•the duty is owed to any adult physically present ‘in’ the local authority’s area, which will include any adult who is physically present only fleetingly;

•the threshold requires that an adult has needs for care and support, but not that they are ‘eligible needs’, or being met by the local authority or, indeed, any authority;

•‘abuse’ includes ‘financial abuse’, which is defined widely, at section 42(3) as including having money or other property stolen, being defrauded, being put under pressure in relation to money or other property and having money or other property misused;

•while the local authority is the lead agency (paragraph 14.100 of the Care and Support Statutory Guidance), multi-agency working, information-sharing and co-operation is vital (section 6(7) and paragraphs 14.62–14.67, 14.76–14.82 of the Care and Support Statutory Guidance);

•paragraphs 14.16–14.32 of the Care and Support Statutory Guidance give further examples of abuse and neglect, emphasising the breadth of the duty, which applies to cases of physical abuse, domestic violence and so-called ‘honour’-based violence, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, financial/material abuse, modern slavery, discriminatory abuse, organisational abuse, neglect and acts of omission and self-neglect;

•guidance as the meaning of domestic abuse, at paragraph 14.20, may be of particular interest:

•providing care and support/support, mediation, therapy or other family support work, for example, to improve an abusive relationship and sustain family links;

•a referral to the police for a criminal investigation;

•an employer-led disciplinary response or action by the Care Quality Commission;

•protective proceedings under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (see chapter 23 on Mental Capacity, above).

•at paragraphs 14.52–14.54, emphasises the importance of local authorities publishing and keeping up-to-date adult safeguarding policies and procedures, that ensure that individuals involved in the process understand their role and that set out procedures and guidelines for proportionate responses;

•at paragraphs 14.96–14.99, which emphasise the importance of placing the adult concerned, and their views and wishes, at the centre of the process (for example, ‘The wishes of the adult are important, particularly where they have capacity to make decisions about their safeguarding. The wishes of those who lack capacity are of equal importance’ although ‘Wishes need to be balanced alongside wider considerations such as the level of risk or risk to others including any children affected’).

•where there is to be a safeguarding enquiring under section 42(2); and

•the local authority considers that, without an independent advocate, the individual would experience substantial difficulty in understanding relevant information, retaining that information, using or weighing that information as part of the process of being involve or communicating their views, wishes or feelings; and

•there is no appropriate person (not engaged in providing care or treatment for the individual in a professional or paid capacity) who would be an appropriate person to undertake the ‘independent advocate’ function; then

•except insofar as it is necessary to take urgent steps, the local authority must arrange for an ‘independent advocate’ to ‘represent and support the adult to whose case the enquiry … relates for the purpose of facilitating his or her involvement in the enquiry…’; unless

•the local authority is satisfied that there is an appropriate person (not engaged in providing care or treatment for the individual in a professional or paid capacity) who would be an appropriate person to undertake the ‘independent advocate’ function. However, this exception is itself dis-applied by regulation 4 of the Care and Support (Independent Advocacy Support) (No 2) Regulations 20141SI No 2889.when either (i) the NHS is likely to accommodate the individual in hospital for at least 28 days or in a care home for least eight weeks, or (ii) the local authority and the potentially appropriate person disagree on a material issue but agree that the individual should have an ‘independent advocate’: (see ‘Involvement/independent advocates/relevance of Mental Capacity Act 2005’ in chapter 7, paras 7.53–7.65 above).