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Safeguarding

Agreed safeguarding standards and good practice for working with children and young people are available on Volunteer Now’s website in Keeping Children Safe: Our Duty to Care. Guidance for working with adults at risk is in Keeping Adults Safe: A Shared Responsibility.

Both guides include self‑assessment checklists to help organisations see what safeguarding standards they already meet and where they need to improve. Resource packs for each guide are also available: Keeping Children Safe: Our Duty To Care Resource Pack and Keeping Adults Safe: A Shared Responsibility Resource Pack - Volunteer Now.

Volunteer Now has also created a combined safeguarding checklist for organisations working with both children and adults at risk. It sets out nine minimum standards for developing or reviewing an overarching safeguarding policy: Safeguarding Children & Adults at Risk Policy Standards.

Organisations must have strong recruitment and selection processes, including AccessNI checks where required. Volunteer Now’s AccessNI: What You Need to Know explains eligibility, types of checks, what appears on them, processing and costs.

Charities working overseas

Charities supporting vulnerable people overseas must meet safeguarding standards both in Northern Ireland and in the countries where they operate. Trustees should assess risks carefully to protect staff, volunteers and beneficiaries, especially when delivering services, supporting projects, or working with partners.

The Charity Commission for England and Wales provides useful risk‑management tools in its Compliance Toolkit (Chapter 2: Due diligence and monitoring the end use of funds), including:

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