Safeguarding and concerns
Information for parents and carers
The volunteer police cadets offer a safe and friendly environment for young people to develop into good citizens. We are a fully inclusive uniformed youth group welcoming cadets from any social, economic, ethnic group, gender, ability or disability. We actively encourage young people who may feel disadvantaged through crime or social exclusion to join the VPC.
All activities are risk-assessed and have suitable insurance cover. All regular unit venues are risk assessed on an annual basis with a rolling assessment completed at each meeting.
All our leaders are suitably vetted, by the relevant police force, to national standards associated with looking after young people. All visitors to units are appropriately vetted and monitored too.
Cadets take part in a wide variety of activities relevant to their ability and age for which you will be asked to complete a Health and Permission form, ensuring that their unit is fully up to date with any health related issues. A Health and Permission form will need to be completed for every event.
Most forces are moving towards electronic registration and event planning for their cadets. All personal details are held under nationally recognised security conditions and are not shared with organisations outside the police service.
Read our safeguarding policy for information on how we will look after your young people while they are with us.
Whistleblowing process
If you having any concerns about a cadet or a cadet leader you can raise them using the contact details outlined here. Anyone can use this process, parent, cadet, cadet leader or member of the public.
It doesn’t matter how small an issue may seem, or who the leader or cadet is, we would encourage you to get in contact to make us aware of the situation.
It’s important that people feel they can raise concerns, regardless of who they are against, as this helps us maintain a safe environment for cadets. If you see or experience something you are not happy with please report it.
In an emergency please contact your local police using either 101 or 999.
You can report any concerns you may have about a cadet or a cadet leader by emailing:
- Volunteer Police Cadets National Safeguarding Manager (office hours only)
- Central Youth Engagement and Schools (office hours only)
- Volunteer Police Cadets team
- Independent Office of Police Conduct
- NSPCC
Alternatively you can phone the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000.
