Safeguarding Policy

Scope

The Inner Temple works with a range of partners to deliver outreach activities to participants under the age of 18 to help support them to make informed decisions about their careers. It is acknowledged that because many of our outreach activities are also aimed at adults, it is possible that adults at risk may attend our events. This policy sets out how the Inner Temple will create a safe environment for participants under 18, Pathways to Law participants and adults at risk in our outreach activities.

Definitions

• A child is someone who is under the age of 18.
• An adult at risk (previously known as a vulnerable adult) is a person aged 18 or over who: has needs for care and support and is experiencing or is at risk of abuse or neglect; and as a result of those care and support needs is unable to protect themselves from either the risk of or the experience of abuse and neglect.

Safeguarding Adults at Risk

Many outreach events are open to members of the public aged 18 or over. Whilst we acknowledge it may not always be possible to identify an adult at risk, measures are in place to ensure all participants are kept safe, and that their needs are met as follows:

• A risk assessment to be carried out for all events.
• All participants are asked whether they require any reasonable adjustments in order to participate in the event.
• The Event Coordinator must ensure that any required adjustments are in place, contacting the participant prior to the event should further information or clarification be required.
• If a volunteer or staff member considers there to be an immediate risk to the safety of a participant, and the Safeguarding Lead is not present, they should do what they reasonably and safely can to prevent it but, in an extreme case, they should call the appropriate emergency service. They should ensure that this is reported to the Safeguarding Lead as soon as possible.
• If a staff member or volunteer is concerned that an adult may be at risk they should inform the Safeguarding Lead, who may contact the local adult safeguarding team in the area that the event is being held.

Safeguarding Processes

Safer Recruitment

As part of staff roles within the Education and Training Department, there will be a Safeguarding Lead and a Deputy Safeguarding Lead.

All E&T staff who are required to work with participants under the age of 18 and all Pathways to Law participants will be subject to a Basic Disclosure and Barring Check.

If a staff member is involved in regulated activity as defined by the Disclosure and Barring Service (UK Government) they will be subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Check.

The Inner Temple has a policy on ex-offenders and this policy must be provided to all applicants as part of the recruitment process for roles that are identified as requiring Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Checks.

Staff Training

Roles that have been identified as involving work with participants under the age of 18 and all Pathways to Law participants (regardless of age), will be required to complete Safeguarding and Child Protection Training. This should be refreshed every three years.

Designated Safeguarding Leads will complete Designated Safeguarding Lead Training.

Designated Safeguarding Leads

The Safeguarding Lead and the Deputy Safeguarding Lead must attend appropriate safeguarding training every three years and be provided with a copy of this policy.

Annex A of this policy identifies the roles and responsibilities of the Safeguarding Lead and the Deputy Safeguarding Lead.

Event Management

Training

Inner Temple requires the following measures for events involving participants under the age of 18:

• Event coordinators are to have undergone safeguarding training with the NSPCC or similar.
• Volunteers are to be briefed before the start of each event and provided with a Safeguarding Guidance Document outlining steps they must take to keep children safe.
• Any other member of the Inner Temple staff who will have any contact with any participant under the age of 18 during the event is to be provided with a Safeguarding Guidance Document outlining steps they must take to keep participants safe.

In-person Activity

Specific measures for in-person activities include:

• A lead safeguarding contact is to be named for each event.
• A risk assessment is to be carried out, to include safeguarding risks.
• All participants are to be notified of identity of the person to whom they should go if they have or see any problems.
• Parental or carer consent is to be sought for attendance, via partner institutions where appropriate.
• Emergency contact details and medical needs are to be collected in advance.
• All participants are to be reminded of the Volunteer and Participant Code of Conduct at welcome talks.
• No volunteer or member of staff is to be in a one-to-one situation with a participant under the age of 18.

Tours

Specific measures for tour activities include:

• A member of Inner Temple staff will lead the activity or attend to monitor the event for risks.
• A representative of a partner institution, named contact or carer must also be in attendance.
• A member of Inner Temple staff or volunteer shall not be in any one-to-one situation with a participant under the age of 18.

Social Events

The Inner Temple occasionally provides events at which members can bring children, such as the Family Day and Christmas Lunch. On these occasions, children attending are supervised by the adults who have brought them and we ensure that the activities and facilities provided are suitable for children.

Online Activities

The Inner Temple run online activities include the Discovery Days and Insight Events.

