The care act recognises 10 types of harm. These are listed with examples below. These examples are illustrative and not exhaustive.
Physical Abuse
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Physical abuse is any intentional act causing injury or trauma to another person or animal by way of bodily contact.
- Assault.
- Hitting.
- Slapping.
- Pushing.
- Misuse of medication.
- Restraint.
- Inappropriate physical sanctions.
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Domestic Abuse
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Domestic abuse is any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening behaviour, violence, or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been, intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. Domestic abuse can encompass but is not limited to:
- Psychological.
- Physical.
- Sexual.
- Financial.
- Emotional.
- So called ‘honour’ based abuse – forced marriage.
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Sexual Abuse
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Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behaviour by one person upon another.
- Rape.
- Indecent exposure.
- Sexual harassment.
- Inappropriate looking or touching.
- Sexual teasing or innuendo.
- Sexual photography.
- Subjection to pornography or witnessing sexual acts.
- Indecent exposure.
- Sexual assault.
- Sexual acts to which the adult has not consented or was pressured into consenting.
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Psychological Abuse
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Psychological abuse involves the regular and deliberate use of a range of words and non-physical actions used with the purpose to manipulate, hurt, weaken, or frighten a person mentally and emotionally; and/or distort, confuse, or influence a person’s thoughts and actions within their everyday lives, changing their sense of self and harming their wellbeing.
- Emotional abuse.
- Threats of harm or abandonment.
- Deprivation of contact.
- Humiliation.
- Blaming.
- Controlling.
- Intimidation.
- Coercion.
- Harassment.
- Verbal abuse.
- Cyber bullying.
- Isolation.
- Unreasonable and unjustified withdrawal of services or supportive networks.
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Financial or Material Abuse
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Economic/Financial abuse is a form of abuse when one intimate partner has control over the other partner’s access to economic resources, which diminishes the victim’s capacity to support themselves and forces them to depend on the perpetrator financially.
- Theft.
- Fraud.
- Internet scamming.
- Coercion in relation to an adult’s financial affairs or arrangements, including in connection with wills, property, inheritance, or financial transactions.
- The misuse or misappropriation of property, possessions, or benefits.
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Modern Slavery
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Contemporary slavery, also sometimes known as modern slavery or neo-slavery, refers to institutional slavery that continues to occur in present-day society.
- Slavery.
- Human trafficking.
- Forced labour and domestic servitude.
- Traffickers and slave masters using whatever means they have at their disposal to coerce, deceive, and force individuals into a life of abuse, servitude, and inhumane treatment.
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Discriminatory Abuse
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Discrimination is abuse that focuses on a difference or perceived difference. This may involve race, gender, disability, or any of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act.
- Harassment.
- Slurs or similar treatment.
- Because of race.
- Gender and gender identity.
- Age.
- Disability.
- Sexual orientation.
- Religion.
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Organisational Abuse
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Including neglect and poor care practice within an institution or specific care setting such as a hospital or care home, for example, or in relation to care provided in one’s own home. This may range from one off incidents to on-going ill-treatment. It can be through neglect or poor professional practice because of the structure, policies, processes, and practices within an organization. |
Neglect and Acts of Omission
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In the context of caregiving, neglect is a form of abuse where the perpetrator, who is responsible for caring for someone who is unable to care for themselves, fails to do so. It can be a result of carelessness, indifference, or unwillingness and abuse.
- Ignoring medical, emotional, or physical care needs.
- Failure to provide access to appropriate health, care and support or educational services.
- The withholding of the necessities of life, such as medication, adequate nutrition, and heating.
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Self-neglect
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Self-neglect is a general term used to describe a vulnerable adult living in a way that puts his or her health, safety, or well-being at risk.
- Living in very unclean, sometimes verminous circumstances.
- Poor self-care leading to a decline in personal hygiene.
- Poor nutrition.
- Poor healing/sores.
- Poorly maintained clothing.
- Isolation.
- Failure to take medication.
- Hoarding.
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Other forms of harm not in The Care Act but relevant to safeguarding adults are:
Exploitation
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Abuse of adults with care and support needs often occurs within a context of exploitation. This can be seen as an act where someone will use another person for profit, labour, sexual gratification, or some other person or financial advantage. It can take the form of financial, emotional, psychological, or sexual exploitation. |
Criminal Exploitation
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Where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate or deceive an adult into any criminal activity:
- In exchange for something the victim needs or wants.
- For the financial or other advantage of the perpetrator or facilitator such as to support serious organised crime and/or terrorism.
- Through violence or the threat of violence to ensure compliance.
- The victim may be criminally exploited even if the activity appears consensual. It can also occur using technology and or social media.
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Organised Crime and County Lines
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Organised Crime is “serious crime planned, coordinated and conducted by people working together on a continuing basis. Their motivation is often, but not always, financial gain.’” Organised crime groups are “organised criminals working together for a particular criminal activity or activities.”
County lines is a term used to describe gangs and organised criminal networks involved in exporting illegal drugs into one or more importing areas within the UK, using dedicated mobile phone lines or other form of “deal line”. |
Cuckooing
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This term is “named after the nest stealing practices of wild cuckoos. It describes the situation where a county lines dealer ‘takes over’ accommodation located in the provincial drugs market, using it as a local dealing base.”
An individual or group can do this by taking over the homes of local adults and families (including children and adults with care and support needs) through an abuse of power or vulnerability by coercion, control and/or force so that they can provide a base for the supply of drugs into the local community.
