Updates to our safeguarding and digital safeguarding policies and procedures

Latest changes to these policies and procedures

02 October 2024

We’ve made changes to the safeguarding and digital safeguarding policies and procedures.

Read on to find out what's been updated. 

What are these policies and procedures used for?

Our safeguarding policy explains our commitment to safeguarding, our expectations and how we safeguard children and adults. Our safeguarding procedure explains how to report a concern and what happens next.

Our digital safeguarding policy explains our commitment to helping everyone in Girlguiding stay safe online, the digital safeguarding concerns we recognise and respond to, our expectations, and how we help our members and volunteers stay safe online. Our digital safeguarding procedure explains how to follow the policy when communicating with young members online, using digital devices at meetings and events, running virtual meetings, and our rules around using social media.

Key changes

  • We’ve reformatted the 2 policies to make them more consistent and easier to read together.
  • We’ve clarified that volunteers must inform the HQ safeguarding team about concerns, and can choose to contact their commissioner for support.
  • We’ve removed the page called Safe Online Guiding, and moved this information into the digital safeguarding procedure.
  • In the digital safeguarding procedure we’ve made it clearer what actions need to be taken when communicating with young members in an emergency.

What do I need to do?

We haven’t made any big changes to what volunteers need to do, but if you haven’t looked at the policies and procedures in a while you might want to refresh your memory. If you’re not familiar with our rules around using social media and communicating with young members online, give the digital safeguarding procedure a read.

If there’s anything you’re not sure about, get in touch by emailing [email protected].