Safeguarding

Safeguarding is often assumed to be only for charities working with children or vulnerable adults. In fact it applies to every charity: anyone your work brings into contact with — people you help, staff, volunteers, visitors — has a right to be safe from harm, abuse and neglect.

Trustees hold ultimate responsibility for safeguarding, and the Charity Commission expects every charity to have arrangements proportionate to its activities. (Source: GOV.UK, Charity Commission safeguarding guidance, accessed 9 July 2026.) In practice that means a policy, safe recruitment, a named lead, a way to raise concerns, and a clear response process — with serious cases reported as serious incidents.

Keep it proportionate but real: even a two-person charity should know how it would handle a disclosure. See safe recruitment and policy templates in the Trustee & Governance Handbook.