Resources and guidance

Domestic Abuse Guidance

Oldham Community Safety and Cohesion Partnership Domestic Homicide Reviews
Oldham Community Safety and Cohesion Partnership undertake statutory Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) under section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. A DHR is a locally conducted multi-agency review of the circumstances in which the death of a person aged 16 or over has, or appears to have, resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by:

• a person to whom he or she was related, or with whom he or she was or had been in an intimate personal relationship; or,
• a member of the same household as himself or herself.

See more detail on the government website: Domestic Homicide Review - GOV.UK

The 7-Minute Briefing below has been produced following completion of a DHR in relation to 'James'.
Oldham DHR 'James' 7-Minute Briefing.pdf

LGA and ADASS Guide
The Local Government Association (LGA) and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) have produced a guide to support practitioners and managers.

Community Care Inform guide for social workers on working with domestic abuse, substance use and mental ill health
This resource may also be beneficial for healthcare practitioners. The guide explores the prevalence of co-existing domestic abuse, substance use and mental ill health, and the impact of multiple parental difficulties; provides a list of indicators that a child is living with these three issues; and gives examples of conversations, case studies and practice tips. The guide can be downloaded here.

Community Care Inform guide for social workers to identify coercive and controlling behaviour
The guide briefly explores what coercive and controlling behaviour looks like, and when it occurs, with specific sections on threats and humiliation, financial abuse, surveillance and deprivation. It also discusses the specifics of abuse in LGBTQ+ relationships and the effects of coercive control on children. It contains a number of practice tips that may help you and your practice. The guide can be downloaded here.

Message from the Northern Care Alliance's Safeguarding Team
Members of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group's Safeguarding Team have prepared the short Domestic Abuse video below. Clare Kelly, Assistant Director of Nursing for Safeguarding Children, and Jane McKenzie, Specialist Nurse for Domestic Abuse, discuss what Domestic Abuse is and who to contact for help.

Forced Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Guidance
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office has published guidance for professionals concerning how to protect, advise and support victims of forced marriage. The guidance includes a leaflet: What Is Forced Marriage.pdf

Practical Guide to obtaining a Female Genital Mutilation or Forced Marriage Protection Order
HM Courts and Tribunals Service and West Midlands Police have produced a Practical Guide to obtaining a Female Genital Mutilation or Forced Marriage Protection Order.

Multi-agency practice guidelines: Handling cases of Forced Marriage
HM Government have produced multi-agency practice guidelines: for handling cases of Forced Marriage.

People with Learning Disabilities experiencing Domestic Abuse

Carmarthenshire County Council, with funding from Lloyds Bank Foundation, have produced a toolkit to support people with learning disabilities experiencing domestic abuse which features accessible information to help people with a learning disability identify and escape domestic abuse. The toolkit uses a traffic light system to denote different types of information. Red denotes vital information, amber important information, and green more personal “holistic” information. This system should make it possible for some people with learning disabilities to understand the information intuitively.

More resources coming soon

More resources coming soon

Fraud and Scams Awareness and Frequently Asked Questions

What is Fraud? What is Phishing? What should you do if you receive a suspicious email? Take a look at and share our Frequently Asked Questions about Fraud and Scams: OSAB Fraud and Scams Frequently Asked Questions.

Have a look at this fantastic guide from Think Jessica, National Trading Standards, Action Fraud and West Midlands Police. It contains information about identity fraud, phone spoofing scams, courier scams, investment scams, rogue trader scams and many more. The guide also includes some essential information about who to contact for advice and support (click on the image):

Greater Manchester Police have produced a ‘Little Book of Big Scams’ full of information to increase awareness of the vast array of scams that are being used (click on the image)

National Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work and Professional Practice Guidance

The National Centre for Post-Qualifying Social Work and Professional Practice have produced the following guidance related to Financial and Material Abuse:
Safeguarding practice for those at risk of financial abuse from scamming
Cyber Fraud and Scamming
Scams: the power of persuasive language
Financial Scamming Defining Terms
Financial Scamming and Fraud
Scam Prevention and Support toolkit

Loan Sharks

Stop Loan Sharks England Illegal Money Lending Team investigate and prosecute illegal lenders. They are actively trying to contact those who are at risk to let them know there is help available and to prevent people who have financial difficulties from borrowing cash from a loan shark. They want to work with partner agencies who support those in financial difficulties and gather intelligence that will put loan sharks away. They are always looking for partners to with to support those borrowing cash from loan sharks.

The Passage Modern Slavery Handbook

The Passage is an organisation with the central goal of ending street homelessness. This handbook, updated in December 2020, explains what slavery looks like in the homeless community, what to watch out for and what you can do about it. The Passage believe that everyone should read the handbook, however, it was specifically created for staff who work in the homelessness sector, particularly frontline workers, managers and volunteers. People who are engaged in support services for homeless people can be vital eyes and ears in detecting this crime.

NHS Rapid Read: Covid-19: Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking

This rapid read guide describes how health professionals can raise modern slavery and human trafficking concerns whilst staying safe during the coronavirus outbreak: Covid-19 - Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.pdf

More resources coming soon

More resources coming soon

More resources coming soon

Self-Neglect and Hoarding

Practitioner Toolkit and Multi-Agency Strategy for Self-Neglect
All partner agencies of the Oldham Safeguarding Adults Board have signed up to work together to put a recently developed Multi-Agency Strategy for self-neglect and hoarding into operation. The strategy, therefore, applies to all professionals and agencies working with adults at risk in the borough. View the strategy here.

Board members have also endorsed guidance for practitoners who are supporting people who may be neglecting themselves. The guidance is based on the experience of practitioners from a wide range of related disciplines in Merseyside as well as lessons learnt by teams across Oldham. The OSAB Self-Neglect Toolkit -The Short Guide to Working with People in Circumstances of Complex Self-Neglect is available here.

Hoarding Awareness and OSAB Frequently Asked Questions
What is Hoarding? And, who can help? Take a look at our Frequently Asked Questions about Hoarding here: OSAB Hoarding Frequently Asked Questions.pdf

Birmingham Safeguarding Adults Board have produced a great video to help raise awareness about hoarding. View the personal and touching film below.

Helping someone you know who hoards
Hoarding Disorders UK help and support people who are affected not only by hoarding and clutter but also chronic disorganisation. They have produced some useful information for people who hoard including the top ten tips for helping someone you know who hoards. Take a look here.

Chartered Institute of Environmental Health Guidance
Chartered Institute of Environmental Health have produced guidance for environmental health officers and others about Hoarding and how to approach it. Take a look here.

British Psychological Society Good Practice Guidelines
Psychological Perspective on Hoarding: DCP Good Practice Guidelines have been compiled by clinical psychologists from the British Psychological Society, including contributions from those living with hoarding issues, as well as their carers.

Self Harm

OSAB Self Harm Awareness and Frequently Asked Questions
There is a stigma around self harm that can stop people who are worried about self harm from looking for help. Part of this stigma comes from the misconceptions that surround it, such as the idea that it is attention-seeking. It is not easy to just stop self-harming. Raising awareness about self harm is incredibly important to make it easier for people to get help and get through it. Awareness leads to understanding and empathy, banishing judgment and fear, and reducing the number of people who feel alone and suffer in silence. Raising awareness is about educating people who do not self harm and reaching out to people who do.

Take a look at some Frequently Asked Questions about Self Harm: OSAB Frequently Asked Questions - Self Harm.pdf