Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy

Saskia Joss Therapy  |  October 2026

Designated Safeguarding Lead: Saskia Joss
Next review: October 2027

1. Purpose and commitment

Saskia Joss Therapy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, young people and adults who access our services. Everyone has the right to feel safe, respected and protected from abuse, neglect, exploitation and harm, regardless of background, identity or circumstances.

Safeguarding is central to our therapeutic practice. We recognise our responsibility to identify concerns, respond appropriately and work with families, schools, healthcare professionals and statutory services. Our approach is based on prevention, reporting and appropriate response.

2. Scope

This policy applies to Saskia Joss and staff, volunteers, contractors and professionals working directly on behalf of Saskia Joss Therapy.

Independent practitioners renting rooms at the Mill Hill Therapy Hub or associated premises are responsible for their own safeguarding policies, registrations, insurance and safeguarding arrangements unless formally contracted to work under Saskia Joss Therapy.

3. Designated Safeguarding Lead

Saskia Joss – Child and Adolescent Therapist and Designated Safeguarding Lead. Email: saskiajosstherapy@gmail.com

General telephone: 020 4620 3562

The DSL is responsible for receiving and responding to concerns, maintaining secure records, making appropriate referrals and reviewing procedures. Saskia Joss will undertake training appropriate to the role and maintain current knowledge of local referral routes.

If the DSL is unavailable and a concern requires action, the person identifying the concern must contact the relevant statutory safeguarding service directly. As this is a sole-practitioner arrangement, there is no deputy DSL. Urgent referrals must never be delayed pending the DSL’s availability.

4. Safer recruitment and professional practice

Saskia Joss Therapy is committed to appropriate DBS checks, including enhanced and barred-list checks where legally eligible; verification of relevant qualifications, registration, references and insurance; role-appropriate safeguarding training; clear professional boundaries; appropriate consent for work with children; secure handling of information and regular review of safeguarding practice.

Safeguarding concerns take priority over organisational or reputational considerations.

5. Recognising and responding to concerns

Concerns may include physical, emotional or sexual abuse, neglect, exploitation, domestic abuse, online harm, self-harm, suicidal risk or concerning behaviour by adults working with children.

When someone discloses possible harm, practitioners must listen calmly, avoid leading questions or conducting their own investigation, explain the limits of confidentiality, make a factual record including the person’s own words where possible, inform a DSL promptly or contact statutory services directly where necessary, and follow up on the action taken.

Where there is immediate risk of serious harm, call 999.

6. Local safeguarding contacts and referrals

Barnet Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH): 020 8359 4066 | mash@barnet.gov.uk

Barnet out-of-hours emergency duty team: 020 8359 2000.

For child safeguarding concerns, contact the relevant local authority children’s social care service. Barnet referrals may be submitted through its online safeguarding referral process. Urgent telephone reports should be followed up in line with local guidance.

Where a child lives or attends school outside Barnet, contact the appropriate local authority. Adult safeguarding concerns should be referred to the relevant local authority adult safeguarding service.

Local authority details and referral routes must be checked before use, particularly if working outside Barnet.

7. Allegations against staff or the DSL

Any allegation that a professional has harmed, may have harmed or poses a risk of harm to a child must be taken seriously. Where the relevant criteria are met, the allegation should be referred to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) without delay and within one working day.

For Barnet, obtain the current LADO contact and referral route from Barnet Council’s published LADO guidance or through MASH on 020 8359 4066.

If a concern involves Saskia Joss, it must not be investigated or managed by her. A concern may be reported directly to the LADO, children’s social care or police without seeking her permission. The practice will cooperate with statutory investigations and relevant regulatory processes.

8. Confidentiality and information sharing

Therapeutic confidentiality is respected but is not absolute. Relevant information may be shared where necessary to protect a child, an adult at risk or another person from harm.

Information will be shared lawfully, proportionately and on a need-to-know basis. Consent will be sought where appropriate, but information may be shared without consent when a lawful safeguarding basis applies.

In line with the statutory information-sharing duty under section 16LA of the Children Act 2004 (in force from 30 September 2026) and the DfE guidance Information Sharing to Safeguard Children and Young People (September 2026), there is no specific threshold that must be met before sharing information relevant to safeguarding or promoting a child's welfare. Practitioners should share relevant information promptly where a child may be at risk, rather than waiting for certainty, and record what was shared, with whom and why.

Uncertainty about whether to share should be resolved in favour of discussing the concern with the DSL, children's social care or other safeguarding professionals, and never in favour of delay where a child may be at immediate risk.

9. Safeguarding records and retention

Concerns, disclosures, referrals, decisions and actions will be recorded accurately and promptly, including dates, observations, disclosures, people contacted and reasons for decisions.

