Safeguarding at Elder

Our Safety and Trust Principles

At the heart of Elder are our Safety and Trust Principles. Elder operates as an Introductory Agency as defined by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), meaning we match carers with service users but do not directly employ them on our platform. Elder provides a great resource for families to find support from a vetted, professional self-employed carer for their loved ones.

At Elder HQ we believe every adult has the right to live safely, free from abuse and neglect. That’s why at Elder, we have a Designated Safeguarding Lead, to ensure this core principle, safety, is upheld.

Safeguarding and adult support and protection refers to the proactive measures taken to protect adults at risk from harm, abuse, or neglect and promote their well-being. It encompasses physical, emotional, sexual, and financial abuse, as well as neglect, discrimination, and any other forms of maltreatment.

An ‘adult at risk’ is an adult who has care and support needs and therefore has limited ability or is unable to protect themselves. At Elder we use the term ‘Care Recipient’ to refer to adults with care and support needs who are facilitating their care through the Elder platform.

Below are the categories of abuse:

• Physical: hitting, slapping, kicking etc. but also any act that may cause physical symptoms, e.g. misuse of medication, inappropriate restraint, poor moving and handling techniques etc.
• Financial or material: theft, fraud, internet scamming, mismanagement of a person’s financial affairs.
• Sexual: does not have to involve sexual contact – includes displaying pornographic images, forcing a person to witness sexual acts/videos etc. Any sexual act to which an individual has not consented.
• Discriminatory: racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia – may include hate crimes.
• Organisational: poor care practice e.g. consistently low staffing levels, rigid routines for the benefit of the organisation rather than the individuals.
• Neglect and acts of omission: not providing or allowing access to appropriate health, education or social care or treatment. Neglect may be intentional or unintentional.
• Psychological: includes threat, harassment, intimidation, cyber bullying.
• Domestic Violence or Abuse: is defined as an incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are, or have been intimate partners or are family members.
• Self-Neglect: covers a wide range of behaviour, neglecting to care for one’s own needs, health or surroundings, and includes hoarding.
• Modern Slavery: encompasses forced labour, human trafficking, domestic servitude, forcing individuals into criminal activity.

We recognise that safeguarding concerns can arise from time to time. It is important to us that families and carers know what to do when they have concerns.

If you believe a Care Recipient is in imminent danger, please contact emergency services by dialling 999.

Social services

If you have a safeguarding concern, we recommend reporting it to the relevant local authority. To identify the appropriate local authority, please visit Find Your Local Council and enter the Care Recipient’s postcode.

The police

If you believe a criminal offence has occurred such as theft, assault, or gross neglect it is crucial you escalate your concerns promptly to the police. Where the adult is at significant or imminent risk of harm, contact the police via 999. If you are escalating in retrospect, please contact the police via 101.

Reporting Concerns to Elder HQ

If you suspect or become aware of abuse, neglect or harm, please contact Elder immediately via email. Emails are monitored Monday to Friday within business hours. If you are a self-employed carer on our platform and your concern pertains to your current placement, you can also raise your concerns via the CareLogs section of the Elder Hub. All concerns are reviewed by our Designated Safeguarding Lead, who will work with you and cooperate with any third parties as required. We take the safety and quality of our platform very seriously and aim to address serious concerns within 3 business hours.

Where concerns are relating to the conduct of a self-employed carer on our platform we will follow our usual safeguarding and quality assurance procedures. The safety and integrity of our platform is underpinned by stringent access criteria. Our Integrated Governance Committee meets once per week to review safeguarding concerns actioned by our Designated Safeguarding Lead.

Our Integrated Governance Committee Consists of:

• CEO, CFO
• Director of Legal and Data Protection Officer
• Head of Service
• Head of Clinical
• Senior Clinical Lead Nurse
• Designated Safeguarding Lead