Lone Working

1. Purpose

Most of our work happens in teams, and nobody works unobserved with a learner. Some work is still done alone: opening and closing the building, meetings, home visits and escorting a learner by taxi. This policy sets out how we assess those risks, how staff check in, and what happens when a check-in is missed.

2. Scope

This policy applies to all Care Cove AP staff, including agency staff, counsellors from My Solution Wellbeing working on our premises, and sessional tutors. It covers 37 Townhead Street, learners' homes, journeys and anywhere else staff work for the AP. Care Cove Short Breaks and Dreams Are Real CIC follow their own lone working arrangements.

3. Law and guidance

• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974: our duty to protect staff (section 2) and others affected by our work (section 3).

• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999: suitable and sufficient risk assessment (regulation 3).

• HSE guidance, "Protect lone workers: how to manage the risks of working alone". Working alone is not unlawful, but its risks must be assessed and controlled.

• RIDDOR 2013, including injuries from violence at work that keep a worker off normal duties for more than 7 days.

• Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 and our Staff Code of Conduct: nobody works unobserved with a learner.

• The health and safety requirements of our contracts with commissioning local authorities.

4. Roles and responsibilities

5. What lone working means

5.1 Definitions

• Lone worker: someone who works by themselves without close or direct supervision.

• Working alone without colleagues: being the only member of staff in a building or place, such as opening or closing alone or a meeting off site.

• Working alone with a learner: one member of staff with a learner and no other staff present, such as a one-to-one session, an escorted taxi journey or a home visit.

• Check-in contact: the Head of AP or the Director. During the taught day, the Head of AP may name a member of staff on site as the check-in contact for a visit or journey.

• Check-in log: the record of every lone working activity and check-in, kept on Care Cove Connect in the format in Appendix A, with a paper copy kept securely for system outages.

5.2 Our rules

• Nobody works unobserved with a learner. Working alone with a learner happens only as this policy allows.

• Nobody works alone without someone knowing where they are, what they are doing and when they will finish.

• If the risk cannot be controlled for one person, two people do it, or it does not happen.

5.3 Who never works alone

• Volunteers and students never work alone, or one-to-one with a learner.

• Staff do not work alone until they have completed induction and the Head of AP has signed them off.

• Nobody carries a learner in a car: Care Cove does not transport learners in its own or staff vehicles.

6. Risk assessment

The Head of AP writes a lone working risk assessment for each activity in sections 7 to 13. Each records the hazards (such as violence, a fall on the stairs while alone, sudden illness or a false allegation), the controls, the check-in arrangement and what happens if it fails. Staff are consulted and confirm on Connect that they have read the assessments for their work, which are reviewed every year and after any incident or near miss. Individual factors count too: a member of staff's health, pregnancy or disability, how new they are, and learner-specific risk from the entry risk assessment, contextual risk map or allegations history.

7. Opening and closing the building

The building is opened and closed by two members of staff wherever possible. Only keyholders named on the key register open or close.

Opening: check the outside for signs of a break-in before entering. If there are signs, do not go in; call 999 if someone may be inside, or 101 otherwise. Turn off the intruder alarm and walk round the AP areas on all three floors before learners arrive.

Closing: check every room on all three floors, including toilets, regulation spaces and therapy rooms; close windows; secure the exits, including the rear fire exit and the step-free rear entrance; and set the alarm. When Care Cove Short Breaks is using the ground floor, secure the AP areas and tell the Short Breaks lead that the AP has closed.

Opening or closing alone:

1. Message the Head of AP or Director when you arrive (when closing, when you become the last member of staff in the building).

2. Message when the checks are done.

3. Message when you leave.

4. If a message is 15 minutes late and you cannot be reached, the manager goes to the building with another person or calls the police.

The Head of AP and Director agree in advance which of them is watching for the messages.

8. Alarm call-outs

Two keyholders respond together to an alarm call-out, and never enter alone if there are signs of intrusion. If there are signs of a break-in, or anyone may be inside, they wait outside in a safe, well-lit place and call 999. They message the Head of AP or Director when they arrive and leave, and record the call-out on Connect.

9. One-to-one work with learners

One-to-one work, such as therapy, mentoring check-ins and 1:1 support in a learner's plan, is planned and recorded on the timetable or Connect.

• It takes place only in a room with a glazed panel or with the door open, never locked, with another member of staff on the same floor. Tell that colleague when the session starts and ends. If nobody else can be on that floor, the session moves.

• Never cover the glazed panel. Regulation spaces are never lockable from either side.

• If a learner becomes distressed or aggressive, call the colleague on the floor straight away and follow the de-escalation in the learner's plan.

• Record anything that could be misunderstood on Connect and tell the Head of AP.

Counsellors follow the same rules in the second-floor therapy rooms.

10. Home visits

Home visits follow our home visit protocol. The DSL arranges them, or the Head of AP agrees them in advance.

• Risk assessment. Before every visit, the DSL checks known risks, including risks to staff such as other adults, dogs, previous aggression and the location, and records them on Connect.

• Pairs. Visits are made in pairs where risk is identified. Every visit about absence or lost contact is made by two staff, never one, as the Attendance and Children Missing Education policy sets out. One member of staff visits alone only where the risk assessment identifies no risk, the Head of AP agrees, a parent or carer has agreed the visit and is present throughout, and it is during the working day.

• Check-in before and after. Message the check-in contact before you go in, with the time you expect to leave, and again as soon as you leave. If your leaving message is 15 minutes late and you cannot be reached, the check-in contact tells the Head of AP or Director, who calls the police.

• At the door. Go in only if invited and it is safe. Stay near the exit, and leave at once if anyone becomes aggressive or seems under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Never be alone with the learner in the home.