Records will be secured against unauthorised access, restricted to authorised people, kept separately from general therapeutic notes where appropriate and shared securely with statutory agencies where required.

Records will be retained under a documented retention schedule that specifies the categories of records, retention periods, review arrangements and secure disposal methods. The schedule will reflect professional obligations, applicable law, the individual’s age and any ongoing safeguarding or legal proceedings. No universal UK GDPR retention period applies to all safeguarding records.

10. Safeguarding within schools

When delivering therapy in schools, Saskia Joss Therapy will follow the school’s safeguarding procedures alongside its own responsibilities. Relevant concerns will be shared promptly with the school DSL and referred directly to statutory services where necessary. Responsibilities apply whether sessions take place in schools, private practice or online.

11. Training and review

Safeguarding training and knowledge will be maintained at a level appropriate to each role, including child protection, disclosures, information sharing, professional boundaries and local referral pathways.

This policy will be reviewed annually, or sooner if legislation, guidance, organisational arrangements or practice change.

12. Contact information

Saskia Joss Therapy | Mill Hill Therapy Hub | Sunbury Avenue | London NW7 3SL

Email: saskiajosstherapy@gmail.com | Telephone: 020 4620 3562

In an emergency, call 999.

13. Additional safeguarding procedures

Separated parents and parental disagreements

Where parents or carers disagree, the child’s welfare remains paramount. The therapist will clarify parental responsibility and consent arrangements, consider the child’s competence and confidentiality rights, record relevant concerns objectively and avoid acting as an investigator in parental disputes. Where allegations suggest risk of harm, these will be assessed and referred through appropriate safeguarding channels, usually the DSO at the child’s school, regardless of which parent raises them.

Recording decisions and agency responses

Records will distinguish direct observations, the child’s own words, third-party reports and professional judgements. The practice will document the rationale for sharing or withholding information, who was contacted, the response received and any follow-up. A decision by another agency to take no further action does not remove the responsibility to reconsider or re-refer if new information or risk emerges.

Self-harm and suicide risk

Where self-harm or suicidal thoughts are disclosed, the practitioner will assess immediate safety needs within their competence, involve emergency services or urgent healthcare services where indicated and make appropriate safeguarding referrals. Parents or carers will ordinarily be involved where safe and appropriate, with confidentiality decisions documented.

Remote work and digital communication

Remote sessions will use appropriate privacy and safety arrangements, including confirmation of the client’s location and a suitable emergency contact process where relevant. Sensitive safeguarding information will be communicated through appropriately secure channels and recorded in the client record.

Supervision and professional consultation

Safeguarding concerns may be discussed in clinical supervision or with relevant safeguarding professionals, using proportionate information sharing. Consultation does not replace or delay a necessary referral to statutory services.

Record retention schedule

The practice will maintain a separate written retention schedule specifying retention periods and lawful bases for clinical and safeguarding records, including records relating to children. Records subject to safeguarding enquiries, complaints or legal proceedings must not be routinely destroyed while needed. Retention arrangements will be reviewed against current professional, insurance and legal requirements.

14. Parental responsibility, separated families and consent

At the outset, ascertain and document who holds parental responsibility, the child’s competence and understanding, the legal and ethical basis for consent and any relevant court orders. Do not assume that a parent lacks parental responsibility because they do not live with the child. Seek specialist legal advice when an order, dispute or objection makes authority unclear.

Explain to the child and each appropriate parent or carer the purpose and limits of confidentiality, the circumstances for safeguarding disclosures and how requests for records will be handled. A parent’s request does not automatically entitle them to every confidential therapeutic communication.

In parental disputes, record allegations as attributed reports rather than established facts, consider possible coercive control and the child’s account, avoid acting as investigator or adjudicator and share only necessary safeguarding information. Do not promise secrecy or agree to suppress relevant risk information. Consider whether notifying a parent would increase risk before doing so.

15. Safeguarding decision-making, referral and follow-up

Record concerns on the day identified wherever practicable: date and time, the child’s exact words, observable facts, who supplied each account, relevant context, immediate risk, advice obtained, decisions and rationale, recipients and methods of information sharing and follow-up actions.

Where a concern meets or may meet a statutory threshold, consult or refer promptly to children’s social care. Use Barnet’s online MASH portal for referrals in Barnet; urgent concerns should be telephoned to MASH and followed with the portal submission. Keep evidence of submission and agency responses.

If an agency advises that no further action is required, document who gave that advice, when, what information was considered and the reason given. This does not remove the practitioner’s duty to reconsider, seek further advice or escalate if new information arises or risk persists. Consider professional challenge or escalation procedures where disagreement remains.

