Following our comprehensive guides on conducting a mid-year safeguarding audit and reviewing incident management effectiveness, a crucial step is gathering meaningful feedback from those who interact with your safeguarding systems daily. This feedback transforms data into actionable insights and ensures your policies work in practice, not just on paper.
Why Stakeholder Feedback Matters More Than Ever
Your mid-year audit provides quantitative data, and your incident review reveals response patterns, but stakeholder feedback uncovers the human reality of how your safeguarding systems actually function.
As highlighted in our previous articles, effective safeguarding isn't just about compliance—it's about creating environments where people feel confident to raise concerns, supported when they do, and protected throughout the process.
Comprehensive Stakeholder Mapping
Before gathering feedback, identify all stakeholders who interact with your safeguarding systems:
Internal Stakeholders
Frontline Staff These are your primary observers of safeguarding in action. They see how policies translate into daily practice and often identify practical barriers that leadership might miss.
Management and Leadership Middle management bridges strategic policy with operational reality. Their feedback reveals whether safeguarding systems support or hinder effective leadership.
Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) Your DSLs have unique insights into system effectiveness, training needs, and emerging challenges. Their perspective is crucial for understanding both successes and gaps.
Support Staff and Volunteers Often overlooked, support staff and volunteers frequently have direct contact with those you're protecting. Their feedback can reveal blind spots in your safeguarding approach.
External Stakeholders
Service Users and Families Those directly affected by your safeguarding measures provide essential feedback on whether systems feel supportive or intrusive, accessible or bureaucratic.
Partner Organisations External partners see how your safeguarding systems interact with broader community protection networks. Their feedback reveals integration strengths and weaknesses.
Regulatory Bodies and Local Authorities Professional relationships with regulatory bodies provide insights into compliance effectiveness and emerging best practice expectations.
Professional Networks Connections with other organisations in your sector offer benchmarking opportunities and reveal innovative approaches you might adopt.
Structured Feedback Collection Framework
We've structured the below to help you cover the core elements staff feedback will be helpful. We've also created this freetemplate for you to print and use with you staff.
1. Staff Confidence and Competence Assessment
Policy Understanding and Application Rather than simply asking if staff understand policies, explore how confidently they can apply them in real situations:
"Describe a recent situation where you needed to consider safeguarding concerns. How did our policies help or hinder your response?"
"What aspects of our safeguarding approach do you find most/least clear in practice?"
"How confident do you feel identifying different types of safeguarding concerns?"
Reporting Culture Evaluation Examine whether your organisation has created an environment where concerns are raised appropriately:
"How comfortable do you feel raising safeguarding concerns with different levels of management?"
"Can you describe the reporting process from your perspective? What works well? What creates barriers?"
"Have you ever chosen not to report a concern? What influenced that decision?"
Training Effectiveness Review Building on our comprehensive training guidance, assess whether your programmes create genuine competence:
"How has safeguarding training changed your daily practice?"
"What training topics would be most valuable for your role?"
"How effectively does training prepare you for real situations you encounter?"
2. System Usability and Effectiveness
Digital Tools and Platforms With increasing reliance on digital safeguarding systems, user experience becomes crucial:
"How do our digital safeguarding tools support or complicate your work?"
"What features would make these systems more effective for your role?"
"How does technology enhance or hinder your ability to protect those in our care?"
Documentation and Record-Keeping Effective documentation balances thoroughness with practicality:
"How manageable are our documentation requirements in your daily work?"
"What information do you find most/least useful when reviewing safeguarding records?"
"How could we improve our record-keeping to better support your role?"
3. Communication and Support Systems
Information Flow Assessment Examine how effectively safeguarding information moves through your organisation:
"How well do you feel informed about safeguarding developments that affect your work?"
"What communication channels work best for sharing safeguarding information?"
"How could we improve information sharing whilst maintaining appropriate confidentiality?"
Support Availability and Quality Assess whether staff feel supported when dealing with safeguarding concerns:
"What support do you need when managing safeguarding situations?"
"How accessible is specialist safeguarding advice when you need it?"
"What additional resources would help you handle safeguarding concerns more effectively?"
Use secure, anonymous platforms to gather honest feedback about sensitive topics. Ensure surveys are accessible across different devices and include both quantitative ratings and qualitative comments.
Focus Group Discussions
Structured group discussions reveal shared experiences and generate collaborative solutions. Vary group composition to capture different perspectives whilst maintaining psychological safety.
One-to-One Interviews
Individual conversations allow deeper exploration of complex issues and provide safe spaces for discussing sensitive concerns.
Observation and Shadowing
Direct observation of safeguarding processes in action reveals gaps between reported and actual practice.
Case Study Analysis
Collaborative review of anonymised cases helps identify system strengths and improvement opportunities whilst building collective learning.
Feedback Analysis and Action Planning
Strengths Identification
What safeguarding practices are working exceptionally well?
Which systems provide genuine value to stakeholders?
What aspects of your approach do stakeholders want to see maintained or expanded?
Gap Analysis
Where do policies fail to translate into effective practice?
What barriers prevent effective safeguarding responses?
Which stakeholder needs are not being met by current systems?
Innovation Opportunities
What creative solutions have stakeholders suggested?
How could technology better support safeguarding objectives?
What practices from other sectors could enhance your approach?
Priority Setting and Resource Allocation
Transform feedback into actionable improvements:
Immediate Actions (Next 30 days)
Address urgent safety concerns raised through feedback
Implement quick wins that significantly improve user experience
Clarify any widespread policy misunderstandings
Medium-term Improvements (Next 3 months)
Enhance training programmes based on identified needs
Improve system usability based on user feedback
Strengthen support mechanisms for staff managing safeguarding concerns
Strategic Developments (Remainder of 2025)
Consider fundamental system changes suggested by stakeholders
Plan for emerging challenges identified through feedback
Develop innovative approaches to persistent problems
Creating Feedback Loops and Continuous Improvement
Regular Feedback Cycles
Establish quarterly feedback collection to track improvement progress and identify emerging issues before they become significant problems.
Transparent Communication
Share feedback analysis results with stakeholders, demonstrating how their input influences organisational development and maintaining engagement in continuous improvement.
Measurement and Evaluation
Track how feedback-driven improvements affect stakeholder satisfaction, system effectiveness, and safeguarding outcomes over time.
Integration with Digital Safeguarding Systems
For organisations using Safeguard-Me's digital passport system, stakeholder feedback can be enhanced through:
Real-time Dashboard Analytics: Understanding how stakeholders interact with verification systems
Automated Feedback Collection: Integrating feedback requests into routine system interactions
Trend Analysis: Using system data to validate and contextualise stakeholder feedback
Continuous Verification: Ensuring feedback processes maintain the trusted professional networks that effective safeguarding requires
Conclusion: From Feedback to Action
Gathering stakeholder feedback completes your mid-year review triangle: quantitative audit data, incident analysis insights, and human experience perspectives. Together, these create a comprehensive picture of your safeguarding effectiveness and clear pathways for improvement.
Remember: the goal isn't perfect feedback or universal satisfaction—it's continuous improvement based on genuine understanding of how your safeguarding systems work in practice. The most effective organisations use stakeholder feedback not just to identify problems, but to co-create solutions that work for everyone involved.
Your mid-year review is now complete. Use these insights to strengthen your safeguarding approach for the remainder of 2025 and beyond.