Transcript for the Shazia Deen, Julia Copeland and Doug Love video in the annual report for 2019-20

[Title card] Hammersmith and Fulham Safeguarding report 2020.

[Title card] How do you work with the residents of Hammersmith and Fulham?

Shazia: it's important to make sure that residents are at the center of safeguarding enquiries and we do this by ensuring that they're involved from the start of the process. The key principle really is to support and empower residents to make their own choices and have control about how they want to live their lives.

Julia: It's still shocking to me the average age of death of a homeless man is 47 years and for a woman, it's 43 years. That's almost half the ages of the general population. Many homeless people have faced multiple disadvantages and traumas in their lives, and Hammersmith and Fulham wants to support people to address the impact that homelessness has caused in their lives. And I feel very very privileged to be a part of that response.

Doug: Our core work is to enforce consumer protection regulations, so we will often investigate complaints that are made to us by members of the public. The main overlap we have with vulnerable adults is in the areas of doorstep builders and scams in general.

[Title card] What is your department's biggest contribution to the safeguarding programme?

Julia: I suppose I begin with the proposition that access to safe affordable housing is absolutely paramount to people leading healthy and rewarding lives. And so in that sense, the department I work with which is responsible for helping people at the sharpest end of homelessness when they're rough sleeping.

And also right the way through to helping people access a safe affordable home and then supporting them to live independently in that home. I suppose for that reason I would say that our department stands out from others.

[Title card] What challenges did you face in the last year?

Shazia: There was a lot of anxiety and challenges around Covid such as PPE and the continuation of essential care and support services including face-to-face assessments. One of our big pieces of work was to rearrange our services to create a conversation matters team that carried ou,t and continues to carry out, safe and wellbeing check calls to over 4,000 residents who are shielding or experiencing loneliness and isolation.

Doug: The problem for us is, as it always has been, is that we tend not to hear about this type of crime until the damage has been done. The perpetrators are very skilled in what they do. It makes investigation very difficult because they tend to leave no trail that can help us to identify them.

[Title card] What is your proudest achievement?

Shazia: I feel really proud of increasing safeguarding awareness in Hammersmith and Fulham, which was reflected in the significant increase in the number of safeguarding concerns we received this year. This went from 440 concerns a year before, to 1,240 concerns this year and still over 90 per cent of our residents achieved the outcomes that they wanted to.

Julia: I've been humbled by the determination and compassion of the staff working in the home services that I'm responsible for over the last year. To keep people safe and to adapt and think creatively about new ways of supporting people in challenging situations during the pandemic.

They've done this at a time when they themselves, their families and their colleagues have been you know have been impacted by the virus. New ways of working have sprung up and partnerships that will benefit homeless people and the services that we deliver in Hammersmith and Fulham.

[Title card] What is the hardest aspect of your job?

Shazia: One of the hardest aspects of the job I think is cementing the idea that safeguarding is everybody's business. From council contractors who go into residents' homes, to cleaning and catering staff. Everyone should have an understanding of safeguarding principles and their responsibility to raise concerns.

For that reason, our safeguarding board has established a number of ongoing opportunities to raise awareness and provide information and advice. And of course the Covid pandemic has produced numerous challenges for everyone but especially for those working in health and social care.

[Title card] What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

Shazia: The most rewarding aspect of my job is knowing that we're making a difference to people's lives and doing our best to keep adults with care and support needs safe.

Julia: The most rewarding aspect of my job is hearing about personal journeys of success. That could be a person deciding to go to detox or rehabilitation for drug or alcohol abuse. A person moving into their own accommodation for the first time, or someone leaving an abusive relationship.

Doug: Sometimes we'll come across a resident who's not in touch with adult social care and who probably needs to be. I had an example this year where an elderly lady revealed to me when she was complaining about someone who knocked at her door and done some building work that she was struggling to cope.

So I referred that matter on and I know ASC contacted her and they've now established a sort of daily contact. So that leaves you feeling useful and makes you feel that you've achieved something.

[Title card] What areas of your work are most important?

Doug: There might be a scam that attempts to get your details, your banking details, or personal information that can be used to relieve you of your savings and so on. There might be a sort of one-off payment scam where someone convinces you that they need to have an admin fee or something, it's normally called an admin fee, before they can process something that will help you.

[Title card] What are your goals for the next year?

Shazia: Main objective for next year will be to recover from Covid and ensure that our residents are supported to get back to as normal a life as possible.

[Title card] What's your message for the residents of Hammersmith and Fulham?

Doug: If you are suspicious of anything that you see, whether it's people dropping leaflets through doors, or scouting out homes of people who might look a bit vulnerable, or knocking on your door or neighbour's door offering building services, we would like to know about it. So please contact us through the details on the website.

Voiceover: For contact details please go to www.lbhf.gov.uk. To find out more about the Street Link programme, please go to streetlink.org.uk