Swindon Safeguarding Partnership

You must book a place on a course through the SSP website. If we receive a booking for a course that is marked as FULL on its information page, then the applicant is unlikely to be allocated a place and any payment made may not be refunded.

Only delegates who have booked a place should attend the training. If you do try to attend the training and have not booked a place on the course, the trainer is unlikely to allow you to participate. Please note: If you are allowed to participate you may be charged for the place retrospectively.

When your booking is confirmed, please ensure you add the event to your calendar. It is your responsibility to ensure an event has been entered into your calendar. We will not send any reminders.

We will send the joining instructions via email. This will be approximately one to two weeks before the course. If the session is being delivered virtually, this will include the link to join the training session. Please ensure you check your junk/spam folder.

If payment is required, it is taken at the time of booking by either credit or debit card.

If you require a receipt, please ensure you tick the box on the payment page. We are unable to provide receipts retrospectively

If you are unable to attend the training you have booked (free or paid courses), you must cancel your booking as soon as possible, or within 10 working days. If you fail to do this you are likely to incur charges. You can cancel your place via your booking confirmation email or by emailing safeguardingpartnership@swindon.gov.uk.

There have been several occasions where people have failed to attend a course they have booked.

If after booking you are unable to attend the training, please be courteous and cancel your booking as soon as possible or within ten working days. With sufficient notice this allows us to offer the place to someone else. It also means that you are less likely to incur cancellation charges.

Sadly, we have identified some repeat non-attendees. This has a significant impact on other colleagues who are unable to access the training.

We do follow up with delegates and line managers after the course and request payment of the cancellation fee.

We have now implemented a process whereby with people we have identified as repeat non-attendees (more than two incidents of non-attendance within the training calendar year), we will follow up with a Practice Development Group (PDG) representative. The individual will be unable to attend SSP training for an initial period of six months.

The process has been updated. If you require a certificate confirming your attendance on the course, this can now be downloaded from the SSP website.

Following your participation and full attendance on the respective course, you will need to complete the evaluation form. This will be a link to MS forms provided in your joining instructions by your trainer or accessed on the respective course webpage. After completion, you will then gain access to the certificate. Guidance document on how to do this Requesting a certificate for attending SSP training

Please refer to the SSP courses charter information relevant to delegates, which is included on pages 2 and 3 of the SSP courses charter.

Single agency training is training taken alongside people from your own organisation, usually specific to the work of your organisation. It can be delivered at any level of skill and knowledge, from a basic induction for staff, to a highly specialist course providing specific techniques for practitioners, or a specialist course covering the exact duties of safeguarding leads within your organisation.

Multi-Agency training is training taken alongside people from different agencies, such as nurses training alongside schoolteachers.  This training focuses on safeguarding topics that are relevant to all agencies working with children and families, and all multi-agency courses will be attended by and/or delivered by a number of organisations.

Multi-agency training will always contain a focus on how organisations work together to keep children safe, how to balance the competing priorities involved and how to overcome the barriers that exist.

The multi-agency training offered by the Swindon Safeguarding Partnership will be based around Swindon policies and procedures and learning from local case reviews.

Historically the multi-agency training offered by the SSP referred to levels of training (levels 1,2,3) however levels of training can mean different standards to each of our partnership organisations and has previously caused some confusion. The training offer for 2021-22 is now a modular programme.

This will enable greater flexibility for professionals to keep their safeguarding training up to date and promotes a continued professional development approach to safeguarding training.

Anyone working within Swindon with adults, children, young people, and families in the statutory or voluntary and community sector may apply for any SSP training courses. 

For those staff whose organisations contribute to the SSP budget, places will be free of charge provided the delegate attends the course they booked (please see appendix 1 for a list of these agencies).

For those whose agencies do not contribute, fees will be charged at the following rate (this is a small increase on the previous year):

• £25 per person for early years staff and childminders
• £25 for charities, faith, and voluntary groups
• £80 per person for anyone from a different agency
• E-learning courses are available from the website free of charge unless stated otherwise.

*If you are having any difficulties with booking or paying for any training courses including not having access to a business credit card - Please contact SSP Business Unit: safeguardingpartnership@swindon.gov.uk We will be happy to discuss with you about how to progress.

Please see Appendix 1 for a list of which agencies contribute to the budget.  Also, when booking a course please select your agency from the drop-down menu and you will be guided through the process on the booking form.  Please note payment for paid courses is taken at the time of booking by either a debit or credit card so please ensure you have this to hand when booking.

Please note that schools/education do not contribute to the SSP budget and therefore incur charges.

*If you are having any difficulties with booking or paying for any training courses including not having access to a business credit card - Please contact SSP Business Unit: safeguardingpartnership@swindon.gov.uk We will be happy to discuss with you about how to progress.

