NYSAB Newsletter – July 2025
CONTENTS
1.WELCOME TO OUR NEW NYSAB NEWSLETTER!
2. INTRODUCING OUR NEW MISSION AND STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
3. TACKLING ROUGH SLEEPING IN NORTH YORKSHIRE
4. ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SAFEGUARDING WEEK
5. NYSAB SAFEGUARDING ADULT REVIEW (SAR) POLICY GETS A REFRESH
6. SPOTLIGHT ON LEARNING: STRENGTHENING SAFEGUARDING PRACTICE
7. INTRODUCING THE CONNECTION & INVOLVEMENT SUBGROUP
1.WELCOME TO OUR NEW NYSAB NEWSLETTER!
I am delighted to welcome you to the first North Yorkshire Safeguarding Adults Board newsletter. We have a new strengthened focus on supporting practitioners & carers and keeping people informed on the activities of the board to support you & protect people with care and support needs.
In this edition we set out our new mission, explore our collective efforts to tackle rough sleeping & highlight the impact of Safeguarding Week. You’ll also find updates on board activity and our refreshed Safeguarding Adult Review Policy.
Thank you for your commitment to safeguarding adults across North Yorkshire as we continue to strengthen our shared priorities and impact.
2. INTRODUCING OUR NEW MISSION AND STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
This April marked an exciting new chapter for the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Adults Board (NYSAB) as we launched our refreshed mission statement and strategic priorities for the next three years.
Developed in collaboration with a wide range of partners and people we work with, our new mission reflects our commitment to safeguarding adults across North Yorkshire:
By listening to our diverse communities, we will work with adults with care and support needs to keep them safe from abuse or neglect by challenging and supporting partners to deliver effective, complementary, and preventative responses, through informed, confident, and empowered professionals, and carers.
Our work over the next three years will be guided by the below three points:
Connection
Our Communities: Promote equality. Involve and amplify voice.
Workforce: Engage with and continue to support the workforce.
Awareness: Raise awareness of abuse and neglect and how to report it. Raise the profile of the NYSAB.
Prevention
Recurring rough sleeping.
Transition of service, location, young person to adulthood.
Self-neglect.
Confident Practice
Trauma-informed approach.
Mental Capacity assessment.
Information sharing & recording.
Professional Curiosity.
Learning and continuous improvement.
Each area has its own dedicated actions and “we will” statements as part of the NYSAB Delivery Plan:
We will raise awareness of abuse and neglect, ensuring everyone knows the signs and how to report concerns.
We will embed a trauma-informed approach, ensuring safeguarding responses are compassionate and consider past experiences.
We will analyse trends and themes from various sources to identify and address safeguarding issues, ensuring our practices are informed and effective.
To support the delivery of these goals, we’ve also updated our governance and meeting structure, introducing new subgroups that will focus on driving progress in each priority area.
CONTACT US
We’re always looking for passionate individuals and organisations to get involved.
If you’re interested in contributing to the work of any of our subgroups, please reach out to us at nysab@northyorks.gov.uk
3. TACKLING ROUGH SLEEPING IN NORTH YORKSHIRE
In 2024, a Ministerial directive called on Safeguarding Adults Boards across the country to take a more active role in protecting individuals who are sleeping rough, recognising the heightened risks of abuse, neglect, and self- neglect faced by this group.
In response, rough sleeping has become a key focus under the Prevention priority of the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Adults Board. To lead this vital work, each Board was asked to appoint a Rough Sleeper Champion.
We’re proud to share that Kim Robertshaw, Head of Housing Needs at North Yorkshire Council, has taken on this role for our area. Kim shared her thoughts with the Board:
We understand the importance of working with local organisations, charities, and other partners to address rough sleeping effectively.
The NYSAB has a role to play in supporting people who are rough sleeping, particularly when they face potential safeguarding concerns. The NYSAB aims to work with agencies involved in supporting rough sleepers to ensure appropriate care and protection are provided.
We hope our work with the NYSAB will help to identify and address safeguarding concerns related to self- neglect, which can include homelessness and rough sleeping and play a role in promoting positive practice and sharing learning related to safeguarding people who are rough sleeping.
Earlier this year, NYSAB hosted a Rough Sleeper Workshop to kick start this important initiative. The workshop brought together a wide range of partners and focused on:
- Understanding how the Board can effectively meet its new responsibilities around safeguarding rough sleepers.
- Mapping out the work already being done by local agencies and identifying what’s working well.
- Highlighting areas where improvements are needed. Exploring how the board’s structure can best support coordination and delivery of services
The event was well attended by key stakeholders, and it concluded with agreement to form a dedicated task and finish group to carry this work forward. This is just the beginning of a long-term commitment to ensuring that no one sleeping rough in North Yorkshire is left without support or protection.
4. ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SAFEGUARDING WEEK
Safeguarding Week 2025 has officially wrapped up, and what a fantastic week it was! From 16th to 20th June, partners from across North Yorkshire, the City of York, East Riding and Hull came together to deliver a powerful programme of learning and community engagement. This annual event is a collaborative effort between Safeguarding Adults Boards, Children’s Safeguarding Partnerships, and Community Safety Partnerships, all united under the theme:
SAFEGUARDING IS EVERYBODY’S BUSINESS
This year’s programme featured over 65 events, including a range of in-person community activities across the region. The sessions were designed to raise awareness, build skills, and strengthen our collective safeguarding efforts.
Topics ran by NYSAB members included sessions on:
- The Benefits of Multi-Agency Working
- Advocacy Awareness
- Hoarding and Self-Neglect
- Dying Matters in District Nursing
- Providing Information & Support for Drink and Drugs
- …and many more!
We are currently collating attendance figures and feedback, so stay tuned for a full roundup of the impact this week has had later in the year. Thank you to everyone who took part, presented, or supported the events, your commitment helps make safeguarding a shared responsibility across our communities.
5. NYSAB SAFEGUARDING ADULT REVIEW (SAR) POLICY GETS A REFRESH
We’re excited to share that we have completed a comprehensive update of our Safeguarding Adult Review (SAR) Policy, making it clearer, more effective, and aligned with best practice.
Following in depth discussions across the Board and subgroups; and a review of SAR policies from neighbouring SABs; we’ve made some key improvements.
Here’s a quick rundown of the main changes:
Clearer Language: We’ve simplified and clarified the Section 44 criteria and removed outdated terms.
Streamlined Structure: The policy now reflects our new subgroup structure, giving SARs the dedicated focus they deserve.
Smarter Forms: Updated referral and decision- making forms make it easier for referrers and scoping panels to navigate the process.
Proportionate Chronologies: We’re now requesting only essential initial information to assess referrals, saving time and reducing workload.
Robust Decision Making: A clearer, fairer voting process with improved documentation.
Stronger Accountability: Clearer processes for reviewing and signing off action plans.
The updated SAR policy is now available on our website.
6. SPOTLIGHT ON LEARNING: STRENGTHENING SAFEGUARDING PRACTICE
Over recent months, the Safeguarding Adults Board has been actively engaged in a range of learning initiatives aimed at improving safeguarding practice across our partnership which highlighted important themes such as self-neglect, professional curiosity, and the impact of stigmatising perceptions.
To support frontline professionals, a suite of accessible practice resources have been developed.
6.1 Key Learning Resources
Self-Neglect
A growing theme in SARs, self-neglect involves extreme lack of self-care and is often linked to hoarding, substance use, or mental health issues. Engagement must be sensitive and respectful, recognising the limits of intervention when individuals decline support.
➤ Self-Neglect Practice Guidance
Professional Curiosity
Regularly highlighted in SARs, CSPRs, and DHRs, professional curiosity is about asking the right questions and looking beyond the surface. It helps build meaningful relationships and improves safeguarding outcomes.
➤ Professional Curiosity Practice Guidance
Managing Different Professional Perspectives
This guide supports respectful challenge and collaboration across agencies, helping professionals navigate differing views while maintaining a focus on the person.
➤ Managing Different Professional Perspectives and Mutual Challenge Guidance
Executive Capacity
Often misunderstood, Executive Capacity refers to a person’s ability to act on decisions, even when they have mental capacity. A new One Minute Guide helps clarify this concept and its practical application.
➤ Executive Capacity One Minute Guide
Language and Stigma
The words we use matter. Language can either reinforce stigma or foster dignity and connection. A recent blog explores how adopting person-first, respectful language can improve outcomes for people affected by substance use.
➤ The Power Of Language: Breaking the Cycle of Stigma
7. INTRODUCING THE CONNECTION & INVOLVEMENT SUBGROUP
June marked the launch of our brand-new Connection and Involvement subgroup.
This group will lead on the NYSAB priority to better connect with the public, the workforce and to raise awareness of the SAB.
Co-chaired by Ashley Green from Healthwatch and Sam Suttar, our passionate Keeping Safe Champion, the group brings together key partners and moving forward, more people with lived experience, who will help to shape a more inclusive and connected safeguarding landscape. The groups aims are:
- To develop a strong communications and engagement strategy for the NYSAB
- To identify and address barriers to safeguarding engagement for underrepresented and seldom heard groups.
- To make safeguarding information more accessible and inclusive
- To support and grow a network of community and workforce Safeguarding Champions.
- To work closely with staff to boost awareness and improve safeguarding practice.
The group agreed that some of the first priorities it would tackle are mapping of the community and existing engagement opportunities, a review of the NYSAB website and production of this very newsletter!
Stay tuned for updates, opportunities to get involved, and stories from the people making safeguarding stronger across North Yorkshire.
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