Report neglect or abuse of an adult (safeguarding concern)
Find out what to do if you think an adult is being neglected or abused.
If someone is in danger right now
If someone is in danger of being hurt right now, call the police on 999.
When to make a report to us
Report something that concerns you even if you're not sure if it's abuse or neglect. We'll look at your report and assess the situation.
What is considered a safeguarding concern
Abuse or neglect can come from anyone, including family members, friends or professionals.
It can include:
- physical abuse
- domestic or sexual abuse
- neglect
- someone not looking after themselves (self neglect)
- psychological or emotional abuse (bullying someone or making them feel scared)
- forcing someone to work (modern slavery)
- taking over their home to use it for crimes such as drug dealing (cuckooing)
- financial abuse
- discriminatory abuse
Find out about the different types of abuse and neglect from the NHS
Get information in Easy Read
Find out more about what you can report to us by downloading:
If you’re worried about a child or young person
If the person is under 18, or there’s a child at risk too, contact the children's safeguarding team.
If you’re worried about someone’s mental health
We cannot urgently help anyone in crisis or in immediate danger of hurting themselves or someone else. Call 0800 028 8000 to speak to Kingston’s mental health crisis line.
What you need to tell us
We need enough information about the situation to be able to investigate and make sure the person is safe.
We'll ask for:
- their name
- their address
- their date of birth
- why you're worried about them
- where the neglect or abuse is happening
- details of the person you suspect of mistreating them
If you do not have all of their information, you can still report your concerns to us.
We’ll ask for your contact details in case we need more information, but you don't have to provide them.
Make a report as a member of the public
If it’s safe, try to speak to the person before making a report. This means they’re included in the decision to seek help.
You can tell us about yourself or someone else.
Make a professional referral
If you work with vulnerable people, use our professional form to refer someone to our safeguarding team.
Report a safeguarding concern as a professional
What happens after you've made a report
After we receive your report, we’ll decide what to do next. This might mean talking to the police or a social worker.
We will take any report seriously and try to help if we can. We’ll keep your report confidential unless we need to tell another organisation about it to help the person being harmed.
Our decision will depend on:
- what the person being harmed wants
- how serious the situation is
- if others might be at risk
If you report on someone else's behalf, we might contact you for more details.
We might not be able to update you on what happens, but we will always investigate a situation that you’ve reported.
If someone cannot make decisions for themselves
Sometimes people who are at risk may need help making choices or decisions. In these cases, people like family, caregivers, or professionals can make choices for them.
We follow national guidance to help us balance a person’s right to make decisions for themselves with their right to be protected from harm. This is known as assessing their mental capacity.
Find out how it's decided if someone has mental capacity or not on NHS
Give feedback about the safeguarding process
We’ve asked Healthwatch Kingston to collect independent feedback from people who have been through the adult safeguarding process. We want to learn about your experience so that we can improve how we keep adults safe from abuse and neglect.
Find out about giving feedback about the safeguarding process on Healthwatch Kingston