OnDemand: The Adult Safeguarding Conference 2026

Purchasing OnDemand

You can watch all the insights, key sessions, and expert discussions from The Adult Safeguarding Conference 2026 by purchasing our OnDemand Event. Access recordings of every session, including presentations from leading industry speakers*, and watch at your own pace.

Benefits of OnDemand:

• Watch on your own schedule – no need to clear your calendar or worry about time zones
• Learn at your own pace – pause, rewind, and rewatch key moments to fully absorb the content
• Get instant access after purchase to expert insights and curated content, perfect for industry professionals who want high-value content OnDemand

Access this conference OnDemand today for £99 here.

2026 Overview

Established under the Care Act 2014, safeguarding is a statutory duty that places clear responsibilities on local authorities and partners to prevent abuse and protect adults at risk.

Yet as financial constraints, workforce shortages, digital threats, and wider system pressures intensify, safeguarding arrangements must continue to evolve. Public bodies and multi-agency partners are being called upon to respond to harm and risk earlier, strengthen system leadership, and ensure organisations are being held to account through Safeguarding Adult Reviews.

The Adult Safeguarding Conference 2026 examined how safeguarding practice must adapt to meet rising complexity across adult social care. Hear from national leaders, regulators, and frontline experts on strengthening system leadership, responding to workforce pressures, and translating Safeguarding Adult Reviews into change. Explore approaches to tackling self-neglect, criminal and digital exploitation, and safeguarding in non-traditional settings.

2026 Agenda

• 9.50am

  Chair’s Opening Remarks 

  Dr David Orr, Associate Professor in Social Work (Social Work and Social Care), University of Sussex 

  

• 10.00am

  Keynote: Strengthening Safeguarding Culture Across Adult Social Care

  • Recognising the warning signs of poor safeguarding practice and closed cultures in adult social care settings
  • Promoting transparency and professional curiosity to support stronger safeguarding outcomes
  • Learning from safeguarding reviews, inspections and incidents to improve practice across organisations
  • Developing accountability and leadership approaches that create safer cultures for people drawing on care and support

  Philip Boyce, Senior Specialist Advisor, Safeguarding & Closed Culture, Care Quality Commission 

  

• 10.20am

  Keynote: DBS Barring and Legal Duty to Refer

  • Understand the three different referral routes
  • Understand when a DBS Barring referral should be made, including when the legal duty is met
  • Have a clear understanding of the consequences of not making appropriate barring referrals and the consequences of being included in one or both Barred Lists

  Joanne Wheatley, Regional Outreach Manager for the Midlands and South, DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) 

  

• 10.40am

  Questions and Answers

• 11.00am

  Comfort Break

• 11.20am

  Keynote: Towards Best Practice in Commissioning a Safeguarding Adults Review

  • Clarifying the statutory criteria and document how Board’s decide on the threshold for SAR
  • Defining a clear scope for the review and setting realistic deadlines for staff
  • Appointing independent reviewers who challenge narratives regarding cases
  • Ensuring recommendations are specific and are effectively implemented, based on key recommendations from reviews

  Alison Ridley, Safeguarding Audit and Review Team Manager, Social Care Institute for Excellence

  

• 11.40am

  Case Study: Managing Hidden Safeguarding Risks: Strengthening Practice Across Community and Acute Settings

  • Exploring how hidden abuse, neglect and exploitation can be identified when concerns are subtle or an adult does not initially disclose
  • Examining how professionals can respond to warning signs, power imbalances and complex family dynamics through professional curiosity and appropriate escalation
  • Considering how communication, documentation and information sharing between community, acute and safeguarding services can strengthen continuity and prevent risks from being missed
  • Reflecting on how practitioners can create safe opportunities for disclosure and take proportionate action when safeguarding concerns emerge

  Gurpreet Brar, Professional Head of Safeguarding, Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 

  

• 12.00pm

  Questions and Answers

• 12.20pm

  Lunch Break

• 1.10pm

  Keynote: The Strategic Roles of Adult Safeguarding Boards

  • Examining how Boards coordinate multi-agency safeguarding activity on a day-to-day basis
  • Exploring how Boards oversee Safeguarding Adult Reviews, ensuring reviews are scrutinised and effectively implemented across the local authority
  • Discussing how independent scrutiny operates in practice across statutory and non-statutory agencies
  • Assessing how Boards use data and audit findings to maintain oversight of the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements

  Seona Douglas, Independent Chair, East Sussex Adult Safeguarding Board

  

• 1.30pm

  Case Study: Safeguarding in Sport: Creating Safer Environments

  • Exploring how safeguarding responsibilities operate in grassroots and elite settings, and where Boards and partners can add value
  • Reflecting on how safer cultures shape behaviour, boundaries, and reporting confidence
  • Considering steps clubs and governing bodies can take to strengthen everyday safeguarding practice
  • Sharing learning from reviews and case examples to support oversight and continuous improvement

  Samantha Carey, Senior Sport Welfare Manager DSL, London Sport

  

• 1.50pm

  Questions and Answers

• 2.40pm

  Comfort Break

• 3.00pm

  Keynote: Safeguarding Older Adults from Digital Exploitation

  • Discussing digital exploitation, including the growing use of online platforms to perpetrate scams and other forms of abuse targeting adults at risk
  • Recognising which adults may be particularly vulnerable online, including those experiencing cognitive impairment, learning disabilities, social isolation or limited digital literacy
  • Identifying the warning signs of digital abuse, such as unexplained financial transactions or an abrupt withdrawal from usual services
  • Applying safeguarding strategies that strengthen digital safety, focusing on equipping practitioners with confidence and tools needed to reduce risk and create safer online environments for vulnerable people

  Brian Johnston, Safeguarding Training and Development Lead, Hourglass 

  

• 3.20pm

  Case Study: Cuckooing, County Lines and Criminal Exploitation of Adults

  • Discussing how gangs exploit vulnerable adults through cuckooing and county lines activity
  • Identifying adults most at risk, including those with isolation, mental health needs or substance dependency
  • Spotting warning signs by paying attention to shifts in behaviour, living conditions or finances that suggest exploitation may be taking hold
  • Responding effectively by bringing agencies together around a clear plan, with defined roles and decisive action that protects the exploited adult

  Dr Laura Bainbridge, Associate Professor in Criminal Justice, School of Law, University of Leeds 

  

• 3.40pm

  Questions and Answers

• 4.00pm

  Chair’s Closing Remarks

  Dr David Orr, Associate Professor in Social Work (Social Work and Social Care), University of Sussex 

  

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