Safeguarding

Keeping Vulnerable Beneficiaries, Volunteers and Staff Safe

Working with Vulnerable Groups

We do not work directly with children, young people under eighteen or vulnerable groups: LGBT people are not officially designated as a vulnerable group. However, in view of the marginalisation and discrimination to which they may be subject, LGBT people deserve special consideration from Charities that work with them, and OurStory Scotland therefore commits to a heightened focus on possible abuses of power that might lead to bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct.

Safety and Transparency

We commit to encouraging a safe environment so that volunteers, staff and beneficiaries feel that they can speak up when they think something is going wrong, and that any necessary action will be taken appropriately, in a sensitive manner and without undue procrastination.

We commit to transparency when incidents do occur, and learn if things go wrong.

We commit to ensuring that serious incidents are reported to OSCR and other relevant bodies, in particular in the case of Notifiable Events, that could be:

• fraud and theft
• significant financial loss
• incidents of abuse or mistreatment of vulnerable beneficiaries
• a lack of charity trustees required to make a legal decision
• when a charity has been subject to a criminal investigation or an investigation by another regulator or agency; sanctions have been imposed, or concerns raised by another regulator or agency
• when significant sums of money or other property have been donated to the charity from an unknown or unverified source
• suspicions that the charity and/or its assets are being used to fund criminal activity (including terrorism)
• charity trustees acting improperly or whilst disqualified.

Information for Staff and Volunteers

All trustees, staff and volunteers of OurStory Scotland will be provided with a copy of these commitments to safeguarding. In addition, we follow the ethical and legal advice and guidance of the Oral History Society. Volunteers will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement to protect the confidentiality of contributors and contributions to OurStory Scotland. This is particularly relevant to our work, as we are dedicated to collecting, archiving and presenting the life stories of the LGBT community in Scotland.