Bullying and harassment policy and procedure
DATE CREATED: October 2015
DATE REVIEWED: November 2020
DATE OF NEXT REVIEW:November 2021
General Statement:
Alert Training UK Ltd (hereafter referred to as ‘the company’) is committed to the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of sex, marital status, sexual orientation, race, colour, nationality, creed or religious belief, ethnic or national origins, age and disability or any other irrelevant reason.
The company recognises the problems associated with bullying and harassment and is committed to providing an environment in which all learners can study without the fear of victimisation. If a complaint is brought to the attention of staff it will be investigated promptly and appropriate action taken.
The company recognises that any form of bullying or harassment of learners is entirely inappropriate and can seriously undermine relationships. At a personal level it can cause extreme distress and anxiety and can affect health and the continuation of studies. In some cases, it is unlawful and a criminal offence. Any form of harassment or bullying is unacceptable in the company, whether or not it is unlawful.
This policy attempts to deliver preventative action to keep young people and vulnerable adults safe from a wide range of potential harm including bullying and harassment.
1.Commitments:
The company is committed to:-
Ensuring that all learners are treated with dignity by promoting a culture where bullying or harassment is neither condoned nor tolerated where it is found to exist.
Providing an environment where learners have the confidence to report incidences of bullying or harassment without fear of further victimisation.
Ensuring that any complaints of bullying or harassment are investigated quickly, effectively and sensitively.
Ensuring that all learners are aware that incidents of bullying and harassment, as well as malicious claims of bullying and harassment, are regarded seriously, can amount to gross misconduct and as a consequence, can be grounds for disciplinary action, including expulsion.
Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of learners receiving education or training on the company premises, with partnership providers and in places of work.
2. Definitions
What is Harassment and Bullying?
Harassment and bullying is conduct which is unwanted by the recipient where people deliberately hurt or intimidate someone else. Bullying and Harassment are generally characterised as a pattern of behaviour and not a single event, although a single event may amount to bullying. Harassment and bullying may include:
Being called names
Being teased
Being punched, pushed or attacked
Being forced to hand over money, mobiles or other possessions
‘Cyberbullying: can take place at any time and can intrude into spaces that have previously been regarded as safe and personal ——
Text message e.g. sending unwelcome texts that are threatening or cause discomfort.
Picture/video-clips e.g. using mobile phone cameras to bully someone, with images usually sent to other people.
Phone call e.g. silent calls or abusive messages. The bully often disguises their number.
Email e.g. emailing upsetting messages, often using a different name for anonymity or using someone else’s name to pin the blame on them.
Chat room e.g. sending upsetting responses to people when they are in a web-based chat room.
Instant Messaging (IM) e.g. sending unpleasant messages in real-time conversations on the internet.
Websites e.g. insulting blogs, personal websites, social networking sites and online personal polling sites.
Having rumours spread about them
Being ignored or left out
Being attacked because of their religion, gender, sexuality, disability, appearance, ethnicity or race. [Symbol] Being humiliated in public
3. Roles and Responsibilities
All staff and learners have a responsibility to stamp out bullying and harassment. Staff should not behave in any way that could be seen as threatening or cause offence to learners. Learners must take responsibility for their own behaviour both on and off-site. Both staff and learners have the responsibility to take appropriate action when they witness an incident.
4. Procedure for dealing with Harassment and Bullying
This procedure has been designed to deal with complaints of bullying and harassment which need to be handled in a sensitive manner. The procedure, therefore, seeks to ensure minimal stress for the complainant, timely resolution of complaints and a degree of flexibility appropriate to individual circumstances. This procedure is separate from the Disciplinary procedure, which may need to be used following an investigation under this procedure. Alternatively, an incident may be so serious, or there may be sufficient evidence to proceed straight away with formal action.
It is recognised that in bringing a complaint, the complainant must be protected from further bullying and harassment or detriment arising from the alleged incident and associated complaint. Simply moving the complainant to another group or place of work is not an option.
False allegations of harassment or bullying will be taken seriously and further action might be considered. If at any point during this procedure the learner is in danger/at risk a Safeguarding Officer must be contacted immediately. If an allegation of bullying or harassment is made by a learner about a member of staff the Company Director, must be contacted immediately.
STEP 1 – INFORMAL ACTION
If a learner feels that they are being harassed or bullied, they should if possible keep a record detailing the event/s. No learner should feel ashamed about being bullied as it is not their fault. As soon after the incident as possible, the learner should seek help to try to resolve the issue informally in the first instance. This can be done by contacting their course tutor or the company director.
An incident may be so serious, or there may be sufficient evidence to proceed straight away with step 2 – formal action.
Once the learner contacts a member of staff, he/she should work with the learner to seek to resolve the issue informally which can include the following (depending on circumstances);
Supporting the learner to tell the bully to stop
Helping the learner to prepare a written log of the event/s (if they have not already done so)
attempt an informal resolution by arranging discussion with both learners
Taking no further action at this stage but keeping the situation under review.
STEP 2 – FORMAL ACTION
If the bullying and harassment continues and/or the learner wishes to make a formal complaint, the Company Director should be contacted. He/she will take a written record of the incident(s) of alleged bullying and harassment and where the complaint is against another learner or member of staff, initiate a formal investigation into the allegations. If the complaint is against an employer or someone outside the company then the relevant people will be notified within the employer’s company and they will be advised to carry out a formal investigation. Failure to do so could result in the company making a report of harassment or bullying in respect to the employer.
How the complaint will be investigated
The investigation will be carried out by the Company Director and at least one other person, normally the Quality Manager. The Director should ensure that as far as possible the nature of the complaint in terms of sex/race/disability and the courses attended by the learners, are taken into account when nominating the second investigator. The investigation must include interviewing both the complainant and the learner/staff member against whom the complaint has been made. The learner/staff member against whom the complaint was made, should be informed of the nature of the complaint and provided with a copy of the written record of the complaint and the Bullying and Harassment procedure.
Both persons should be given the opportunity to nominate witnesses whom they wish to be interviewed. Detailed written statements will be made of the investigation interviews, which the persons should sign and date, confirming that they agree with the statements. The investigation should normally be completed within 15 working days of the formal complaint being received. On occasions, it may not be possible to keep within this timescale. In such cases, both persons must be kept informed of the need for an extension and the likely timescale for completion Where the learners are under the age of 18, their parents/guardians must be informed of the investigation and the nature of the allegations. The persons may be accompanied at the investigation meetings by a friend, who must be a learner or employer at the Company.
Possible suspension or alternative learning arrangements during investigation may be put in place in order to relieve the stress and pressure on the persons and to prevent the risk of further incidents and to prevent victimisation.
Actions following investigation
The investigators will, on completion of the investigation, review the information collected and decide whether the complaint is substantiated. In some cases, there will not be any witnesses and it will be one person’s word against another’s. In these cases, the investigators will consider whether on balance of probabilities, the incidents/actions occurred. The investigators will decide either to:
Take no further action, that the allegations have not been substantiated; or
Progress the case through the learner Discipline procedure.
Written statements from the investigation together with the reasons for the investigators decision will be kept.
Staff must record any case of bullying and harassment.
Action when the complainant is dissatisfied If the complainant or alleged bully/harasser disagrees with the decision, then the appeal procedure in the Learner Disciplinary procedure or Company complaints procedure will be followed.
The policy will be communicated at induction.
Related Information:
Equality Act 2010
Human Rights Act 1998
Protection from Harassment Act 1997
Malicious Communications Act 1988
And any other relevant personal conflict or harassment legislation.