1. Introduction
1.1. This document sets out the safeguarding adult training strategy for the Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership for the period 2025 – 2028. It has been formulated in consultation with both the statutory and non-statutory members of the partnership and applies to staff in all organisations in Torbay and Devon who have safeguarding duties as set out in the Care Act 2014 and the Mental Capacity Act (2005 / 2007 / 2019).
1.2. Additionally, the Care Act 2014 state that it is vital that professionals, other staff and members of the public are vigilant on behalf of those unable to protect themselves. This will include:
- knowing about different types of abuse and neglect and their signs
- supporting adults to keep safe
- knowing who to tell about suspected abuse or neglect
- supporting adults to think and weigh up the risks and benefits of different options when exercising choice and control
- awareness campaigns for the general public and multi-agency training for all staff will contribute to achieving these objectives
1.3. The Care Act 2014 includes requirements for SABs to:
- identify mechanisms for monitoring and reviewing the implementation and impact of policy and training and
- promote multi-agency training and consider any specialist training that may be required. Consider any scope to jointly commission some training with other partnerships, such as the Community Safety Partnership
Members might also support the work of the SAB by providing administrative help, premises for meetings or holding training sessions. It is in all core partners’ interests to have an effective SAB that is resourced adequately to carry out its functions.
1.4. The Care Act 2014 states that professionals and other staff need to understand and always work in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). They should use their professional judgement and balance many competing views. They will need considerable guidance and support from their employers if they are to help adults manage risk in ways and put them in control of decision-making if possible. Regular face-to-face supervision from skilled managers is essential to enable staff to work confidently and competently in difficult and sensitive situations.
1.5. The Care Act 2014 acknowledges that mental capacity is frequently raised in relation to adult safeguarding and that the requirement to apply the MCA in adult safeguarding enquiries challenges many professionals and requires utmost care, particularly where it appears an adult has capacity for making specific decisions that nevertheless places them at risk of being abused or neglected.
1.6. The members of the Safeguarding Adults Partnership are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of adults who may be at risk of abuse or neglect. As partner organisations we must ensure that employees and staff understand their role and responsibilities regarding safeguarding adults, their families or carers and the wider safeguarding agenda, and are also competent and well-trained in meeting their overarching safeguarding duty of care to those for whom we either care for, and, where necessary, to take action for safeguarding and crime prevention purposes.
2. Purpose
2.1 The purpose of this strategy is to provide a framework which ensures that the partners of the Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership meet their legislative responsibilities to equip people to work effectively to safeguard and promote the welfare of adults. The strategy aims to provide information on the required safeguarding training for all partners of the Safeguarding Adults Partnership enabling them to undertake their roles as either commissioners of services, service providers, carers or users. It will enable the Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership to ensure that the workforce is trained to specified standards in safeguarding adults.
2.2 The strategy will support cooperation within organisations for workforce development and multi-agency working, specifically in the promotion of quality assured training in Safeguarding Adults and the Mental Capacity Act in relation to safeguarding adults and Making Safeguarding Personal.
2.3 Multi-agency training is encouraged as it benefits greater understanding and cooperation between agencies. There is a need however to strike a balance between this and recognising the different needs of organisations to deliver their workforce training requirements effectively.
2.4 The identification of the level of safeguarding training required is dependent on the staff member’s role and responsibility and following completion of the staff induction programme should be linked to the annual appraisal process and personal development plan.
2.5 All training provided should respect diversity (including culture, race, religion and disability), promote equality and encourage the participation of children, families and adults in the safeguarding process.
2.6 The Safeguarding Adults Partnership recognise that a good understanding and effective application of the Mental Capacity Act in relation to the delivery of care is a key aspect of safeguarding adults at risk. The Safeguarding Adults Partnership are therefore committed to developing a framework which ensures that partners meet their legislative responsibilities in relation to the Mental Capacity Act.
2.7 The Safeguarding Adult Training Strategy supports the Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership in meeting the strategic priorities from 2025 -2027. Within this, there is an expectation that safeguarding adult training is flexible to incorporate learning identified from Safeguarding Adults Reviews, Section 42 enquires and other statutory reviews and is also delivered in a variety of ways, either through the Safeguarding Adults Partnership or partner agencies.
2.8 The current key priorities for the Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership are to:
- seek assurance from partners in relation to practice improvements in key risk areas
- seek assurance from partners that learning from SARs is embedded into practice
- improve awareness, engagement and inclusion
3. Aim
3.1 This strategy outlines the Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership’s training plan and provides a framework for the delivery of safeguarding adult training and the Mental Capacity Act in relation to safeguarding adult to support the Safeguarding Adults Partnership in meeting the objectives of the Care Act 2014, their statutory duties and business plans.
