At RLB Safeguarding, we are delighted to show our support Safeguarding Adults Week 2026, coordinated by the Ann Craft Trust (ACT), and encourage organisations across every sector to get involved.
Taking place from 16–22 November, this important national initiative brings organisations, professionals, volunteers and communities together to raise awareness, share learning and strengthen adult safeguarding practice.
This year's theme, Every Voice. Every Choice., carries a particularly important message.
Safeguarding should not simply be something we do for people. It should be something we do with them.
At its heart, the campaign is about ensuring adults are listened to, respected and meaningfully involved in decisions affecting their safety, wellbeing and independence.
For us at RLB, this reflects what effective safeguarding should look like: person-centred, empowering, preventative and embedded within organisational culture.
But how can organisations make the most of this important week?
What Is Safeguarding Adults Week 2026 About?
The Ann Craft Trust coordinates Safeguarding Adults Week to bring people together, encourage collaboration and create safer cultures across organisations and communities.
This year's focus is on co-production and Making Safeguarding Personal.
These approaches reflect key principles of adult safeguarding, particularly empowerment, prevention, proportionality and partnership.
Making Safeguarding Personal recognises that safeguarding should be shaped by the individual's own circumstances, wishes and desired outcomes, while taking account of relevant legal duties.
It means moving beyond simply asking whether safeguarding procedures were followed and considering whether the person was heard, involved and supported to achieve outcomes that matter to them.
ACT has developed a programme of daily themes, free learning opportunities and resources to help organisations explore these principles throughout the week.
Explore the official campaign: Ann Craft Trust — Safeguarding Adults Week 2026
The Daily Themes: Seven Opportunities to Strengthen Practice
Monday 16 November — Listening and Person-Centred Conversations
Safeguarding starts with listening.
Effective safeguarding begins by understanding what matters to the individual, rather than making assumptions about what safety should look like for them.
Try this within your organisation: Encourage teams to reflect on how they capture people's views and desired outcomes. Review a safeguarding process or case example and consider whether the adult's voice genuinely influenced decisions.
Tuesday 17 November — Strengths, Choice and Control
Good safeguarding increases choice and control.
Adults should be supported to make informed decisions and exercise independence wherever possible.
Recognising strengths, capabilities and personal preferences is just as important as identifying risks.
Try this: Facilitate a short team discussion about positive risk-taking, mental capacity and supported decision-making. Explore whether your organisation sometimes defaults to risk avoidance rather than enabling informed choice.
Wednesday 18 November — Co-production and Shared Decision-Making
Making safeguarding personal means designing it together.
Co-production is about ensuring people with lived experience can influence the services, policies and systems intended to support them.
Meaningful involvement goes beyond consultation or asking for feedback after decisions have been made.
Try this: Consider how adults who use your services could contribute to reviewing safeguarding information, reporting arrangements, training materials or service improvements.
Thursday 19 November — Professional Curiosity
Safeguarding is everyone's business.
Professional curiosity involves looking beyond the obvious, asking thoughtful questions and being willing to explore concerns when information is incomplete or inconsistent.
Importantly, it also requires us to understand the individual's perspective rather than relying solely on professional assumptions.
Try this: Use a case study during a team meeting or supervision session. Explore what further questions professionals could ask, whose perspective might be missing and how concerns could be appropriately escalated.
Friday 20 November — Learning and Reflection
Listen. Learn. Change Together.
Effective safeguarding requires organisations to learn from experiences, incidents, reviews and feedback.
The real value of learning is demonstrated through improvements in practice.
Try this: Identify one lesson from a safeguarding adults review, complaint, audit or recent concern. Discuss what your organisation has changed as a result and how you know those changes are working.
Saturday 21 November — Safeguarding in Your Community
Creating Safer Communities Together.
Safeguarding extends beyond statutory services.
Community organisations, volunteers, sports clubs, charities, local groups and informal networks can all contribute to creating safer environments and reducing isolation.
Try this: Share safeguarding information with your wider community. Make sure volunteers and community members know how to recognise concerns, respond appropriately and access local support.
Sunday 22 November — Reflection and Wellbeing
Care, Connection and Recovery.
Safeguarding can involve difficult experiences and emotionally demanding work.
Supporting wellbeing, encouraging reflection and recognising the importance of recovery are essential to sustaining effective practice.
Try this: Encourage individuals and teams to reflect on how they look after themselves and each other. Consider whether appropriate supervision, debriefing and wellbeing arrangements are available.
