Safeguarding Policy

Delta Training runs internet safety workshops. Most people who attend our public sessions are over 55. Some live alone. Some are at a hard point in their life. A few are actively being scammed when they walk through the door, even if nobody in the room knows yet.

We take that seriously. We have a duty of care to every person who attends, and we will act on concerns about welfare, capacity, or financial abuse whether or not they are raised in the room.

This policy is written in plain English because it is meant to be read, not filed.

This policy applies to everyone who attends a Delta Training session, whether that session is:

• A public workshop booked through Eventbrite
• A private session delivered for an organisation (council, Age UK branch, library, housing provider, community group)
• A one-to-one follow-up arranged with the facilitator
• An online session (Zoom, Teams)

It also applies to anyone who contacts us by phone or email about a session they attended, or on behalf of a friend or family member they are worried about.

Delta Training operates with adults only (18+). We do not run sessions for children and we do not accept bookings from attendees under 18. If a concern arises about a child, we will refer it to the relevant local authority children’s services and the police.

A safeguarding concern is anything that makes us think an adult may be at risk of harm and may not be able to protect themselves. In our context that usually means one or more of the following:

• Active fraud or scam. The attendee tells us, or we observe, that they are currently being pressured for money by someone online, by phone, or through a remote-access tool. This includes romance scams, investment scams, courier fraud, HMRC / bank impersonation, and tech support scams.
• Financial abuse. A family member, carer, neighbour, or partner is taking the attendee's money, controlling their bank account, or pressuring them to hand over passwords, cards, or property.
• Cognitive decline or capacity concerns. The attendee is confused, cannot follow basic parts of the session, cannot recall whether they sent money or gave away login details, or their account of events changes substantially within the same conversation.
• Coercive control using technology. Someone is tracking the attendee's phone, reading their messages, controlling who they can contact, or has installed software on their devices without their consent.
• Self-neglect or isolation. The attendee describes a situation where their wellbeing is declining and they have no-one checking in on them.
• Disclosure of historic abuse. The attendee describes past abuse that has not been reported and may still be relevant.
• Immediate danger. The attendee is at risk of harm in the next few hours, from themselves or from another person.

The facilitator is responsible for the welfare of everyone in the room. That means:

• Sessions are kept to a deliberately small size (typically 8–12 people) so nobody is lost in the crowd.
• The facilitator introduces this policy at the start of every session in one sentence: “If anything today makes you worried about yourself or someone else, please come and speak to me at the break or after we finish.”
• We never ask attendees to enter real passwords, real card numbers, or live account details as part of an exercise. Anything demonstrated uses dummy data or the facilitator's own test accounts.
• We never take photographs or video of attendees without written consent for each individual.
• Private conversations with attendees take place in a public but quiet space (the corner of the room, the library foyer) so the attendee is never alone with the facilitator behind a closed door.
• Where a session is delivered for an organisation, a named member of that organisation's staff is present throughout and is the first point of contact for concerns raised on the day.

Disclosure rarely happens neatly. Most of the time it sounds like a question. “Can you look at this email?” “My son thinks I’ve done something silly, is this normal?” “A man from Microsoft rang me last week, is that a real thing?”

When something like this happens, the facilitator will:

1. Listen without interrupting or blaming. Nobody who has been scammed needs a lecture.
2. Step aside with the attendee so the conversation is private but still in view of the room or another adult.
3. Ask what the attendee wants to happen next. Unless there is immediate danger or a capacity concern, we follow their lead.
4. Offer a clear next step with a specific contact (Action Fraud, their bank, their GP, their local adult safeguarding team, or a family member of their choosing).
5. Write the attendee a short note with the phone numbers and website addresses they need, so they do not have to remember them.
6. Follow up by email, text or a short phone call within 3 working days if the attendee has asked us to.
7. Record the conversation in our safeguarding log (see Records, below).

A “serious” fraud disclosure, for the purpose of this policy, is any of the following:

• The attendee has sent, or is about to send, £1,000 or more to a scammer.
• The scam is still live — they are in current contact with the offender.
• The attendee has given remote access to their device or bank account within the past 48 hours.
• The attendee appears unable to stop engaging with the scammer even when the situation is explained.
• The fraud involves an identifiable third party: a family member, carer, neighbour, or partner taking money or control.

