Managing the risks

It’s important to take care when thinking about and managing the risks linked to someone’s alleged, current or past harmful behaviour. This is especially true if the person has committed sexual or violent offences, or if their behaviour is causing concern and they haven’t responded to advice or support. In these situations, extra care is needed to help keep everyone safe. 

In each case, a careful risk assessment should be made to see whether the organisation can safely and adequately work with that person. When the individual has been convicted for offences, help from the police and probation services / criminal justice social work should be sought to do a behavioural risk assessment. The assessment should consider a range of factors including the details of offending or behaviour of concern as well as the individual’s subsequent behaviour and attitudes. 

Sometimes, after assessing a situation, you may find that the level of risk—or the amount of support needed—is more than your organisation can safely manage. In these cases, it’s okay to say so. While we often want to help, it’s important to be honest and realistic about what we can safely handle. If the risks are too high, it may be better to support the person in finding another place that’s better equipped to meet their needs and manage the risks involved. Being clear about your limits helps keep everyone safe—and gives the individual a better chance of getting the right support elsewhere.

Monitoring

Someone who poses a risk to others should be closely monitored, with strict boundaries placed on their movements and behaviour. This is done by drawing up a contract and agreement between your organisation and the person, alongside providing an appropriate level of support and accountability. It should also clearly outline what the process will be if the person doesn’t behave in these pre-agreed ways, and what the consequences will be for not doing so. 

Ongoing monitoring is important—especially when someone poses a risk to others. There should also be a clear process for passing on key information when staff or leadership changes, so nothing gets lost over time. It’s also important that those managing the situation know when to share information with statutory agencies, like the police, criminal justice social workers or probation services, and what kind of details they might need. This is especially crucial if the person is on bail or licence conditions, as breaking those conditions could mean they are recalled to prison.

Confidentiality 

Confidentiality is important in any pastoral care or community support situation, but where the safety of others may be compromised, confidentiality must take second place to protecting others. 

No one outside of those directly involved in managing a person who may pose a risk should be informed of the person's identity or the arrangements in place. This would be a breach of confidentiality. A good safeguarding policy should treat all situations equally and prevent anyone who has not been through the safer recruitment process from working with or accessing vulnerable groups. 

A leader in the organisation may be given confidential information by one of the statutory agencies, but this should not be shared with the wider organisation.

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