The importance of a safeguarding assessment for a University
05/18/2021
Traditionally, a university has not had an official role to play in student safeguarding, except in a few specific circumstances. Their obligation differs when dealing with a student under 18 years of age or in relation to a universities statutory requirement to prevent students from being drawn into terrorism.
This however has changed over recent years, as the public’s perception of safeguarding has expanded. The topic of abuse is very emotive and, as more stories of abuse within Universities emerge, this has driven a shift in culture. This, in turn, has led to increased safeguarding expectations of universities. The concept of ‘safeguarding’ has expanded beyond the traditionally defined vulnerable groups and now impacts areas such as peer-on-peer abuse, bullying, sexual harassment and mental health. This focus is not only on student wellbeing but also the wellbeing of staff within the workplace.
We know that young people aged 16 – 24 years of age:
- are the second most vulnerable group other than babies under the age of 1
- are most likely to have their needs overlooked (NSPCC ‘How safe are our children 2020’)
- woman aged 16 – 24 years old are at the highest risk of domestic violence (Women’s Aid)
- are most likely to feel usually or always sad or hopeless about their future and their place in the world
- are highly susceptible to grooming for radicalisation & extremism (PREVENT duty)
- are at the increased risk of ‘ACE’ (adverse childhood experiences) – the older you are the greater the probability of ‘ACE’ (Vulnerability factors (Clutton and Coles; 2007))
- suffer greatest effects of ‘transitions’ from Further Education to High Education, which leads to increased risks of mental health conditions, such as stress, depression and anxiety.
Given the increased safeguarding expectations now placed upon universities, the principle regulator of universities, the Office for Students (OfS) is already making inroads to regulate Higher Education providers on this issue – having already set clear expectations of universities on how they must respond to incidents of abuse on campus.
It is documented that abuse on campus is linked to poor outcomes for students with particular characteristics e.g. mental ill-health. The OfS currently requires universities to provide all students, from admission through to completion, with whatever support they need to succeed in and benefit from Higher Education.
Given the increased expectations, our customers and underwriters are increasingly seeking greater insight and support to better understand their safeguarding exposures, and to implement effective safeguarding processes.
Activity:
Our Safeguarding Risk Consultant recently undertook a remote safeguarding assessment for one of our university customers. Given safeguarding is a sensitive and emotive topic, and the concept of a safeguarding assessment is a new process for the customer, we liaised closely with various stakeholders within the organisation to prepare the customer for this activity.
Given the need for trust, the assessment began with an introductory meeting. The purpose of this was to set out the aims and objectives as well as answer any questions. This was also used as an opportunity to reassure the customer that the purpose of this assessment was to identify their challenges, so that we can help to support them better in the future. Furthermore, this activity is completely confidential and the outcome is not shared with any other party.
The assessment involved review of the universities safeguarding related policies and procedures, as well as meetings with the insurance officer and other key individuals who were responsible for safeguarding within the organisation.
Following the assessment, a report was produced highlighting both the areas of strength and the areas in need of improvement, along with related recommendations.
Outcomes and benefits:
A safeguarding assessment provides valuable insight into how the university is managing its safeguarding arrangements. This is essentially a gap analysis. By conducting this activity, the Safeguarding Risk Consultant was able to identify areas of strength which provided both the customer and the underwriter with confidence and reassurance that they were managing their safeguarding processes effectively. Furthermore, through conducting this activity the customer was commended on particular areas where they were excelling and to which they could be used to benchmark best practice across the sector.
Where improvements were identified, the customer was open to discussing challenges and was receptive to the improvement recommendations. Safeguarding is a challenging risk and customers are always keen to explore how they can improve their processes, so that they can keep vulnerable people safe. Where ZM insure organisations across many different sectors, we have a unique advantage when it comes to exploring different ways of managing this risk. Often, the Safeguarding Risk Consultant can recommend improvements through innovative approaches, which could be adopted from a different type of organisation or sector.
Questions for a University:
- How well do you understand your safeguarding exposures?
- How confident are you in your safeguarding processes?
- Do you have confidence in your competence of your proactive and reactive safeguarding arrangements?
- Are there particular areas of safeguarding concern that you would like to get a better handle on e.g. criminal exploitation, sexual abuse on campus?
- Are you interested in exploring innovative ways in which you can manage your safeguarding risks? e.g. inventive ways to approach safer recruitment, or perhaps ideas on how you can improve your safeguarding training for staff
- As the concept of safeguarding broadens out, could you benefit from sharing ideas on how you can help to better support and protect the whole university community?
Safeguarding is an increasingly challenging risk and one that you should feel confident in managing. If you wish to discuss anything mentioned in this article or want to find out any more information about safeguarding assessments please contact us on info@zurichmunicipal.com.
