If you are worried about a vulnerable child or adult, it is important that you report your concerns to the appropriate people, as soon as possible. This will help to ensure the safety and well-being of the individual is put first.
Tell us immediately about any of the following and open the relevant option for details on how to report your concern:
- A child is suffering significant harm
- You want to protect a child from abuse or serious neglect
- You feel the child requires urgent or short-term care (acute services)
If you are a relative or member of the public
During office hours
You can raise your concerns in any of the following ways:
- Call our Children’s Social Work Services on 01225 39 61 11 or 01225 47 79 29 (weekdays, 8.30am to 5pm, except Fridays when we're closed from 4.30pm)
- Drop into the Keynsham One Stop Shop and ask for the duty children's social worker
- Discuss your concerns with someone who works with children and families:
- Health visitor
- Social worker
- School nurse
- Teacher (all schools have a teacher responsible for child protection)
Call our Disabled Children's team
If you need to talk to us about a child with disabilities or additional needs, call us on 01225 39 69 67, or email us at ChildCare_Duty@bathnes.gov.uk
Text us if you have a hearing impairment
If you're deaf or have a hearing impairment, please text 'EDT' with your name and message to 60066 and you'll be sent an immediate auto reply to confirm that your text has been received. One of our Emergency Duty Team officers will then send you a text message to discuss your concerns. This should happen within 30 minutes, although during busy periods it may take longer. Your texts should cost your standard network charge.
Out of office hours
If you think a child is in immediate danger please call our Emergency Duty Team on 01454 61 51 65. Report all other concerns on our online form.
If you work with a child or young person
During office hours
Report a concern about a child or young person online
Get help early to reduce possible risks
Get help early on if:
- You're looking to get support for a child (or their family) before their needs escalate
- You're concerned about a child who has complex needs and other support hasn't worked
Refer to our Threshold of needs matrix to see how different needs should be met.
Get help early on
If someone is in immediate danger, call 999 and ask for the police
If you suspect, tell us
If you think an adult is being abused or neglected, please report it to us. You can make a report about someone else, or about your own situation. It's much safer to report the issue, and be wrong, than to keep quiet when you're worried that something bad is happening.
If you're unsure who's at risk of abuse or neglect, or what situations or behaviour may be abusive, please check below.
Learn about who is most at risk
Someone in need of care and support can be particularly at risk of harm, abuse or neglect.
This could include anyone:
- with a physical disability or illness
- elderly or frail
- with sensory loss
- living with dementia
- with a learning disability
- with a mental health need
If you're not sure what to look out for
Abuse and neglect can take many forms. You may not feel sure if someone's behaviour or a situation is abusive or not, and perhaps the adult you're worried about can't tell you what's happening, or how they feel about it.
Use the examples below to help you to decide.
Different types of abuse, with meanings and examples
| Type of abuse |
What to watch out for |
| Physical abuse |
Hitting, slapping, kicking, being locked in a room or restrained inappropriately |
| Sexual abuse |
Forcing someone to take part in a sexual activity which they don't or can't consent to |
| Emotional or psychological abuse |
Shouting, teasing, name-calling, bullying, frightening or pressurising someone into decisions; not allowing someone to contact friends or family |
| Financial or material abuse |
Misusing, stealing or taking away someone's money, bank cards or belongings |
| Discriminatory abuse |
Treating someone badly, because of their age, disability, race, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, or religion and belief |
| Domestic abuse |
Using controlling, forcible or threatening behaviour, violence, or abuse against a partner, family member or someone in the same household |
| Modern slavery |
Bringing people into the UK illegally, not allowing them to leave, or forcing them to work for no or little pay (including as a domestic servant or sex worker) |
| Neglect |
Failure to provide care, food, water, washing facilities or other essentials, resulting in physical harm or emotional distress |
| Self-neglect |
Situations where someone refuses help with their care needs, hygiene, health or their environment, and this has a significant impact on their overall wellbeing |
When any of these types of abuse or neglect happen because of the actions (or failure to act) of an organisation, we call this organisational abuse.
To report your concerns, or discuss the situation further with a member of our team, follow the guidance below that applies to you.
If you are a professional working with people who have care or support needs
If you would like to discuss a case before making a referral, you can call us for advice. We have an all-hours service, and will respond to your call as quickly as we can.
| Day and time |
Number |
Team |
Mon to Thurs 8.30am to 5pm
Fri 8.30am to 4.30pm |
01225 394200 |
Regular Social Work Team |
| Evenings, bank holidays and weekends |
01454 615165 |
Emergency Duty Social Work Team |
Make a referral
We're now managing reports and referrals from professionals via a new online service, Adults Portal live.
The first time you use this service, we'll ask you to set up an account. Use our Quick Start guide to help you.
Make your referral online
You'll need to sign in to your portal account every time you make a new report, or add details about an existing case.
If you're a member of the public
If you're a member of the public call us to discuss the problem
We have an all-hours service, and will respond to your call as quickly as we can.
| Day and time |
Number |
Team |
Mon to Thurs 8.30am to 5pm
Fri 8.30am to 4.30pm |
01225 394200 |
Regular Social Work Team |
Evenings, bank holidays and weekends
|
01454 615165 |
Emergency Duty Social Work Team |
What we'll do
When you contact us, we'll talk to you about any further action we plan to take, and consider your wishes and feelings. We'll always try to maintain confidentiality, unless it is impossible to do so.
If there is a large-scale safeguarding concern within an organisation, such as a nursing or care home, we will progress safeguarding measures as quickly as possible.