Discovery Days

• Online Discovery Days are hosted by the Sutton Trust and Inner Temple and volunteers must follow the safeguarding procedures set out by the Sutton Trust.
• Online interaction with young people must always be supervised. Each discussion group will include 2 volunteers.
• Young people and volunteers must be told not to share identifying information, such as their full name, school or social media handle.

In any event where the Inner Temple hosts an online event for participants under the age of 18 the following procedures must be followed:

• The waiting room is to be used and the event organiser shall ensure that only those registered to attend the session are admitted, by checking their display name against their booking name.
• Screen sharing for participants will be disabled; and for large sessions in which group work is not required, the video for attendees will also be disabled.
• All attendees will be muted at the start of the session.
• Private chat and file transfer functions among attendees will be disabled.
• Any unapproved participant will be removed if they gain access.
• Expectations about behaviour must be explained at the start of the session.
• Prior to, and at the start of the session, students are to be reminded how to raise any concerns or report any inappropriate content.
• As a minimum, two members of staff will attend each session to monitor and manage risks.
• If the session is being delivered on behalf of a partner then a member of staff from that partner organisation must attend to support the management of any risks.
• Online interaction with young people must always be supervised. Two members of staff must be present when hosting an online event for under 18s. One staff member should be responsible for monitoring behaviour, including monitoring any chat functions.
• Young people and volunteer must be told not to share identifying information, such as their full name, school or social media handle.

Insight Events

• Insight events are open to both adults and those under the age of 18.
• These should be held using software which ensures that participants cannot see the names of other participants present and does not enable communication between participants.
• Screen sharing for participants should be disabled.

Communication and Social Media

The Outreach Team must inform the Sutton Trust Pathways to Law Team if they are aware of any direct contact between a programme participant and staff member or volunteer outside of emails sent via shared Inn email addresses (e.g. outreach@innertemple.org.uk).

Contact Information

Staff and volunteers must not share personal contact details with any participant under the age of 18 or any Pathways to Law participant. This includes personal email addresses, telephone numbers and social media accounts. If a participant wishes to contact a staff member or volunteer, they should be provided with an Inn shared email address (outreach@innertemple.org.uk). If a participant under the age of 18 or known to be a Pathways to Law participant contacts a staff member or volunteer using their personal contact details or social media accounts, the staff member or volunteer should not respond and should inform the Deputy Safeguarding Lead and Outreach Team.

Additionally, volunteers should not share any work contact details without first discussing this with the Outreach Team. If a participant under the age of 18 or known to be a Pathways to Law participant contacts a volunteer via a publicly available work email address, the volunteer should  inform the Outreach Team and follow their advice. In cases where ongoing communication may be required all communication should take place using a work email address and should copy in outreach@innertemple.org.uk and, if the participant is known to be part of the Sutton Trust Pathways to Law programme, workexperience@suttontrust.com.

Social Media

Inappropriate direct messages must be reported in accordance with the Inner Temple social media policy.

Inner Temple staff or volunteers must not knowingly follow or accept participants under 18 or Pathways to Law participants using their own personal social media account, including on LinkedIn.

If staff or volunteers are aware that a participant under the age of 18 or known to be a Pathways to Law participant has contacted them via social media they should not respond and should report this to the Deputy Safeguarding Lead and Outreach Team.

No identifying details for participants under the age of 18 should be used on social media.
For participants under the age of 18, consent for marketing must be given by their legal parent/ guardian.

LinkedIn can be a useful networking tool for aspiring barristers, and staff and volunteers may connect with prospective members of the Inn and members aged 18 or over, who are not known to be Pathways to Law participants.

Photography

Staff may not use personal devices to take photographs of participants under the age of 18. There are Inner Temple devices available for capturing appropriate photographs at events.

Media consent must be obtained from a parent or guardian prior to any photographs or filming of participants under the age of 18 and Pathways to Law participants. Where a photographer is at an event, participants will also be informed that photography will be taking place and be advised to speak to a member of staff if they have concerns. If a participant or their parent/carer asks for the participant’s photograph to be removed from any promotional material, the Inner Temple must make arrangements for this to happen as quickly as possible.

All persons must be suitably clothed in any images to prevent those images being misused.

Conduct and Behaviours

This section is intended to assist volunteers and participants by emphasising the need to treat each other with dignity and respect, and describing types of behaviour which are inconsistent with the Inn’s aims and obligations.

Volunteers and participants must be mindful of the risk that behaviour which may seem to them to be innocuous or courteous, may be perceived as unwanted or even threatening to another person.

Volunteers and participants attending Education and Training events must follow the Volunteer and Participant Code of Conduct at all times.

