Safeguarding and child protection policy

We believe that the safeguarding of children is a vital part of the successful delivery of the Children’s Booker Prize and everything we strive to achieve in terms of engaging and growing a new generation of readers

The purpose of this policy statement is:

to protect children and young people directly engaged with the Booker Prize Foundation from harm.
to provide staff and volunteers, as well as children and young people and their families, with the overarching principles that guide our approach to child protection.

Scope

This policy applies to anyone working for us. This includes employees, contractors, volunteers, trustees, interns and apprentices.

Legal framework

This policy has been drawn up on the basis of legislation, policy and guidance that seeks to protect children in England, where the Booker Prize Foundation is located. A summary of the key legislation and guidance is available from nspcc.org.uk/childprotection.

By “children and young people”, we mean anyone under the age of 18. At the Booker Prize Foundation, we use the term young people to describe older children (typically 11–18), but we recognise that everyone under 18 is legally a child. We believe that:

children and young people should never experience abuse of any kind
we have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people, to keep them safe and to work in ways that protects them.

We recognise that:

the welfare of children is paramount to the work we do and in the decisions we take;
all children, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation have an equal right to protection from all types of harm or abuse;
some children are additionally vulnerable because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency, communication needs or other issues;
extra safeguards may be needed to keep children who are additionally vulnerable safe from abuse.

We further recognise that some children are additionally vulnerable due to protected characteristics, and adhere to the additional guidance provided by the NSPCC in relation to:

We will seek to keep children and young people safe by:

valuing, listening to and respecting them;
appointing a nominated child protection lead for children and young people;
adopting child protection and safeguarding best practice through our policies, procedures and code of conduct for staff and volunteers;
developing and implementing an effective online safety policy and related procedures;
providing effective management for staff and volunteers through supervision, support, training and quality assurance measures so that all staff and volunteers know about and follow our policies, procedures and behaviour codes confidently and competently;
recruiting and selecting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary DBS checks are made and ensuring any delivery partners follow a consistent protocol;
recording, storing and using information professionally and securely, in line with data protection legislation;
sharing information about safeguarding and good practice with children and their families;
making sure that children, young people and their families know where to go for help if they have a concern;
using our safeguarding and child protection procedures to share concerns and relevant information with agencies who need to know, and involving children, young people, parents, families and carers appropriately;
using our procedures to manage any allegations against staff and volunteers appropriately;
creating and maintaining an anti-bullying environment and adhering to our anti-bullying and harassment policy;
having a complaints procedure in place;
providing a safe physical environment for children, young people, staff and volunteers, including at third party venues, by applying health and safety measures in accordance with the law and regulatory guidance;
building a safeguarding culture where staff and volunteers, children, young people and their families, treat each other with respect and are comfortable about sharing concerns.

Nominated child protection lead

Name: Lisa Macdonald, Children’s Booker Prize Manager

Email: [email protected]

NSPCC Helpline 0808 800 5000

Publishing this policy

We will ensure that this policy is always publicly accessible on our website.

Review

We are committed to reviewing our policy and good practice at least annually or when an incident occurs that highlights a need for change, whichever occurs first.

Signed: Gaby Wood, Chief Executive, Booker Prize Foundation

Date: 27 April 2026

This policy was last reviewed on: 27 April 2026