About adult safeguarding, abuse or neglect

We have produced an Easy Read version of this guidance.

What adult safeguarding is

Every adult has the right to:

• a life free of fear
• be treated with dignity
• have their choices respected
• not be forced to do anything against their will

Sometimes this is more difficult for people who have care and support needs.

Adult safeguarding helps to protect adults from being neglected, abused or not being looked after properly. The council, police, the NHS and others work together to prevent abuse and stop it when it does happen. We make sure that the wishes of the person experiencing abuse are the most important part of the solution.

Who are adults at risk?

For safeguarding, an 'adult at risk' is someone aged 18 or over who has care and support needs.

They may have care and support needs because of mental health problems, a disability or an illness.

What is abuse?

Abuse is the violation of a person's human or civil rights by any other person or a group of people.

This might include:

• physical abuse - which can include slapping or pinching
• financial abuse - which can include misuse of money or benefits
• domestic abuse - which includes acts of physical violence, harassment or withholding money
• neglect - which includes inadequate care or food depravation

There are 10 types of abuse. You can find more information on types of abuse on the Safeguarding Adults Board website.

Reporting suspected abuse or neglect

If you think that you or someone you know is being abused, and they are unable to protect themselves due to their care and support needs, you can get help. Don't ignore the problem, blame yourself, or keep quiet about it - it's unlikely to go away on its own.

If you or the person are in immediate danger of harm, or you think a crime has been committed, call 999 and ask for the police. If you are not sure if the police should be involved, you can call the non-urgent contact number 101.

If there is an immediate risk to your or the person's health, or there is a medical emergency, call 999 and ask for the ambulance service.

You can report your concerns to us online. This is known as raising a 'safeguarding concern'. Wherever possible, you should make your report with the consent of the person concerned.

Before reporting a safeguarding concern to us, please check you are reporting to the correct local authority. The council responsible for investigating a safeguarding concern is the council in which the incident happens. For example, if the incident happened at a support group located in Slough, you would report this to Slough Borough Council, even if the person lives in West Berkshire. You can use the government's local council postcode checker to check which local council an area comes under.
 

You can also call or email the Safeguarding Adults Team if:

• you think that someone may be abused or neglected by someone who is paid to provide care and support in their own home, or in a residential setting
• you think that someone may be abused or neglected by any person who has contact with them, either professionally or socially, in their own home or in the community
• you have a general enquiry about how we protect adults at risk

When you contact us, we will help you decide what to do next and help you stay safe. We will also try to stop the abuse happening again.

Sometimes, an adult may need to be cared for in a way that might restrict what they can do. For more information about this, visit our Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards webpage.

If you would like advice about someone you think might need help, please contact Adult Social Care.

Making Safeguarding Personal

Making Safeguarding Personal is a national initiative that aims to make sure that every response to a safeguarding concern is personalised.

It aims to support people to resolve or improve their circumstances. It also aims to make sure that safeguarding is done with, and not to, people. This means working with someone so that the outcomes they would like are central to the response to the safeguarding concern.

You can find more information on the Local Government Association's Making Safeguarding Personal webpage.

If you would like support to speak up for yourself (an 'advocate'), see our 'getting someone to help you speak up' page.

Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB)

The Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) works across West Berkshire, Reading and Wokingham to prevent abuse and neglect. They bring together different agencies to promote good practice around safeguarding adults.

Find out more on our Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) webpage.

You can download and print our  Safeguarding Adults Leaflet [1MB] . We have also produced an Easy Read version of this guidance. If you need this information in an alternative format or translation, contact the Adult Social Care team. 

You may also find the video below useful. It introduces what safeguarding is and what might happen.