Report a safeguarding concern about an adult
Everyone has the right to feel safe and live their life free from abuse or neglect.
Please contact us if you are, or someone you know is:
- experiencing abuse or neglect
- at risk of being abused or neglected
- has witnessed an incident that caused concern
What is safeguarding
Safeguarding adult's helps to protect an adults right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect who because of their care and support needs may be more at risk from harm.
Safeguarding is ‘everyone's business’ and we all have a responsibility to report it.
What is abuse
Abuse is when someone mistreats another person in a way that violates their human or civil rights. Abuse can include financial, sexual, physical, neglect and acts of omission, discrimination, psychological and institutional.
Neglect occurs when a person deliberately withholds or fails to provide suitable and adequate care and support needed by another adult. It may be through a lack of knowledge or awareness, or through a decision not to act when they know the adult in their care needs help. The Care Act 2014 sets out the legal duties and responsibilities for adult safeguarding and provides examples on types of abuse and who might be at risk of harm.
- people with a learning disability, sensory or physical disability
- older people who depend on or need help from others
- people with mental health issues
- people with dementia
- someone who cannot always look after or protect themselves from harm
Abuse can take different forms, these include:
- physical abuse
- domestic abuse
- sexual abuse
- psychological or emotional abuse
- financial or material abuse
- discriminatory abuse
- organisational abuse
- neglect or acts of omission
- self-neglect
- modern slavery
There are many signs of abuse, these include when someone:
- shows changes in behaviour without reason
- has an injury that is difficult to explain
- seems frightened around certain people
- appears unusually sad or withdrawn
- does not have access to their own finances
The person who is carrying out the abuse is often known to the person and can be:
- a relative, friend, or neighbour
- a paid worker or volunteer, for example from a domiciliary agency or a worker in a care home
- a paid professional such as a health or social care worker
- another resident or person who uses care services
Professionals working within the adult sector (including practitioners, partners, and providers) must assess every concern using the Decision‑Making Framework.
This ensures concerns are reported and responded to at the appropriate level and promotes a consistent approach across all agencies. The framework also provides clear examples of low, medium, and high risk across different types of abuse.
Quality concerns about a care organisation
If you have a concern around the quality of care of a care home, home-care agency or other adult social care service you can raise these concerns via the Care Quality Commission.
Report a concern
For emergencies, when you think you or another person is in immediate danger, call 999.
Report a concern as a member of the public (For example, individuals, family, friends) or as a professional working with adults.
If you would like advice prior to completing this form, contact our Customer Service Centre on 0300 126 3000, and select Option 1, Option 2 and Option 1.
There are exceptional circumstances when the adult may not be asked to give consent because asking them may increase the risk of abuse.
When reporting a concern, you may need to gain the consent of the person involved, but this is not always possible. This is also known as a person's 'capacity' to understand what is happening.
The Mental Capacity Act states to have capacity a person must be able to:
- understand the information that is relevant to the decision they want to make
- retain the information long enough to be able to make the decision
- weigh up the information available to make the decision
- communicate their decision by any possible means, including talking, using sign language, or through simple muscle movements such as blinking an eye or squeezing a hand
A member of staff may contact you to listen to your concerns and gather more information. If you have raised the concern about another person, we will need to contact them to understand what they would like to happen.
Where the safeguarding duty applies, and an adult at risk, or their representative, gives consent a safeguarding enquiry will start.
If needed, the adult at risk can be supported by an advocate or a person who knows the adult well and is acting in their best interests. Find out more about independent advocacy.
The enquiry will seek to understand what happened and use this information to support the adult to put plans in place to reduce or remove the harm or abuse.
If it is believed a potential crime has been committed, then the police will be informed.
A safeguarding enquiry should have a plan which details the scope of the investigation.
We may need to talk to other agencies and professionals if there are concerns about more than one adult or there is a high level of risk, a safeguarding meeting may be held.
An enquiry can mean a range of options from an informal discussion to a more formal complex enquiry. The scope of the enquiry and the person carrying this out will depend on the nature of the concern and the local authority can ask others to do this on their behalf.
The safeguarding enquiry will explore any risks and make recommendations to reduce these, where possible.
The safeguarding enquiry will not make decisions about staff employment, where a staff member is the alleged source of risk as this is the responsibility of the employer.
It will not make decisions about whether a crime has been committed or whether criminal prosecution is required, as this is the responsibility of the police.
The outcome of a safeguarding enquiry will be discussed with the adult at risk or their representative.
Where there is a disagreement with a safeguarding enquiry outcome in the first instance make contact with the person completing the enquiry. Alternatively, you can contact
0300 126 3000. If you have concerns around the process, you can make an initial query or complaint.
Last updated 29 April 2026