RDF Safeguarding Policy 2026
The Roger Diamond Foundation (RDF) is a unincorporated voluntary association and abides by the duty of care to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and is committed to safeguarding practice that reflects statutory responsibilities, government guidance and complies with best practice requirements.
• We recognise the welfare of children is paramount in all the work we do and in
all the decisions we take.
• All children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion
or belief, sex or sexual orientation have an equal right to protection from all
types of harm and abuse.
• Some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of previous
experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues.
• Working in partnership with children, young people, their parents/carers and
other agencies is essential in promoting children’s welfare.
Purpose:
The Roger Diamond Foundation (RDF) will:
• Protect children and young people who receive RDF’s service from harm. This includes the children of adults who use our services.
• Provide staff and volunteers, as well as children and their families, with the
overarching principles that guide our approach to safeguarding
This policy applies to anyone working or volunteering on behalf of RDF including
senior managers and the board of trustees, paid staff, volunteers, sessional workers,
agency staff and students. Failure to comply with the policy and related procedures
will be addressed without delay and may ultimately result in dismissal/exclusion from
the organisation.
Definitions:
The Children Act 1989 definition of a child is: anyone who has not yet reached their
18th birthday, even if they are living independently, are a member of the armed
forces or is in hospital.
Child Abuse: Children may be vulnerable to neglect and abuse within their family or
harm outside of the family. There are 4 main categories of abuse, which are: sexual, physical, emotional abuse and neglect.
It is important to be aware of more specific types of abuse that fall within these categories, they are:
• Bullying and cyberbullying
• Child sexual exploitation
• Child criminal exploitation
• Child trafficking
• Domestic abuse
• Emotional abuse
• Female genital mutilation
• Grooming
• Neglect
• Non-recent abuse
• Online abuse
• Physical abuse
• Sexual abuse
Safeguarding children: Safeguarding children is defined in Working Together to
Safeguard Children 2023 as:
• providing help and support to meet the needs of children as soon as problems
emerge;
• protecting children from maltreatment, whether that is within or outside the
home, including online;
• preventing the impairment of children’s mental and physical health or
development;
• ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the
provision of safe and effective care;
• promoting the upbringing of children with their birth parents, or otherwise their
family network through a kinship care arrangement, whenever possible and
where this is in the best interests of the children; and
• taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes in line with the
outcomes set out in the Children’s Social Care National Framework.
Legal Framework:
This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that
seeks to protect children in England. A summary of the key legislation is available
from https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/
Thresholds:
The Roger Diamond Foundation (RDF) refer to and seek guidance from the Threshold Framework held by
The RBKC & Westminster Local Safeguarding Children Partnership.
The Threshold Framework ‘Accessing the right help at the right time’ is the
overarching document for the whole of the children’s workforce. This multi-agency
threshold framework is a guidance tool that all agencies, professionals and
volunteers can use to consider how best to meet the needs of individual children and
young people. The Threshold Framework is available on the RBKC & Westminster Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) website https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lscp/
Prevent Duty:
Some organisations in England, Scotland and Wales have a duty, as a specified
authority under section 26 of the Counterterrorism and Security Act 2015, to identify
vulnerable children and young people and prevent them from being drawn into
terrorism. This is known as the Prevent duty. These organisations include:
• Schools
• Registered childcare providers
• Local authorities
• Police
• Prisons and probation services
• NHS trusts and foundations
• Other organisation may also have Prevent duties if they perform delegated
local authority functions.
Children can be exposed to different views and receive information from various
sources. Some of these views may be considered radical or extreme. More
information available on the RBKC & Westminster Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) website https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lscp/
Training & Awareness:
RDF will ensure an appropriate level of safeguarding training is
available to its trustees, employees, volunteers and any relevant persons linked to
the organisation who requires it (e.g. contractors).
For all employees who are working or volunteering with children, this requires them
as a minimum to have awareness training that enables them to:
• Understand what safeguarding is and their role in safeguarding children
• Understand the difference between safeguarding children and child protection
• How to spot the signs of abuse and neglect
• How to respond to the indicators of abuse and neglect and keep children safe
• Understand dignity and respect when working with children
• Have knowledge of the Safeguarding Children Policy.
The RBKC & Westminster Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lscp/ provide safeguarding training for
private and voluntary sectors.
