Important and incorrect choices can completely put a vulnerable man or woman in a situation with no security. No matter which health, social care, education or public-facing profession you are in in the UK, it is important that you know how many principles of safeguarding are there, and why each one is important. The answer is six.

These six principles are set out in the Care Act 2014, the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and the Children Act 1989 – three key pieces of legislation on safeguarding that together provide the legal framework for the protection of vulnerable individuals in England and Wales. Understanding these principles is a must. This is a field of work and a professional and legal obligation.

Safeguarding is much more than a policy on the bookshelf. It is a vital, dynamic embodiment of a commitment to safeguard against abuse, neglect and harm. Includes children and adults with care needs. Applies in care homes, schools, hospitals, in the community and within families. By understanding the principles in depth, professionals are much more likely to identify warning signs, respond appropriately, and work together to keep people safe. On the other hand, the lack of these principles can be very dangerous.

This is a guide for safeguarding care workers, educators, social workers, managers and all others with safeguarding responsibilities based in the UK. Clearly and fully explains each principle. It also outlines the law which underpins all safeguarding work in England and can help you to understand not only what you should do, but also why it is necessary under the law.

What is Safeguarding and Why Does It Matter in the UK?

Safeguarding is about keeping children, young people and adults who are at risk safe from harm, abuse and neglect. In the UK, it is a collaborative approach. It can’t be achieved by any one person, any one team or any one organisation. It entails collaboration among care workers, social workers, health professionals, education professionals, the police, and the local community, and is based on common values and the same laws. Good safeguarding ensures individuals are well protected, and their dignity and rights are respected.

Safeguarding is necessary because some individuals are at a vulnerable risk because they may be older or suffer from disability, be ill or for some reason unable to protect themselves. As children, by virtue of their age and development, are vulnerable. Adults can be at risk due to physical or mental health issues, learning disabilities, drug and/or alcohol use, and/or loneliness. If the necessary systems, training and awareness are not in place, these individuals can be subject to abuse or neglect with nobody to help. Safeguarding is put in place to mitigate that.

Improving safety at all levels. On an individual basis, it safeguards actual persons from actual injury. At the organisational level, it enables the organisation to establish safe work sites and adequately train its workers. At the national level, it provides for systems to detect trends in abusive behaviour and hold perpetrators to account. The difference is stark when those concerned about safeguarding do so at every level. The dignity of people is maintained, their lives are safeguarded, and communities are made safer for all.

How Many Principles of Safeguarding Are There?

There are 6 principles of safeguarding. They were introduced by the Care Act 2014 and are now recognised as the framework for all adult safeguarding work in England. These are called Empowerment, Prevention, Proportionality, Protection, Partnership and Accountability. Each principle covers a different aspect of effective safeguarding. They are complementary in that they build a person-centred, rights-based framework that values and respects vulnerable persons’ dignity and autonomy and provides them with the protection they require.

How many principles of safeguarding are there? This is a question that often arises in training sessions, during job interviews, and in professional reviews, and for good reason. These six principles underlie all safeguarding policies, procedures, and training programmes across the UK. They inform and guide decisions in uncertain situations, serve as a reference model for good practice, and assist decision-makers in explaining and justifying their activities. All 6 are to be known and implemented by anyone working in a Regulated Care/Education setting.

These principles should not be filled out in boxes in the bureaucracy. They embody a set of values: people should have the right to be safe, vulnerable people deserve respect and dignity, professionals should act transparently and proportionately, and communities have a role to play in keeping their members safe. To know the principles at this level – not just the names, but what they mean and how to put them into practice is what makes good and excellent safeguarding practice.

The Key Legislation Linked to Safeguarding in the UK

The Care Act 2014

The Care Act 2014 is the most important piece of legislation for safeguarding adults in England. It put an obligation on local authorities to make inquiries when they have reason to believe that an adult with care and support needs is being abused or neglected or at risk of such abuse. The Act also created Safeguarding Adults Boards in each local area, which are multi-agency groups that coordinate and oversee safeguarding work in their localities. The local authority, the NHS, and the police have representatives on these boards.