• No answer. Leave a card asking the family to call, and report to the DSL at once.

• A child at risk. Call 999 if the danger is immediate, and tell the DSL straight away.

• Bringing a learner in. Travel together on foot, by public transport or by licensed taxi under section 11.

Every visit is recorded on Connect the same day. Appendix B is the home visit checklist.

11. Escorting learners by licensed taxi

When a member of staff escorts a learner, for example collecting them rather than losing the day:

• Use only licensed taxi operators on the approved list in the Transport and Escorting policy.

• Agree the journey beforehand with the Head of AP: pick-up, drop-off, route and times. Log it on Connect.

• There is no lone transport without a written risk assessment. One member of staff escorts a learner alone only where that assessment allows it and the Head of AP has agreed.

• A second adult travels where the learner's plan requires it.

• Carry a charged phone. Message the check-in contact when you leave and when you arrive, and again when you are back if you return alone. If a message is 15 minutes late and you cannot be reached, the check-in contact tells the Head of AP or Director, who phones the taxi operator and then the police.

• Sit where you can supervise the learner. Never leave a learner alone in the vehicle, and hand them over only to Care Cove staff or an adult named on their Connect record.

• If behaviour makes the journey unsafe, ask the driver to stop when it is safe and phone Care Cove. A learner is never put out anywhere other than the agreed drop-off with a responsible adult.

12. Off-site work

• With learners. Off-site sessions follow the Off-site Learning and Educational Visits policy. One-to-one work off site, such as travel training or going with a learner to an appointment, needs a written risk assessment and the Head of AP's agreement, takes place in public places, and uses the check-in arrangements in section 11.

• Without learners. Before a meeting or visit on your own, such as at a school, a referral panel or an employer's premises, enter it in the check-in log with the place, who you are meeting and your expected finish time, and message the check-in contact when you finish. Meet new contacts at their workplace during working hours where possible.

13. Working late

• Working alone after the AP closes is kept to a minimum, agreed in advance with the Head of AP with a set finish time, and ends with the closing alone procedure in section 7.

• Let nobody in after hours unless they are expected and verified.

• If anyone is waiting or behaving suspiciously outside when you leave, stay inside, phone the check-in contact and call 101, or 999 if you feel threatened.

• No home visit or lone off-site work starts after dark without the Head of AP's agreement.

14. Personal safety equipment

• A charged phone. Every lone worker carries a charged Care Cove work phone with the check-in contact's number saved. In an emergency with no work phone, use your own phone, then tell the Head of AP.

• The check-in record. Every lone working activity goes in the check-in log (Appendix A).

• ID. Carry your Care Cove photo ID.

• A code phrase. The Head of AP sets a code phrase that tells the check-in contact you need help without alarming anyone nearby. It is shared at induction, not written here. On hearing it, the check-in contact calls 999.

• Other equipment. Where a risk assessment identifies a need, such as a personal alarm, the Director provides it before the work starts.

15. If something goes wrong

• Trust your instincts. If you feel unsafe, leave. Your safety matters more than property or finishing a task.

• Call 999 if you or anyone else is in danger.

• If you are hurt or unwell while alone, phone for help if you can. The check-in arrangement means someone will come if you cannot.

• Tell the DSL immediately about any safeguarding concern.

• If an unwanted or aggressive adult comes to the building, follow the Site Security, Visitors and CCTV policy.

When a check-in is missed, the check-in contact phones and messages the lone worker, then follows the 15-minute rule for that activity (sections 7, 10 and 11), recording each step and time in the check-in log.

16. Reporting incidents

• Record every incident, near miss, missed check-in and escalation on Connect the same day, and any injury in the accident book on Connect.

• After violence or aggression towards staff, the member of staff is offered a same-day debrief and support, including counselling through My Solution Wellbeing, and the Director decides with them whether to involve the police.

• The Director decides whether an incident is reportable under RIDDOR and reports it as the Health and Safety, including Fire and First Aid policy sets out, including telling the commissioning local authority immediately as its contract requires. Any injury to a learner is reported to the commissioning local authority's contract manager.

• The Head of AP reviews lone working incidents, near misses and missed check-ins monthly, and updates risk assessments.

17. Training

All staff learn this policy, including the check-in procedure and code phrase, at induction. Anyone awaiting Team Teach de-escalation training does not work alone with a learner. Keyholders are briefed on opening, closing and alarm call-outs before they hold keys. Training is recorded on the Connect training matrix.

18. Monitoring and review

The Head of AP checks the check-in logs at the termly health and safety inspection and reports lone working incidents to the SWMC every term. The Social Work Management Committee ratifies this policy. It is reviewed every year, or sooner after an incident, a change in law or guidance, a change to the premises or a contract change, and is available to the commissioning local authority on request.

19. Related policies

• 01 Safeguarding and Child Protection
• 03 Managing Allegations Against Staff and Low-Level Concerns
• 11 Attendance and Children Missing Education
• 15 Health and Safety, including Fire and First Aid
• 16 Transport and Escorting
• 21 Staff Code of Conduct
• 26 Off-site Learning and Educational Visits
• 28 Site Security, Visitors and CCTV
• 41 Volunteers and Student Placements
• 43 Dignity at Work and Preventing Sexual Harassment

Appendix A: Check-in log

For a home visit, record the learner's initials and Connect reference, never a full address on paper; the check-in contact finds the address on Connect if needed.

Appendix B: Home visit checklist

Document control and ratification

This policy is signed off by the Designated Safeguarding Lead and the Head of Alternative Provision, and ratified by the Social Work Management Committee. It is reviewed every year, or sooner after an incident or a change in law, statutory guidance or contract requirements, and it is available to any commissioning local authority on request.