Safeguarding

Safeguarding Statement

At YMCA Humber, we are committed to:

• Recruiting the right people: Ensuring all staff and volunteers are safely recruited through our robust safer recruitment processes and policies.

• Creating a safe environment: Promoting a trusted, safeguarding-positive environment for everyone we work with.

• Promoting equality and respect: Treating everyone with dignity and respect, and expecting the same from everyone we engage with.

• Encouraging open communication: Supporting anyone who has a concern or worry to speak to a member of staff and share it safely.

• Taking concerns seriously: Responding sensitively to concerns, providing clear explanations of processes and outcomes.

We are dedicated to protecting the safety and well-being of all children, young people, and vulnerable adults we work with, fostering a culture of trust, respect, and accountability.

YMCA Humber Safeguarding Policy, which outlines our approach to safeguarding and the procedures we follow in all activities conducted by YMCA Humber, has been developed in accordance with national legislation and guidance.

YMCA Humber recognises that our work with people in a variety of settings will bring us into contact with both adults at risk, young people and children. As such, we are in a position of trust and our responsibilities to them and the organisation must be taken seriously. It is important to recognise how our own attitudes and behaviour can impact on our participants.

We recognise the duty to protect the rights of children, young people and adults at risk and to comply with the principles enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990), the Children Act (1989), Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act (2026) and other relevant legislation, including Keeping Children Safe in Education (2026). We acknowledge that the circumstances within which we operate can be complex, volatile and changeable, and our approach to safeguarding is designed to be flexible and responsive.

More recently, we also recognise the challenges that have arisen and will continue to arise following world-wide events and the ongoing cost of living crisis and acknowledge our responsibility to ensure the health and safety of those we are brought into contact with, in particular vulnerable persons and communities.                     

If you have concerns about the safety or wellbeing of a child or vulnerable adult, you can contact us via telephone or email. A member of our Safeguarding Team will review the information you have provided as immediately possible and decide what action needs to be taken.

We have a duty to share information that you give us with other agencies if we think that a child or vulnerable adult could be at risk of harm.  

What we need from you.

• Please say as much as you can about the situation – it will help us take the right action. Tell us the facts that you know, as well as any concerns you have about the individual. 

      
Can I remain anonymous?

• You can contact us anonymously if you do not want to tell us who you are. However, it's helpful to have your name and contact details, as we may need to contact you for more information to protect the child or vulnerable adult that you are concerned about.

Whistleblowing. 

• Whistleblowing in a safeguarding context means revealing and raising concerns over misconduct or malpractice within an organisation, or within an independent structure associated with it.
• Whistleblowing can be used as an early-warning system or when it is recognised that appropriate actions have not been taken. This approach or policy is adopted in many different walks of life. Whistleblowing is covered in our Whistleblowing policy.