Adult safeguarding had been a process guided by principles and guidance, not legislation – the Care Act 2014 changed all that. It made ‘discretionary’ safeguarding responsibilities statutory. It also made the well-being of the individual central to all safeguarding work – known as Making Safeguarding Personal – and included the involvement of adults in decisions about their care and protection, wherever possible. This emphasis was on what the individual wanted and what they wanted to achieve, and this was a significant change in the understanding of safeguarding.

The Care Act 2014 also brings a new definition of the terms “adult at risk. An adult (aged 18 months or older) with care and support needs who is suffering, or likely to suffer, from abuse or neglect and as a result cannot protect themselves from the abuse or abuse risk. Care workers across the UK should be familiar with this definition and use it in their work. The Act is applicable in England. There are similar provisions in place in Wales in the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. In Scotland, there is a different system – the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007. There are similar but separate pieces of legislation in Northern Ireland.

The Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 2004

The main piece of legislation relating to child safeguarding in England and Wales is the Children Act 1989. It determined that in making any decisions regarding a child’s upbringing, the child’s welfare should be the primary consideration. The concepts of parental responsibility and local authorities’ obligations to investigate child protection, as well as the use of a care order when children need to be removed from harmful circumstances, were introduced. The ideas remain key tenets of child safeguarding practice to this day.

The Children Act 2004 was a direct response to the findings of the Victoria Climbié Inquiry, which had highlighted catastrophic failures in the child protection system. Based on these findings, the 2004 Act was designed to address them. The 2004 Act introduced a duty to cooperate for various organisations – such as schools, NHS trusts and local authorities – to work better to improve children’s wellbeing. In addition, it introduced Local Safeguarding Children Boards (subsequently safeguarding partnerships) to aid the coordination of multi-agency work. The Act introduced the “Every Child Matters” framework, which outlines 5 outcomes for children, including keeping them safe and healthy.

Both Acts are key knowledge for all UK practitioners who work with children. These are the legal obligations of caretakers, teachers and health care providers. They outline clear actions that need to be taken if abuse is suspected or reported. One of the key pieces of legislation within the UK social care and education framework is the Children Act 1989.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 is often overlooked, but it is important legislation for safeguarding. It stipulates the process for making decisions on behalf of adults who might not have the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves, such as because of dementia, a learning disability, a brain injury or a mental health condition. Five key principles underlie the Act, of which the first is that all adults are presumed to have the capacity unless otherwise judged.

Any decision made on behalf of a person lacking capacity must be in their best interests and must be the least restrictive course of action possible, according to the Act. This relates to the safeguarding principle of proportionality. It is also related to empowerment: before an individual is deemed to lack capacity under the Act, practitioners are obligated to do all reasonable things to assist them in making their own decisions. Just because a person has a diagnosis or a disability does not necessarily mean they are incapable. Capacity depends on the decision and is time-dependent.

The Mental Capacity Act also introduced the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), which have been further enhanced by the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) under the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019. This is to ensure that residents in care homes or hospitals who are unable to agree to measures that limit their freedom of movement are covered. The lack of these safeguards would leave vulnerable adults vulnerable to being locked up or limited in their scope of action and freedom of movement, in contravention of their basic human rights. DoLS and LPS are key components of any adult safeguarding system.

Six Principles of Safeguarding

1. Empowerment

Empowerment is enabling people to make their choices; it is giving them real power over decisions that affect their lives. It is about recognising and honouring each person, even the most vulnerable, as having a right, a voice, the power to determine what happens to them. Empowerment is a key component of safeguarding and includes listening to what the person wishes, consulting with the person in the planning process, and, as far as possible, gaining their informed consent, and ensuring that the person has the information they need to make meaningful decisions. It is a non-paternalistic model and a non-professional approach.

Empowerment in practice is someone sitting with an abused person and asking the question: What do you want to happen next? It’s not jargon; it’s an explanation in layperson’s terms of how the safeguarding process works. This means respecting a person’s decision, even if professionals may disagree, provided that the decision doesn’t put the person in a serious, immediately life-threatening situation. This can also involve ensuring that people are aware of independent advocacy support if they require assistance to voice their opinions or to go through the safeguarding process.

