1.3 Values - Supporting adults at risk of abuse and neglect

Safeguarding has the highest priority across all organisations. There is a shared value of placing safeguarding within the highest of corporate priorities. Organisations are judged on the effectiveness of safe communities and their values towards safeguarding adults who may be at risk of abuse or neglect. Values include:

• People are able to access support and protection to live independently and have control over their lives;
• Appropriate safeguarding options should be discussed with the adult at risk according to their wishes and preferences. They should take proper account of any additional factors associated with the individual’s disability, age, gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, culture or lifestyle;
• The adult at risk should be the primary focus of decision making, determining what safeguards they want in place and provided with options so that they maintain choice and control;
• All action should begin with the assumption that the adult at risk is best-placed to judge their own situation and knows best the outcomes, goals and wellbeing they want to achieve;
• The individual’s views, wishes, feelings and beliefs should be paramount and are critical to a personalised way of working with them;
• There is a presumption that adults have mental capacity to make informed decisions about their lives. If someone has been assessed as not having mental capacity, to make decisions about their safety, decision making will be made in their best interests as set out in the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice;
• People will have access to supported decision making;
• The adult at risk should be the primary focus of decision making, determining what safeguards they want in place and have support to explore options so that they can take, exercise and maintain choice and control over their own lives;
• All decisions should be made with the adult at risk and promote their wellbeing and be reasonable, justified, proportionate and ethical;
• Timeliness should be determined by the personal circumstances of the adult at risk;
• Every effort should be made to ensure that adults at risk are afforded appropriate protection under the law and have full access to the criminal justice system when a crime has been committed.