Incident Reporting Policy

Street Lights Collective CIC is committed to creating safe, accountable and well managed spaces for young people, families, staff, volunteers, practitioners, partners and communities. This Incident Reporting Policy sets out how incidents, accidents, safeguarding concerns, near misses, complaints, online harms, contextual risks and serious concerns must be reported, recorded, escalated, reviewed and learned from.

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that every concern is taken seriously, responded to quickly and handled in a way that protects people, preserves evidence, supports accountability and improves future practice.

This policy supports the organisation’s wider ethos of Presence. Power. Purpose. Presence means we are alert and responsible. Power means we act with integrity and protect people. Purpose means that every incident becomes an opportunity to strengthen safety, learning and community trust.

This policy applies to all Street Lights Collective CIC activities, including work delivered in schools, communities, youth settings, homes, venues, online spaces, training environments, meetings, events, outreach sessions, mentoring programmes and NEET Futures placements.

This policy applies to:

• Directors and board members
• Board advisors and specialist advisors
• Phillip Chackochen as Designated Safeguarding Lead
• Marisa Ferguson as Finance and Compliance Lead
• The six trauma informed practitioners
• Staff, sessional workers and contractors
• Volunteers and youth ambassadors
• External partners working with Street Lights Collective CIC
• Participants, parents, carers and community members involved in programmes or activities

Street Lights Collective CIC will maintain a clear, consistent and transparent system for reporting and managing incidents. No person representing the organisation should ignore, hide, minimise or delay reporting an incident or concern.

All incidents must be recorded honestly, factually and without blame. The first priority must always be the immediate safety and wellbeing of the person or people affected. Where the incident involves safeguarding, exploitation, serious harm, abuse, neglect, criminal activity, online harm, contextual risk or risk to life, the safeguarding procedure must be followed immediately.

The organisation will not victimise any person for raising a genuine concern. Concerns raised in good faith will be treated seriously, even where later investigation finds that no wrongdoing occurred.

The following must always be reported and recorded:

• Any safeguarding concern involving a child, young person or adult at risk
• Any disclosure of abuse, neglect, exploitation, domestic abuse, sexual harm, criminal exploitation or online harm
• Any injury, accident, illness, medical emergency or first aid incident
• Any threat, assault, fight, intimidation, weapon concern or risk linked to serious youth violence
• Any concern about knife carrying, gang involvement, county lines, criminal exploitation or unsafe peer networks
• Any incident linked to postcode conflict, unsafe travel routes, retaliation risk or community tensions
• Any bullying, harassment, discrimination, hate incident or abuse of power
• Any allegation against a director, practitioner, volunteer, advisor, contractor or partner
• Any breach of professional boundaries, inappropriate communication or unsafe contact with a young person
• Any online safeguarding concern, including threatening messages, harmful content, image sharing, grooming or social media conflict
• Any missing child concern during a session, event, trip or activity
• Any data breach, loss of personal information or unauthorised disclosure
• Any financial irregularity, fraud concern, misuse of funds or suspected theft
• Any incident that could damage public trust, funder confidence or community safety
• Any near miss that could have caused harm if circumstances had been different

When an incident occurs, the person present must act quickly, calmly and proportionately. The immediate response should follow these principles:

• Make the situation safe where it is possible to do so without creating further risk.

Call emergency services immediately if there is danger to life, serious injury, violence, weapon risk or urgent medical need.

Provide first aid only where trained and where safe to do so.

Do not investigate safeguarding concerns yourself. Record and report them to the Designated Safeguarding Lead.

Do not promise confidentiality where there is risk of harm.

Separate people involved where safe and appropriate.

Preserve evidence where possible, including messages, screenshots, attendance records, photographs of hazards or written accounts.

Record facts, not assumptions or personal opinions.

Report the incident to the appropriate lead as soon as possible.

Street Lights Collective CIC uses the following reporting routes.

Where an incident involves safeguarding, the safeguarding policy must be followed. The Designated Safeguarding Lead is Phillip Chackochen. If Phillip Chackochen is unavailable and there is immediate risk, the matter must be escalated to a Director and, where required, to children’s social care, adult social care, the police or emergency services.

Contextual safeguarding is central to the work of Street Lights Collective CIC. Incidents must not be viewed only as isolated behaviour. Staff and practitioners must consider the wider context around the young person, including peer pressure, social media, postcode conflict, school exclusion, unsafe routes, exploitation, fear, family stress, community intimidation and retaliation risk.

A safeguarding incident may require action beyond the session itself. This may include informing a school safeguarding lead, contacting parents or carers where safe, consulting children’s social care, reviewing travel arrangements, changing session locations, increasing staffing, pausing activity, or creating a safety plan.

Incident records must be clear, factual, dated and stored securely. They must be written as soon as possible after the incident, ideally on the same day.

An incident report should include:

• Date, time and location of the incident
• Name and role of the person completing the report
• Names of people involved, where appropriate
• Names of witnesses, where appropriate
• A factual description of what happened
• Any injury, harm, distress, risk or damage caused
• Immediate action taken
• Whether emergency services were contacted
• Whether parents, carers, school staff, statutory services or partners were informed
• Safeguarding action taken, where relevant
• Evidence preserved, such as screenshots or photographs
• Follow up action required
• Name of the person responsible for follow up
• Date the matter was reviewed and closed
• Reports must avoid judgemental language. Staff should not write labels such as attention seeking, manipulative, aggressive or non compliant without clear factual description. Language must be precise, respectful and safeguarding aware.

