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This exploratory paper aims to examine the literature on the impact of COVID-19 on safeguarding adults practice.

A literature search was carried out in recently published articles to locate literature relating to COVID-19 and safeguarding adults in the UK and internationally. This included policy guidance and law, to describe the existing knowledge base, gaps in practice and areas that may require further research.

The findings suggest that measures to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to remote working and virtual safeguarding practice. The findings highlight the need for empirical research into the impact of virtual safeguarding adults assessments and effective ways to support the needs and outcomes of those who may be at risk of or experiencing abuse and neglect while shielding, socially isolating or when working in an environment where social distancing is required.

The paper is based on a review and analysis of published documents and not on other types of research.

Little is known about effective safeguarding adults practice in the era of shielding, self-isolation, social distancing and remote working. The paper adds to the body of knowledge in the field.

The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a mixed-methods study on the impact that COVID-19 has had on adult safeguarding. The research sought to explore the challenges and opportunities presented by COVID-19 to both frontline and non-frontline professionals working in adult safeguarding.

A mixed-methods project was undertaken comprising a literature review, survey, semi-structured interviews and a small number of freedom of information requests. This paper presents the findings predominantly from the survey and interviews.

Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 has presented a variety of challenges for professionals working in adult safeguarding. The themes that occurred most often were the day-to-day changes and challenges, relationships across sectors, information and navigating the ethical questions in safeguarding.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the findings represent the first focused qualitative mixed-method study aimed at understanding more about the impact the pandemic has had on adult safeguarding through the eyes of those professionals working in that field.

This paper profiles the Maidstone ‘Quality in Care’ project and makes suggestions for how it could be developed and implemented across residential and nursing care for older people and for social care more widely. ‘Quality in Care’ is a quality assurance model of support provided to residential care homes for older people where there are serious concerns about the risks of abuse and/or neglect and the quality of services and care provided. The aim of the intervention is to ensure that vulnerable adults are safeguarded and protected and that service standards are improved in key areas. The model has the potential to be transferred to all client groups and most service types although resource constraints currently limit the project to older people only.

Little is known about the personal and professional experiences of staff when working virtually and from home during the COVID-19 pandemic in a medium secure environment. This study aims to overcome this issue.

The current study used a qualitative design to specifically explore the following areas with nine multi-disciplinary staff using a semi-structured group discussion: how their everyday working practice had changed during the pandemic, the perceived impact of these changes on themselves as professionals, as well as identifying strengths and limitations associated with any new ways of working.

A thematic analysis was conducted producing four main themes: emotional overload and confusion; technological problems; accessibility and emotional connectivity; adapting and making good. Data suggested that staff could experience feelings of guilt, loneliness and a sense of under-performing when working from home and virtually. Problems with technology in terms of resources and connectivity were also evident although unexpected advantages of virtual consultations included supporting gatekeeping and admissions assessments, allowing external stakeholders to better attend inpatient care and treatment planning meetings alongside improved family relations for patients.

While this study has added to the existing knowledge base, it does have limitations that should be acknowledged when reading and drawing conclusions from the paper. First, a small sample was used and so the findings likely have poor generalizability outside of secure settings. Second, the small sample could mean that the current findings may not be representative of the views and experiences of the wider staff group employed within the service. Finally, the lead researcher who subsequently analyzed the data was employed within the service and may well have imposed their own biases on the data; however, this was potentially overcome by having a second rater review the emerging themes.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it radical and innovative ways of working, and it is now important to consider lessons learned to further develop and support such new ways of working: one important area for further consideration is improved oversight of the psychological impact of home working on health-care professionals. It is, therefore, recommended that worker well-being be explored more regularly by line managers and clinical supervisors and sufficient safeguards introduced to reduce or remove any adversity identified. Of note, these safeguards/strategies should be both psychological and practical in nature. If elements of virtual working are set to continue post-pandemic, for example in the case of long distance admission assessments and/or to support external stakeholders attending patient meetings, then time and effort needs to be spent on improving access to resources, connectivity and the advancing of available technological equipment to support this working practice. This could be achieved via improved information technology relations to support technical troubleshooting and to provide much needed ongoing support. Enhanced training for staff in IT skills to better use equipment and approved platforms is also recommended. The acknowledged gains that emerged as a result of patients having access to iPads and tablets during the COVID-19 pandemic now needs to be extended and explored further to consider all of the other significant contributions greater access to these technologies could afford to patients’ recovery post-pandemic in secure environments.

