7 social and economic well-being. domestic, family and personal relationships. suitability of living accommodation. the adult’s contribution to society. Promoting “wellbeing” means actively seeking improvements, for the adult with care and support needs (regardless of whether they have eligible needs or not) and informal carers. This approach informs planning of care, delivery of universal services and strategic planning. All professionals should assume that adults are best placed to judge their own wellbeing and be respectful of their individual views, beliefs, feelings and wishes, unless there are reasons to doubt this (see Appendix 15). If it appears the adult may lack capacity to make decisions about their care and support needs, it may be necessary to consider making a best interest decision. Promoting wellbeing should always be considered when responding to safeguarding concerns. Safeguarding means protecting an adult’s right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect and the purpose of this document is to guide individuals and organisations to identify and respond appropriately when adults may be at risk of harm, abuse, or self-neglect. Local Authority Safeguarding services will promote wellbeing not only in these circumstances but through offering advice and guidance to organisations whose practices could lead to harm and therefore prevent it. Safeguarding is not simply concerned with responding to what has gone wrong but trying to predict risk. The member agencies of the DBCPSAB recognise this. They are keen for any professional working with an adult who appears to be at risk of harm or abuse, to bring agencies together to mitigate that risk, through the formal Multi-Agency Risk Management (MARM) process MARM Guidance which is endorsed by the SAB and is available on the SAB websites. More generally the Statutory Guidance (2020) issued under the Care Act (2014) requires a SAB to develop preventative measures to reduce the incidence of harm across their area and the DBCPSAB’s strategy encourages all agencies to take steps that will help prevent harm arising. Criteria These Procedures apply where the Local Authorities respond to safeguarding concerns and/ or make enquiries or require others to do so on their behalf if they reasonably suspect an adult meets the following criteria: 1. Has needs for care and support (whether or not the Local Authority is meeting any of these needs) and 2. Is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect; and 3. As a result of those care and support needs is unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of abuse or neglect. The DBCPSAB support the definitions and clarity that can be found in Understanding what constitutes a safeguarding concern and how to support effective outcomes (local.gov.uk) (September 2020), which outlines how organisations should fulfil their responsibilities under Section 42 (1). if they respond to points one and two above, whilst a judgement will need to be made about the third point, this may well be an outcome of the local authority’s information gathering or statutory enquiry about the information/ allegation. In other words, it will not necessarily be possible to determine this factor at the time the concern is reported and if it is ‘reasonable to suspect’ that an adult is unable to protect themselves, an Enquiry may proceed. When determining whether an adult has care and support needs, it is important to consider needs that relate to their physical and mental health and cultural and spiritual preferences. (See Definitions
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