How Can Organisations Really Make the Most of Safeguarding Adults Week?
Awareness campaigns are valuable, but their impact should extend beyond a series of social media posts.
We would encourage organisations to use the week as an opportunity to reflect, engage and make practical improvements.
1. Make safeguarding visible
Use the Ann Craft Trust's official resources to promote the campaign across your organisation.
Share information through internal newsletters, staff communications, websites, social media, team briefings and community networks.
Ensure information is accessible and relevant to the people you support.
2. Create opportunities for meaningful conversations
Safeguarding Adults Week is an excellent opportunity to bring safeguarding into everyday discussions.
You could organise short team reflections, lunch-and-learn sessions, case study discussions or conversations with people who use your services.
The aim is not simply to remind people of policies, but to explore how safeguarding works in practice.
3. Involve people with lived experience
This year's focus on co-production makes participation especially important.
Consider how people who use your services, carers and community members can influence safeguarding discussions and improvements.
Are your reporting arrangements accessible? Do people understand their rights? Are they confident their concerns will be heard?
Most importantly, how do you demonstrate that their feedback has influenced change?
4. Take advantage of the free learning opportunities
The Ann Craft Trust has organised a programme of free online seminars throughout the week.
Topics include financial abuse and cybercrime, neurodiversity and inclusion, lasting powers of attorney, informed decision-making, professional curiosity, DBS referral responsibilities and learning from victims' experiences.
The programme also includes the Ann Craft Trust's Safeguarding Adults Conference in Nottingham on Wednesday 18 November.
These sessions provide valuable opportunities for professional development and shared learning.
Explore the programme: Ann Craft Trust — Safeguarding Adults Week Events
5. Review one aspect of your safeguarding arrangements
You do not need to undertake a complete safeguarding audit to make the week worthwhile.
Choose one meaningful area for reflection.
For example:
Are safeguarding concerns reported and responded to effectively?
Do adults understand how to raise concerns?
Are people's desired outcomes recorded and reviewed?
Is professional curiosity encouraged through supervision?
Are safeguarding responsibilities understood by staff, volunteers and leaders?
Does learning from incidents lead to improvements?
Even a focused review can identify opportunities to strengthen practice.
6. Make one commitment that lasts beyond the week
Perhaps the most important question is what happens after 22 November.
Awareness should lead to action.
Consider identifying one improvement that your organisation will take forward, allocating responsibility and agreeing how progress will be reviewed.
That might involve improving accessible safeguarding information, strengthening supervision, updating training or developing more meaningful participation arrangements.
A single well-implemented improvement can be more valuable than a week of activities that lead to no lasting change.
Safeguarding Is Everyone's Business — Across Every Sector
Although safeguarding adults is often associated with health and social care, the principles underpinning this campaign are relevant far more widely.
Charities, housing providers, education settings, sports organisations, events and venues, community groups and commercial businesses all have opportunities to recognise harm, challenge unsafe practices and contribute to safer environments.
The nature of their legal responsibilities will differ, but creating a culture where people feel respected, listened to and able to raise concerns should be a shared ambition.
RLB Safeguarding Proudly Shows Our Support for Safeguarding Adults Week
At RLB Safeguarding, we wholeheartedly support the Ann Craft Trust's commitment to raising awareness, promoting collaboration and strengthening safeguarding practice.
We particularly welcome this year's focus on Every Voice. Every Choice.
Through our work delivering safeguarding audits, consultancy, training and professional supervision, we regularly encourage organisations to look beyond policies and procedures and consider the experiences of the people they support.
Are individuals meaningfully involved in decisions? Do professionals recognise strengths alongside risks? Are safeguarding arrangements genuinely empowering? And can organisations demonstrate that their safeguarding approaches make a positive difference?
These are questions worth asking throughout the year, not just during Safeguarding Adults Week.
We encourage organisations of every size and sector to participate, share learning, make use of the excellent resources available and use this opportunity to strengthen their safeguarding culture.
Because effective safeguarding is not simply about protecting people from harm. It is about listening, empowering, respecting individual choice and working together to create safer environments.
Get Involved and Access Resources
Ann Craft Trust — Safeguarding Adults Week 2026 — Official campaign information and daily themes.
Safeguarding Adults Week — Resources and Materials — Campaign resources to support your activities.
Safeguarding Adults Week — Events Programme — Free seminars and conference information.
Care and Support Statutory Guidance — The statutory framework underpinning adult safeguarding in England.