Manchester’s new Safeguarding Campaign
Safeguarding is a social care system that helps protect people and their right to be safe from abuse and neglect.
Safeguarding can be challenging and is a term often misunderstood or even feared – and a role of social care that can be distressing for people. A new campaign has been launched to help people know more about what safeguarding is and how to access safeguarding support for themselves or people they know.
About the campaign
In 2023 Manchester City Council started a project to learn more about people’s lived experience of safeguarding. Council staff working in safeguarding connected with Manchester People First, Healthwatch and the Afro Caribbean Care Group to hold community sessions with people who had experienced safeguarding. During those sessions, attendees agreed six areas that needed improvement:
- Citizen’s voice
- Clarity of processes
- Communication
- Fear of raising safeguarding concerns
- Prevention
- Cultural awareness.
During the sessions, three people with lived experience volunteered to support safeguarding improvement alongside Healthwatch, Manchester City Council and Manchester Local Care Organisation. The group named itself Our Safeguarding Voices Action Group and agreed a programme of work to address the issues raised in the community sessions. So far, the group has:
- Co-designed and tested an accessible campaign to raise awareness of what safeguarding is and how to report concerns. This is what we are launching today.
- Agreed to increase membership, subject to new members agreeing to the group’s core values and being supported to join the group by the Co-production Lead and Safeguarding Manager. For more information, contact Brendan.Gallagher@manchester.gov.uk
- Started planning the next phase of the programme to improve people’s experience of adult safeguarding in Manchester.
Download our campaign assets
A number of assets that can be used across social media, displays and information boards have been produced by the group which are available for download and use across the city.
- Safeguarding poster – Available for download here [PDF] or if you want to order printed copies just contact communications@manchesterlco.org
- Safeguarding graphic for digital screens – Available for download here [PDF]
- Safeguarding social media graphic – available below (right click and save image as a JPG to your computer or to your phone/device). You can use the text in the section at the bottom of this page alongside the image on social media.
Reporting a safeguarding concern
If you have a safeguarding concern about yourself or someone else, contact Manchester City Council.
📞 0161 234 5001
To find out more about adult safeguarding in Manchester, visit: www.manchester.gov.uk/report-abuse-neglect