Safeguarding policy

Purpose and scope

This policy sets out how Young Futures Digital Limited keeps children, young people and adults at risk safe in everything we design, build and deliver. It applies to directors, staff, contractors, volunteers and partners working under our name, and to every product, workshop, co-design session and community insight activity we run.

Safeguarding is a design requirement, not a compliance check at the end. We consider risk to participants and to the people who will use a service from the first conversation onwards.

Principles

• The welfare of the child or adult at risk comes first.
• Everyone has the right to take part safely, be listened to and be taken seriously.
• We work in partnership with parents, carers, schools, youth services and statutory agencies, and we follow local safeguarding arrangements where we deliver.
• We never promise confidentiality that we cannot keep. If someone is at risk we will pass the concern on.
• We collect the minimum personal information needed to keep people safe and to run an activity.

Designated safeguarding lead

The director is the designated safeguarding lead and is accountable for this policy. For every partnership or commission, we confirm in writing at the start who the named lead is, how to reach them and how our arrangements connect with the partner’s own safeguarding procedures. Where a partner’s procedures are stronger or more specific, we follow them.

Safer recruitment and training

• Everyone working directly with children or adults at risk under our name completes an enhanced DBS check with the relevant barred list check before starting.
• References are taken and verified, and gaps in history are explored.
• Everyone completes safeguarding training appropriate to their role before working with participants, refreshed at least every two years.
• Contractors and partners are held to the same standard by written agreement.

Sessions, workshops and co-design

• A safeguarding brief is agreed with the host setting before every session, including the setting’s own lead and disclosure route.
• Sessions with under-18s take place in the host organisation’s setting or another suitable supervised space, never in private homes.
• Adult-to-participant ratios are agreed with the host and never fall below the host’s own standard.
• No one-to-one contact with a young person out of sight of others. No personal social media contact or private messaging.
• Consent for participation and for any photography is obtained in writing. We do not photograph identifiable young people for marketing.
• Payment to young people for substantial contribution follows the host’s arrangements and is recorded transparently.

Digital safeguarding by design

• Location features default to off, especially for children, and precise location is never exposed publicly.
• Community reporting includes moderation, malicious-report handling and an escalation route to a human before anything is published.
• Products that touch safety carry emergency signposting and a clear statement that they are not an emergency service.
• We complete a data protection impact assessment before processing personal data about children.
• We follow the principles of the ICO Children’s code and government Working together to safeguard children guidance.

Raising a concern

If a child or adult is in immediate danger, call 999. Concerns about the welfare of a child should also go to the local authority children’s services for the area where the child lives. Adults worried about a child can call the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000. Children and young people can talk to Childline free and in confidence on 0800 1111.

To raise a concern about our work, our people or something you saw in one of our sessions, email hello@youngfuturesdigital.co.uk with the subject “Safeguarding concern”, or speak to the named lead for your project. We acknowledge within one working day, record the concern, act on it and, where a statutory referral is needed, make it without delay. A concern about the director can be raised with the host organisation’s lead or with the local authority designated officer.

Records and review

Safeguarding records are kept securely, separately from project files, with access limited to the lead. They are retained in line with statutory guidance and our retention schedule. We update this policy whenever statutory guidance changes and after any incident.

Contact and review

Questions about this policy: hello@youngfuturesdigital.co.uk. For a safeguarding concern use the subject line “Safeguarding concern” so it reaches the lead quickly.

We keep this policy under regular review and update it whenever the law, guidance or our services change.