Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Fit for All
holiday clubs should be safe and happy places for children to be and for parents, carers and families to
feel confident that their child is well looked after and that robust safeguarding arrangements are in
place.
As set out in working together to safeguard children, safeguarding is defined as:
- protecting children from maltreatment
- preventing impairment of children’s mental and physical health or development
- ensuring that children grow up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and
effective care - taking action if you identify children to be at risk of harm.
All providers must take the safeguarding and welfare of all children seriously; issues and disclosures that arise during HAF-funded sessions must be dealt with in line with providers’ own policies, procedures and codes of practice and the standards set out by Bring it on Brum. Where necessary and appropriate, safeguarding concerns must be reported to the relevant authorities.
Birmingham Safeguarding Children Partnership
Birmingham Safeguarding Children Partnership provides organisations with information and support in relation to safeguarding children and young people.
See the Birmingham Safeguarding Children Partnership website. Here you can make a referral into Children’s Advice & Support Service.
They can also be contacted by phone on 0121 303 1888 or you can email them directly via CASS@birminghamchildrenstrust.co.uk.
Right Help, Right Time
On the 15th December 2021, the BSCP published the refreshed Birmingham’s threshold guidance ‘Right Help, Right Time’. The updated guidance (Version 5 with a light blue cover), is now available to download. The new version replaces the previous version dated February 2020 (with a lilac cover).
Right Help Right Time Guidance
What’s New in the Guidance?
- The importance of Early Help and how to access early intervention is embedded throughout the document.
- We have strengthened the guidance on Contextual Safeguarding, the impact of domestic abuse and school exclusions.
- We have provided greater clarity on the importance of consent and information sharing.
- We have embedded direct links within the Right Help, Right Time guidance to the ‘Family Connect’ and the new revised ‘Request for Support’ forms’ that you will need to complete. You can also type the web addresses directly into your browser to access the forms locations
Key forms you need to complete to access support
Included within the guidance are links to the ‘Family Connect’ and the ‘Request for Support’ forms’. For those families with Universal Plus Needs and requiring Early Help or Family Support, you need to complete the ‘Family Connect’ form. For those families with Additional Needs and/or Complex and Significant Needs you need to complete the ‘Request for Support’ form. To access the forms, click on the links below.
If you have never completed a ‘Family Connect’ or ‘Request for Support’ form, or if it’s just been a while, to support you we have made available guidance on how to complete the forms. We have also included exemplars of what good multi-agency referrals look like.
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Checks
All staff who are employed by holiday club providers funded through the HAF programme must be subject to an enhanced DBS check with barred list information. Part 3 of keeping children safe in education sets out a clear process for safe recruitment of staff. Volunteers involved in the delivery of Fit for All sessions must be DBS (Disclosure and Barring service) checked in order to work unsupervised and provide regular and regulated activities.
The guidance on regulated activity in relation to children contains definitions of what is meant by
regular and regulated activity. Example; a guest speaker or presenter visits a holiday, activities and
food programme club to deliver a talk on nature. The guest is escorted by staff at the club (who are
DBS checked) while on the premises and is not left unsupervised with children at any time. In these circumstances, we would not expect a DBS check to be carried out.
To provide reassurance to parents, families and carers, BIOB strongly recommends that all volunteers
who are involved in the delivery of the holiday, activities and food programme in holiday clubs
should have an enhanced DBS check (which, where applicable, should include children’s barred list information). We do not recommend holiday clubs using volunteers that are not DBS checked, but if this occurs, it is the responsibility of the provider to ensure that volunteers are not at any point left alone and unsupervised with children and young people.