Safeguarding Adults Week 2021 will take place from 15- 21 November.

Safeguarding Adults Week is a time for organisations to come together to raise awareness of important safeguarding issues.

The aim is to highlight safeguarding key issues, facilitate conversations and to raise awareness of safeguarding best practice. So we can all be better together.

The theme for Safeguarding Adults Week 2021 is ‘Creating Safer Cultures’. Promoting safer cultures is all about how organisations and individuals can take steps to minimise harm occurring in the first instance, whilst simultaneously ensuring correct policies and procedures are in place so that safeguarding concerns that are raised, are recognised and responded to effectively.

Each day, we will focus on a specific topic to facilitate conversations around the theme of creating safer cultures.

• Monday- Emotional Abuse and Safeguarding Mental Health

• Tuesday- The Power of Language

• Wednesday- Digital Safeguarding

• Thursday- Adult Grooming and the Ann Craft Trust Grooming and Exploitation Conference

• Friday- Creating Safer Organisational Cultures

• Saturday & Sunday- Safeguarding and You

What do Safer Cultures Look Like? 

• Listening- organisations should listen to members and create an environment where people’s concerns are listened to and addressed appropriately (be that service users, participants, volunteers or employees). Individuals should feel confident about how to respond to, report and refer any safeguarding concerns either within their organisation or community.
• Leading– organisations should ensure they have the correct policies and procedures in place to minimise the risk of harm and to respond effectively should concerns be raised. This could include having a detailed safeguarding policy and ensuring that staff and volunteers receive regular safeguarding training.
• Learning- it is important that organisations, and individuals within them, take the time to learn from safeguarding incidents and reflect on what actions could be altered in the future to facilitate best practice and minimise the risk of harm.

Gloucestershire FA Designated Safeguarding Officer, Hugh Feltham shared his thoughts on Safeguarding Adults Week 2021.

“It is vital to remember that safeguarding is as relevant when we talk about adults as it is to children and young people.

The Gloucestershire Football Association are pleased to once again support the Ann Craft Trust in promoting Safeguarding Adults Week and we once again encourage all participants to engage in this worthwhile initiative.”

Football Development Officer, Richard Todd added: “Safeguarding Adults in Sport week is a fantastic initiative we are proud to support.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Disability Football has been greatly affected with some players only just returning to the game and some still with concerns about playing again. The Football we have been fortunate to run has stressed the importance of a player’s Mental Health and The FA’s Safeguarding policies and procedures.”

Take a look at Ann Craft Trust website to see how you can get involved with Safeguarding Adults Week, download useful resources, and find further information.

Ann Craft Trust Safeguarding Resources 

Furthermore, you can download the Ann Craft Trust Safeguarding Adults In Sport Resource Pack Second Edition below.

Ann Craft Trust Resource Pack