Every local authority has a responsibility to promote the welfare of children, including making arrangements to safeguard and protect young people from harm.
A key part of this process involves the role of a Local Authority Designated Officer or ‘LADO’ (also sometimes referred to as Designated Officer), who is responsible for overseeing and managing individual safeguarding cases.
To explore what a LADO does and why the role is so important, we got in touch with Andrea Garcia-Sangil, LADO for Hertfordshire County Council.
Andrea, what is your experience of working in sport?
“My experience ranges from 4 years as a safeguarding case officer at The Football Association, to volunteering on safeguarding panels for Luton Town FC and British Triathlon. I am also an independent investigator for Sport Resolutions, so I come into contact with many different sports organisations. Staying up to date with safeguarding in sports is important to me personally, but essential for my role as LADO.”
What is the role of a LADO and who do you work with?
“A LADO manages and oversees all local allegations against adults who work with children. This applies to any adult whether it be on a paid, volunteer, casual, or self-employed basis. As well as more serious cases, the LADO can also oversee lower level concerns where a pattern of behaviour has been identified. As safeguarding specialists, our core responsibilities involve:
- providing advice and guidance to organisations around safeguarding
- acting as a conduit bringing organisations together to discuss concerns
- helping coordinate information-sharing with the right people
- monitoring each investigation
“The aim is to track each allegation and ensure it is escalated appropriately and resolved as quickly as possible. The work of a LADO is impartial and not public facing. The role doesn’t involve an investigation in its own right, but requires overseeing and coordinating several multi-agency processes to work together, including those managed by the police, LADO, children’s social care services, and employers.”
What information is a LADO looking for when they receive a referral?
“It’s crucial to have the identifiable details for the adult who the allegation is against. This generally means a full name and date of birth. However, lack of this detail shouldn’t prevent a referral to a LADO.
“Since the LADO manages allegations within their local authority, it’s also important to identify where the adult works in order to establish where the perceived risk of harm may be present to children.”
What does a LADO do once they have received a referral?
“Once we have the key information, we review the allegations or concerns, checking it against previous referrals and potentially police or children’s services system. We then assess whether the information requires a LADO strategy meeting, or whether it is suitable to be remedied internally with our advice and guidance. These meetings are sometimes called Position of Trust (POT) or Allegation against Staff and Volunteer (ASV) meetings and usually involve other stakeholders (such as employers, the police) if necessary. There is usually a series of meetings for more complex cases.
“From these we can then establish the crucial steps to take in order to investigate the matter further.”
What are the benefits of having a LADO in place?
“The LADO role was created upon completion of the Bichard inquiry relating to the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman by a local school caretaker. Many issues presented in Lord Bichard’s findings, including poor information sharing. The biggest benefit of having a LADO in place is that they have the authority to more easily share information between organisations.
“It is a statutory role and therefore an obligation for sports organisations to follow their local LADO procedures. Our ability to provide specialist advice and guidance is important given our impartiality.”
What do you enjoy the most about being a LADO?
“I have been a LADO now for over 8 years and every day is different. The role has changed significantly over the years and continues to grow and develop, which is exciting. As a LADO, I look forward to better and stronger working relationships with sports organisations to ensure that children are safe from harm.”
For further information about reporting safeguarding concerns in sport, visit our case management tool.