3.2 The elements described within the strategy aim to provide all employees, staff and volunteers with information about their legal responsibilities, required safeguarding adult training, and mental capacity training in relation safeguarding adults at risk. This will enable managers and staff to gain the knowledge and skills required to fulfil their duties and responsibilities in relation to safeguarding adults.
4. Roles and responsibilities
4.1 The Human Rights Act 1998 received Royal Assent on 9 November 1998, and mostly came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim was to incorporate into UK law the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights.
4.2 In particular, the Act makes it unlawful for any public body to act in a way which is incompatible with the Convention.
4.3 More detail of the rights within the convention can be found on the Equality and Human Rights Commission website.
4.4 These articles provide the fundamental basis for a wide range of legislation including the Care Act 2014 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and 2007, and the NHS Constitution 2015.
4.5 The Care Quality Commission definition of Safeguarding keeps these articles central by stating: “Safeguarding means protecting people’s health, wellbeing and human rights, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. It’s fundamental to high-quality health and social care.” These rights are also reflected within the Care Act 2014 which enforces legal requirements or duties to safeguarding adults.
4.6 Under these duties’ employers have specific responsibilities and must ensure that staff, including volunteers, are trained in recognising the symptoms of abuse or neglect, how to respond and where to go for advice and assistance. These are best written down in shared policy documents that can be easily understood and used by all the key organisations.
4.7 Employers who are also providers or commissioners of care and support not only have a duty to the adult, but also a responsibility to take action in relation to the employee when allegations of abuse are made against them. Employers should ensure that their disciplinary procedures are compatible with the responsibility to protect adults at risk of abuse or neglect.
4.8 The Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership is responsible for ensuring that key learning and developments are disseminated to all partners who support staff to be competent in their roles, and for updating the Safeguarding Adult Training Strategy every three years.
4.9 Those with strategic and executive roles within partner agencies have a responsibility to ensure that their staff are trained to recognise and respond to safeguarding adult concerns. In addition, they are required to be fully cognisant of both their individual and corporate accountability for safeguarding children and adults, and the wider safeguarding agenda, including the Mental Capacity Act.
4.10 Additionally, the Local Authority-led Safeguarding Adults Partnership have a responsibility to challenge and hold partner agencies to account in relation to safeguarding adults.
4.11 To support the Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership in assuring that local safeguarding arrangements and partners act to help and protect adults in its area who meet the criteria above, all partners have agreed to use the Adult Safeguarding: Roles and Competencies for Health Care Staff Intercollegiate Document (Second edition: July 2024) as the basis for understanding how partners are supporting staff to both understand their roles and responsibilities relating to safeguarding adults and to be competent in those roles.
4.12 The Safeguarding Adults Partnership recognise that some partners may use other recognised safeguarding adult competency frameworks and are responsible for ensuring training supports staff to be competent in roles equivalent to those described within the Adult Safeguarding: Roles and Competencies for Health Care Staff Intercollegiate Document (Second edition: July 2024). See appendix 1 for descriptions of applicable roles and levels and section 7 for links to other recognised competency frameworks.
4.13 Compliance with the framework should include ongoing and dynamic assessment of competence through supervision, direct observation and appraisal. Assessment should also reflect a knowledge and understanding of Local Authority Multi-Agency Policy and Procedures for Safeguarding Adults, Operational Instructions and Safeguarding Practice Standards.
4.14 The Safeguarding Adults Partnership acknowledge that roles in each organisation will be described differently – however, there is an expectation that there will be one person in each organisation, as appropriate, to fulfil the specialist roles as described in paragraphs 4.15 and 4.16.
4.15 With regard to the TDSAP Safeguarding Adult Training Strategy, those working in specialist (named) roles within organisations (see Appendix 1 for more details) are responsible for working with the local authority safeguarding team and partners in other agencies to conduct wider safeguarding training needs analysis, and to commission, plan, design, deliver and evaluate single and inter-agency training and teaching for staff in the organisations covered as appropriate.
4.16 There is an expectation that partner organisations must ensure that they access specialist safeguarding expertise to provide assurance to the Safeguarding Adults Partnership.
4.17 Those working in specialist (designated professionals or equivalent roles) (see Appendix 1 for more details) are responsible for ensuring that their organisation is undertaking appropriate training needs analysis, commissioning, planning, designing, delivering, and evaluating adult safeguarding training within their organisation. To also support wider partnership work in relation to this when evaluating the provision of training across the health/social care community. All managers are responsible for ensuring that staff are released to undertake training commensurate with their competency level. Managers should also ensure that their staff are compliant with their competency requirement. (see Appendix 2 Safeguarding Adult Training Matrix for more details)
4.18 To remain compliant, all organisations must ensure that:
- staff receive written safeguarding adult updates every year, and receive refresher training every three years
- all new staff receive training as part of their induction, as per the competency framework
4.19 All staff have a safeguarding duty of care to those for whom they provide care, and, where necessary, to take action for safeguarding and crime prevention purposes.