The experiences of staff working virtually, and from home, through a pandemic in secure services are relatively unknown. This paper, therefore, aims to contribute to the limited evidence base.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and share learning about safeguarding children under Covid-19 drawn from a series of webinars held by the Association of Safeguarding Partners (www.theASP.org.uk). The learning is relevant for health, police, local authority and other relevant safeguarding agencies and includes sharing information about both the challenges and opportunities presented during the Covid-19 pandemic. By creating a webinar lead community of learning, lessons can be drawn that will help safeguard children during the remaining of the pandemic and during the release of lockdown as it emerges.

This paper summarises themes from discussions within three webinars run by The Association of Safeguarding Partners (TASP) (www.theASP.org.uk). Each webinar was attended by between 60 and 80 participants, sessions involving presentations and discussions on topics such as “managing safeguarding reviews at a distance”, “the impact on early years’ provision” and “how work with families and children has changed with remote working methods”. With the participants’ consent, webinars were recorded, and these can be viewed on www.theasp.co.uk. Webinars were supported by an on-line programme: “meeting sphere” capturing comments in a “chat” facility and providing capacity for participants to collectively code comments into themes.

Findings from the webinars note concerns about continuing and undetected abuse of children within and outside of the home; about the changing nature of criminal exploitation; and about the strains created by social distancing on children in families experiencing problems with poor mental health, drug and alcohol misuse and domestic abuse. Findings include some important lessons, including the discovery of innovative ways of working, the rapid collation of data across partnerships and about different methods of engaging with children, young people and families. Findings include suggestions about the impact of changes on the future safeguarding of children.

There is little published discussion of the implications of Covid-19 on practitioners working on safeguarding children. While some research is emerging, there have been few opportunities for practitioners to listen to emerging practice ideas under Covid-19 or to discuss in an informal context how to address the new and emerging problems in safeguarding children. This think piece contains original material from webinars held with safeguarding children practitioners and is valuable for those working to safeguard children during and post Covid-19.

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the presence of abuse enacted through virtual mediums with a specific focus on how athletes can become the targets of online hate. The chapter introduces social media and explores the role it has played in the increasing reliance on virtual worlds. The impact of digital technology on sport in particular is framed in order to demonstrate how digital technologies are now a vital component in our consumption of sport. The primary focus of the chapter is on how virtual spaces can pose significant risk(s). Freedom of speech, shifting power and the lack of safety and regulation in virtual spaces are all presented. Finally, recommendations are made for future research in the area in order to develop understanding of abuse augmented by virtual environments and to develop the focus on virtual safeguarding in sport and beyond.

This chapter synthesises and discusses existing literature from the disciplines of sport, social media and abuse, with a view to understand and address prominent issues encountered by athletes in the virtual world.

By examining abuse through a sociological lens, this chapter focusses on the factors that promote or enable abuse to occur online (often without regulation). The types of abuse experienced in virtual spaces are legion and this adds to the complexity of policing and/or safeguarding online environments.

The chapter makes recommendations for a number of future areas of study that will extend the current understanding of abuse in virtual environments.

The chapter provides a synthesis of the emerging area of virtual abuse and its links to sociology as a discipline. It offers insight into power in virtual spaces as a critical frame of reference for understanding virtual interactions and parasocial relationships.

This study aims to describe the sector-led response to the COVID-19 pandemic and national lockdown in terms of safeguarding adults.

This study uses a case study method to examine a sector-led improvement response to COVID-19 and safeguarding adults.

The study describes how safeguarding issues and concerns were identified and brought together, and then responded to. It reviews this initiative in the context of crisis intervention theory and discusses the achievements of this initiative regarding COVID-19 and safeguarding adults during the period April–July 2020.

