Measuring Digital Safeguarding as Social Value in Adult Social Care
Digital safeguarding is a practical social value issue because adult social care services increasingly support people to use phones, tablets, online appointments, banking, social media, messaging, video calls and digital records. Providers working within the Social Value Knowledge Hub need to evidence how they protect people from digital harm while still supporting independence, communication and inclusion.
Strong providers use social value measurement and reporting to evidence digital safeguarding outcomes, while linking this work to social value policy and national priorities such as reducing inequality, prevention, safety, inclusion, transparency and responsible digital innovation.
Digital safeguarding should not mean removing access. Strong evidence shows how providers balance protection, consent, choice, capacity, confidence and proportionate support.
What Digital Safeguarding Means
Digital safeguarding means identifying and managing risks linked to technology, online activity, digital communication and electronic information. In adult social care, this may include scams, coercion, financial exploitation, unsafe online contact, privacy breaches, inappropriate staff device use, weak passwords, consent issues or misuse of personal data.
The social value comes from keeping people safer while enabling digital participation. Strong providers demonstrate that digital safeguarding supports rights, inclusion and prevention rather than creating unnecessary restriction.
Why It Matters in Real Services
Digital harm can be hidden. A person may be pressured to send money, share private images, click unsafe links, lose control of passwords or rely on staff to manage online accounts without clear consent.
If services avoid digital support altogether, people may become more excluded. If they support digital access without safeguards, risks can escalate quickly. Strong services evidence how staff recognise, record and respond to digital risk in everyday practice.
What Good Looks Like
Strong services evidence digital safeguarding through person-specific risk assessment, consent checks, capacity awareness, staff guidance, clear escalation, outcome monitoring and governance.
Providers should be able to evidence the digital risk, the person’s wishes, the support response, the safeguarding action and the outcome achieved. This creates a clear line of sight from digital practice to social value impact.
Operational Example 1: Responding to Online Scam Risk
Context: A supported living service noticed that one person was receiving repeated messages asking for money. The person wanted to keep using their phone and did not want staff to take control of it.
Support approach: The provider used a proportionate safeguarding response focused on understanding, consent, financial safety and confidence, rather than restricting phone use.
Five practical steps:
- Record the concern clearly, including what messages were received and any immediate risk.
- Speak with the person about what they want, understand and feel worried about.
- Check consent, capacity considerations and whether safeguarding escalation is needed.
- Agree practical support, such as blocking contacts, checking suspicious messages or involving trusted representatives.
- Review whether risk reduces, confidence improves and the person remains digitally included.
Day-to-day delivery detail: Staff supported the person to identify suspicious messages, practise saying no and keep control of their phone. Managers ensured that any financial concerns were recorded and escalated appropriately.
How effectiveness was evidenced: The provider evidenced reduced scam contact, improved confidence, clear safeguarding records and maintained phone use. This demonstrated social value through protection without unnecessary restriction.
Deepening the Digital Safeguarding Evidence Pathway
Digital safeguarding evidence is strongest when it shows how risk is managed while preserving rights. Providers should avoid treating digital harm as a reason to remove access unless restriction is lawful, proportionate and clearly justified.
Guidance on measuring social value outcomes in adult social care reinforces the need to connect action with impact. Digital safeguarding evidence strengthens this by showing whether safer digital participation improves confidence, control and wellbeing.
Operational Example 2: Protecting Privacy During Video Calls
Context: A residential service supported people to make video calls with relatives, but staff were unsure when to stay nearby, when to leave and how to protect private conversations.
Support approach: The provider introduced person-specific video-call support plans covering consent, privacy, communication support and safeguarding concerns.
Five practical steps:
- Check whether the person wants support during calls and what privacy means to them.
- Agree where calls should take place and who can be present.
- Record communication support needs without assuming staff must stay throughout.
- Train staff to recognise signs of distress, pressure or coercive conversation.
- Review call experience, privacy, safeguarding concerns and family feedback.
Day-to-day delivery detail: Staff helped set up calls, checked the person was comfortable and withdrew where appropriate. Where communication support was needed, staff explained their role and recorded any concerns after the call.
How effectiveness was evidenced: The provider evidenced stronger privacy, clearer consent records, improved family contact and staff confidence. This showed social value through safer digital connection and dignity.
Systems, Workforce and Consistency
Teams apply digital safeguarding well when staff understand that online risk is part of everyday safeguarding practice. It should be included in supervision, handovers, risk reviews and care planning.
Supervision should review online contact concerns, financial risk, privacy, staff device boundaries, consent and capacity. Handovers should include digital risks where they affect current wellbeing or safety. Managers should check that staff do not create informal workarounds, such as using personal phones, passwords or accounts without governance.
This also supports commissioner confidence. Wider explanation of social value in UK public sector commissioning shows why providers need evidence that digital innovation improves safety and inclusion, not only efficiency.
Operational Example 3: Managing Staff Device Boundaries
Context: A community support team found that some staff were using personal phones to support appointment reminders and family contact because it felt quick and helpful.
Support approach: The provider reviewed privacy, consent, record keeping and information security, then introduced approved communication routes and staff guidance.
Five practical steps:
- Identify where staff are using personal devices or informal communication routes.
- Review privacy, consent, safeguarding and record-keeping risks.
- Introduce approved methods for digital reminders and family communication.
- Train staff on boundaries, confidentiality and escalation.
- Audit compliance, staff confidence and any communication delays.
Day-to-day delivery detail: Staff stopped using personal phones for care-related communication and used agreed systems instead. Managers checked whether approved routes remained practical and did not create avoidable delays.
How effectiveness was evidenced: The provider evidenced improved information security, clearer records, reduced boundary risk and maintained communication. This demonstrated social value through safer digital governance.
Governance and Evidence
Governance gives digital safeguarding evidence credibility. Providers should maintain an audit trail showing digital risk assessments, consent decisions, safeguarding referrals, staff guidance, incident learning, outcome monitoring and quality review.
Data may include digital safeguarding concerns, scam attempts, privacy incidents, staff device breaches, training completion, escalation timeliness and outcomes after support. Qualitative evidence explains confidence, control, reassurance, privacy, family contact and reduced anxiety.
Strong services demonstrate how digital safeguarding evidence informs care planning, supervision, safeguarding leads, data protection review, commissioner reporting, quality assurance and board oversight. This creates a clear line of sight from risk to action to outcome.
Commissioner and CQC Expectations
Commissioners expect providers to evidence safe, inclusive and responsible digital practice. Digital safeguarding evidence helps show that services can support modern access while protecting people from avoidable harm.
CQC expectations focus on safe, caring, responsive and well-led care. Digital safeguarding evidence supports this when leaders protect privacy, consent, choice, dignity and safety while enabling people to benefit from technology.
Common Pitfalls
- Removing digital access instead of managing risk proportionately.
- Using personal staff devices without clear governance.
- Ignoring online scams until financial harm occurs.
- Supporting video calls without privacy or consent checks.
- Failing to record digital safeguarding concerns clearly.
- Reporting digital inclusion without evidencing protection from harm.
Conclusion
Measuring digital safeguarding as social value in adult social care means showing how services protect people from online harm while supporting digital inclusion, rights and independence. Strong providers demonstrate this through consent, risk assessment, staff boundaries, safeguarding action, outcome data and governance. When evidence is credible, digital safeguarding becomes a strong social value measure because it shows how adult social care can support safer participation in an increasingly digital world.