Policy Aims
Sevenoaks Literary Festival (“the Festival”) recognise that we have a duty of care to promote the wellbeing of and safeguard from harm all children and vulnerable adults who are involved in our events. All children and vulnerable adults have a right to respect and protection. This policy sets out the roles and responsibilities of all committee members and volunteers of the Festival each of whom are expected to understand these responsibilities to safeguard children and vulnerable adults and to follow this policy and procedures. The committee recognises the importance of providing volunteering opportunities within the community to young people and has therefore expanded its volunteer base to include those under 18, subject to the safeguarding provisions described below.
Definitions
For the purposes of this policy, “children” are regarded as any persons under the age of 18. “Vulnerable adults” are defined as any person who, for any reason, may be unable to take care of themselves or protect themselves against significant harm or exploitation.
The Festival is entirely volunteer led and so this policy applies to all “volunteers”, defined as committee members and volunteers recruited for specific events. “Young Volunteers” is a volunteer under the age of 18 who has been through a specific recruitment process to ensure that their welfare is protected.
Keeping children, young people and vulnerable adults safe
We will seek to keep children, young people and vulnerable adults safe by appointing a committee member as a Designated Safeguarding Lead. The Designated Safeguarding Lead at the date of this Policy is Kim Silver.
We will adopt safeguarding best practice through our policies and procedures for volunteers.
We will recruit and select volunteers safely and ensure they follow this policy and procedures.
During Festival events
- During all Festival events, volunteers will wear Sevenoaks Literary Festival badges to identify them, so that concerns can be reported correctly.
- Each volunteer will have the contact details of the Festival’s Designated Safeguarding Lead, plus the relevant Safeguarding Lead at each venue/event.
- It is a condition of booking tickets for Festival events, that children under the age of 16, attending Festival events as audience members must be accompanied at all times by parents/carers or teachers and that anyone over this age requiring specialist help is accompanied by a responsible adult.
- The Festival is not responsible for the supervision of children or vulnerable adults at any time during the Festival, unless they are designated Young Volunteers. The Festival and its volunteers cannot accept responsibility for the supervision of any child(ren) or vulnerable adults attending events.
- No Festival volunteers are permitted to be alone with a child except in cases of emergency (e.g. first aid is required) or instances where the child would otherwise be in danger.
- For the author events taking place in schools, schools will be notified in advance to ensure their own safeguarding procedures are adhered to in respect of visiting authors and the volunteers who accompany them.
- No unauthorised photography, audio or video recording of children is allowed. Any pictures of children will not include their faces. Where parents or carers do not wish photos to be taken at all, then the responsible adult attending should ensure that their child is not included in the official photos.
- During school events, photographs should be taken in such a way that individual children are not identifiable.
Responsibility for Venues
The Festival uses local venues for its events. It will carry out a risk assessment for the Festival overall and for each event. This will include ensuring there is adequate First Aid provision and arrangements to deal with fire safety. The Festival will provide oversight during the event to ensure, as far as is possible, that everyone at the event is safe.
Young Volunteers
Where the committee has decided, in its discretion, to use one or more Young Volunteers it will ensure that:
- they are supervised by a committee member with a current DBS certificate and appropriate training together with another committee member;
- other committee members and volunteers are given training in their safeguarding responsibilities;
- the Young Volunteers are given appropriate training, guidance, supervision and experience;
- they are not left alone with any one person at any time;
- a risk assessment is prepared to ensure their safety and welfare;
- their working hours are appropriate for their age group and do not breach any rules on children’s working hours;
- the appointment of a Young Volunteer is discussed with a parent or guardian beforehand and written consent is obtained;
- the insurers are notified of their involvement.
Dealing with safeguarding concerns.
It is everyone’s responsibility to report safeguarding concerns. This is a legal obligation. If Festival volunteers believe a child to be in immediate danger, they must ring 999 immediately to report to the police. Any other safeguarding concerns should be reported to the appropriate Designated Safeguarding Lead as soon as possible and, in any event, within one day. It is the responsibility of the Designated Safeguarding Lead to record and ensure that any serious incidents are dealt with effectively.
This policy may be updated from time to time to reflect changes in the way the Festival operates but will in any event be reviewed annually by the committee.
January 2026