Safeguarding Referrals: Guide for Care Homes 2026

Your Job Is to Report, Not Investigate

If you suspect abuse, tell your local authority and let them decide what happens next. You are not expected to prove anything, interview anyone, or reach a conclusion — and trying to often makes things worse by contaminating evidence or tipping off the person responsible.

You only need a concern. Not proof. That single principle is the one most staff get wrong, and it is the one CQC inspectors probe hardest when they ask how your team handles safeguarding.

This guide walks through the legal duty behind referrals, when they are required, exactly how to make one, and the mistakes that turn a well-meaning report into a governance problem.

The Legal Duty: the Care Act 2014

Adult safeguarding in England sits under the Care Act 2014. Section 42 places a duty on the local authority to make enquiries where an adult with care and support needs is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect and cannot protect themselves. Your role as a provider is to recognise the concern and pass it to the authority so that duty can be triggered.

The Act also sets out six safeguarding principles that should shape every decision you make:

These are not abstract. When an inspector asks why you handled a concern the way you did, "proportionate and empowering" is the language your records should be able to demonstrate.

Types of Abuse

The Care Act recognises ten categories. Staff should be able to recognise all of them, not just the obvious physical ones:

Organisational abuse is the category providers underestimate most. It rarely looks like a single dramatic event — it looks like everyone getting up at 6am because that suits the rota, or continence care running to a schedule rather than to need. Inspectors read those patterns as culture, not incident.

When to Refer

You must refer when:

• You witness abuse or neglect.
• Someone discloses abuse to you.
• You see signs — injuries, behaviour changes, unexplained financial activity — that suggest it.

Not sure? Report it anyway. It is always better to refer and be wrong than to stay silent and miss real harm. A referral that turns out to be unfounded costs an hour of paperwork; a concern that goes unreported can cost a life and your registration.

Mental capacity matters

Where the person has capacity, safeguarding should be led by their wishes — this is the "Making Safeguarding Personal" approach, and forcing action against a capacitated adult's clear wishes can itself be a failure. Where capacity is in doubt, complete a Mental Capacity Act assessment and act in their best interests. Record which of these applied and why.

How to Make a Referral

What a strong referral contains

The difference between a referral the local authority can act on and one they bounce back for more information usually comes down to specifics. A good referral states:

• Who is at risk, and who is alleged to have caused the harm.
• What happened — factual observation, not interpretation ("bruising to left forearm, yellowing", not "looked like she'd been grabbed").
• When and where it happened or was noticed.
• The person's own words, quoted directly where they disclosed something.
• Their views and wishes, and whether they have capacity for this decision.
• Immediate action already taken to keep them safe.

Write it as though someone who has never met the resident has to understand the risk in sixty seconds — because that is exactly what happens at the other end.

A Worked Example

A night carer notices £40 missing from a resident's room and the resident says her nephew "borrowed it again". The carer's job is not to confront the nephew or decide whether it was theft. It is to: keep the resident safe, record her exact words, note the missing amount and dates, flag capacity (does she understand the implications?), tell the manager, refer to the local authority as potential financial abuse, and notify CQC. Six steps, no investigation, a clear evidence trail. That is what good looks like.

Common Mistakes

FAQs

Who can make a safeguarding referral?
Anyone can make a safeguarding referral. Care home staff have a duty to report concerns. You do not need permission from management to contact the local authority, and a provider must never block or delay a member of staff from raising a safeguarding concern.

How quickly must you make a safeguarding referral?
Immediately if someone is in danger. Otherwise within 24 hours of becoming aware of the concern. Do not delay a referral to gather more information — you can add detail later.

What is a Section 42 enquiry?
It is the enquiry the local authority must make under the Care Act 2014 when an adult with care and support needs is at risk of abuse or neglect and cannot protect themselves. Your referral is what allows the authority to decide whether a Section 42 enquiry is needed.

What happens after you make a referral?
The local authority decides whether to investigate and at what level. They may contact you for more information or convene a safeguarding meeting. You should continue to keep the person safe, follow any agreed protection plan, and document everything.

Do you need to tell CQC about safeguarding incidents?
Yes. CQC must be notified of safeguarding incidents using the statutory notification form. This is separate from, and additional to, the local authority referral. Missing the CQC notification is itself a breach.

What is Making Safeguarding Personal?
It is the principle that safeguarding should be led by the person's own desired outcomes rather than a purely process-driven response. Where the adult has capacity, their wishes should shape what happens, and your records should show that you asked and listened.

What All Staff Must Know

Every member of staff — including kitchen, domestic, and maintenance teams who often spend unobserved time near residents — should be able to answer four questions without hesitation:

• What does abuse look like, across all ten categories?
• How do I spot the signs?
• Who do I report to, and how?
• Will I be protected if I raise a concern?

Train everyone annually, refresh after any incident, and keep the training matrix current. A gap in safeguarding training is one of the first things an inspector will find, and it undermines every other assurance you give.

Track Safeguarding Properly

Safeguarding is judged not on whether incidents happen — they will — but on whether each one is recognised, referred, notified, and closed with a clear record. A CQC compliance operating system keeps that trail intact: the concern, the referral, the CQC notification, the protection plan, and the training that sits behind it.

Statixs includes:

From £5 per user per month. All features included.

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Related: CQC Fundamental Standards | DoLS Explained | CQC Inspection Checklist | Governance operating layer | For Compliance Managers