A serious incident must be escalated immediately to the Directors and, where relevant, the Designated Safeguarding Lead. A serious incident may include:

• Death or serious injury
• Suspected abuse, exploitation or serious safeguarding failure
• Weapon related incident
• Police involvement
• Hospital treatment
• Missing child during activity
• Serious allegation against an adult representing the organisation
• Major data breach
• Fraud or significant financial loss
• Serious public disorder at an event
• Incident attracting media, funder or public concern
• Any incident that may require reporting to a regulator, commissioner, funder or statutory body
• The Board must be informed of serious incidents as soon as reasonably possible. The Board will decide whether further external reporting is required, subject to safeguarding and legal duties.

All accidents, injuries, first aid incidents and health and safety concerns must be recorded. Where activity takes place in a school, community venue or partner site, the venue’s own reporting process may also need to be followed.

Where an accident or injury is serious, the organisation will consider whether external reporting is required under applicable health and safety requirements. The organisation will also review the relevant risk assessment and update control measures where needed.

Online incidents must be treated as seriously as incidents that happen face to face. Online harm can increase risk in the community, escalate postcode conflict, expose young people to exploitation and place people in immediate danger.

Online incidents may include:

• Threatening messages or posts
• Sharing of violent content
• Gang related taunts or provocation
• Image based abuse
• Bullying or harassment
• Grooming or exploitation
• Hate speech or discriminatory content
• Unauthorised sharing of images of young people
• Unsafe direct messaging between adults and young people
• Staff and volunteers must preserve screenshots where safe and appropriate, avoid engaging in online conflict, and report concerns to the Designated Safeguarding Lead or appropriate senior lead.

Street Lights Collective CIC delivers work in communities where risk may be dynamic and fast moving. Community events, outreach and public activities require active incident awareness before, during and after delivery.

For community events, the incident reporting process must consider:

• Crowd safety
• Lost children
• Medical incidents
• Violence or intimidation
• Unsafe movement around the venue
• Safeguarding concerns disclosed during the event
• Local tensions between groups or areas
• Online posts that may escalate risk
• Behaviour of external performers, partners or volunteers
• Emergency evacuation or venue issues
• The event lead must ensure that staff and volunteers know who to report to on the day and how urgent matters will be escalated.

Where young people are supported into placements, work experience, training, volunteering or external opportunities through the NEET Futures Initiative, any incident connected to the placement must be reported to Street Lights Collective CIC as well as to the placement provider where appropriate.

Incidents may include unsafe working conditions, inappropriate adult conduct, bullying, discrimination, safeguarding concerns, non attendance, travel risk, exploitation concerns, injury, or any concern that the placement is unsuitable for the young person.

Street Lights Collective CIC may pause or end a placement if risk cannot be managed safely.

Any allegation that a director, advisor, practitioner, staff member, volunteer, contractor, partner or ambassador has harmed, may have harmed, or behaved in a way that indicates they may pose a risk to children, young people or adults at risk must be reported immediately.

The matter must be referred to the Designated Safeguarding Lead and Directors, unless the allegation concerns one of those individuals. In that situation, the report must be made to another Director or appropriate external authority.

Street Lights Collective CIC will follow safeguarding procedures, consider referral to the Local Authority Designated Officer where applicable, protect evidence, manage confidentiality and ensure that no internal investigation compromises statutory processes.

Incident information must be shared only with people who need to know in order to protect people, manage risk, meet legal duties, investigate concerns, support safeguarding or improve practice.

Confidentiality must not prevent the organisation from sharing information where there is a safeguarding concern, risk of harm, legal obligation, criminal concern or significant public interest.

Incident records must be stored securely in line with the Data Protection Policy and Safeguarding Policy.

Street Lights Collective CIC will use incident reporting to strengthen practice. After a significant incident, the organisation may hold a debrief or learning review. The purpose is not to blame, but to identify what happened, what could have been prevented, what worked well and what needs to change.

Learning reviews may consider:

• Whether risk assessments were accurate
• Whether staff and volunteers knew what to do
• Whether safeguarding escalation was timely
• Whether communication was clear
• Whether staffing levels were suitable
• Whether venue or travel arrangements need to change
• Whether further training is needed
• Whether policy or procedure updates are required
• Whether partners need further guidance
• Whether young people or families need follow up support

Street Lights Collective CIC will use an incident reporting form or secure digital reporting method. The form should capture the information listed in section 9 of this policy. Safeguarding records must be stored separately from general incident records where appropriate and must have restricted access.

The organisation should maintain a central incident log showing the date, type of incident, lead person, status, actions taken and date closed. Sensitive details should be limited to those who need access.

This policy will be reviewed annually by the Board of Directors, or sooner if there is a serious incident, safeguarding concern, change in law, change in guidance, funder requirement, significant organisational growth or new area of delivery.

Signed on behalf of Street Lights Collective CIC