4.20 All staff are responsible for attending training and ensuring that they are compliant with their competency requirement.
4.21 Organisations and managers will be required to exercise discretion when mapping staff against the roles and responsibilities as newly appointed professionals and staff often possess skills acquired in other organisations or settings. Managers should consider their options for measuring, evidencing and agreeing prior learning.
4.22 Refresher training should be sought depending on the context and skill level of the individual as measured or assessed by their appropriate manager or in line with organisational policy.
4.23 Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership recognise that:
- not all partners will be able offer in-house Level 3 training. Some partners who will need limited spaces at this level have a responsibility to source training at this level and are encouraged to communicate with the TDSAP for support to facilitate this as required
- all training has an underlying cost to the training provider, whether this is a contracted-out provision or whether the training is provided by directly employed staff – organisations providing training to others may seek to recover costs through a price charging structure
4.24 The Appendices:
Appendix 1 – Safeguarding Adult Training Matrix.
Describes the current arrangements for safeguarding adult training
5. Governance
5.1 Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership within its structure has a Quality Assurance and Improvement Subgroup which report into the Safeguarding Adults Partnership governance structure.
5.2 The Quality Assurance and Improvement Subgroup is responsible for developing and implementing the Safeguarding Adult Training Strategy.
5.3 All partners have a responsibility to ensure that their staff are competent to undertake their roles and that any training packages developed in-house will be reviewed and amended, in line with any national or local changes. This will take place annually, and as required.
5.4 All partners agencies are expected to know whether their staff are compliant with Safeguarding training requirements (minimum standard 85%) and to take action to support staff.
5.5 TDSAP have a responsibility to understand how partner agencies comply with their safeguarding duties and ensure that their staff are competent to undertake their roles. This involves challenging and holding partner agencies to account.
5.6 TDSAP shall provide assurance that safeguarding training (whether commissioned by the partnership or delivered by partners) shall ensure that the training is compliant with standards in line with Adult Safeguarding: Roles and Competencies for Health Care Staff Intercollegiate Document (Second edition: July 2024).
5.7 All training commissioners within the partnership will report to the partnership through the Quality Assurance and Improvement Sub group providing assurance that the training provision is delivered by appropriately qualified individuals, audited, current and has been appropriately evaluated.
5.8 Any partner providing training should expect to be asked by the partnership to report directly on their own internal quality assurance processes in order to satisfy the requirement to provide effective training. Additionally, assurance may be sought via a range of other methods including peer group evaluation of training provided by partners.
5.9 The Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership via the Quality Assurance and Improvement group will take the lead in delivering assurance that the training is compliant with standards and support staff to be competent within their roles
6. Implementation
6.1 Individual partner organisations agreed at the first commencement of this strategy in July 2020 to take responsibility for the implementation of this Training Strategy within their own agency. To ensure effective implementation the then Devon Safeguarding Adults Board and Torbay Safeguarding Adults Board made the following recommendation to individual organisations:
to map the specific roles of staff within their organisation against the generic role types and functions described in Appendices 1 and 2 and the Adult Safeguarding: Roles and Competencies for Health Care Staff Intercollegiate Document (First edition: August 2018) – unless already mapped against existing competency frameworks.
Partner organisations are recommended to review the above in line with the publication of the Adult Safeguarding: Roles and Competencies for Health Care Staff Intercollegiate document (Second edition: July 2024).
6.2 Local Authorities will have access to a relevant webpage or electronic resource that includes a training section providing access to standardised resources and materials.
6.3 The TDSAP will through its business plans support partner agencies in assessing the competency of staff in relation to safeguarding adults and the MCA and where required advise on systems of clinical supervision of safeguarding adults and the MCA.
6.4 Develop mechanisms to quality assure training provision, including the use of such methods as peer group evaluation
6.5 The impact and effectiveness of the strategy will be monitored via the Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership Quality Assurance and Improvement sub group.
