This page is designed to answer the following questions:
- 1.3 Explain how duty of care contributes to the safeguarding or protection of individuals (Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care, Promote duty of care in care settings)
- 2.2 Analyse how duty of care contributes to: a. safeguarding of individuals, b. supporting individual’s rights and choices (Level 4 Diploma in Adult Care, Professional Practice in Health and Social Care for Adults or Children and Young People)
NOTE: This page has been quality assured for 2023 as per our Quality Assurance policy.
Duty of care means that care workers have a responsibility to promote the safety and well-being of others.
Safeguarding means protecting individuals from harm, particularly from abuse or neglect.
So these terms are obviously very closely connected. They are both concerned with protecting the safety and welfare of individuals.
Duty of care also supports an individual’s right to make their own choices because we can help to ensure that individuals think about control measures that can be put in place to minimise the risks of a decision.
By empowering individuals to be more independent, they will have more control over their lives and, consequently, more confidence and self-esteem, which contributes to their overall well-being and makes them better able to protect themselves from abuse or neglect.
The difference between the duty of care and safeguarding is that duty of care is a paid carer’s responsibility that should underpin their entire practice, whilst safeguarding is a set of guidelines, policies, procedures and actions. Safeguarding is a single aspect of the wider responsibility of duty of care.