What to do if you are worried about an adult

If you have information that an adult at risk is potentially experiencing abuse or neglect, it is useful to consider the following: 

Information required:
Have you gathered enough information to raise the referral?

• Personal details (Name, Date of Birth, Address)
• What is the nature of abuse/potential abuse? 
• Does the person have care and support needs? 
• What does the adult at risk want to happen? 
• Persons individual circumstances which may impact/increase risk 

Immediate Safety
Does the person need emergency medical treatment or the police to attend urgently? If so call 999.

Crime
Has a crime been committed? Call 101 if non-emergency. Consider and seek advice from police about preserving evidence.

Record
Have you documented the concern/incident and all actions taken?

Support
Have you provided support and reassurance to the adult at risk? Have you provided support to people e.g. employees who may have identified the safeguarding concern?

Preserving Evidence
If the police are contacted, it is important that forensic and other evidence is not contaminated or lost. Advice should be sought from the police about how to preserve evidence in specific situations. Evidence may be present even if it is not cannot be seen, therefore precautions should be taken, such as:

• do not disturb the scene or move any ‘evidence’ where possible 
• secure the scene i.e. by locking a room or a property where the incident took place 
• keep any documents, containers as potential evidence 

What happens when you make a Adult Safeguarding Referral 
If the adult is already known to ASC, the Safeguarding Hub will ensure the referral is logged and passed to the relevant neighbourhood team to be dealt with as soon as possible. You will receive an email acknowledging receipt of the referral.  

For more information about how the Safeguarding Hub decides to conduct a safeguarding enquiry under the Section 42 duty of the Care Act (2014), the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) have produced the following framework .

You can also report a concern about a professional in you have concerns about the behaviour of someone in a position of trust (PiPOT) working in Trafford.  A position of trust refers to anyone who has responsibility for providing services or who is in a role of influence over the wellbeing of vulnerable adults, such as social care workers, personal assistants, support workers, medical professional etc. 

If you think that an adult is in immediate danger from a Person in a Position of Trust, please call 999. 

To report a concern about a professional please complete the PiPOT notification and email this to PiPoT@trafford.gov.uk 

The person should be informed that the allegation against them is being shared with the PIPOT Lead and, where possible, consent should be gained to share their details unless by sharing this information it puts the adult at risk or a child in danger.  The grounds for not telling the person include: 

• putting an adult at risk or a child in danger 
• there is a risk the person will self-harm 
• there is a risk to the professional who was telling the person they are making a disclosure. 

If the person does not consent to the sharing of their information a notification can still be considered where it is believed there is a safeguarding concern for an adult with care and support needs, and the sharing of the information is in the public's interest.

• Trafford Person in a Position of Trust Policy can be found here.

The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is a framework for referring potential victims of modern slavery to ensure they receive the appropriate support. 

Modern slavery may involve multiple forms of exploitation including: 

• human trafficking 
• slavery, servitude, and forced or compulsory labour 
• exploitation 

Victims may not be aware that they are being trafficked or exploited, and may have consented to elements of their exploitation, or accepted their situation. If you think that modern slavery has taken place, the case should be referred to the NRM so that the relevant competent authority can fully consider the case. You do not need to be certain that someone is a victim.

Consent to refer
Consent is required for an adult to be referred to the NRM. For an adult to provide their informed consent, you must explain:

• what the NRM is 
• what support is available through it 
• what the possible outcomes are for an individual being referred 

You should also make it clear that information may be shared or sought by the relevant competent authority from other public authorities, such as the police and local authorities, to gather further evidence on an NRM referral.

The online referral should only be completed for adults when a member of staff from a designated first responder organisation suspects someone is a victim of modern slavery and where the adult concerned has understood the implications of, and consented to, the referral. 

If an adult does not consent to enter the NRM, a Duty to Notify referral should be completed instead using the same online process. 

Where you believe the adult also has care and support needs an additional safeguarding referral should also be made for the adult to the Trafford Safeguarding Hub:  AdultSafeguardinghub@trafford.gov.uk 

How to make a referral 
Referrals can only be made by, or via, an eligible First Responder Organisation. If you think you have encountered a person (adult or child) who has been a victim of modern slavery in England and Wales, you should complete a referral via the online process. Access the form 

The eligible ‘first responder organisations’ are: 

• Police forces 
• Local authorities 
• UK Visas and Immigration 
• Border Force 
• Immigration Enforcement 
• National Crime Agency 
• Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) 
• Salvation Army 
• Migrant Help 
• Medaille Trust 
• Kalayaan 
• Barnardo’s 
• Unseen 
• BAWSO 
• New Pathways 
• Refugee Council