Report a safeguarding concern about an adult

Report a safeguarding concern about an adult

This guidance explains how to report a safeguarding concern and what happens next.

Adult safeguarding in Worcestershire aims to work with local people and our partners so that adults with care and support needs are supported to protect themselves from abuse and neglect. We aim to treat people fairly, with dignity and respect, and to ensure they have access to the services that they need. 

Emergency and advice

What to do in an emergency

If you think someone is in immediate danger and / or requires urgent medical attention phone 999. 

To report a crime or potential crime to the Police you can phone the non-emergency number 101. 

Our Help in a crisis page also has information on how and when to seek support out of normal working hours.

Safeguarding advice

For safeguarding advice, you can contact our advisors by calling: 

This advice line will be available from 10:00am until 4:00pm Monday to Friday. The team aim to respond to your query within two working days. (note this number does not accept referrals).

Safeguarding in Worcestershire

Safeguarding in Worcestershire follows 7 steps to explore safeguarding concerns which are reported. During this process we will consider the concern reported and the most appropriate support for the person concerned. Therefore, not all concerns reported will progress through all of the steps.

Safety plan

The safety of the person must be considered from the time a concern about abuse or neglect is identified. 

The person reporting the concern should consider immediate measures to keep the person safe. 

When a safeguarding concern has been reported a safety plan will be developed, with the person concerned where possible, and will be monitored and updated whilst safeguarding work is underway.

Step 1: Reporting a concern

Anyone can report a safeguarding concern about an adult. 

Speak to the person:

  • if you are concerned about the risk of abuse or neglect of a person with care and support needs 
  • about your concern where it is safe to do so to see what they think.

Contact us if you are still worried or you are unable to speak to the person directly. 

There are two ways to report a concern: 

Please Note: All of the safeguarding concerns reported will be looked at to ensure that they are appropriate for safeguarding as defined by the Care Act 2014. Where a concern is not passed on to our safeguarding teams we will look at how best to respond to the issue raised.  We may signpost the person to other professionals or organisations if we feel the person would benefit from alternative support.

Step 2: Information gathering

Information is gathered so that we understand the concerns.  When we have enough information, we decide whether a safeguarding enquiry is required under the Care Act 2014 to determine what actions are required to support the person to stay safe. 

We will usually speak to the person if we can, about what they would like to happen. We may also speak to other professionals or people to understand more. 

If a person is not able to fully understand their own situation, we will communicate with their appointed family member or advocate. 

If the person appears to be at risk we will work with them, or their representative to put a plan in place to make sure the person is safe while we are gathering information.

Step 3: Decision making

We will consider the information gathered and decide whether the concern reported meets the statutory criteria for a Safeguarding Enquiry (Under Section 42, Care Act 2014) or if there is a risk to other people. Safeguarding enquiries are undertaken when there is reasonable cause to suspect: 

  • a person has needs for care and support 
  • is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect; and 
  • as a result of their care and support needs, is unable to protect themself against the abuse or neglect, or the risk of it. 

If is it decided the criteria are not met, we will inform the person, or their representative and discuss the best way to keep themselves safe. 

We will contact the referrer to advise that we have looked into the safeguarding concern they reported, but we may not be able to provide further information. 

We may decide to undertake an enquiry where we have decided that the criteria for an enquiry under the Care Act 2014 are not met, but we are concerned that there may be other people who are at risk of abuse or neglect as result of the information reported.  These enquiries are sometimes called other enquiries.  The focus of other enquiries will be different.  For example, concern about a carer or other residents in a care home.  For this reason, it may not be possible to provide detailed feedback in relation to the original concern and the person reporting the concern may be advised to make a complaint.

Step 4: Safeguarding enquiry

A safeguarding enquiry is undertaken to find out what actions are needed to help that person to be as safe as possible. During a safeguarding enquiry we will look at what has happened in more detail, this will include:

  • what the risk is, 
  • what the person, or their representative, wants to happen now and 
  • how to support the person to be safe in the future

Step 5: Outcome

We will let the person, or their representative, and other agencies involved know what has been found and provide details of any further action which will be taken.

Step 6: Safeguarding plan

If a person is still at risk of abuse or neglect following the safeguarding enquiry, a plan will be agreed with the person to help to keep them safe.

Step 7: Plan review

The safeguarding plan will be reviewed regularly to make sure the person is still safe, and the plan is working or actions may be incorporated into another plan, for example a care and support plan.

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