Adult Safeguarding Policy Suite (CQC Regulation 13 | Care Act Section 42 | MSP | DSL | 12 Operational Forms)

Complete CQC-compliant Adult Safeguarding documentation suite, built by a practising Registered Manager operating a CQC Good-rated community care service with ISO 9001 and ISO 45001 certification. This is the most critical policy in the Care Franchising Compliance catalogue — CQC examines safeguarding at every inspection.

What’s included — 4 documents, 12 forms

✔ Policy Template (SAF1) — comprehensive adult safeguarding policy covering the Six Principles of Adult Safeguarding, 10 categories of abuse (physical, sexual, psychological, financial, discriminatory, organisational, neglect and acts of omission, domestic abuse, modern slavery, self-neglect), Making Safeguarding Personal framework, disclosure response protocol, Section 42 enquiry pathway, allegations against staff management, Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) accountability, Deputy DSL cover, Disclosure and Barring Service referral obligations, domestic abuse and DASH risk identification, Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) escalation, Prevent counter-terrorism duty, Female Genital Mutilation mandatory reporting, modern slavery identification, financial abuse, and quarterly governance oversight. Fully white-label and editable. Version 3.0.

✔ Excel Forms Workbook (SAF2) — 12 operational forms across 13 tabs (1 Contents index + 12 forms), each in a dedicated worksheet, cross-referenced within the policy body:

1. Concern Recording Form (Form 1) — immediate point-of-contact documentation for all safeguarding concerns, accessible to all staff for rapid escalation
2. Body Map — Injury and Mark Recording (Form 2) — visual evidence documentation for physical signs of abuse or neglect, maintained with case file
3. Safeguarding Concerns Register (Form 3) — DSL-access-only confidential register of all concerns with outcome tracking and 6-year retention
4. Allegations Against Staff Management Log (Form 4) — Registered Manager access only, strictly confidential, with LADO referral pathway and DBS notification
5. Safeguarding Risk Assessment and MSP (Form 5) — Making the Safeguarding Personal framework operationalised into a structured risk assessment
6. DASH Risk Identification Checklist (Form 6) — evidence-based domestic abuse screening tool with MARAC referral threshold
7. Safeguarding Training Tracker (Form 7) — Levels 1, 2, and 3 safeguarding training register with competency renewal cycles
8. Staff Safeguarding Acknowledgement (Form 8) — induction and annual declaration of policy understanding, personnel file retention
9. Quality Improvement Action Plan (Form 9) — QIAP triggered by any AMBER or RED audit finding, with 6-month sustainability review
10. Mock CQC Safeguarding Inspection (Form 10) — 6-monthly self-inspection using CQC Single Assessment Framework Safe domain questions
11. Annual Safeguarding Governance Report (Form 11) — Board-level annual report to the accountable person under CQC Regulation 17
12. Staff Safeguarding Competency Assessment (Form 12) — 12-element practical competency assessment covering disclosure response, Section 42 referral, MSP, and MCA integration

✔ Individual Word Forms (SAF3) — all 12 forms above as standalone, print-ready Word documents in fill-in format. Each form is self-contained with instructions and clearly labelled for day-one deployment.

✔ Master Implementation Checklist (SAF5) — comprehensive 4-phase implementation checklist covering policy tailoring, forms and systems setup, staff training, and governance readiness. RAG-rated priority coding throughout (MUST / SHOULD / GOOD PRACTICE). Designed to be completed before going live and retained as CQC inspection evidence. Estimated customisation time: 4–5 hours.