The SSP has determined that all those working with children, young people and/or parents/carers and adults at risk must access training in relation to child and adult protection and safeguarding.

This should include training as part of their agency or professional induction. This should be an ongoing process whereby professionals continue to develop their knowledge and skills in relation to safeguarding.

Those members of the Swindon workforce who predominantly work directly with the following groups should wherever possible attend relevant SSP multi-agency training courses:

• adults at risk,
• children, young people and/or parent/carers, or
• have specialist responsibilities or
• designated responsibility for adult and/or child protection, or
• operational managers involved in adult and/or child protection

The current training offer is of a modular programme, supported by blended learning resources such as, eLearning, 7-minute briefs and themed practice briefs which provide professionals with opportunities to adopt a continued professional development approach to their learning.

For further information on the modules, including the aims and learning outcomes and relevance to your job role, skills and competencies, please go to respective course webpage.

The SSP recommends that all safeguarding training should be kept up to date. It is recommended that at least one of the core modules should be completed every year. This should be a different module to those completed within the last 2 years.  No more than three years should elapse between training dates.  The SSP recognise that this is a new programme and practitioners may wish to do more than one module in the first year (subject to availability).

The SSP provide alternative briefing resources such as 7-minute briefs, practice briefings on local themes/learning from multi-agency audits and case reviews. All agencies should also provide their staff with regular in-house updates to supplement their attendance on the SSP courses.

Some professionals such as, health professionals and dedicated safeguarding leads in Education have professional guidance, which should also be adhered to.  Health safeguarding leads are aware of the changes and further information is in included within the course description, aims and objectives.

Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSiE, 2021 p 149) states:

‘The designated safeguarding lead (and any deputies) should undergo training to provide them with the knowledge and skills required to carry out the role. This training should be updated at least every two years. The designated safeguarding lead should undertake Prevent awareness training. Training should provide designated safeguarding leads with a good understanding of their own role, how to identify, understand and respond to specific needs that can increase vulnerability of children, as well as specific harms that can put children at risk and the processes, procedures and responsibilities of other agencies, particularly children’s social care …’.

Bernice Weiss, Lead Safeguarding Adviser – Education has provided the following information/clarification. KCSiE 21 is not specific regarding a ‘level’ of training, it states it must provide the DSL/Deputy DSL with knowledge and skills to carry out their role. Historically, some DSL’s are resitting the multi-agency SSP level 3 (no longer available) training every two years, there is no requirement to do this.

For education settings, the training that you should be updating (at least every two years) should be training that is relevant to your school, local area, statutory requirement or training that will enhance your ability to carry out the significant level of responsibility the role of DSL/DDSL has.

To engage with the newly developed DSL Refresher or New to the Role of DSL you must have completed the following Swindon safeguarding Partnership modules:

• Identifying safeguarding concerns and making referrals
• Threshold framework – Right Help at the Right Time, MASH/ACP, Early Help and thresholds
• Strategy discussion, child protection conferences and core group
• MASH/ACP open morning

The important thing is how you take back any training and embed it in your DSL practice.

An accredited Education DSL training programme has been developed with Swindon Safeguarding Partnership and Swindon Borough Council’s Lead Safeguarding Adviser. This recognises that the role of the Designated Safeguarding Lead carries a significant level of responsibility. The breadth of knowledge and skills needed to work effectively as a DSL requires them to be trained in many areas of safeguarding.

To acknowledge this we have developed a bespoke Swindon Safeguarding Partnership Education Designated Safeguarding Lead accredited training package.

On completion of all modules a certificate of accreditation from the Swindon Safeguarding Partnership will be awarded.

Our vision is that the modules are completed over a period of three years, which encompasses the two year update or refresher training.

As many of our DSL’s undertake training from external providers we intend to include an element of accredited prior learning (APL), this could include accepting training undertaken within a two year period as proof of meeting one of the modules below. To award APL the training must have been from an acknowledged safeguarding training provider such as the NSPCC. If you have any questions regarding the suitability of the training and if it meets requirements please contact Swindon Borough Council’s Lead Safeguarding Adviser.

To demonstrate full completion a training reflection log must be completed by the DSL, or person sitting the training package. This training log, with evidence, will be presented to Swindon Borough Council’s Lead Safeguarding Adviser who will liaise with the Safeguarding Partnership to present the accreditation certificate.

• Training reflection log for Designated Safeguarding Leads

*If you are having any difficulties with booking or paying for any training courses including not having access to a business credit card - Please contact SSP Business Unit: safeguardingpartnership@swindon.gov.uk We will be happy to discuss with you about how to progress.

