Role of the advocate in safeguarding

This online session, delivered via Zoom, is ideal for anyone in a VCSE organisation working with vulnerable people, so that you can refer appropriately. It will give you an understanding of the role of the advocate in safeguarding, explaining how advocates work in the community and under the Care Act to ensure people are central to any safeguarding measures taken on their behalf by the relevant Local Authority.

Through a mix of interactive presentations and activities participants will be able to understand:

• The basics of safeguarding – who it applies to and when it applies
• The role of an advocate in keeping people safe in the community
• The legal duty to have an Independent Advocate in safeguarding enquiries
• How you can keep the people you work with safe and empowered
• How to refer for an advocate

Connected Voice Advocacy works across the North East of England to support people to be heard and fight for their rights. This training is for voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations serving Newcastle and/or Gateshead.

Our training and events are funded from a variety of sources, allowing us to offer them for free to eligible organisations. Please check the eligibility requirements for each session before signing up, as this varies from course to course. If your organisation is not eligible for a free session you may be interested in one of our tailored training packages.

You can keep up to date with the latest training and events from Connected Voice by subscribing to our fortnightly email bulletin.

Attendance and value Our team have dedicated significant time and resource to create and deliver our excellent range of training and events. Connected Voice is funded for this work, allowing us to offer these events free of charge. However, we expect people who have registered to prioritise attendance and let us know as soon as possible if there is a barrier to attending. We may follow up with you if you are absent without letting us know.

Delivery method This online session will be delivered remotely using Zoom. We have taken every step to make this as simple, accessible and secure as possible. We will be able to advise on how to access the session easily and without having to download software. Zoom can be accessed by a smartphone, or any device with a camera and microphone such as a laptop, tablet or desktop computer.

Accessibility Please let us know in advance if you have any accessibility requirements that would help you get the most out of this session. We will do everything we can to accommodate them. We can provide a BSL interpreter for training and events on request, but ask you to give us enough advance notice to enable this to be organised. To maximise resources, we are unable to provide BSL interpreters for all sessions unless we know this is essential.

Evaluation This event is free to attend but all participants will be required to complete a short evaluation on completion. This feedback enables us to continue delivering a free programme of training and events.

For security and practical reasons: You can only book one place for yourself. If a colleague wants to attend, they will need to book separately themselves. You must give us all the essential information requested so that we know your registration is genuine.

If circumstances change, you must advise us as soon as possible so that the place isn’t wasted as we have limited spaces for each event. You must also advise us if a substitute person from your organisation is attending in your place. We will be monitoring non-attendance, and may not accept future bookings from regular non-attenders.