This places the adult and/or families at an increased risk of eviction (if they are in social or privately rented housing) and isolation from their communities due to the anti-social activity it can create.
Cuckooing often forms part of wider ‘county lines’ activity and is also a form of criminal exploitation. |
Hate Crime
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A hate crime is any criminal offence that is motivated by hostility or prejudice based upon the victim’s:
- Disability.
- Race.
- Religion or belief.
- Sexual orientation.
- Transgender identity.
Hate crime can take many forms including:
- Physical attacks such as physical assault, damage to property, offensive graffiti, and arson.
- Threat of attack including offensive letters, abusive or obscene telephone calls, groups hanging.
- Around to intimidate and unfounded, malicious complaints.
- Verbal abuse, insults or harassment taunting, offensive leaflets and posters, abusive gestures.
- Dumping of rubbish outside homes or through letterboxes, and bullying.
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Radicalisation
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Radicalisation refers to the process by which a person comes to support terrorism and extremist ideologies associated with terrorist groups. Some young people and adults at risk of harm may be vulnerable to radicalisation for the purpose of violent extremism. |
Bullying
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Bullying can take many forms and includes:
- Emotional: Being excluded, tormented (e.g., hiding things, threatening gestures).
- Physical: Pushing, kicking, punching or any use of aggression and intimidation.
- Racial: Racial taunts, use of racial symbols, graffiti, gestures.
- Sexual: Unwanted physical contact, sexually abusive comments including homophobic comments and graffiti.
- Verbal: Name calling, spreading rumours, teasing.
- Cyber: All areas on internet, such as email and internet, chat room misuse. Mobile threats by text message and calls. Misuse of associated technology i.e., camera and video facilities.
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Students with Special Educational Needs (SEND)
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Students with special educational needs and disabilities can face additional safeguarding challenges. Hate crime against disabled people is said to be on the rise, including so-called “mate crime”, where people pretend to befriend a vulnerable person, while secretly stealing from or abusing them. |
So-called Honour based Abuse
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So called honour-based abuse encompasses crimes which have been committed to protect or defend the honour of the family and/or the community including Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), forced marriage and practices such as breast ironing. Abuse committed in the context of preserving “honour” often involves a wider network of family or community pressure and can include multiple perpetrators. It is important to be aware of this dynamic and additional risk factors when deciding what form of safeguarding action to take. |
Forced Marriage
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A forced marriage is one entered into without the full and free consent of one or both parties and where violence, threats or any other form of coercion is used to cause a person to enter into a marriage. Threats can be physical or emotional and psychological. A lack of full and free consent can be where a person does not consent or where they cannot consent (if they have learning disabilities, for example). |
Online Safety
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The use of technology has become a significant component of many safeguarding issues. Exploitation, radicalisation; sexual predication: technology often provides the platform that facilitates harm. The breadth of issues classified within online safety is considerable, but can be categorised into three areas of risk:
- Content – being exposed to illegal, inappropriate, or harmful material, such as, pornography, fake news, racist or radical and extremist views.
- Contact – being subjected to harmful online interaction with other users; for example, commercial advertising as well as adults posing as children or young adults.
- Conduct – personal online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm, such as, making, sending, and receiving explicit images, or online bullying.
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Significant Harm
If the incident under consideration on its own, or in combination with other concerns, could reasonably constitute significant harm to a child or vulnerable adult, then this information will need to be shared with an appropriate person or authority. In all cases where you suspect abuse, you should talk to your referrer in the first instance and keep a record of relevant information.
Patterns of Abuse
Most incidents of abuse by staff and volunteers towards children or adults, when seen
with hindsight, contain prior indications of the potential for abuse that have been missed, ignored, or overlooked by the department. Sexual abuse is likely to be characterised by a process of grooming of one or more people prior to a specific act. This will often consist of blurring of boundaries to allow opportunities for abuse to take place. It is essential that managers are fully aware of this possibility and are alert to indications of conduct that could be part of a grooming process.
“Grooming” can constitute an offence and applies to specific behaviour towards children up to 16 years. Further, whilst the age of consent for sexual activity is 16, any sexual activity between a pupil/student up to the age of 18 and a member of staff, even if perceived to be with the consent of a pupil, is an ‘Abuse of Trust’ offence and should be brought to the immediate attention of the Safeguarding Officer who will liaise with the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO).
Activities that might arouse suspicion or merit further investigation, especially when conducted in a clandestine manner, and are contrary to the department’s policy, and which occur in combinations in relation to the same member of staff or volunteer might include:
- Meeting or visiting Learners outside of the activity.
- Offering extra support to individual Learners.
- Placing themselves in closed rooms or inappropriate situations with a learner.
- A series of minor concerns about physical contact.
- Inappropriate behaviour/conduct/boundaries with learners.
- Use of inappropriate and/or familiar language.
- Texting or e-mailing learners from private address/number.
- Underperforming in their job linked to other behavioural concerns.
- A history of frequent moves from job to job working with young people or children.
- Constantly ignoring rules about safe levels of staff to learner ratios.
What you should do if you think a child or vulnerable adult is being abused If you have any concerns because you think that a child might be being abused, don’t assume that someone else is doing something about it, you must do the following:
- In an emergency (i.e., a serious incident, the child needs medical attention, or a crime may have occurred) call 999.
- Contact the LALS designated safeguarding officer who will report your concerns.
- Keep a record of your concerns and any action taken.