Plain-English explanations of the technical terms and legislation used in this document.
- Adult at risk
- An adult with care and support needs who is experiencing or at risk of abuse or neglect and cannot protect herself because of those needs.
- Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014
- The law that made forcing someone to marry a criminal offence in England and Wales.
- Caldicott Guardian
- A senior person responsible for protecting the confidentiality of health and care information and enabling appropriate sharing.
- Care Act 2014
- The law setting out local authorities' duties for adult social care, including the duty to make safeguarding enquiries under section 42.
- Care Quality Commission (CQC)
- The independent regulator of health and social care services in England.
- Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009
- Regulations that include the duty on registered providers to notify the CQC of certain events, including abuse or allegations of abuse.
- Children Act 1989 and Children Act 2004
- The main laws setting out duties to protect children, including local authority child protection enquiries and duties on organisations to safeguard children.
- Controlling or coercive behaviour
- A pattern of control, threats, isolation or humiliation used to harm or frighten someone close; a criminal offence under the Serious Crime Act 2015.
- Data Protection Act 2018
- The United Kingdom law that sits alongside the UK GDPR, including conditions allowing health information to be shared to safeguard people at risk.
- Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
- The body that carries out criminal record checks and decides whether people should be barred from working with children or adults at risk.
- Domestic Abuse Act 2021
- The law that created the statutory definition of domestic abuse, covering people aged 16 or over who are personally connected.
- Domestic Abuse, Stalking, Harassment and Honour-based Violence (DASH) risk checklist
- A set of questions, published by the charity SafeLives, used by professionals to identify victims at high risk of serious harm or homicide.
- Duty of candour
- The legal duty to be open and honest with a patient when something goes wrong with their care that causes, or could cause, significant harm.
- Economic abuse
- Controlling someone's money, property or ability to get goods and services.
- Equality Act 2010
- The law protecting people from discrimination because of characteristics such as age, sex, disability and gender reassignment.
- Female genital mutilation (FGM)
- Cutting or injuring the female genitals for non-medical reasons; illegal in the United Kingdom.
- Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003
- The law making FGM an offence; section 5B requires regulated professionals to report known FGM in girls under 18 to the police.
- FGM Enhanced Dataset
- A national data collection about FGM that is mandatory for some publicly funded organisations, such as hospital trusts and GP practices.
- FGM protection order
- A court order that can be made to protect a girl or woman at risk of FGM, for example by preventing travel abroad.
- Forced marriage
- A marriage in which one or both people do not or cannot consent and pressure or abuse is used; any marriage of a child under 18 is now illegal.
- Forced Marriage Unit (FMU)
- A joint government unit that gives advice and support to people at risk of forced marriage and to professionals.
- General Medical Council (GMC)
- The body that registers and regulates doctors in the United Kingdom.
- General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
- The body that registers and regulates pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Great Britain.
- General practitioner (GP)
- A doctor who provides general medical care in the community and usually holds a patient's main medical record.
- Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014
- The regulations setting out the fundamental standards that registered providers must meet, enforced by the CQC.
- Honour-based abuse
- Abuse carried out to protect the perceived honour of a family or community.
- Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
- Medicines that replace the hormones, mainly oestrogen, that fall at menopause, usually with a progestogen for patients who have a womb.
- Independent Domestic Violence Adviser (IDVA)
- A trained specialist who supports victims of domestic abuse at high risk, including through the MARAC and court processes.
- Intercollegiate documents
- Guidance produced jointly by the medical and nursing royal colleges setting out the safeguarding competencies and training levels health care staff need.
- Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022
- The law that raised the minimum age for marriage and civil partnership to 18 and made it an offence to cause a child to marry.
- Mental Capacity Act 2005
- The law about making decisions for people who cannot make a particular decision for themselves, starting from a presumption that people have capacity.
- Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001
- The regulations that classify controlled drugs into schedules and set rules for prescribing and handling them.
- Modern Slavery Act 2015
- The law covering slavery, servitude, forced labour and human trafficking offences and victim protections.
- Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC)
- A local meeting where police, health, social care, housing and domestic abuse services share information and plan how to protect victims at high risk.
- National Referral Mechanism (NRM)
- The government framework for identifying and supporting potential victims of modern slavery.
- Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
- The body that registers and regulates nurses, midwives and nursing associates in the United Kingdom.
- Proxy access
- Access to a patient's online record or account by another person on their behalf.
- Regulation 13
- The fundamental standard requiring providers to protect service users from abuse and improper treatment.
- Reproductive coercion
- Controlling someone's contraception, pregnancy or access to reproductive healthcare.
- Section 42 enquiry
- The enquiry a local authority must make, or cause to be made, when an adult at risk in its area may be experiencing abuse or neglect.
- Serious Crime Act 2015
- The law that created the offence of controlling or coercive behaviour (section 76) and inserted the FGM reporting duty into the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003.
- Serious harm exemption
- A rule in the Data Protection Act 2018 allowing health information to be withheld from a subject access request if release would be likely to cause serious harm.
- Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC)
- A specialist centre offering medical care, forensic examination and support after rape or sexual assault, whether or not the person reports to the police.
- Silent Solution
- A police system that lets a 999 caller who cannot speak press 55 on a mobile to show they need police help.
- Standard operating procedure (SOP)
- A step-by-step written procedure for carrying out a task consistently.
- UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)
- The United Kingdom's main data protection law governing how personal information is collected, used and shared.
- Working Together to Safeguard Children
- Statutory guidance from the Department for Education on how organisations work together to protect children; the current edition was published in 2026.