Voluntary and Community Sector
What to do if you have immediate concerns about a child?
If you have non-immediate concerns for a child, need support or guidance with an Early Help Assessment or TAF, or wish to complete a No Names Consultation please contact the Locality and Community Support Service.
Multi-agency guidance and tools
VCS Safeguarding Policy and Checklist
In collaboration with colleagues from OCVA, Oxfordshire Youth, Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council, the OSCB has created a draft safeguarding policy template and checklist specific to the Voluntary and Community Sector. These documents are an example of best practice, which can be adapted by third sector groups.
Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy Template for the VCS – updated 2019
Record Retention and Information Sharing
The NSPCC has published guidelines on child protection records retention and storage. The guidelines cover the storage of child protection records, retention periods, recording concerns about adult behaviour, disclosure and barring check, and the destruction of child protection records.
NSPCC: Child protection records retention and storage guidance
Information sharing is crucial to safeguarding children, please see below for guidance on information sharing and General Data Protection Regulations 2016 (GDPR)
OSCB 7 Golden Rules for Information Sharing
Children and Young People’s Forum (CYPF)
Initiated in early 2015, the CYPF forum creates a space for all voluntary organisations who work with children and young people to come together to form stronger relationships and a collective voice of influence. The forum is organised by Oxfordshire Youth and focusses on best practice and current issues.
For more information on the forum, please see 
Training
The OSCB offers free face-to-face and online training on a variety of safeguarding topics. There is a selection of core safeguarding training courses designed to reflect the needs of delegates and take on board any relevant changes to national and local guidance.
What training should I do?
See here for guidance on which level of training you should complete relevant to your role and/or see the Training Brochure for further information. Please click on Training/Booking system to register or book your place.
News and Updates
VCS Children and Young People’s Forum August 2019
The Children and Young People’s Forum is the third sector forum for everyone working with children and young people (0-25) in Oxfordshire. The forum runs 4 meetings a year and 2 networking sessions.
Over 65 organisations are actively engaged and excited about the recent developments and activities that this forum is enabling to happen. The next networking session is on the 29th August 6pm – 8pm, to book your place please visit – https://oxfordshireyouth.org/event/children-and-young-peoples-forum-4/
Voluntary and Community Sector Children’s safeguarding webpage
The development of this webpage is one aspect of a joint action plan agreed between the Children and Young People’s Forum and the Board to help strengthen safeguarding within the wider community and to raise concerns and emerging issues with the Board.
The Board has worked with voluntary sector representatives to develop a page which provides a summary of essential resources and tools – linked to relevant areas of their website for further information.
The page is intended as a portal for easy access to key information for both larger charities and local community groups. As such the Board would welcome feedback and will use this to review the page next March (2020). Please email comments to OSCB@oxfordshire.gov.uk
Youth in Mind Conference 2020 – last chance for early bird tickets
Have you got your ticket for the Youth in Mind 2020? If you haven’t already purchased your ticket for Oxfordshire Youth’s popular mental health conference for anyone working with children and young people, make sure to book before 6th December to get your early bird ticket for just £35.
Make the most of the event by promoting your organisation to 500 delegates by also booking a stall in the busy marketplace. The event will host national experts, local youth programmes, a professional theatre company performing an inspiring play and an expert panel discussion not to be missed.
To find out more about last years event, see the Youth in Mind 2019 blog
A chance to star at the Youth Awards
Oxfordshire Youth are seeking outstanding young performers to audition for the Youth Awards 2020. If you know a young person or group who would make the evening even more outstanding, please encourage them to sign up for an audition!
Whatever their unique talent, OY want to see what they can do to add sparkle to this event.
For more information about Youth Awards 2020, or to nominate a young person or group for one of the awards, please visit the Youth Awards 2020 page.
You can also download the flyer and share it with your friends, family and colleagues.
What are you doing to protect people who come into contact with your charity from abuse or mistreatment?
As a trustee, part of your duties includes taking reasonable steps to protect people who come into contact with your charity from harm. Protecting people and safeguarding responsibilities should be a governance priority for all charities and are a fundamental part of operating as a charity for the public benefit.
But what exactly does this mean? Visit GOV.UK to find out what your responsibilities are and what you need to do to manage risks, protect volunteers and staff, ensure you have the right policies, procedures and practices, and more.
Should you, or your staff, trustees or volunteers need safeguarding or mental health awareness training, Oxfordshire Youth can provide these. Take a look at OY Learning and Development page to see all the courses offered.