The importance of empowerment is underscored by the fact that historically, decisions affecting the safety of vulnerable citizens were made without their participation. The Care Act 2014 introduced a change, making the wishes and outcomes of the individual central to the whole safeguarding process. This change (Making Safeguarding Personal) is asking professionals to start each safeguarding enquiry with a question to the adult: ‘What do you want to happen? The answer they give must form the response, even if it makes things more difficult for professionals. It is not just a procedure, it’s a fundamental culture change.

Empowerment for care workers is not just about formal safeguarding enquiries, but also about everyday reality. It’s about speaking to people about them. It is about providing options regarding food, showers, clothing, etc., for everyday activities. It is about raising awareness of rights and empowering individuals to speak up and feel confident to raise concerns. All interactions that help build the sense of agency and self-worth are acts of empowerment, and empowerment is one of the strongest protective factors against abuse and neglect.

2. Prevention

Prevention is a principle: it is better to prevent abuse, neglect, and harm than to deal with the consequences after they occur. It identifies a need for ‘safeguarding’ to be proactive rather than reactive. Prevention: Awareness, training, dissemination of clear information, early identification of risks, and implementation of preventive measures before problems grow into serious health issues. It is arguably the most important principle as it could prevent harm rather than react to it.

Organisational-level prevention involves robust safeguarding policies, regularly reviewed risk assessments, and restrictions that ensure all staff are thoroughly trained and up to date with the policies. It involves developing an ethos in which concerns can be raised without fear, staff know what to look out for, and which pathways will be offered for referring concerns. An organisation that takes prevention seriously not only better protects the people it serves, but also protects itself from the fallout of failing to safeguard them – whether that be reputational, legal, or financial.

Prevention at an individual level means assisting individuals to understand abuse and how/where to request help. It involves teaching older people and children at risk about their rights and what is unacceptable. It also involves helping people create a safe social network and empowering them to seek community resources. Connecting with others, family, friends and support groups is an essential protective factor for adults at risk. The less a person is connected to others, the more they will be subjected to abuse and exploitation.

Safeguarding Adults Training is one of the best ways to develop the skills needed to prevent harm to adults at all stages of their lives, from work to leisure. This training will enable workers to identify the signs of early abuse, be familiar with risk factors, and respond appropriately and promptly. It gives knowledge and confidence to get things done in the prevention stage, before a situation becomes a full safeguarding case. Prevention training is not a single one-off event; it’s a continual commitment to keeping up to date and informed.

3. Proportionality

Proportionality is that a response to a safeguarding concern should be proportionate to the level of risk. It means professionals should neither overreact nor underreact! A concern or situation that is not considered serious or immediately threatening to life should not receive the same response as a serious threat to life. Conversely, concerns should not be discounted or rejected because they may be difficult or inconvenient to address. The answer is to strike a balance – the least disruptive yet still effective response given the level of risk involved.

Prop. Life safeguards a person’s dignity and autonomy. Professional responses to all concerns through the most intrusive intervention possible can lead to unnecessary distress, broken relationships and a loss of the trust of the very person they are trying to protect. It can also lead the person not to seek help or to reveal the amount of abuse in the future. The best outcomes are achieved through a proportionate response that values the individual, involves professional judgement, and is much more likely to demonstrate respect.

In practice, a proportionality test means that professionals should be mindful in reaching any decision to act. They need to ask themselves: What type of risk is it, and what is its level? What are the expressed wishes of the person at risk? What is the minimum intrusion/maximum effectiveness intervention? Are there less formal ways to address the concern the person would like? When I say not easy, there are no easy formulas for these either. For this reason, it is important that good safeguarding training, regular supervision and access to experienced colleagues are in place to develop the judgement for professionals who can make proportionate decisions when under pressure.

Information sharing also comes into the picture, with proportionality. Sometimes it is necessary to share information about a safeguarding concern to ensure someone’s safety, but the information shared must be the minimum required to achieve that purpose. Releasing information beyond the need (to more people than necessary) violates privacy. It can result in injury to the individual and a loss of confidence in the safeguarding system. Professionals must always make decisions in accordance with the principle of proportionality—this principle applies to all decisions, not just major ones.

