Adults at Risk Policy

Safeguarding the adults we coach.

Entity: School Of Fish

Jurisdiction: United Kingdom

Date of Review: 04/07/2026

Next Review Date: 04/07/2027

Version: 1

1. Policy Statement

Most of the people School Of Fish coaches are adults. This policy sets out how we safeguard them. It works alongside our Safeguarding Children & Vulnerable Adults Policy and goes deeper on the adult side.

An adult at risk, as defined by the Care Act 2014, is a person aged 18 or over who has needs for care and support, is experiencing or at risk of abuse or neglect, and as a result of those needs is unable to protect themselves against it.

Anyone can be vulnerable at points in their life. Bereavement, illness, isolation and financial trouble all bring people to the bank, and angling is increasingly used as a wellbeing activity. Our coaches do not need to know why someone has come. They need to know how to keep them safe.

2. Scope

This policy covers every School Of Fish activity involving adults: Try It, Learn It, Skills Plus, Specialist Days, the Adult Social, coach training courses and assessment days. It applies to all staff, coaches, Angling Support Assistants, volunteers and franchisees, at every franchise.

Franchisees adopt this policy as a condition of their agreement, as with the rest of the School Of Fish policy suite.

3. What Abuse Looks Like in Adults

The Care Act recognises these categories of abuse: physical, sexual, psychological, financial, neglect, self-neglect, domestic abuse, discriminatory abuse, organisational abuse and modern slavery.

On the bank, the signs a coach is most likely to see:

• Unexplained injuries, or explanations that do not fit.
• Uncharacteristic withdrawal, fear or anxiety, especially around a particular person.
• Someone else controlling their money, transport, phone or decisions.
• Poor personal care, weight loss, or turning up unequipped for the conditions session after session.
• Talk of self-harm, hopelessness or being a burden.

4. Capacity and Consent

Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, every adult is presumed to have capacity to make their own decisions unless established otherwise. An adult with capacity has the right to make decisions others consider unwise. That includes declining help.

Safeguarding adults is consent-led in what happens next. It is not consent-led in whether a concern is raised internally: a member of staff or volunteer always reports a concern to the Designated Safeguarding Lead, and the adult's wishes then govern what action follows. Raising the concern internally is what allows School Of Fish to check that the adult is not being pressured into declining help. We share concerns beyond School Of Fish with the adult's agreement wherever possible. We act without that agreement only where someone is in immediate danger, where the adult's own life or safety is at risk, where others including children are at risk, where a serious crime may have been committed, where the adult may lack capacity to make the decision, where seeking their agreement would itself increase the risk to them, or where their decision appears to be made under coercion or undue influence.

5. Practice on the Bank

• Physical guidance: The same rule as for children. Ask first, explain what you are doing, keep contact minimal and demonstrable.
• Coaches are not counsellors: If a learner discloses distress or a difficult situation, listen, take it seriously, and signpost. Do not diagnose, advise on medication, or take on a support role beyond coaching.
• Money: Coaches do not lend to, borrow from, or handle money for learners beyond session fees through official channels.
• Contact: Communication goes through official School Of Fish channels, as set out in the main safeguarding policy.
• Referrals: Adults sometimes arrive through wellbeing routes without any background provided. The coach's job is the session. Safety information a coach genuinely needs, such as a medical condition relevant to being at the water, is asked for at booking, not probed for on the bank.

6. Responding to a Concern

• Listen: Take it seriously. Do not promise secrecy. Explain the information may need to be shared to keep them safe.
• Record: Write down what was seen or heard, factually, on the Incident Report Form, within 24 hours.
• Report: Pass it to the Designated Safeguarding Lead immediately. In an emergency, call 999 first.

The DSL decides next steps, which may include a referral to the local authority adult social care team, with the adult's consent wherever possible. For advice on any adult safeguarding concern, the Ann Craft Trust can be contacted on 0115 951 5400.

7. Escalation

If a concern is about the DSL, or anyone feels unable to raise it internally, they should contact the local authority adult safeguarding team for the area the person lives in, or the Ann Craft Trust directly. Every School Of Fish delivery unit has its own Designated Safeguarding Lead, and above them the School Of Fish Safeguarding Lead holds the standard across the organisation. Both names and contact details are given at induction.

A concern is never held over because the DSL cannot be reached. Where neither your local DSL nor the School Of Fish Safeguarding Lead is available and an adult is at risk, contact the local authority adult safeguarding team for the area the person lives in, or the police on 101. Where someone is in immediate danger, ring 999. Reporting onward without reaching the DSL first is the right call in those circumstances.

Raising a genuine concern in good faith will never be held against anyone at School Of Fish.

8. Recruitment and Training

Coaches and Assistants are recruited under the Safer Recruitment section of the main safeguarding policy, DBS checked at the appropriate level, and their safeguarding training covers adults at risk as well as children. This policy is part of coach induction.

9. Referrals to the Disclosure and Barring Service

Where School Of Fish dismisses or removes a member of staff, a coach or a volunteer from regulated activity because they have harmed an adult at risk, or because they pose a risk of harm, School Of Fish has a legal duty under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 to refer that person to the Disclosure and Barring Service. The duty applies to volunteers as well as paid staff, applies where the person resigns before a decision is reached, and overrides any obligation of confidentiality owed to them.

A referral is made once an internal investigation has established that the referral criteria are met. It does not replace or delay referral to the police or to the local authority.

10. Records

Records of safeguarding concerns about adults at risk are held separately from membership and booking records, are accessible only to the Designated Safeguarding Lead and, where the law requires it, the statutory agencies, and are retained in line with the retention periods set out in the Privacy Policy.

No record is destroyed, amended after the fact, or judged no longer relevant by anyone other than the DSL. Staff and volunteers do not retain personal copies on personal devices or in personal accounts.

11. Communication and Accessible Disclosure

A disclosure does not have to be spoken to be a disclosure. Where this policy refers to recording a person's own words, that includes words that are written, typed, drawn, signed, or produced through augmentative and alternative communication. Where a disclosure is made in written or typed form, the original is preserved and passed to the DSL.

• Staff allow processing time and do not fill silences, since doing so risks leading the person.
• Staff use literal language and avoid figurative phrasing when responding to a disclosure.
• Distress presenting as behaviour is treated as communication and not as misconduct.

These standards apply across School Of Fish coaching and are set out further in the main Safeguarding Policy.

Concerned About an Adult?

Contact our Designated Safeguarding Lead, Ulvis Strokss.

07713 177685 · safeguarding@schooloffish.co.uk