Do you know someone who is being harmed?
If you or someone you know is being harmed, it is important to tell someone now.
Contact your local social work office during business hours or use the emergency service number 0800 121 4114 after hours.
In immediate danger, call 999.
Speak to a trusted individual like a doctor, care worker, nurse, school staff or health visitor.
They will take your concerns seriously and work to make sure everyone is safe.
Everybody has the right to be safe and well-looked after.
What is Adult Support and Protection?
The Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 is a piece of law to try to protect people from being harmed. This is because some people may find it more difficult to stop harm from happening to them. The Act calls people in this situation ‘adults at risk’.
You might be at risk of being harmed because you:
- have a mental illness or form of dementia
- are an older person aged over 65
- have a physical disability
- are frail
- have a learning disability
- have sight problems or are blind
- have hearing problems or are deaf
Someone might be:
- hurting you
- not giving you food or medication that you need
- taking your money
- touching you in ways you don’t like
- making you have sex when you don’t want to
- frightening you
- making you unhappy in other ways
You don’t have to put up with this behaviour from anyone. You have the right to be safe.
- Someone might also be at risk of harm by hurting themselves because of something they are doing or not doing.
There are a number of things that Adult Support and Protection can do to help such as:
- offering you extra support to help keep you safe
- holding a meeting to plan what support you need to keep you safe
- the police may charge the person who has harmed you
- we may be able to take action to stop the person who has harmed you from doing it again
- we will make sure you have the treatment you need if you have an injury or illness
What happens during the Adult Support and Protection processes?
All concerns of harm that are reported goes to social work to follow up.
What happens when harm is reported?
When social work gets information that suggests an adult is not safe and possibly at risk of harm, then they must make inquiries into the adult’s wellbeing, property or financial affairs.
This simply means that the council will gather more information and check out the situation. The council can receive information from different people.
Quite often, the information/referral may come from someone you know a neighbour, carer, friend or relative, or a referral may come from another public body such as the NHS or Police.
In all cases, Social Work will look into the matter in more detail.
This means that social work may need to visit you and speak with you. Social work may ask about how you are doing, and if your home or money is being properly looked after.
They may also contact people who knows you well such as family, carers, Doctors and nurses
Early intervention and support
You don’t need to wait for yourself or someone else to be at risk of harm to seek support. To receive support early is often the best way to prevent harm from happening.
Please see information below.
Early intervention and assessment self-help website. Making Life Easier is tailored to the individual users, which means that the advice, services, e-marketplaces or self-help sites suggested will be available in their local area and are intended to be relevant to their requirements. It is their aim to offer a range of possible solutions so that you can pick the method that is best for you. Do you feel in need of support and advice about your social care need. Scottish Fire and Rescue are offering home fire safety visits – further information can be found here. Home fire safety visits | Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (firescotland.gov.uk) Assistive technology can be a great way of supporting yourself or a loved one with living independently at home for longer. See here for further information: Technology to help you live independently | North Lanarkshire Council Contact the Pension Service: Get information about your State Pension – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) How to contact Jobcentre Plus – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Are you looking for support with your benefits or advice about your finances. The North Lanarkshire Tackling Poverty Team may be able to support. Citizen advice can often be the first port of call for advice in regard to topics like your finances, housing and immigration. Find your local office here: Advocacy for your people (people aged 16 and over) Equal Say – North Lanarkshire Advocacy Project Telephone: 01698 358 245 Email: north.referrals@equalsay.org National helpline: 0808 800 4444 email: info@shelter.org.uk If you have any queries in regard to Guardianship and/or Power of Attorney. Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland) (publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk)Making life easier
Social Work
Find your local social work office contact details here:Fire safety visit
Assistive Technology
Payments and Benefits
The pension service:
Benefits and financial support if you’re disabled or have a health condition
Jobcentre Plus
North Lanarkshire Tackling Poverty Team
Citizen advice
Independent Advocacy
Shelter North Lanarkshire Housing Advocacy
Office of Public Guardian
Social work has said that they may need to apply for a Protection order.
What is a Protection Order?
Protection Orders are special arrangements which can help keep an adult safe from harm.
Social Work asks a law worker called a Sheriff for a Protection Order.
I do not want a Protection Order in place. Can I say no?
- It is important that you are being told that you can say “no” to a protection order.
- If you say “no” the Protection Order usually cannot happen.
- But if the social work and the sheriff thinks that you are put under pressure to say no, they can decide to make the order without you agreeing to it.
What Protection Orders are there?
There are three kinds of Protection Order.
These are –
Banning Order
- A Banning Order helps keep a person who might hurt you away from you.
- The Banning Order tells a person to keep away from one place. This is usually a place where you live, works or visits a lot. The place is written on the Banning Order.
- Banning Order will only be made when you are at risk of very bad harm. It will help to keep you safe from harm.
- A Banning Order can last for up to 6 months.
Assessment Order
- An Assessment Order lets someone from Social Work take you to a safe and private place.
- At the safe and private place, you can be asked about harm.
- A doctor or another health worker can do any health checks that are needed.
- The assessment order can be for 7 days after the Sheriff agrees it can happen. This means that the visit to the safe and private place must start and finish in less than 7 days.
Removal Order
- A Removal Order lets someone from Social Work take you to a safe place.
- This is to keep you free from harm. The safe place will be written in the removal order.
- You are not being locked up or away, and you can leave the safe place if you want or need to.
- The removal order lasts for 7 days after the Sheriff agrees to it. The Sheriff can make the time shorter.