4. Protection

The principle of protection means that the most vulnerable must receive help and advocacy where they are most at risk and least able to protect themselves. It acknowledges that in some situations, some individuals can’t seek the help and support on their own or be able to resist the abuse or help to get themselves out of dangerous situations. Protection for these people is about professionals taking direct action – seeing signs of abuse and reporting them, referring to other services, coordinating services, and, in some cases, involving police and legal processes to prevent abuse and hold those responsible to account.

Protection is not depriving a person of their autonomy. It is about making sure that those who can’t speak for themselves have someone who can. For adults lacking mental capacity, this could include Independent Mental Capacity Advocates (IMCAs). Child protection enquiries, Child Protection Plans and court orders as appropriate for children. If the victim is an adult and being coercively controlled or financially abused, it might include initiating court action (usually in the form of an injunction) and/or the involvement of the police. The type of protection required will depend on the circumstances (and on the principle of proportionality).

A key element of protection is awareness and action in response to the various types of abuse. These involve physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, financial and material abuse, neglect, discriminatory abuse and modern slavery. Those who have a responsibility to safeguard should have the knowledge, skills and understanding to identify the signs of each type of abuse, to record their concerns appropriately and know the referral options. It is a failure to protect if, when abuse is suspected, the people who have a duty to protect don’t take steps to protect.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) Training is suitable for individuals within a specific organisation who have a particular role in leading on protection. Concerns are reported to a named professional, the Designated Safeguarding Lead, who will make referrals to statutory services. DSL training ensures that these professionals possess the knowledge, authority, and skills to take swift action to protect whenever needed. All organisations that have a role in child protection should have a trained DSL.

5. Partnership

Partnership – Good safeguarding work cannot be done by one person/team/organisation. It requires the collaboration of staff from various agencies – health, social care, education, police, housing and the voluntary sector – to share information appropriately and to coordinate their responses. It is also communicated to others outside the school, including neighbours, other faith groups, local organisations and the public, that all have a role to play in the prevention, detection and reporting of abuse.

The need for partnership was starkly illustrated through the things that went wrong in Victoria Climbié’s and Baby P’s lives, resulting in their deaths. In both cases, several agencies were involved with the child, yet they did not communicate with one another or work together effectively. It was assumed that various organisations had professionals regarding who had to take action. It had devastating consequences. Multi-agency working was made a statutory requirement by the Children Act 2004 and by subsequent guidance following these failures. The lesson’s message is clear: Partnership saves lives.

Delivering partnership at a local level in adult safeguarding is achieved through the multi-agency Safeguarding Adults Board. Partnership is also a daily occurrence in practice, in the form of case conferences, multi-disciplinary team meetings, the sharing of risk assessments, and joint working between professionals. Good partnership work involves good communication, respect and a shared responsibility for the person’s safety and wellbeing. It also requires knowledge of colleagues’ roles and responsibilities in other agencies, as well as when, what, and how to make referrals.

Partnership is also with families and carers. Although sometimes the abusers are family members, in many cases, the family is the key factor that could protect a vulnerable person. Families are partners in good safeguarding practice, wherever appropriate, and are kept informed of the process and draw on their knowledge of the person’s needs/situation. Concurrently, professionals need to be aware of situations in which family involvement may pose a risk and take appropriate action, prioritising the person’s safety.

6. Accountability

Accountability means that everyone is responsible for safeguarding, and that, for every individual, professional, organisation and statutory body, there is a responsibility; that safeguarding is ‘everyone’s business’. Accountability encompasses transparency: of actions taken; of the records kept; of adherence to policies and procedures; aof nd willingness to explain and justify decisions to managers, inspectors, and, a nd if required, the courts. Accountability involves learning from lessons and making changes when safeguarding is ineffective.

In practice, accountability means that all those who work with children or young people in their care, such as care workers, teachers, nurses and social workers, should be aware of their safeguarding duties and fulfil them. Do not leave it to someone else to do! Where there is a concern, there is a responsibility to raise it if a professional raises it. Not reporting abuse or neglect may have serious consequences for the professional, such as professional dismissal, referral to the regulatory body, and, in some cases, criminal prosecution. The principle of accountability removes the somewhat ‘passive’ or ‘indecisive’ attitude of ignoring safeguarding concerns.

