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Safeguarding
A Manager’s Guide

Mitie Group Plc | Resourcing Procedure | Version 1.0 August 2019

Mitie Group Plc | Safeguarding – A Manager’s Guide | November 2021

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Intro…
The purpose of this guide is to provide you with the principles of our approach to safeguarding
and child protection and to clearly outline our expectations.

We are committed to ensuring a safe environment and the duty of care we have towards the
welfare of children and vulnerable people who use the facilities in which Mitie operate. The
welfare and interests of children and vulnerable people are paramount in all circumstances.
This guide will give you practical guidance in understanding your responsibilities, and reporting
and recording procedures.

This guide should be read alongside the Safeguarding procedure.

What are my responsibilities?

Everyone working with children or vulnerable people has a responsibility to understand what
safeguarding means and what their responsibilities are in relation to keeping children and
vulnerable people safe. As a line manager is it is your responsibility to ensure that,

• Policies and procedures are implemented by all staff

• Staff are able to raise any concerns with regards to safeguarding and have their
concerns addressed in a sensitive, effective and timely way
• All staff are trained sufficiently in recognising safeguarding issues and know how to
report their concerns and all staff are given refresher training regularly.
• Follow safe recruitment practices, for individuals that work with children, young and
vulnerable people
• Ensure staff complete safeguarding training that enables them to recognise signs of
potential abuse and neglect
• Ensure staff are aware of the indicators of abuse and the necessary reporting
procedures to report any concerns or suspicions of abuse
• Provide appropriate supervision and support for staff
• Ensure all staff are aware of who the designated senior member of staff for
Safeguarding is on site.
• Ensure we provide a safe physical environment for children, young and vulnerable
people and staff of the establishments in which we work by applying health and safety
measures in line with the law and regulatory guidance
• Ensure any contractors required at your site are subject to the appropriate checks
• Any Mitie employee breaching the Safeguarding procedure is subject to investigation
and a case is raised with People Support.

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What are the recruitment procedures?

You should ensure that vetting checks to the appropriate level are completed as required
and a central file is maintained. We have contractual obligations that are specific to each
contract/site, and decisions regarding employment of people with disclosure entries must be
made in line with the contractual obligations.

Where the decision is made to continue with the employment, taking into account the
specific contractual obligations and the risk assessment, the designated client representative
will be informed. For more information on criminal convictions and risk assessments see
Resourcing – A Manager’s Guide and Right to Work & Vetting – A Manager’s Guide.

If the decision is to inform these parties, then permission must be sought from the
employee before doing so. If the employee does not give their approval, then their
employment may be terminated under the company Disciplinary procedure. In the event
that the SPV, LEA or Head Teacher does not agree with the employment, you as the
Contract Manager should contact People Support on 0330 1234 005 or via AskHR for
advice on how to proceed.

What about sub-contractors?

You must ensure that any contractor engaged by Mitie to carry out work on a client site
where they will come into contact with children or vulnerable people has been subject to the
appropriate level of DBS check and that they are escorted whilst on the premises.

Contractors engaging in regulated activity will require an enhanced DBS Check (including a
Children’s Barred List Check). For all other contractors who are not engaging in regulated
activity, but whose work provides them with an opportunity for regular contact with children
or vulnerable people, an enhanced DBS Check (not including a Barred List Check) will be
required. Under no circumstances should you allow a contractor for whom no checks have
been obtained to work unsupervised or engage in regulated activity.

You should always check the identity of contractors on arrival at the client site and ensure
that signing in arrangements are in place and are adhered to. If you are using agency workers,
it is the responsibility of the employment agency to ensure that the relevant checks have been
made. The agency should provide Mitie with assurances that all appropriate vetting and barring
checks have been made.

If the contractor or agency worker will not be involved in any regulated activity, then there
is no need for them to be subject to the enhanced DBS check or barred list check. For
example, if we were carrying out refurbishments in a school during the holidays and there
would be no contact with children then no need for the checks.

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Please be aware that different contracts/sites may have different protocols in place for the
engagement of subcontractors and therefore if you are unsure you should refer to your site
rules, speak to your designated client liaison or your line manager to clarify what the
requirements are before engaging any contractors for your contract/site.

You may want to introduce or document your own protocols for keeping a record of
contractors and their vetting status in consultation with your client if appropriate and it does
not already exits. See appendix 3 below for an example.

What should I do with a report of abuse?

If a member of your team has received a report of abuse, firstly you should ensure that they
have followed the correct procedures as explained in the Safeguarding procedure. You must
ensure that there is a Safeguarding Alert Form on site and the Safeguarding register is up to
date with the details of who the designated senior member of staff is for safeguarding as
well as their deputy. Sometimes this person is referred to as the Child Protection
Representative or Safeguarding Lead. Both the Safeguarding Alert form and the Safeguarding
register can be found at appendices 1 and 2 below.

If an allegation has been made against a Mitie employee, you should contact People Support
on 0330 1234 005 for guidance on next steps. You will be required to carry out an
investigation into these allegations and therefore you should open a case with the ER team
and start the investigation as soon as possible. It is likely that you will be required to suspend
the employee and therefore it is important to get guidance from an ER Advisor as soon as
possible. You should refer to Disciplinary – A Manager’s Guide for more information on this
process.