Childminders are unique in that they take lead responsibility for protecting children themselves:

• they do not deliver services within a 'traditional' organisational framework referred to in many statutory and procedural documents
• they are often self-employed and usually work alone, and are therefore particularly vulnerable to incidents of allegations and complaints
• they are generally unavailable to attend training during Monday to Friday business hours

We therefore provide bespoke Child Protection training for childminders.

• We advise all childminders to complete Child Protection Awareness (level 1) training (free online training accessible on the Early Years website)
• We advise all childminders to complete “Childminders – Identifying Safeguarding Concerns and Making Referrals” training, within 6 months’ of starting to childmind and to keep their knowledge up to date by repeating the training every 2 years.

Book training on the Hub for Early Years website

To support you with identifying appropriate training for the role of DSL in an early years setting, we have developed a tool called the Early Years DSL Passport (EYDSLP).

There are two parts to the passport.

Part one guides you towards appropriate training and provides you with a template for logging the training you have attended.

Part two provides a template for recording the impact the training has had on developing and improving practice in your setting.

You can access the template for the EYDSLP on the Swindon Hub for Early Years website. 

If you need further advice or information please contact Ceri Mcateer -  cmacteer@swindon.gov.uk 

Please note that for some agencies, applications should be made via your line manager (or designated training lead) for approval.

Please review the aims and objectives of the respective module to ensure that these will meet your needs and those of your organisation. 

Please note: All courses must be booked through the respective course booking page of the SSP website. If a booking is received for a course that is marked as full on this page, then the applicant is unlikely to be allocated a place and any payment made may not be refunded.

*If you are having any difficulties with booking or paying for any training courses including not having access to a business credit card - Please contact SSP Business Unit: safeguardingpartnership@swindon.gov.uk We will be happy to discuss with you about how to progress.

The demand for SSP training is ever increasing and there are many more professionals accessing the training we offer. The increased demand does mean we need to reduce the instances where people do not attend training and have not cancelled in ample time to allow others the opportunity to take their place.  Sadly, there has been an increase in people failing to attend training and as a result SSP will be robustly enforcing the cancellation policy. This applies to both paid for and free courses.

It is therefore imperative that you cancel your booking as soon as possible or give at least ten working days’ notice if you are unable to attend training. 

Any delegate failing to attend a course or cancelling a place without giving ten working days’ notice will incur cancellation charges.

If payment was made at the time of booking this will mean forfeiture of the fee paid (£80 or £25 per person).

This policy also applies to those delegates whose agency contribute to the SSP budget and may not make payment when booking (see appendix 1). An £80 fee will be charged.

Please note: The cancellation policy and charges also apply to free courses booked via Eventbrite.

A full cost code is requested from delegates at the time of booking but this is only in case a non-attendance charge needs to be raised in line with the SSP cancellation policy.

Cancelling bookings: If you need to cancel a place on a training course, please use the link sent in the confirmation e-mail.

Refunds: Any refunds should be claimed as per the instructions within your confirmation e-mail. Please claim any refunds within 28 days or there may be delays in processing or forfeiture of the amount.

If you have any queries, then please contact the SSP Business Team: safeguardingpartnership@swindon.gov.uk

You will receive an automated confirmation that your place has been booked on the course.

Nearer to the course date you will receive an email invitation from the safeguardingpartnership@swindon.gov.uk, which will contain information regarding any pre-reads, information about attending the course and the link to access the training. It is imperative that you check this email before the course date.

If you are unable to attend, you must cancel your place with at least ten working days’ notice to avoid charges.

When you have booked your place you will receive a confirmation email to the email account you used to register.

If you open this email, you will see your ticket. On your ticket there is an option to add the event to your calendar. See screenshot below.

If you select the relevant calendar option (for example, Outlook), this will allow you to add this event to your calendar. See screenshot below.

You should not download the Zoom app. Instead, you should open Zoom in your browser. We recommend using Google Chrome.

Full guidance for SBC staff on joining a Zoom meeting (PDF)

Full guidance on attending traning in Microsoft Teams (PDF)

Further information can be found on the Privacy Notice.

If you require a certificate confirming your attendance on the course this can now be downloaded from the SSP website.  Following your participation and full attendance on the respective course, please complete the evaluation form. The link to access this can be found on the respective course webpage, your joining instructions or provided by your trainer at the end of the training.

Once you have completed and submitted your evaluation form you will see a message saying ‘Thanks! Your response was submitted. Also included in this message is the hyperlink and password to access your certificate. Please make a note of the password and click on the hyperlink to download the certificate.

Further guidance is available in this document: Requesting a certificate for attending SSP training (PDF)

If you would like to discuss commissioning the SSP to deliver training within your own organisation, please email safeguardingpartnership@swindon.gov.uk.