1. Cyclists Fighting Cancer Policy Statement

Cyclists Fighting Cancer’s aim are to:

• Relieve the needs of children in the UK who are affected by cancer and to promote and protect their physical and mental health through the provision of bicycles, tricycles, trailers and other cycling related accessories.
• Relieve the needs of all persons who are surviving cancer through the provision of support and information.

The Charity recognises that it has a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and adults with additional care needs and to keep them safe. The purpose of this policy statement is:

• to protect children and young people who receive Cyclists Fighting Cancer’s services from harm.
• to provide staff and volunteers, as well as children and young people and their families, with the overarching principles that guide our approach to child protection.

This policy applies to anyone working on behalf of Cyclists Fighting Cancer, including senior managers and the board of trustees, paid staff (Cancer and exercise specialists, Family liaison officer and bike shop staff) and volunteers.

Legal framework

This policy has been drawn up based on legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

A summary of the key legislation is available from NSPCC Learning.

The following policies and documents have informed this policy:

• Working Together to Safeguard Children (HM Government March 2018)

• Safeguarding and protecting people for charities and trustees (HM Government December 2017, updated October 2019)

• What to do if you are worried a child is being abused (HM Government March 2015) 

Local Safeguarding Children’s Partnership Levels of Intervention document: Warwickshire safeguarding threshold levels.

We believe that:

• Children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind
• We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keep them safe and to practise in a way that protects them.

We recognise that:

• the welfare of children is paramount in all the work we do and in all the decisions we take all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have an equal right to protection from all types of harm or abuse
• some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues.

2. Child Protection and Safeguarding

We will seek to keep children and young people safe by:

• valuing, listening to and respecting them
• appointing a nominated child protection lead for children and young people and a lead trustee for safeguarding
• adopting child protection and safeguarding best practice through our policies, procedures and code of conduct for staff and volunteers
• developing and implementing an effective online safety policy and related procedures
• providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures so that all staff and volunteers know about and follow our policies, procedures and behaviour codes confidently and competently
• recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made
• recording, storing and using information professionally and securely, in line with data protection legislation and guidance (more information about this is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office)
• making sure that children, young people and their families know where to go for help if they have a concern
• using our safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately
• using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately
• creating and maintaining an anti-bullying environment and ensuring that we have a policy and procedure to help us deal effectively with any bullying that does arise
• ensuring that we have effective complaints and whistleblowing measures in place
• ensuring that we provide a safe physical environment for our children, young people, staff and volunteers, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance
• building a safeguarding culture where staff and volunteers, children, young people and their families, treat each other with respect and are comfortable about sharing concerns.

The Charity will always work in partnership with other agencies as appropriate in order to promote young people’s welfare, for example Children’s Social Care, the Police and the Local Authority Designated officer (LADO).

In order to do this effectively, Cyclists Fighting Cancer has appointed Liz Pharoah as a Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO). The Charity has also appointed one of its Trustees, Kevin Musgrave, as Trustee with responsibility for safeguarding. It also adopts child protection and safeguarding practices through procedures and a code of conduct for staff, its associates and volunteers.

Responsibilities of the Designated Safeguarding Officer:

• Act as the first point of contact for personnel.
• Advise and provide guidance to personnel for making referrals.
• Train staff (or arrange for their training) on how to respond to concerns for the safety of children, young people and adults at risk of abuse or neglect.
• Ensure the effective monitoring of paid staff working with children and young people and adults at risk of abuse or neglect by line management, through supervision, progress and performance reviews and Volunteers’ personal development.
• Monitor and record concerns about children, young people and adults at risk of abuse or neglect and actions taken.
• Liaise with appropriate local agencies for support and advice where necessary.
• Promote the importance of safeguarding across the organisation.
• The Designated Safeguarding Lead and the nominated Trustee will also scrutinise and monitor the operation of this policy and its procedures and make an annual report to the Board of Trustees. The Trustees will undertake an annual review of the policy and procedures and the efficiency with which the related duties have been discharged.

Responsibilities of Employees and Volunteers:

• Every employee and volunteer of the Charity is under a general duty
• to protect children from abuse;
• to read and ensure they have understood the Charity’s Safeguarding Policy; which includes as an appendix the staff code of conduct, and to follow it;
• in exceptional circumstances, such as in an emergency or a genuine concern that appropriate action has not been taken, to speak directly to Children’s Social Care.
• All staff, including temporary staff, and volunteers will be provided with induction training that includes:
• the identity of the Designated Safeguarding Lead;
• the Charity’s Safeguarding Policy which includes as an appendix the staff code of conduct
• a copy of the Charity’s Protected Disclosure (Whistleblowing) Policy.

3. Contact details

Designated Safeguarding Lead: Liz Pharoah 0300 500 4040 liz@cyclistsfc.org.uk

Trustee representative for Safeguarding: Kevin Musgrave 0300 500 4040 kevin@cyclistsfc.org.uk

Warwickshire LADO: Referrals should be made on the Position of Trust Multi-Agency Referral Form (POT MARF), and emailed to the LADO at their direct email address which is  lado@warwickshire.gov.uk and also contact Tarvinder Kalsi (Support officer to the LADO) on 01926 745376.

SOCIAL CARE CONTACT NUMBERS

Warwickshire County Council’s MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub) : 01926 414144.

ADDITIONAL CONTACT DETAILS

CHILDLINE: 0800 1111

NSPCC Child Protection Helpline 0808 800 5000