For urgent danger call 999. For immediate mental health crisis or suspected serious injury, arrange emergency clinical assessment through 999 or A&E as appropriate; do not leave a person at imminent risk unsupported.

16. Self-harm, suicide and mental health emergencies

Explore the nature, timing and immediacy of risk within professional competence, including current intent, plans, access to means, recent acts, protective factors and whether the child can remain safe. Avoid treating any checklist as a substitute for clinical judgement.

Where significant or imminent risk is identified, seek urgent medical or specialist assessment and contact emergency services if necessary. Involve parents or carers where safe and appropriate and share proportionate information with relevant professionals. Document safety advice, referrals, communication and follow-up.

Therapeutic support does not replace emergency psychiatric assessment or statutory safeguarding intervention.

17. Online sessions, messaging and digital safety

Use appropriately secured platforms and devices, private settings and approved communication channels. At the beginning of remote work, confirm the child’s location, privacy, a suitable adult/emergency contact and a contingency plan if a session disconnects or a safeguarding concern arises.

Do not use informal or disappearing-message channels for safeguarding disclosures or clinical record-keeping. Retain relevant digital communications securely and set clear expectations about response times and the fact that routine email and messaging are not emergency services.

Consider online exploitation, image-based abuse, grooming and coercion when assessing safeguarding risk. Avoid forwarding intimate images of children; seek police or specialist safeguarding advice about evidence handling.

18. Safeguarding supervision, training and accountability

The DSL will maintain role-appropriate safeguarding and child protection training, refresh knowledge regularly and keep dated evidence of completed learning, supervision and relevant guidance updates. No unverified claim about training completion is made by this policy.

Safeguarding cases and ethical dilemmas will be brought to suitably qualified clinical supervision where appropriate, with confidentiality protected. Supervision is not a substitute for an immediate referral and must not delay urgent action.

The practice will review its procedures at least annually, following significant incidents and when statutory guidance changes. This includes a documented check of referral numbers, secure storage arrangements, record retention and complaints routes.

19. Records retention and secure disposal

The practice adopts a risk-based retention schedule, documented in its separate Data Protection and Records Retention Policy. As an operational default subject to legal, contractual and insurance review, adult clinical files are scheduled for review six years after the last contact and children’s clinical files for review when the client reaches age 25, or six years after the last contact if later. These are practice choices, not universal statutory requirements.

Safeguarding files are reviewed separately and may need longer retention where risk, ongoing proceedings, litigation holds, professional obligations or applicable sector-specific rules justify this. Any extension must record its reason and review date. Where a legal or safeguarding investigation is ongoing, suspend routine deletion.

Record the data category, retention trigger, retention end/review date, lawful basis, responsible person and secure destruction method in a retention register. Conduct annual reviews and securely erase electronic material or confidentially shred paper records when retention is no longer justified. Ensure encrypted backups and third-party processors are covered by documented arrangements.

20. Complaints, allegations and external escalation

Complaints about the DSL may be made directly to Barnet MASH, the LADO where allegations concern suitability to work with children, the police where a crime may have occurred, or the relevant professional body. The DSL must not be the sole decision-maker about an allegation concerning herself.

Barnet LADO allegations meeting its criteria should be reported within one working day using the council’s LADO process; contact through Barnet MASH for advice. Where the child is at immediate risk, contact 999 without waiting for a LADO response.

Where there are concerns about an independent room-renting practitioner, refer to the practitioner’s own employer/DSL or appropriate statutory agency as warranted; room rental alone does not make the practitioner an employee of Saskia Joss Therapy.

21. Key contacts and authoritative guidance

Barnet children’s MASH: 020 8359 4066. Online referrals: https://www.barnet.gov.uk/directories/directme/multi-agency-safeguarding-hub-mash-team-childrens. General queries: mash@barnet.gov.uk. Out-of-hours emergency duty team: 020 8359 2000.

Barnet LADO: https://www.barnet.gov.uk/children-and-families/keeping-children-safe/local-authority-designated-officer-lado (referral form and guidance; contact via MASH). For other local authorities use their published safeguarding routes.

National guidance: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 (Department for Education); statutory information-sharing guidance applicable from September 2026; ICO Sharing Data to Safeguard Children; BACP Ethical Framework and Good Practice in Action safeguarding, confidentiality and records resources.

Useful sources: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2 ; https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/data-sharing/sharing-data-to-safeguard-children-faqs/ ; https://www.bacp.co.uk/gpia .

 

 

Approved by: Saskia Joss ____________________    Date: _16-10-26_______________

Next scheduled review: October 2027 (or sooner if required).