of the incident to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). This should take place within a month.

Keeping a record of the investigation

All those involved in dealing with the allegation should keep notes of the allegations made, how they were followed up, and any action and decisions taken, together with the reason for these.

These notes should be complied gradually as the situation unfolds, with each entry made as soon as possible after the event it describes. The notes should be signed and dated by the person making them, and the person’s name should be printed alongside.

The notes should be kept confidentially on the file of the person who is the subject of the allegation. Discussion should take place with the local authority designated officer to determine whether any aspects of the notes may not be shared with the person concerned, if there are reasons not to do so, a copy of the records should be given to the individual.

The notes should be held on file until the child reaches the age of 24 years. During the period of the Independent inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) chaired by Hon Dame Goddard DNZM, it is advisable to keep such notes indefinitely.

The Local Authority Designated Officer for Wandsworth is Anita Gibbons

All referrals should be made through the Wandsworth Multi-agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH)

·      Telephone:020 8871 6622

·       Email: mash@wandsworth.gov.uk

When calling or completing the form, you will be asked for:

·       Details of the child

·      Details of the parent/carer

·      To identify the child or young person’s needs that are causing concern

·      Any supporting documents that you wish to attach. Please be aware that the total file size should not exceed 3MB

·      You will be able to download a copy to save and print by selecting the appropriate link when you submit the online referral form

What happens next?

A MASH social worker will make contact to discuss the referral

A social work manager will review the information and decide within 24 hours about the next appropriate steps.

The MASH will contact us 72 hours after contact, in order to provide feedback on the referral

Useful Contact Details:

Duty Team, Referral and Assessment

Children’s Social Care

·      Telephone number: 020 8871 6622

·       Email: mash@wandsworth.gov.uk

·       Mash.duty@wandsworth.cjsm.net (secure email)

Outside normal office hours ( after 5pm weekdays or on weekends)

020 8871 6000

In an emergency contact the police on telephone number 999

Also you could call the NSPCC Freephone Child Protection