Regulatory coverage

• CQC Regulation 13 — Safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment, Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 — primary regulation, fully mapped throughout. Examined at every CQC inspection under the Safe domain
• Care Act 2014 Section 42 — Statutory enquiry duty: where a local authority has reasonable cause to suspect that an adult in its area is experiencing or at risk of abuse or neglect, the local authority must make or cause to be made whatever enquiries it thinks necessary to enable it to decide whether any action should be taken
• Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 Sections 20–25 — Ill-treatment or wilful neglect by care workers and care providers, individual and corporate criminal liability
• CQC Regulation 17 — Good governance (DSL accountability, quarterly audit cycle, Board governance reporting, 6-year retention of safeguarding records)
• CQC Regulation 18 — Staffing, training, and competency (Level 1, 2, and 3 safeguarding training, competency assessment, induction and annual refresher)
• CQC Regulation 19 — Fit and proper persons employed, DBS checks, recruitment safeguards, allegations against staff management
• CQC Regulation 20 — Duty of Candour for notifiable safety incidents, apology and openness following safeguarding failures
• Mental Capacity Act 2005 and MCA Code of Practice — Capacity assessment for safeguarding decisions, best interests determination, supported decision-making for service users with impaired capacity
• Modern Slavery Act 2015 — Section 52 duty to notify the National Referral Mechanism, victim identification, supply chain transparency
• Domestic Abuse Act 2021 — Statutory definition of domestic abuse, cross-cutting safeguard, MARAC integration
• Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 (as amended) — Mandatory reporting duty for regulated professionals
• Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 (PrDutyt Duty) — Specified authoriDuty’ Duty to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism
• Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 — DBS referral obligations, barred list jurisdiction
• Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 — Whistleblowing protection for staff raising safeguarding concerns
• Equality Act 2010 — Protected characteristics, discriminatory abuse, and reasonable adjustments in safeguarding practice
• Human Rights Act 1998 Articles 2, 3, and 8 — Right to life, prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, right to respect for private and family life
• UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 — Lawful basis for processing, safeguarding information, consent to share, Schedule 1 conditions for special category data.
• CQC Single Assessment Framework — aligned to Safe (S1 Learning culture, S2 Safeguarding, S6 Safe and effective staffing), Responsive (R1 Person-centred care), and Well-Led (W1 Shared direction and culture, W5 Governance, management and sustainability) quality statements

For all community services

Domiciliary care · Live-in care · Extra care housing · Supported living · Outreach · Day services · Reablement

Buy once — yours permanently

£84.99 one-time purchase. No subscription required. No renewal fees. Purchase once and deploy across your organisation.

Licence scope

This suite is licensed for use by the purchasing legal entity and any subsidiary undertakings registered under the same parent company at Companies House. The suite may be white-labelled with your organisational branding, customised to reflect your operational context, and deployed across your registered service types. The suite may not be resold, sublicensed, published to third-party platforms, or shared with providers outside your organisational group.

Why this suite

• Written by a practising Registered Manager operating a CQC Good-rated community care service with ISO 9001 and ISO 45001 certification
• Safeguarding is THE most critical policy in any community care provider’s governance framework — CQC examines safeguarding at every single inspection under the Safe domain, and a safeguarding failure is the single most common trigger for enforcement action, Warning Notice, and rating downgrade to Inadequate.
• Care Act 2014 Section 42 statutory enquiry duty fully operationalised — the suite provides the complete decision-making framework for identifying, investigating, and escalating adult safeguarding concerns.
• Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 Sections 20–25 exposure managed — ill-treatment and wilful neglect by care workers and care providers carries individual and corporate criminal liability, and this suite provides the complete evidence trail to demonstrate the provider has discharged their duty of care.
• Six Principles of Adult Safeguarding embedded throughout (Empowerment, Prevention, Proportionality, Protection, Partnership, Accountability) — not a generic safeguarding policy but a structured operational system aligned to the Care and Support Statutory Guidance
• Making Safeguarding Personal (MSP) framework operationalised into Form 5 Risk Assessment — the foundational person-centred approach to safeguarding that shifts the focus from process to outcomes for the adult at risk
• All 10 categories of abuse covered (physical, sexual, psychological, financial, discriminatory, organisational, neglect and acts of omission, domestic abuse, modern slavery, self-neglect) with specific operational guidance for each
• DASH (Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Harassment) risk identification checklist (Form 6) embedded for domestic abuse concerns with explicit MARAC referral threshold
• Allegations Against Staff Management Log (Form 4) — strictly confidential RM-access-only log aligned to LADO referral protocols and DBS barring referral duty under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006
• Mock CQC Safeguarding Inspection (Form 10) on a 6-monthly cycle — self-inspection structure replicating inspector questioning methodology for authentic pre-inspection readiness assurance
• Annual Safeguarding Governance Report (Form 11) — Board-level template for the accountable person closing the governance loop under CQC Regulation 17
• RAG-coded 42-item implementation checklist — priority MUST, SHOULD, and GOOD PRACTICE items so you know exactly what is mandatory for CQC compliance and what is quality enhancement
• Modern Slavery Act 2015 Section 52 notification duty, Female Genital Mutilation mandatory reporting duty, Prevent Duty under Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015, and Domestic Abuse Act 2021, all embedded within operational workflow.

File formats: 3 × Word (.docx) · 1 × Excel (.xlsx)

Delivered by: Care Franchising Compliance, a trading style of Care Franchising Limited (registered in England and Wales, Company No. 16271445).