Where any of these apply, the facilitator will do all of the following, in this order, on the day of the session:

1. Stop the bleeding first.Help the attendee ring their bank’s fraud line straight away from the attendee’s own phone — most UK banks have a dedicated number on the back of the card. A live scam where money has just left the account is time-critical; the first hour is when a payment can realistically be recalled.
2. Report to Action Fraud.With the attendee’s consent, help them start an Action Fraud report on actionfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040. If the scam is live and the offender is physically on the way (e.g. courier fraud), ring 999.
3. Refer to local adult safeguarding if the attendee lives in Hertfordshire, is aged 18+, and has care and support needs they cannot meet on their own. In Hertfordshire the route is HertsHelp on 0300 123 4044(lines open 8am–6pm weekdays). Outside Hertfordshire, we refer to the local authority’s adult social care team for the attendee’s home address.
4. Agree a check-in plan.Before the attendee leaves the session we agree a named person who will check in on them that same evening — a family member, neighbour, or a named staff member of the host organisation. If there is nobody, the facilitator will phone the attendee that evening and again in 48 hours.
5. Record and review. Within 24 hours the facilitator writes up the incident in our safeguarding log: what was disclosed, what actions were taken, which services were contacted, and who is following up. Serious incidents are reviewed against this policy after they close to see if anything in our process needs to change.

We start from the Mental Capacity Act 2005 principle that every adult is presumed to have capacity to make their own decisions unless there is good evidence otherwise, including the decision to keep sending money to a scammer.

Where the facilitator has reasonable concern that capacity is in question, we:

• Do not try to formally assess capacity. That is not our role.
• Note the specific, observable behaviours that raised the concern (not a diagnosis).
• Refer to the local authority adult safeguarding team, who can arrange a proper assessment.
• Where the attendee has a named next of kin who brought them to the session, speak to that person with the attendee's knowledge and, where possible, agreement.

Anything an attendee tells the facilitator is treated as confidential. We do not discuss named attendees with the host organisation, their family, or other attendees, except where the attendee has asked us to or where one of the exceptions below applies.

We will break confidentiality, and share what we know, where:

• There is an immediate risk to the life of the attendee or another person. We will ring 999.
• We believe the attendee lacks the capacity to consent to a referral and is at serious risk.
• A child (under 18) is at risk. We will refer to the relevant local authority children's services.
• We are required to share by law (for example, a court order or a police disclosure request in relation to a criminal investigation).

Where we break confidentiality, we tell the attendee we have done so, unless telling them would increase the risk of harm.

• DBS. The lead facilitator (Aidan) holds a current Enhanced DBS certificate for work with vulnerable adults. It is renewed every three years. A copy is available for host organisations on request.
• Training. The lead facilitator completes adult safeguarding training annually (Level 2 Safeguarding Adults, via an accredited provider). Training records are kept and shared with host organisations on request.
• Safeguarding log. Concerns and disclosures are recorded in a private log. Entries include the date, the observable facts, any actions taken, and who was contacted. Entries are kept for six years and then destroyed. The log is stored encrypted and is only accessible to the facilitator.
• Public liability insurance. Delta Training carries public liability insurance at £5,000,000. A certificate is available for host organisations on request.
• Review. This policy is reviewed at least once a year, and after any serious incident.

If you want to tell us about a concern, you can:

• Email us at hello@deltatraining.co.uk. Please put “Safeguarding” in the subject line.
• Phone 01438 000 000.
• Speak to the facilitator at a session, at the break or at the end.

If you are worried about someone right now, please read our dedicated “worried about someone” page. It lists the phone numbers and websites you need and walks through what to say.

If your concern is about the conduct of Delta Training itself or the quality of a session, see our complaints procedure.

These are the services we routinely refer to. All of them are free to contact.

A fuller, continuously-checked list with URLs, costs, and review dates lives on our resources page.

• Action Fraud

  The UK's national fraud and cybercrime reporting centre. For reporting a scam after the fact.

  0300 123 2040 · actionfraud.police.uk

• Police

  101 for non-emergency. 999 if someone is in immediate danger or a scam is in progress and the offender is on the way.

  999 or 101

• HertsHelp

  The first point of contact for adult safeguarding in Hertfordshire. They take referrals and route them to the right team.

  0300 123 4044 · hertshelp.net

• Age UK Advice Line

  Free, confidential advice for older people on any topic including fraud, money, and care.

  0800 678 1602 · ageuk.org.uk

• Citizens Advice Consumer Service

  Free advice on scams, consumer rights, and reporting to Trading Standards.

  0808 223 1133 · citizensadvice.org.uk

• Victim Support

  Free, confidential support for anyone affected by crime, including fraud.

  0808 168 9111 · victimsupport.org.uk

• Samaritans

  If discovering a scam has left someone in crisis, Samaritans are available 24/7.

  116 123 · samaritans.org

• Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)

  For concerns about how an organisation (including Delta Training) has handled personal data.

  0303 123 1113 · ico.org.uk