This initiative arose from an investigation in 2011/12 into safeguarding cases in the sheltered service. It became apparent that tenants had a lack of knowledge of adult safeguarding. Throughout the schemes, there are leaflets/posters providing information on how to report abuse but, although tenants knew how to report abuse, they were not always aware of the ‘triggers’ or ‘types’ of abuse and how perpetrators ‘groom’ victims. This gave rise to the development of a ‘Tenant Safeguarding Awareness Programme’ project group involving tenants and staff which considered how tenants’ awareness could be raised to reduce incidences of abuse. The Tenants Safeguarding Training Programme was delivered by tenants to all tenants throughout the Manchester Region. 24 sessions have been delivered to over 180 tenants and sessions are now being delivered in Derby and Nottingham and across Liverpool and Merseyside later this year.
Why we liked this project
This is a very sensitive area and we were impressed by the commitment of the organisation to raise awareness with older tenants and by the use of tenants themselves to deliver the training. It is being rolled out across Riverside ECHG’s operations and is a useful model which could be adopted by other organisations and rolled out nationally. The training raises confidence through knowledge and awareness, empowers tenants to make more informed choices generally in relation to their care/support services and facilities interaction between schemes, and between schemes and the wider community (helping to address isolation and loneliness). The two tenants delivering the training have clearly benefitted personally in terms of their own confidence and development and presumably others are/will be involved in other parts of the country. There are cost savings both for the organisation as well as for other agencies involved in safeguarding cases.
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