Group C

Group C practitioners have direct responsibility for safeguarding people:

• who have an assessing role that’s linked to the safeguarding process
• who are operating at a level where they can give advice about safeguarding to those in groups A and B
• in a setting they work in or manage
• with whom they spend a lot of time unsupervised in a setting where there is increased risk of safeguarding concerns.

Group C practitioners may also:

• be an organisation’s designated safeguarding person
• take a more prominent role in safeguarding decisions
• have an active role in core groups and protection planning activities.

There should be some flexibility to promote some staff to group D if they are of the view that their role warrants doing more intensive training. See: Safeguarding Children Intercollegiate Document (2019)

Safeguarding duties are greater for group C practitioners.

They’ll have to make decisions about keeping people safe, and when they need to put protection processes in place.

These practitioners will need to have all the knowledge and understanding of the standards in groups A and B plus additional knowledge to make sure they carry out their role in line with the law.

There’s generic group C safeguarding training everyone in group C must do.

When practitioners have additional safeguarding roles or responsibilities, they’ll need to do specific relevant training after they’ve completed the generic group C training.

This will be different for individual practitioners even within agencies and organisations.

For example: in health, some group C paediatricians will need specialist training on carrying out, and reporting on, child protection medicals.

This specialist training will often be defined and required by professional or regulatory bodies at a national or agency level.

There may also be local agreements for specific training requirements.

Some group C practitioners may have responsibilities that sit in the group D standards.

If this is the case, the practitioner should train to meet the group D standards so they’re prepared for their role.

Practitioners from group C onwards need to be aware this framework can’t cover every role or job.

The practitioner’s responsible for assessing their own learning needs.

Organisations need to identify requirements for the continuing professional development (CPD), relevant to their sector.

Memorable principles

• I understand that voice and control of people is key to decision making – child and/or person-centred practice.
• I understand everyone’s roles and responsibilities in the safeguarding process.
• I show the ability to make clear and proportionate decisions.

According to the standards, people in group C should know:

• legislation, national policies and codes of conduct and professional practice in relation to safeguarding
• how to work in ways that safeguard people from abuse, harm and neglect
• the factors, situations and actions that could lead or contribute to abuse, harm or neglect
• how to report, respond and record concerns or allegations related to safeguarding
• how to promote child and/or person-centred practice
• how to take part in safeguarding processes
• how to support others to safeguard people (for those with supervisory responsibility)
• how to work with others to safeguard people
• how to maintain professional accountability.

All the learning outcomes may be considered, but some courses will concentrate on the important learning areas and be more detailed.

They’ll already have completed group A and B learning.

At the end of a learning activity, they’ll:

• be able to apply relevant legislation, policies and codes of conduct to their day-to-day practice and advise others about these
• be able to safeguard and protect people based on evidence available at the time and escalate concerns to the next level
• be able to reflect on factors, situations and actions that may contribute to abuse, harm or neglect and provide rationale for taking action and responding appropriately to concerns
• know how, when and to whom to report different types of abuse, neglect and harm
• follow the Wales Safeguarding Procedures and any regional decision-making process, and advise other colleagues about these when required
• follow the Regional Safeguarding Board’s protocol for ‘resolving professional differences’
• evidence that the voice of the child or adult is central to safeguarding decisions throughout the safeguarding process
• be able to explain the role of advocacy
• understand their role and responsibilities and contribute to relevant safeguarding forums and processes
• understand what’s meant by ‘professional curiosity’ and professional accountability
• understand the principles of effective supervision and peer support
• know how to advise and support others to safeguard people
• understand how to work in partnership in a multi-agency way, and be clear about other professionals’ roles and responsibilities
• be able to take personal responsibility for practice and development and continuing professional development.

Group C practitioners will continue their safeguarding learning journey when working in a group C role.

Their learning and development will include, and build on, the training and learning required at groups A and B.

There’s no need to do refresher training at group A and group B as well as the group C training.

This group will use lots of different kinds of learning and development materials.

Learning and development should involve multi-agency learning and training opportunities where appropriate.

To reflect on their learning, development and practice, group C practitioners will use:

• face-to-face
• complex case study methods
• reflective practice and
• CPD journals or logs.

Practitioners should use formal CPD logs or competency booklets to keep track and evidence their training and development.

Training and development should include reflective practice and other opportunities outside of usual training methods. For example:

• going to strategic meetings
• learning from direct practice.

Group C practitioners are responsible for their own continuing professional development opportunities, which can be self-directed.

They may use CPD logs or competency booklets to prove their learning and development meet the requirements of regulatory bodies.

Group C practitioners can use:

• supervision
• peer support
• reflection
• action learning sets
• team meetings

to:

• reflect on learning
• apply learning to their day-to-day work
• share ideas and good practice after a learning activity
• help work out what support or further development’s needed.

Different training, learning and development methods should be available, to support different learning styles.

We strongly recommend a blended way of learning. This could include:

• basic online training
• virtual classroom
• face-to-face teaching and learning
• self-directed learning and reflection.

Learning and development will include:

• scenario led workshops
• multi-agency conferences with questions and answers,
• role play to simulate safeguarding reviews or meetings.

The learning should, where possible or relevant, be done with a multi-agency approach.

Specialist and single agency learning needs to be done as well as the general and multi-agency learning.

The manager and practitioner must agree A minimum requirement of pre-training the practitioner needs before they start a new role.

Group C practitioners must do:

• a minimum of eight hours of training within the probation period of a new role, plus training on safeguarding topics specific to the role, including:
  • virtual classroom time
  • pre-course reading
  • following up with a manager or supervisor
  • post-course consolidation, where learners put the learning into practice.
• have refresher training on the generic training (at least eight hours every three years)
• do at least 18 hours (six hours per year) of additional training, including detailed training on specific safeguarding topics or internal processes
• do additional training relevant to specific roles and duties, which should:
  • reflect any changes to practice and application
  • include training that needs to be done sooner than three years (for example: new diagnostic methods in areas of healthcare).