Urgent action needed to address ‘weaknesses’ in adult safeguarding, says Acting Chief Inspector

Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland (CJINI) said these “undermine the effectiveness of protection” provided to those men and women most at risk of abuse, exploitation and neglect.

An inspection highlighted insufficient preventive measures, high risks of fragmented implementation regarding a proposed Adult Protection Bill, and a rise in the financial and material exploitation of vulnerable adults.

Unlike other UK nations, Northern Ireland lacks overarching adult safeguarding legislation, and the joint regional policy was deemed outdated for current case complexities.

Acting Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland, James Corrigan, has called for “urgent system-wide action”, while the head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s (PSNI) Public Protection Branch acknowledged the findings and committed to collaborating with Health and Social Care partners to strengthen oversight and guidance.

Responding to the CJINI report published on Friday (November 6), Detective Chief Superintendent Zoe McKee said: “Abuse, exploitation and neglect can have a profound impact on adults at risk and their families and we welcome todays publication of the Criminal Justice Inspection report into adult safeguarding arrangements.

“The report has highlighted the knowledge and commitment of specialist staff which reflects the dedication of those who work in this challenging area of safeguarding. The report has also raised the need for consistency in identifying and responding to safeguarding concerns and for stronger oversight, training and quality assurance.

“Working jointly with our Health and Social Care partners, our Public Protection Branch officers are focusing on strengthening the quality assurance of adult safeguarding decisions and improving performance monitoring. We have also undertaken a review of our guidance. This work will ensure the recommendations of the report are suitably addressed to ensure adults at risk receive the best quality of care and service from a range of partners and those who offend against the most vulnerable are brought to justice.”

Mr Corrigan said: “Inspectors acknowledge the work of specialist teams such as the PSNI’s Public Protection Branch and probation officers from the Probation Board for Northern Ireland who demonstrated strong knowledge and reflective practice. Our case file reviews also provided examples of good practice, where timely referrals resulted in protective measures being put in place.”

However, he said inspectors also found evidence that adult safeguarding was not “consistently recognised” as a distinct concept by frontline police officers and staff in all organisations. There were inconsistencies in how safeguarding concerns were identified, recorded and escalated and quality assurance of safeguarding decisions was limited.

Mr Corrigan said urgent action was needed to ensure adults at risk of harm or in need of protection had timely access to justice and the support they were entitled to.

“As a society, adult safeguarding is a fundamental responsibility and simply put, it is everyone’s business,” he said.

“Yet, we all know of cases and organisations where people have suffered physical and emotional abuse, and when neglect went unreported for too long. Financial exploitation has also become more evident and prevalent, both within and outside families.

“Too often efforts at prevention were either insufficient or absent, and the reporting of alleged crimes has increasingly involved police investigations and prosecutions through the Courts.”

Inspectors found that while the regional Adult Safeguarding Prevention and Protection in Partnership policy established by the Departments of Health and Justice still provided organisations’ operational framework, it was dated and had not kept pace with the complexities faced by criminal justice organisations or evolving practice.

“Existing arrangements were in a period of transition and while ongoing work to progress the new Adult Protection Bill was welcome, concerns were raised with inspectors that without clear guidance, sufficient funding and resourcing, its implementation risked being delayed and fragmented, with some parts of the legislation not commenced until a later date,” said Mr Corrigan.

The Acting Chief Inspector said he was also concerned that the Northern Ireland Prison Service remained unable to refer adult safeguarding issues that arose within the prison setting directly to the Health and Social Care Trust teams for assessment by suitably qualified social work professionals, despite being named within the regional safeguarding Partnership Policy.

“This gap placed adults in prison at risk of differential treatment, despite these concerns having been raised by Inspectors in successive prison inspection reports since 2023 and recommendations for improvement being made that were accepted,” said the Acting Chief Inspector.

Mr Corrigan said while he recognised there was a clear leadership commitment across criminal justice organisations to the principles of adult safeguarding and partnership working to protect those aged 18 or over who were at risk, governance arrangements and monitoring varied.

Adult safeguarding data was not routinely reported at senior management level across all organisations inspected, which limited strategic oversight and opportunities to learn from patterns and trends.  Data collection and analysis, especially around outcomes for adults at risk or in need of protection, were also underdeveloped.

“In the last year alone, CJI reports on Probation Approved Premises, the Year Three Review of the effectiveness of the implementation of the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Act 2021, the Use of Special Measures in Northern Ireland Criminal Courts and Follow-Up Review of Police Custody, have all involved aspects of adult safeguarding,” said Mr Corrigan.

“Adult safeguarding cases often involve older victims or men and women with complex needs, and for these members of our community, lengthy decision-making processes and Court timeframes have a disproportionate impact.

“As such, adult safeguarding should be recognised as a core element of public protection in line with delivering Safer Communities as a priority in the Northern Ireland Executive’s current Programme for Government.

“This report makes four strategic and two operational recommendations to support improvement which when implemented, will strengthen existing adult safeguarding arrangements.

“As the Adult Safeguarding Bill is considered at the Northern Ireland Assembly Committee stage, we hope this report and its recommendations could be helpful to Ministers, locally elected representatives, Departmental Officials, as well as criminal justice organisations and other stakeholders.”