Adult at risk

The Care Act 2014 states that adult safeguarding duties apply to anyone aged 18 or over who meets all three of the following conditions:  

• Has care and support needs (whether or not the Local Authority is meeting those needs) 
• Is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect  
• Is unable to protect themselves from the abuse or neglect because of their care and support needs.  

The Local Authority has a duty to conduct enquiries (or instruct others to do so) into safeguarding concerns about adults in these circumstances.

That is what is meant by a ‘statutory duty’. 

Adult Safeguarding: Prevention and Protection in Partnership distinguishes between and Adult at Risk of Harm and an Adult in Need of Protection:

Adult at Risk of Harm: An ‘Adult at risk of harm’ is a person aged 18 or over, whose exposure to harm through abuse, exploitation or neglect may be increased by their:    

1. personal characteristics AND/OR  
2. life circumstances  

Personal characteristics may include, but are not limited to:

• age
• disability
• special educational needs
• illness
• mental or physical frailty or impairment of or disturbance in the functioning of the mind or brain.  

Life circumstances may include, but are not limited to:

• isolation
• socio-economic factors
• environmental living conditions.    

Adult in Need of Protection: An ‘Adult in need of protection’ is a person aged 18 or over, whose exposure to harm through abuse, exploitation or neglect may be increased by their:    

1. personal characteristics AND/OR  
2. life circumstances AND  
3. who is unable to protect their own well-being, property, assets, rights or other interests; AND    
4. where the action or inaction of another person or persons is causing, or is likely to cause, him/her to be harmed.    

In order to meet the definition of an ‘adult in need of protection’ either (a) or (b) must be present, in addition to both elements (c), and (d). 

The Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 defines an 'adult at risk' as:

Someone aged 16 years or over who meets all of the following three-point criteria:  

1. they are unable to safeguard their own well-being, property, rights or other interests;  
2. hey are at risk of harm; and  
3. because they are affected by disability, mental disorder, illness or physical or mental infirmity they are more vulnerable to being harmed than adults who are not so affected. 

Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007: Code of Practice  

An adult is considered to be at risk of harm if:  

1. another person’s conduct is causing (or is likely to cause) the adult to be harmed, or  
2. the adult is engaging (or is likely to engage) in conduct which causes (or is likely to cause) self-harm. 

Safeguarding adults at risk in Wales is underpinned by several pieces of legislation (primarily The Social Service and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014), national policy, statutory guidance and related procedures.

The Wales Safeguarding Procedures help organisations identify what they need to do to fulfil their safeguarding duties.  

An adult at risk is an adult who:  

• is experiencing or is at risk of abuse or neglect,  
• has needs for care and support (whether or not the authority is meeting any of those needs), and  
• as a result of those needs is unable to protect himself or herself against the abuse or neglect or the risk of it.  

The Wales Safeguarding Procedures state that “the use of the term ‘at risk’ means that actual abuse or neglect does not need to occur before practitioners intervene, rather early interventions to protect an adult at risk should be considered to prevent actual abuse and neglect.

Risk of abuse or neglect may be the consequence of one concern or a result of cumulative factors.