7. References and relevant guidance
Appendix 1 – Safeguarding Adult Training Matrix
Safeguarding Adults Training Strategy – Reviewed April 2025
Any changes in safeguarding statutory guidance, legislation or practice will be communicated to staff via TDSAP and / or Partner Agencies and their usual communication routes. Any queries please contact TDSAP.
| Training Level | Staff Group | How? Contact TDSAP for more details of locally provided resources | Frequency |
| Induction for new starters | All new staff directly employed/locums or volunteers/ or contracted | As per partner agencies’ mandatory training policies. | On induction |
| Level 1 Awareness | Suitable for all staff who have contact with adults at risk of abuse. This includes health & care and police employees, private/independent contractors or practitioners and volunteers. | E learning Partner Agencies. National resources: – such as the Social Care institute of Excellence (SCIE) and NHSE for health E-learning, the College of Policing, the National Centre for Applied Learning Technologies (NCALT), Social work England etc | 3 yearly plus Quarterly safeguarding updates which could include reading of practitioner briefings, local guidance developments and communications, equivalent to a minimum of 2 hours over 3 years |
| Level 2 Practitioner | Suitable for all who have regular contact with adults at risk of abuse and may need to raise or respond to concerns or may need to co-ordinate any part of the safeguarding process. This includes health & care and police employees, private/independent contractors or practitioners and volunteers. | E learning or Face to Face Partner Agencies. National resources: – such as the Social Care institute of Excellence (SCIE) and Professional Bodies such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council, General Medical Council, the College of Policing the National Centre for Applied Learning Technologies (NCALT), Social work England etc | 3 yearlyrefresher training equivalent to a minimum of 3-4 hours over 3 years plus Quarterly safeguarding updates which could include supervision conversations, workshops, etc |
| Level 3 Participating in an enquiry | Suitable for all registered / qualified staff who engage in assessing, planning, intervening and evaluating the needs of adults where there are safeguarding concerns. | Face to face training at this level is provided through individual organisations and can be made available to other partners or facilitated through TDSAP as required. | 3 yearly refresher training equivalent to a minimum of 8 hours over 3 years. This can be a mixture of structured and unstructured learning, for example supervision, workshops, SAR reading and contributions in team discussions and learning. 50% of the learning should be delivered/met through participatory opportunities. E-learning should not be the primary or sole delivery method at this level. |
| Level 4 Leading Safeguarding Enquiries | Suitable for all Local Authority Team Managers, Health and Police who will be responsible for leading section 42 enquiries under the Care Act 2014 and have a key role in promoting good professional practice within their organisation, providing advice and expertise for fellow professionals. | Must be competent up to level 3 with additional training as outlined in intercollegiate guidance. Face to face training. Level 4 safeguarding adults training is available for Devon practitioners via the Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership. For Torbay practitioners training at this level is provided by Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust. | A minimum of 24 hours (8 hours per annum) of education, training and learning over a three-year period. This should include clinical leadership, appraisal, peer support and supervision training. In addition, those in specialist roles within an organisation who liaise with the local authority, should participate regularly in support groups or peer support networks for specialist professionals at a local and national level, according to professional guidelines (attendance should be recorded). (These are described as named professionals in the Adult Safeguarding: Roles and Competencies for Healthcare Staff, 2024) |
| Level 4 Leading whole Service Safeguarding Enquiries | Suitable for all Local Authority Service Managers, Health and Police whom will be responsible for leading whole home section 42 enquiries under the Care Act and have a key role in promoting good professional practice within their organisation and commissioned services, providing advice and expertise for fellow professionals. | ||
| Level 5 | Suitable for specialist and designated roles within Safeguarding Adults | Those in wider, strategic specialist roles should participate regularly in support groups or peer support networks for safeguarding professionals at a local, regional, and national level according to professional guidelines (attendance should be recorded). Professionals new to undertaking roles at this level should complete additional management training with a focus on leadership and change management within three years of taking up the post. | Those working in wider, strategic specialist roles influencing change across the health and social care community, should attend a minimum of 24 hours of education, training and learning over a three-year period. This should include leadership, appraisal, supervision training and the context of other professionals’ work. (These are described as designated professionals in the Adult Safeguarding: Roles and Competencies for Healthcare Staff, 2024) |
| Governance and Board roles | Chief executive officers, trust and health board executive and non-executive directors/members, commissioning body directors. This includes boards of private, independent and charitable health care and voluntary community and social enterprise sector as well as statutory providers. | Must have undertaken e-learning (Level 1) available via Partner Agencies. In addition, they must attend bespoke organisational or SAB face to face training. | 3 yearly Plus, Quarterly Safeguarding written updates or refresher training equivalent to a minimum of 2 hours over 3 years including Annual bespoke training |
| Associated Areas Torbay and Devon Safeguarding Adults Partnership acknowledges that partner agencies may need to access specialist training for their work force in relation to areas such as: the Mental Capacity Act; Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence; Exploitation; Prevent; Modern Slavery and Trafficking; County Lines that overlap with Safeguarding Adults, and there is an expectation that all organisations will need to consider these areas and associated types of abuse when assessing the training needs of their staff. | |||