Accountability at the organisational level is about having clear and well-communicated safeguarding policies, all staff trained, and effective systems for recording and reviewing safeguarding cases. This involves a personal commitment from senior leaders to the culture of safeguarding in their organisation. Mechanisms of external accountability include CQC inspections, Ofsted inspections, and Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs), which all assess whether organisations are really demonstrating compliance with their safeguarding responsibilities and hold them to account if they are not.

There’s a positive aspect of accountability, too. When professionals do things well – when they identify a concern and the report is accurate, they work well with colleagues, and a good outcome is reached – this should be noted and celebrated as well. Creating a culture of accountability isn’t all about failure. It also involves enabling and supporting good practice, disseminating learning from effective interventions, and ensuring that practitioners feel confident and supported to do their safeguarding work. When well done, accountability is the impetus for ongoing improvement.

How to Apply the Six Principles in Your Daily Practice?

Embedding the Principles in Everyday Work

The six principles of safeguarding are not just theory and can be remembered during training. They have every day to help influence the behaviour of professionals within their context of caring for and supporting the people they work with. Living the principles is: Before making any decision, ask yourself: Am I empowering this person? What do I need to do to keep harm away? Is my answer proportional? Do I feel prepared to take action to defend if necessary? Do I work collaboratively with others? Am I living in a way that I am responsible for my actions?

Supervision and reflective practice are two of the most effective ways to integrate the principles. Supervision provides “think time” for professionals, helps them “try on” judgments in light of the principles and advice from more experienced colleagues. Reflective practice (individual or team) enables the team to learn from real situations, identify patterns, and continually enhance their safeguarding response. Supervision and reflection are built into the life of organisations that provide them, where the principles are lived rather than just learned.

Recognising the Signs of Abuse

Whether it is using any of these principles, the starting point is always to recognise abuse. What is not seen cannot be prevented, protected, or reported. Abuse can be physical (unexplained bruises, burns or injuries). Can be emotional – someone who appears frightened, shy, or inhibited around a specific person. It may be monetary – money is often missing from bank accounts, new and unknown people enter the person’s life, and the will or power of attorney is changed suddenly.

Neglect is the most frequently reported type of abuse and is often the most difficult type of abuse to recognise, as it may occur over time, and is often misinterpreted as the person’s condition deteriorating. Indicators of neglect are lack of care – hygiene, loss of weight, unaddressed medical issues, lack of necessary items (e.g. medication or food) and unsafe or unsanitary living conditions. Professionals need to be sensitive to these indicators and readily document and report them (as appropriate). It is very important to have documentation – ambiguous notes are not very helpful in a safeguarding enquiry.

What Are the Types of Abuse in Safeguarding?

The six principles guide safeguarding, but it is also important to recognise what safeguarding responds to. There are several forms of abuse and neglect which fall under the adult safeguarding umbrella, as identified within the Care Act 2014. Not all listed types of harm are comprehensive, but they do include the most frequently occurring and severe harms that vulnerable adults may suffer. Each type needs to be understood so that professionals can identify risks early and act on them.

Physical Abuse

Physical Abuse – hitting, slapping, pushing, kicking or misuse of medication or restraint. It doesn’t always leave a mark, but in many cases it does, or it could create a hidden mark mistaken for accidental damage. Healthcare providers need to be sensitive to presentations of injury that do not match the history, injuries with no known cause, or repeated injuries to the healthcare provider. Physical abuse is one of the easier types of abuse to record, but can be challenging to prove if not recorded carefully, and on the day of the event. Physical abuse can result in damage to a person physically and psychologically. This can impact a person’s feelings of security and self-worth, even after a single incident.

Emotional or Psychological Abuse

Emotional or psychological abusive behaviours include threatening, humiliation, controlling behaviours, isolation, verbal abuse and gaslighting. It can be difficult to spot, as it leaves no marks, and the person experiencing it may believe the behaviour is a normal part of life or that they somehow caused it. Emotional abuse can be the basis for other types of abuse. The perpetrators have psychological control that makes the victim feel helpless, lonely and needy. This makes it difficult for the victim to report that this is happening to heror fo seek assistance. Coercive control was introduced as a criminal offence under the Serious Crime Act 2015 and is a key factor in the understanding of the work of any professional in a safeguarding role.

Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse involves any sexual contact or activity that is without the consent of the person. This involves rape, sexual attack and sexual exploitation. It may also involve being forced to look at sexual material or to be involved in making sexual material. If an adult cannot give consent to sexual activity, any sexual activity is considered to be abusive. Reporting of cases of sexual abuse needs to be carried out sensitively, acknowledging the trauma that may be experienced, without any suggestion of blame towards the child or young person who has reported the abuse.

Financial or Material Abuse

Financial/ material abuse is becoming more prevalent, especially amongst older people. This involves theft, fraud, coercion relating to Wills or property, exploitation by anyone who pretends to be a friend or helper, and exploitation by a person with Power of Attorney. Financial abuse may be carried out by a family member, carer, professional or stranger. Any professionals with whom the individual interacts should be aware of any changes in the individual’s financial circumstances, new relationship partners or the individual appearing confused or under pressure about money.

Neglect

Neglect and acts of omission involve a failure to meet a person’s basic care needs (deliberately or otherwise) due to systemic, resource, or attentional failures. This includes when a person doesn’t provide the individual with enough food, warmth, medication, personal care or medical treatment. Neglect can be by individual carers or organisations. It is a fairly frequent type of abuse reported in adult safeguarding cases in the UK and is linked to an under-resourcing, lack of training and cultures of ‘getting away with it’.

Discriminatory Abuse

Discriminatory abuse is when abuse is caused by prejudice and discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age. It can take the form of derogatory language, denial of services based on a protected characteristic, or targeted harassment. HA hate crime is a type of discriminatory abuse. It is the responsibility of any professional who witnesses or becomes aware of discriminatory abuse to report it, as both a safeguarding issue and a potential criminal offence.

Modern Slavery and Exploitation

Modern slavery, trafficking and exploitation are a rapidly emerging safeguarding issue in the UK. Modern slavery is when someone is under the control of another person for exploitation – either by forced labour, sexual exploitation or through domestic servitude by using force, threats, coercion or deception. There is potential for modern slavery victims to be seen by professionals in health, social care and education. They should be able to recognise signs and know how to refer via the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). This is an issue which has become increasingly recognised over the last number of years, but is by no means universal amongst the working population.

Who Has a Safeguarding Duty in the UK?

Many different people and organisations throughout the UK have a safeguarding duty. It is the primary responsibility of local authorities to make enquiries if they believe an adult may be at risk of harm. All NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups have responsibilities to cooperate with safeguarding enquiries and to provide staff training. Schools, colleges and universities have statutory responsibilities under the Child Protection aspects of the Children Act 2004 and guidance to protect the children and young people in their care.

There are duties for personal safeguarding within the role of individual professionals. All social workers, nurses, teachers, care workers, and GPs have professional codes of conduct that specify safeguarding responsibilities as outlined in Duty of Care training. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is responsible for regulating adult social care and health services in England and has safeguarding as one of the key components of its inspection process. Ofsted fulfils a similar role for schools and childcare. The regulations give the regulator the power to take action if an individual or organisation fails in its safeguarding responsibilities – this could involve sanctions, including deregistration.

In addition to regulated professionals, anyone who comes into regular association with vulnerable individuals has a moral (and possibly legal) responsibility to have concerns when they are seen. This includes volunteers, church leaders, sports coaches and members of the public. The message “If in doubt, report it” is at the very heart of developing a culture of safeguarding awareness. It is always better to report a concern that turns out to be unfounded than not to report a genuine one. Being silent can be very costly.

FAQs

Conclusion

All safeguarding practice throughout the UK is based on the six principles of safeguarding: Empowerment, Prevention, Proportionality, Protection, Partnership and Accountability. They were introduced by the Care Act 2014 and supported by other legislation, such as the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Children Act 1989, and the Children Act 2004. All professionals with safeguarding responsibilities should be familiar with and apply these principles in their day-to-day work. They do not come with free choice. They form the foundation of the legal and ethical practice of safe person-centred care.

Knowing how many principles of safeguarding are there is step one. It is whether such principles are consistently and thoughtfully followed and whether they are rightly applied with a commitment to ensuring the safety and dignity of those that they serve. This will require continuous training, robust organisational cultures, good multi-agency working, and professionals to take action if they have a concern, even if it is uncomfortable or difficult.