What the Somerset Safeguarding Adults Board (SSAB) does
The Somerset Safeguarding Adults Board (SSAB) is a statutory body established by the Care Act 2014.
It is made up of senior people from organisations who have a role in preventing the neglect and abuse from adults.
Its main objective is to protect all adults in its area who have needs for care and support and who are experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect against which they are unable to protect themselves because of their needs.
It aims to do this by:
- co-ordinating the work of its members to determine shared policy, facilitate joint training, raise public awareness and monitor and review the quality of services relating to safeguarding adults in Somerset.
- ensuring that all agencies work together to minimise the risk of abuse to adults at risk of harm and to protect and empower those people effectively when abuse has occurred or may have occurred.
Our vision is to:
Work in partnership to enable adults in Somerset to live a life free from fear, harm and abuse.
Members work together and with local communities to make sure:
- there is a culture of not tolerating abuse
- people work together to prevent abuse
- people know what to do when abuse happens
Safeguarding Adults Boards (SABs) were formally established as a result of the 2014 Care Act, and have 3 statutory functions:
- To develop and publish a strategic plan setting out how it will meet its objectives, and how members will contribute to these.
- To publish an annual report detailing how effective its work has been,
- To commission Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SARs) for any cases meeting the criteria for these.
For more information see:
The SSAB chair
The SSAB’s current Independent Chair, Michael Preston-Shoot, took up this role in January 2023.
Michael is a leading authority nationally on Safeguarding Adult Reviews (SARs) and on self-neglect. He is also a leading authority on law for professional practice and is well known as a social work academic. Michael brings considerable experience in adult safeguarding as a SAB Independent Chair, author of SARs, and as a trainer/consultant. More recently, Michael has focused on adult safeguarding and multiple exclusion homelessness, and on adult safeguarding with people who are alcohol dependent.
The Chair’s main role is to support and challenge the commitment and vision of the Board and its partners with a main focus upon how agencies effectively work together to safeguard, prevent and reduce the risk of abuse and neglect.
The Board also appointed a Business Manager in September 2015 to provide dedicated and enhanced support to the Chair, and to facilitate the effective working of the Board and its subgroups.
How the SSAB is funded
The SSAB is a partnership funded through financial contributions from the three statutory partners – the Local Authority, Police and NHS Somerset ICB. Other member agencies support the Board by other means, such as financially contributing to review processes or engaging in the work of the SSAB subgroups. Members of the SSAB are expected to consider what assistance they can provide in supporting the Board in its work. It is in all core partners’ interests to have an effective Board that is adequately resourced to carry out its functions.