This has been updated in 2019 as part of the Social Sector Safeguarding Partnership, led by NCVO and funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the National Lottery Community Fund. 

What is the purpose of this guide?

Are you a trustee, director, board member, governor or committee member of a charity, trust or association that works with children either exclusively or as part of a wider role? If so, then this guide is for you.

It sets out your responsibilities for safeguarding and protecting children, and helps you link your strategic responsibilities with operational delivery.

We have tried to avoid any assumptions about your current level of knowledge about safeguarding and have provided a framework that will take around an hour to work through.

We have used the latest statutory guidance to present the key safeguarding requirements of organisations under three appropriate headings:

• Leadership and accountability
• The organisation and its beneficiaries
• People and risk

At the end of each section we have included a quick checklist based on the information that has just been presented.

Finally, we include a section entitled Finding help and making it work for your organisation. Here we suggest suitable tools and further sources of support to help trustees carry out their safeguarding responsibilities towards children and young people.

The guide is part of a wider range of support available via the Safer Social Sector Partnership (via the Safeguarding Training Fund) and is structured so that it is integrated with the Safeguarding and Child Protection Standards for the Voluntary Childcare Sector.

Download Everyone's Business: Safeguarding for Trustees