In the heart of Spinners Mill in Leigh, Greater Manchester, Verve Community CIC identified a significant gap in the Voluntary and Care sector. Although organisations prioritise safeguarding children and vulnerable adults, individual volunteers can remain vulnerable. From this insight, the concept of SafeGuarden Volunteers was born.

The Spinners Mill houses over sixty non-profit organisations and social enterprises. The volunteers are from diverse professional backgrounds, including the NHS, Police Forces, Education, and our Armed Forces.  They are kind-hearted people who, from lived experience, offer a wealth of knowledge in care. They want to make a difference.

Verve provides recruitment services to organisations at Spinners as well as recruiting foster carers and finding employment and training for Armed Forces veterans. All involved welcome that accurate DBS checks, based on job duties, are necessary to protect those in their care as well as safeguard against allegations.

However, many express frustrations with repeated form filling or discomfort with technology due to concerns about data privacy.

Verve offers DBS/RTW checks using Spotlite from CDD Services.  Together they have created a respectful, safe, and private setting at their Spinners Tea Room to gain empathy and build trust with volunteers using digital technology. The experience is affirming.

Verve’s success is built on the fact that many VCS organisations by their very nature, run on a shoestring with limited resources.  It is not uncommon for such organisations to share personal data by email or WhatsApp as they lack the skills and the tools to avoid data loss and potential data breaches.  This not only heavily impacts the recruitment success rate, it also places the volunteer in a vulnerable position.  Both the VCS organisations and the people who volunteer deserve better!

This insight generated the idea for SafeGuarden Volunteers.

SafeGuarden, powered by Spotlite, ensures safe data sharing within the Voluntary and Care Sector. It enables a volunteer to provide their information to multiple organisations, including monthly updates on their DBS and DVLA status.  When the volunteer wants to share information with a new VCS organisation, they can do so under their control.  No more emails or WhatsApp messages.  The VCS organisation receives the monthly updates so both they and the volunteers are protected and reassured throughout the volunteer's career.  Simple, safe, secure.

SafeGuarden helping communities work together — one volunteer at a time.