As set out by the Volunteer and Participant Code of Conduct volunteers must not:

• initiate unsolicited personal or social contact via social media and not knowingly make contact with anyone under the age of 18 years;
• make comments about the physical appearance of a volunteer or participant, however seemingly innocuous;
• ask intrusive or otherwise inappropriate questions about a volunteer’s or participant’s romantic or sex life;
• make offensive jokes or verbal abuse, including any sent by email or social media;
• make offensive remarks or expose anyone to ridicule, including the use of stereotypes relating to individuals of a particular age, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity, family status (including those who have children), religion, socio-economic or ethnic background or relating to disability;
• suggest that the Bar is an unrealistic career option for persons of a particular age, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity, family status (including those who have, or are considering having, children), religion, socio-economic or ethnic background or who have a disability;
• suggest that a person’s name or accent might present an obstacle to advancement at the Bar; or
• assume that volunteers or participants, by virtue of their ethnic background, religion or other personal or cultural characteristics, are not British, or ask questions which may be perceived by the other person as questioning whether they are British, such as “Where are you from?”.

Reporting Concerns

If any volunteer or staff member has any concern about the safeguarding of any participant, whether a child or an adult at risk, they must communicate that information to  the relevant safeguarding contact immediately, even if they have not been given consent to do so. GDPR does not affect this principle.

If any volunteer or staff member has a concern then this must be reported to the identified Safeguarding Lead for the event or activity.

It is not the role of the Inner Temple to investigate the concern but instead to make the appropriate referral and to ensure that in making the report, the relevant guidance is followed.

If any volunteer or staff member considers there to be an immediate risk to the safety of a participant, and the Safeguarding Lead is not present, they should do what they reasonably and safely can to prevent it but, in an extreme case, they should call the appropriate emergency service. They should ensure that this is reported to the Safeguarding Lead as soon as possible.

In most cases information about safeguarding will need to be passed on to delivery partners, who will be responsible for safeguarding.

Information that is shared will be:

• Necessary and proportionate. When taking decisions about what information to share, consideration must be given as to how much information needs to be released. Information must be proportionate to the need and level of risk.
• Relevant. Only information that is relevant must be shared and only with those who need it. This allows others to do their job effectively and make informed decisions. Reports must be factual only. They should not include assumptions or opinions.
• Timely. Information must be shared in a timely fashion to reduce the risk of missed opportunities to offer support and protection to a child. Timeliness is key in emergency situations, and it may not be appropriate to consult before sharing information sharing if it could cause delays and therefore place participants under 18 at increased risk of harm.
• Secure. Wherever possible, information must be shared in an appropriate, secure way.
  

Record

Once a disclosure or concern has been reported by word of mouth, all witnesses will be asked to complete a written report, detailing the date, time and location of the disclosure/concern alongside a factual account of what happened. Reports must be factual only. They should not include assumptions or opinions.

There will be an online and a paper copy of the report, which can be utilised depending on the circumstances and format of the event. The online form can be found here and a paper copy can be provided by the Outreach Team.

Upon receiving the report, the Designated Safeguarding Lead must save an electronic copy in the secure safeguarding folder, ensuring that any paper or cloud-based copies are destroyed or deleted.

The Designated Safeguarding Lead must record all decisions and actions in the Safeguarding Log. Information sharing decisions must be recorded, whether or not the decision is taken to share.

If the decision is to share, reasons must be cited including what information has been shared and with whom, in line with organisational procedures. If the decision is not to share, it is good practice to record the reasons for this decision and discuss them with the requester. Records will be kept for nine years.

Annex A:

The Safeguarding Lead has the responsibility for:

• Ensuring that all relevant staff are provided with safeguarding training.
• Ensuring that records are being maintained in line with relevant policies.
• Identifying the threshold for reporting concerns to partners or agencies and recording the rationale for decision making.
• Working with senior staff to promote safeguarding.

The Deputy Safeguarding Lead will have responsibility, in the absence of the Safeguarding Lead, for:

• Identifying the threshold for reporting concerns to partners or agencies and recording the rational for decision making.

Annex B:

Information for parents and carers:

• The Inner Temple staff responsible for working with participants under the age of 18 have been provided with appropriate safeguarding training.
• The Inner Temple will ensure participants are registered at the start of the event.
• The Inner Temple is not responsible for travel to or from the site of the event.
• The Inner Temple will, where necessary, contact the emergency contact if emergency contact information has been provided.
• The Inner Temple will not administer or supervise the taking of medicine.

 

20.10.2025