Child safeguarding is “everybody’s responsibility” at Rotherham Council

The motion was passed at last Wednesday’s full council meeting and will ensure “all employees, managers, elected members and volunteers understand their roles and responsibilities for safeguarding and are supported to develop and maintain this understanding”.

Leader of the council, Cllr Chris Read, said at the meeting: “This is a document which sets out safeguarding responsibilities for non-safeguarding professionals. 

“We all know that safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility, as the phrase goes, and in this document we try to set out quite what that means, so there is clarity about what are the responsibilities of lay people, including members of this council, around safeguarding responsibilities.

“It is not a legal requirement, we are not obliged to have this within the council and other places don’t.”

Cllr Read said it would be seen as good practice to have the corporate safeguarding policy in place.

It will be monitored by the corporate safeguarding policy working group, which is chaired by RMBC chief executive Sharon Kemp. 

The policy, which was passed unanimously, states procedures and good practice will be developed within the council to ensure that every service and employee can demonstrate they understand their duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and adults.

The council will also have to provide evidence to show how the policy is working.