Dealing with Safeguarding Concerns

Purpose and scope

The purpose of this document is to provide procedures for dealing with any safeguarding
concerns which are raised by or made against staff, volunteers, consultants, suppliers, board
members, committee members, people attached to member organisations or in the wider
global MS community or the public with whom we interact.

Procedures

1. Concern is received

1.1 Concerns could reach MSIF through various routes. This may be in a structured format
such as a letter, e-mail, text, or message on social media. It may also be in the form of an
informal conversation or chat. If a staff member or anybody else hears something in an
informal conversation or chat that they think is a safeguarding concern, they should report this immediately as outlined below.

1.2 If a safeguarding concern is disclosed directly to a member of staff, or any other person
involved with MSIF, the person receiving the concern should:
• Listen
• Empathise with the person
• Ask who, when, where, what but not why
• Repeat/check their understanding of the situation
• Report the concern to the appropriate staff member (see below).

1.3 The person receiving the concern should then document the following information,
wherever possible using a Safeguarding Report Form, available from the MSIF Secretariat.
• Name of person raising the concern
• Name(s) of alleged complainant(s) of safeguarding incident(s) if different from above
• Name(s) of person(s) who the safeguarding concern has been made about
• Description of incident(s)
• Dates(s), times(s) and location(s) of incident

1.4 The person receiving the report should then forward this information to the HR and Office Manager and CEO as soon as possible, and at the latest within 24 hours. The CEO will make a judgement on which concerns should be shared with the Chair of the MSIF board, for example where the concern involves an MSIF board or committee member.

1.5 Due to the sensitive nature of safeguarding concerns, confidentiality must be maintained
during all stages of this reporting process, and information shared on a limited ‘need to know’ basis only.

1.6 If the reporting staff member or other person is not satisfied that MSIF is appropriately
addressing the concern, they have a right to escalate the concern, either up the management
line, to the Board or to an external statutory body. The staff member will be protected against any negative repercussions as a result of raising their concern. See MSIF’s Whistleblowing Policy.

2. Assess how to proceed with the concern

2.1 The CEO, where appropriate in conjunction with the Chair of the MSIF board, will appoint the most appropriate Decision Maker for handling the concern. This would be somebody not implicated or involved in the case in any way.

2.2 The Decision Maker will determine whether it is possible to take the concern forward.
• Does the reported incident(s) represent a form of abuse, harm or exploitation as covered in the safeguarding policy?
• Is there sufficient information to follow up this concern?

2.3 If there is insufficient information to follow up the concern, and no way to ascertain this
information (for example if the person raising the concern did not leave contact details), the
concern should be stored in a confidential file to be kept by the HR and Office Manager or in exceptional cases, by the Chairperson or other Officer of the Board.

2.4 If the concern raised relates to children under the age of 18, expert advice* must be sought immediately. Similarly, if at any point in the process of responding to the concern (for example during an investigation) it becomes apparent that anyone involved is a child under the age of 18, the Decision Maker should be immediately informed, and expert advice should be sought before proceeding.

2.5 If the decision is made to take the concern forward, the Decision Maker must have the
relevant expertise and capacity to manage a safeguarding case. If they do not have this
expertise in-house, then assistance from external sources will be necessary. This may include using the services of a consultancy that specialises in conducting workplace investigations around safeguarding.

2.6 Clarify what, how and with whom information will be shared relating to this case.
Confidentiality should be always maintained, and information shared on a need-to-know basis only. Decide which information needs to be shared with which stakeholder as information needs may be different.

2.7 Check that the Safeguarding Policy is the appropriate policy to progress the concern
through. For example, workplace sexual harassment would be dealt with through MSIF’s
Respect in the Workplace policy. If there isn’t a policy for the type of concern that has been
made, follow these procedures.

2.8 Check MSIF’s obligations for informing relevant bodies of a safeguarding concern. These may include (but are not limited to):
• Statutory bodies such as the Charity Commission
• Funding organisation
• Umbrella bodies/networks

Some of the above may require information when a concern is received, others may require
information on completion of the case, or annual top-line information on cases. When
submitting information to any of these bodies, the confidentiality implications must be thought through very carefully.

* For example if the concern is raised in the UK, you can contact the NSPCC Helpline by calling 0808 800 5000, emailing help@NSPCC.org.uk or completing our report abuse online form.

If you think a child is in immediate danger, please call the police on 999 straight away, or the relevant number if you are in another country.

3. Appoint roles and responsibilities for case management

3.1 The Decision Maker (see 2.1) will take the following steps.
3.2 If the concern alleges a serious safeguarding violation, they may wish to hold a case
conference. This may vary depending on the case but should always include the:
• Decision Maker
• Person who received the report (such as the line manager)
• HR and Office Manager

The case conference should decide the next steps to take, including any protection concerns
and support needs for the complainant and other stakeholders (please see below).

4. Provide support to complainant where needed/requested

4.1 Provide appropriate support to the complainant(s) of safeguarding incidents. Please note that this should be provided as a duty of care even if the report has not yet been investigated. Support may include counselling or medical assistance.

4.2 All decision-making regarding support should be in full agreement with and led by interests and needs as expressed by the complainant.

5. Assess any protection or security risks to stakeholders

5.1 For concerns relating to serious incidents, an immediate risk assessment to determine
whether there are any current or potential risks to any stakeholders involved in the case must be undertaken, a mitigation plan developed if required, and immediate action taken as
appropriate.

5.2 It is important to continue to update the risk assessment and plan on a regular basis,
throughout and after the case, as required.

6. Decide on next steps

6.1 The Decision Maker decides the next steps. This could be (but is not limited to):
• No further action (for example if there is insufficient information to follow up, or the
concern refers to incidents outside MSIF’s remit).
• An investigation is required to gather further information.
• The disciplinary procedure is invoked (if no further investigation is needed).
• A referral is made to the relevant authorities.

6.2 If the report concerns associated personnel (for example consultants, or suppliers), the
decision-making process will be different. Although associated personnel are not staff
members, MSIF has a duty of care to protect from harm, anyone who comes into contact with MSIF via its work. Whilst we cannot follow disciplinary processes with individuals outside the organisation, decisions may be made, for example, to terminate a contract with a supplier based on the actions of their staff.

6.3 If an investigation is required and MSIF does not have the capacity to undertake this
internally, external resources to conduct the investigation must be identified and the budget
determined.

7. Make decision on outcome of investigation report

7.1 The Decision Maker makes a decision based on the information provided in the
investigation report.

Decisions regarding the person who the complaint is about should be made in accordance
with (or akin to, in cases of non-staff members) existing policies and procedures for staff
misconduct if applicable.

7.2 If at this or any stage in the process, criminal activity is suspected, the case should be
referred to the relevant authorities unless this may pose a risk to anyone involved in the case. In this instance, the Decision Maker together with other senior staff and/or the Chair of the Board and other Officers as appropriate, will need to decide on how to proceed. This decision should be made bearing in mind a risk assessment of potential protection risks to all concerned, including the complainant and the person who the complaint is about.

8. Conclude the case

8.1 Document all decisions made clearly and confidentially.

8.2 Store all information relating to the case confidentially, and in accordance with MSIF’s data protection policy and legislation.

8.3 Record anonymised data relating to the case to feed into organisational reporting
requirements (e.g. serious incident reporting to the Board), and to feed into learning for dealing with future cases.