Annex 1 – Contractor advice note
Incorporating Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults into Contracts and Community Grant Awards
Risk Assessed Approach
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council (TMBC) has a duty to safeguard children and vulnerable adults. This duty extends to third parties delivering services on the council’s behalf. Contracts and grant award agreements provide an opportunity to set expectations and place obligations on contractors regarding safeguarding responsibilities.
Rather than applying a universal safeguarding clause to all agreements, which may not be relevant to every service, TMBC adopts a risk-assessed approach. This allows the inclusion of safeguarding clauses proportionate to the level of risk associated with the service.
Risk levels are defined as follows:
Level 1 – Services where the council directly contracts a third party to deliver services to children, young people and/or vulnerable adults.
Level 2 – Services where the council contracts a third party to deliver services to the public generally, with likely regular contact with children, young people or vulnerable adults.
Level 3 – Services with no or only incidental contact with children, young people or vulnerable adults in public settings.
Requirements
Contract conditions should provide meaningful controls proportionate to the assessed risk level. Where controls are needed, they should require positive actions (e.g. providing safeguarding training) rather than passive actions (e.g. submitting a safeguarding policy). The contract manager is responsible for ensuring compliance.
Level 1 – High Risk
Contracts should include clauses requiring:
- DBS checks for relevant staff.
- Risk assessments for staff roles based on access to vulnerable groups.
- Appropriate safeguarding training for staff.
- Confirmation of completed training and scheduled refreshers.
- Regular contract monitoring meetings to include safeguarding updates.
Level 2 – Medium Risk
Contracts should include the following clauses:
- The contractor will risk assess their operations in relation to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults and provide appropriate training for staff.
- The TMBC client officer will act as a confidential point of contact for reporting safeguarding concerns or incidents.
Level 3 – Low Risk
No safeguarding clauses are required for this level.