The RBKC & Westminster Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) website https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lscp/
Confidentiality & Information Sharing:
The Roger Diamond Foundation (RDF) expects all employees, volunteers and trustees to maintain confidentiality. Information will only be shared in line with the General Data
Protection Regulations (GDPR) and Data Protection.
However, information should be shared with the Local Authority if a child is deemed
to be at risk of significant harm* or contact the police if they are in immediate danger,
or a crime has been committed. For further guidance on information sharing and
safeguarding see The Roger Diamond Foundation (RDF)'s Confidentiality and Information Sharing policies.
*Please see the Local Safeguarding Children Partnership Threshold
Framework – for definition: at https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/local-safeguarding-children-partnership-kensington-and-chelsea-and-westminster
Consent:
Whilst professionals should in general discuss any concerns with the child, their
parents/carers and where possible seek their agreement to making referrals to
the local authority's Children’s Advice and Duty Service (ChAD), this should only be done
where such discussion and agreement-seeking will not place the child or others at
increased risk of suffering significant harm. For more information see the Threshold
Framework on the Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) website https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lscp/
Consent/agreement is not required for child protection referrals; however, you, as the
referring professional, would need to where possible discuss with and inform parents
or carers that you are making a referral as stated above, unless by alerting them you
could be putting that child or others at risk.
Recording & Record Keeping:
A written record must be kept about any safeguarding concerns. This must include
details of the person involved, the nature of the concern and the actions taken,
decision made and why they were made.
All records must be signed and dated. All records must be securely and
confidentially stored in line with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and RDF's procedures on recording keeping.
Safe Recruitment & Selection:
There is a duty under Section 11 of the Children’s Act 2004 for The Roger Diamond Foundation (RDF) to be committed to safe employment and safe recruitment practices, that reduce the risk of harm to children from people unsuitable to work with them or have contact with them. The Roger Diamond Foundation has policies and procedures that cover the recruitment of all trustees, employees and volunteers.
Social Media:
All employees and volunteers should be aware of RDF’s social media
policy and procedures and the code of
conduct for safeguarding children on digital platforms.
Use of Mobile Phones & Other Digital Technology:
All employees, trustees and volunteers should be aware of RDF’s
policy and procedures regarding the use of mobile phones and any digital technology
and understand that it is unlawful to share images and content on any digital platform
without the explicit consent of the person with parental responsibilities.
Escalation:
Professional providing services to children and their families should work co-
operatively across all agencies, using their confidence, skills and experience to make a robust contribution to safeguarding children and promoting the welfare within the framework of discussions, meetings, conferences and case management.
On occasions situations may arise where there is professional disagreement in
relation to safeguarding a child. Resolution is an integral part of professional joint
working to safeguard children and this policy seeks to identify how such resolution
can be achieved where there are professional differences of opinion.
All professionals have a responsibility to work together and to help to prevent disagreements from escalating where possible. This policy identifies a non-exhaustive list of potential areas of disagreement, guidance and resolving disputes and procedures to be followed when disputes cannot be resolved through discussion and negotiation between professionals at front line level.
Whistleblowing:
It is important that people within RDF have the confidence and
support to come forward and speak or act if they have concerns that have not been
addressed by the escalation policy. Additional knowledge, advice and guidance must
be sought from designated safeguarding leads at all times.
Whistleblowing occurs when a person raises concerns about dangerous or illegal
activity, or any wrong-doing within their organisation. This includes concerns about
another employee or volunteer. There is also a requirement by RDF
to protect whistleblowers.
Further information on ‘Managing allegations against adults that work with children’
visit The RBKC & Westminster Local Safeguarding Children Partnership (LSCP) website (https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/lscp/).
Important Contacts:
Trustee & Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL):
• Name: Cllr Roger Diamond
• Email Address: [email protected]
• Telephone Number: 020 8960 5644
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL):
• Name: Meron Gwiggner
• Email Address: [email protected]
• Telephone Number: 0746 379 689
Safeguarding LADO for Westminster:
Safer Organisations Manager & Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) RBKC and Westminster:
Aqualma Daniel Email: [email protected]
City of Westminster
Tel: 07870481712
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 020 7641 4000
Emergency Duty Team (outside of Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm) 020 7641 2388
Police:
• Emergency – 999
• Non-emergency – 101
NSPCC Helpline:
• 0808 800 5000
We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice annually.
This policy was last reviewed on: 22nd June 2026.
Date of next review: 22nd June 2027.
