Training for Staff and Volunteers

A mandatory part of the training of new mentors and staff is on safeguarding and child protection.

As a minimum, the training will:

– define what safeguarding and child protection are, and refer to the legislative environment;

– explain what is meant by harm, and emphasise how important it is to recognise indicators of possible harm;

– develop skills to identify situations where there is a risk or instance of harm;

– describe when there is a responsibility to report concerns about a child’s welfare, and provide instructions on how this should be done;

– describe the charity’s practices and policies for safeguarding.

Every applicant must be given a copy of the charity’s safeguarding and related policies, and they should be given the name of a nominated person in the charity with whom they can raise issues of safeguarding.

Refresher training for every new mentor and relevant member of staff must be scheduled at this time, and they must be made aware of the timing of this. The refresher training must take place within three years of the original training, and more frequent refresher training is encouraged.