The study describes a unique joint initiative between the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, which worked with the Networks of Chairs of Safeguarding Adults Boards, Safeguarding Adults Boards’ managers and Principal Social Workers. This initiative developed resources and shared information and good practice to support a response in unprecedented circumstances.

This paper aims to understand the factors of the exchange relationship that influence a target-partner’s decisions to adopt virtual governance strategies.

Hypotheses are tested using an online panel of 259 key informants from manufacturing firms that sell goods to retailers. Data are analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The study confirms the hypotheses that the target partner’s trust in the initiating partner is a significant driver of supply chain management system (SCMS) adoption intention. While trust fully mediates the adverse effects of technological uncertainty on adoption intentions, asset specificity directly influences both trust and adoption intentions. Additionally, the initiating-partner’s incentive orientation mitigates these effects and encourages SCMS adoption.

This paper contributes to the study of virtual governance and interorganizational adoption decisions in two primary ways. First, it elucidates the relationship between transaction costs and relational norms. Second, it examines the role that the shadow of past incentives has on the target-partner’s decisions to electronically integrate with the initiating partner.

The findings from this study contribute to the virtual governance and interorganizational technology adoption literature by demonstrating the relevance of characteristics of the exchange relationship in the target-partner’s decision to adopt the SCMS technologies necessary for electronic integration. This study provides a better understanding of the function of transaction costs and relational norms that paves the way for further exploration of the choice to adopt virtual governance strategies.

Given that SCMSs enable virtual governance, the findings of this study make important contributions to understanding how transactional and relational elements of the exchange relationship influence a target-partner’s decisions to participate in vertical control strategies with an initiating-partner.

The purpose of the paper is to report the findings from research into the governance of adult protection in Scotland, with particular focus on the outcomes of provision for multi-agency leadership and management of adult safeguarding in the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007. Comparisons will be drawn between these findings and the evidence on the governance of adult safeguarding in England.

The study comprised a thematic analysis of Adult Protection Committee (APC) biennial reports on implementation of the 2007 Act to the Scottish Government, associated documentation, and key informant interviews with professionals involved in adult protection leadership and practice.

A rich and complex pattern of arrangements, activities, experiences and challenges were identified across a number of dimensions, including management structures of APCs, development of policies and procedures, multi-agency working, training, performance assessment and quality management, engagement of service users and carers and operation of the 2007 Act.

Service users and carers were not directly involved in the documentary review or key informant interviews. There remains a need to investigate the impacts on practice and service user experience of different forms of governance of adult protection arrangements.

The paper identifies outcomes and challenges in respect of multi-agency approaches to governance taken by APCs in Scotland.

The paper offers the first formal evaluation of governance of adult protection systems in Scotland and includes comparative analysis with research findings on the governance of adult safeguarding in England.

The purpose of this paper is to critically review the context of adult protection in Ireland with a focus on older people. The paper traces advances and current limitations in policy, regulation, practice and legislation.

A review of historical and current contexts in adult safeguarding in Ireland is presented with consideration of key public reviews and commentaries related to care provision, governance and the legislative status of adults at risk.

While Ireland’s journey to provide adult safeguarding responses for older people has progressed since 2002, there remain many gaps. Further work needs to be addressed urgently to enable a comprehensive alignment of fit-for-purpose, responsive legislation, practice and policy to meet the complex and diverse needs of an increasing ageing population who may require safeguarding support. This includes fostering robust inter-sectorial collaboration, safeguarding legislation and cultural change related to human rights approaches.

The paper is a discussion on the context of adults safeguarding in relation to practice, policy and legislation.

Identifies the need for significant reform in the Irish system of health service. Argues for an overarching, inter-sectorial approach to addressing adult safeguarding, which focuses on prevention as well as early intervention.

The paper offers a review of the current diverse elements comprising current adult safeguarding and older people in Ireland and integrates legislative, regulatory, policy and practice realities. Challenges are illustrated within the context of reactive rather than proactive safeguarding agendas which are linked to public scandals and debates. The paper argues for a more integrated and robust inter-sectorial approach to safeguarding underpinned by adult safeguarding legislation and an overarching governance structure.