Are there confidentiality issues I should be

aware of?
Confidentiality must be maintained for all those involved with reporting suspicions or
allegations of abuse. Information should be handled and distributed on a need-to-know basis
only.

Confidential records of concern will be kept where appropriate. These records will be
maintained in addition to providing full written reports to Mitie management and their
clients where necessary.
You should aim during any investigation or disciplinary procedure to deal with matters
sensitively and with due respect for the privacy of any individuals involved. All employees
must treat as confidential any information communicated to them in connection with an
investigation. Witnesses must treat as confidential any information given to them in the course
of an investigation, including the identity of any employees under investigation.

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Need more info?

If you need further advice you can contact People Support via AskHR on
People Hub or call 0330 1234 005 to speak to an Advisor

The Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) offers confidential

advice, and you can access their support by calling 0800 1116 387 You
can also access the online portal for further guidance and support: http://my-
eap.com/login

Organisation code: mitiewell

Employee Wellbeing

We also have an intranet site dedicated to wellbeing. You can access this site
via the Celebration Hub. You will find information on healthy eating as well as
mental, physical and financial wellbeing. If any of your team members are
experiencing mental health issues, you will find a list of our Mental Health First
Aiders who will be able to talk you through the resources that are available to
you.

Optima Occupational Health - Wellbeing portal

Further reading:
____________________________________________________________________

Safeguarding procedure (MG(HR)538)

Disciplinary – A Manager’s Guide (MG(HR)567)
Resourcing – A Manager’s Guide (MG(HR)525G)
Right to Work & Vetting – A Manager’s Guide (MG(HR)527G)

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Appendix 1
Safeguarding Alert Form
All sections of this report MUST be completed in full.

Details of the allegation

Site name:
Location at
which the Site address & postcode:
allegation
occurred Exact location of incident:
Description of the allegation: Allegation date:

Allegation time:

Allegation type

Neglect and Acts of

Discriminatory Physical Sexual
Omission

Domestic Modern Slavery Self-neglect Psychological

Incidents reported to If the event was a ‘dangerous
Serious Injury the Police occurrence’, please state that
below
Designated Senior Member Contact
of staff for Safeguarding Details:

Brief outline and details of the allegation:

Persons involved in the allegation– all details must be completed:

Name of person making the

Staff/service user:
allegation:
Name of person who allegation
Staff/service user:
are being made about:
If any other person (regardless of status) witnessed the incident, complete in the addit ional details box below

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If applicable please complete the below:

Additional details (including names of any other witne sses, or any other relevant information

Details of person completing the form

Name : Tel No :
(Please print) Job Role: Mobile :

Signature: Date:

Date reported to Designated

Senior Member of staff for
Safeguarding

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Appendix 2

Mitie Safeguarding Register

Please fill out the attached for your site(s) and ensure all team members are aware who the Designated
Senior Member of staff for Safeguarding and Deputy Designated Senior Member of staff for Safeguarding
are. This should be reviewed and updated on a regular basis to reflect any changes.

Designated Senior Member of staff for Safeguarding register

Name of site

Designated Senior Member of

staff for Safeguarding register

Office/Classroom location

Deputy Designated Senior

Member of staff for
Safeguarding register

Office/Classroom location

Date register updated

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Appendix 3

EXAMPLE

Safeguarding Procedure – Sub-contractors

All Mitie staff have a responsibility to ensure that the below procedure is always followed when
contractors enter premises where children or vulnerable people are present.

Sub-contractors who are required to undertake works on behalf of Mitie will only be given access to
a site based on the below procedure.

Any deviation from this procedure will need written permission from the individual clients
nominated representative and Mitie Account Manager (or nominated deputy) before granting access
to site.

Single Central Record:

• A single central record (SCR) of all sub-contractors will be held by Mitie on a secure shared
drive where access will be only granted to authorised Mitie employees.
• A view only version will be made available to nominated contracted parties such as: SPV’s, Local
Authorities and Schools/Academies representatives.
• The SCR will hold the sub-contractors’ organisations name, address, employee names, if a DBS
check has been carried out, the type of check and date of check.
• The SCR will record when Mitie have viewed the individual’s DBS certificate and ID.
• The SCR will be audited by the Account Manager regularly to ensure compliance.
• Below is an example of the SCR that can be maintained fully by Mitie.

Contractor Employee DBS Regulated DBS Check DBS Cert Date & Type of Date &
Detail activity Cert type date seen initial ID seen initial
no.
ABS Ltd A Jones Yes Yes 1234 Enhanced 1/4/19 Yes 15/7/21 JJC Driving 15/7/21 JJC
& Child License
Barring
B Jones Yes Yes 1235 Enhanced 6/4/19 Yes 15/7/21 JJC Company 15/7/21 JJC
& Child ID
Barring
C Jones Yes No 1236 Basic 8/5/20 Yes 14/9/21 JJC Driving 15/7/21 JJC
License

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Mitie Group Plc | Safeguarding – A Manager’s Guide | November 2021