Safeguarding Policy UK: Charity Safeguarding Policy Template

A safeguarding policy is an internal document adopted by the governing body of an organisation that works with people who may be vulnerable. It is not a contract. What it does is turn legal duties and statutory guidance into instructions a volunteer can follow on a Saturday morning: who to call, what to write down, what never to promise. The Charity Commission treats it as part of the trustees' duty to take reasonable steps to protect people who come into contact with the charity, and funders, insurers and local authorities routinely ask to see it. The policy half states commitments, definitions and roles. The procedure half covers the moment of truth, when someone discloses abuse or a worker sees something wrong.

It differs from a code of conduct, which only sets behaviour rules, and from a staff handbook, which deals with employment terms. Many organisations keep a separate staff handbook covering conduct and disciplinary rules and point to it from the safeguarding document. A good policy also contains a short whistleblowing route, because concerns about colleagues are where most organisations fail.

There is no single "Safeguarding Act". The framework is a patchwork, and the policy has to reflect each piece. For charities, the starting point is the Commission's guidance, which expects trustees to appoint a safeguarding lead, risk-assess every role for criminal record checks, publish their policies and review them at least once a year and after any serious incident. The Charity Commission guidance on safeguarding and protecting people is the benchmark your trustees will be measured against if something goes wrong.

For children, the Children Act 1989 gives the local authority its duty to make enquiries under section 47 where it suspects significant harm, and Working Together to Safeguard Children explains how voluntary organisations fit into local arrangements, including the rule that the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) is informed within one working day of an allegation against someone who works with children. For adults, section 42 of the Care Act 2014 defines the adult at risk and the local authority's enquiry duty, and the Care and support statutory guidance lists the ten types of abuse and neglect that the template reproduces.

Recruitment sits under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and Part V of the Police Act 1997. Since 1 September 2026, supervision no longer takes a volunteer out of regulated activity if they work with children often enough or overnight. Section 35 of the 2006 Act obliges a regulated activity provider to refer to the DBS anyone it removes from regulated activity for harm or relevant conduct. The Crime and Policing Act 2026 adds a personal duty to report suspected child sex offences, which applies once section 85 is brought into force; the template is drafted for that switch. Information sharing rests on the UK GDPR and paragraph 18 of Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 2018. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland run separate procedures, so the policy is scoped to England.

The obvious trigger is starting any activity with children or adults with care and support needs. A football club taking on its first under-tens team, a church opening a toddler group, a lunch club for older people living alone: each needs a written policy before the first session, not after the first incident. The second trigger is paperwork from outside. Charity registration, a grant application, a hall hire agreement or an insurance renewal will usually ask whether you have a policy and when it was last reviewed. New charities often draft their CIO constitution on the Charity Commission model and their safeguarding policy at the same time.

Review is the third trigger. A serious incident, a new Designated Safeguarding Lead, a move online or a change in the law all justify an early review. The supervision change is a good example, since many groups relied on "supervised" volunteers who now need an enhanced check with a children's barred list check. One edge case catches people out. Food banks and advice drop-ins often think safeguarding is a children's issue. It is not: any service used by adults with care and support needs must know how to raise a concern with adult social care, and the template has an adults-only route for that reason.

The template contains 17 sections in two parts, then a contacts appendix, a concern record form and an adoption block. The structure stays fixed whatever you choose, so the numbering never jumps. A few clauses do most of the protective work:

• Roles come first, with a named DSL, a Deputy and a lead trustee who is not the DSL, so that a concern about the DSL always has somewhere to go.
• Safer recruitment covers references, a self-declaration and a role-by-role DBS assessment. Where roles involve regulated activity, the clause requires an enhanced check with a barred list check before the person starts.
• How should a worker respond when someone discloses abuse? The procedure answers in plain language, including the consent rules for adults and the Mental Capacity Act test.
• Allegations against staff, volunteers or trustees follow a separate route through the LADO or adult social care, with suspension treated as a neutral act and the DBS referral duty spelled out.
• Under the serious incident clause, registered charities report to the Commission promptly, without waiting for an arrest or charge.

The other sections cover the code of conduct, online safety, recognising abuse, recording within 24 hours, information sharing and training. Groups that are not charities get an incident clause that points to funders, insurers and other bodies instead.

You start with the organisation's name and the name of its governing body, which the template reuses throughout. The next question asks whether you are a registered charity; a yes adds your charity number and the Commission reporting clause. You then describe your activities and area, and choose who you work with: children, adults at risk or both. That single answer switches on the right definitions, abuse categories, referral routes and contact steps, and hides the rest.

Three further questions shape the text. Working online adds rules on approved accounts, two workers in group chats and the Online Safety Act 2023. Regulated activity adds the barred list requirement and the related offences. Paid staff changes the definition of "Workers" and the whistleblowing protection. Then come the names and contact details of your DSL, Deputy and lead trustee, followed by the local authority contacts taken from your council's website. You finish with the training refresh frequency, the adoption date, the next review date and the signatory. Trustees tidying their governance papers can prepare the conflict of interest policy and register for trustees the same way.

The most frequent failure is a policy copied from a national body with the wrong phone numbers in it. A referral line for another county is worse than no number, because a volunteer under stress will dial it and lose half an hour. Check every local authority contact before adoption and at each review. The second mistake is naming the same person as DSL and lead trustee, or a DSL who is never present at activities. Someone with authority must be reachable during every session, which is why the template insists on a Deputy. Groups also forget that the policy covers their own people: allegations against volunteers or trustees are where small organisations most often try to "handle it internally".

Records are the third weak point. Notes written days later, mixing fact and opinion, or kept on a volunteer's personal phone are close to useless for a social worker. The concern record separates what was seen, what was said in the person's own words and what was done. Finally, many groups adopt the policy and never train anyone on it, or let it run past its review date. Trustees should see a short safeguarding report at every meeting. You can browse related governance documents in the charity and nonprofit templates for England and Wales section.