Bexley to award people nationwide who kept us safe in lockdown

A new National Safeguarding Adults Excellence Award has been launched this week by Bexley’s Safeguarding Adults Board (BSAB).

The Board is inviting nominations for professionals and teams across England who have gone above and beyond throughout the pandemic and who continue to demonstrate an outstanding commitment to safeguarding adults and their families.

The new national award called ‘We See You – We Hear You’ came into being after members of the BSAB agreed on the importance of recognising those who work to make sure adults in the community are safe.

Cabinet Member for Adult Services, Cllr Brad Smith said: “I’m delighted that Bexley has played a key role in getting the ‘We See You – We Hear You’ campaign off the ground.

“This has been such a difficult year and a half for so many people. When the pandemic began I know our adult safeguarding team and our adult social care teams were among those at the frontline, helping local people in need and doing all they could to make sure they were safe and supported.

“This award is to recognise all those who may not have been in the spotlight, but have worked to ensure the safety of others through a very challenging period.”

There are eight award categories –

• Empowerment Champion – someone/team who has demonstrated empowering individuals
• Prevention Champion – someone/team who has demonstrated and acted to prevent abuse or neglect
• Proportionality Champion – someone/team who has demonstrated being balanced in their approach to ensure the least intrusive response
• Partnership Champion – someone/team who has demonstrated working in partnership
• Accountability Champion – someone/team who has demonstrated keeping others accountable, including themselves
• Protection Champion – someone/team who has demonstrated protecting adults at risk
• Lifetime Award – includes anyone who has demonstrated more than 20 years of experience in safeguarding adults
• Innovation – includes all areas of where someone/team has been creative and set new ways of working with adults at risk

The awards will be judged by a panel of safeguarding adult managers and safeguarding adult board managers from across the country.

The deadline for nominations is 1 October 2021.

The nomination form is available at www.safeguardingadultsinbexley.com.

To find out more about the work of the Safeguarding Board in Bexley visit www.safeguardingadultsinbexley.com