Safeguarding and Safe Spaces in Co-Production: Creating Spaces Where People Thrive, Not Just Survive

Safeguarding in co-production only works when it’s shaped by the people who use it. Over the last year, our community helped us rethink what safety, accountability, and care look like in practice. The result is a refreshed safeguarding approach that is clearer, more inclusive, and grounded in anti-racism, dignity and shared responsibility.

In 2023, we published our first safeguarding statement, which we reflected on in our blog ‘Our safeguarding statement and why it’s important’. At that time, people told us that safeguarding often feels guarded, muddled and at times, unsafe. We committed then to doing better to help people. We’re continuing that work now, developing pioneering policies that lead to genuinely protective practice and building environments where people can thrive, rather than just survive.

Our team has felt that the best part of this work has been moving safeguarding commitments beyond solely legislative frameworks and tick-box exercises to embedding safety, wellbeing, and truly welcoming spaces into everyday practice. This work builds on what we learned from ‘Understanding Anti-racism in Co-production Spaces’.

This blog shares what we did, what we have now created, why we took this next step and what this means for our community.

Please take time to read this blog in full and explore our new ‘Safeguarding and Safe Spaces in Co-production Statement’.

What we did

We held five online meetings and reviewed documents offline. Some of the team had been involved in the co-production of the first statement, whilst others were new to this work.

Together, we:

• Revisited and discussed the stories gathered through community reporting, which captured unsafe experiences in co-production   from racialised people.
• Explored how safeguarding intersects with anti-racism (and anti-discrimination more broadly) and the risks that might be project specific (e.g. co-production in suicide prevention work).
• Worked iteratively - between sessions by refining drafts, bringing them back to the group, and making further changes based on feedback.

At times this work has been difficult and sensitive. The questions we have been asking of each other are complex and sometimes we have had very different views.

“The hardest conversations were also the most necessary ones.”

Having these difficult conversations, we didn’t want our team to be negatively impacted or even re-traumatised by experiences they may have previously had themselves. Neither did we want the work to be extractive - by which we mean we didn’t want to take people’s experiences or contributions without sharing power, benefits and meaningful influence in return.

Throughout this process we held onto two truths that our community has taught us:

“Safeguarding is everyone’s shared responsibility.”

“Co-production both reflects and is shaped by what’s happening in society.”

This can encompass what is positive, what is complex, and at times, what is harmful. Our approach therefore needed to acknowledge how power operates, and how safeguarding can be shaped by the institutions involved - especially when those institutions contribute to structural harm or injustice.

Co-production spaces and racialised experience

A recurring theme throughout this process was that safety is not experienced equally.

For racialised individuals, co-production spaces can involve additional emotional labour. Participants described navigating microaggressions, feeling pressure to represent communities, or balancing honesty with self-protection.

These experiences are not always recognised as safeguarding concerns, yet they shape whether people feel able to participate fully.

“Sometimes harm isn’t dramatic. It’s cumulative. It’s feeling unseen again and again.”

Recognising this required us to expand our understanding of safeguarding beyond crisis response. Safety includes belonging, dignity, and everyday interactions.

This is closely linked to the principle of do no harm. Good intentions alone are not enough. Impact matters.

“Doing no harm means thinking about impact, not just intention.”

What we created

We have produced a refreshed suite of safeguarding and safe-space materials that are clearer, more practical, and more aligned with our commitments to anti-racism, equity, and shared responsibility.

As one member of our community reminded us:

“Safeguarding on paper often doesn’t translate into safe practice in the room.”

Raising concerns can lead to isolation or reprisals (punishment for speaking up), and policies don’t always result in safe practice in rooms (or on screens). Our new approach responds directly to that challenge, emphasising that safeguarding is a practice, not a document.

This led to a practical statement, using plain language that treats safeguarding and safe spaces as part of how we work, not a separate process. This includes clear routes for raising concerns, responding, learning and following up, without placing the burden on a single person.

Our Statement and supporting materials

Please explore the statement we have created:

• The Safeguarding and Safe Spaces in Co-production Statement - available as a PDF

We also created a set of tools which can be found in the main statement, to help people act confidently and consistently, including:

• A Safeguarding Report Form - you can download and fill out and return to our Designated Safeguarding Lead.
• A section outlining different categories of harm
• A resource list for people seeking support
• Clear guidance on roles, responsibilities, and what happens next

In addition,  a Google Drive folder will be available soon with a variety of different versions: a Word document, large font and screen reader friendly, Audio, MP4, Braille, EPUB, and MOBI.

If you would like a version that is not available here, please contact us on coproduction@ucl.ac.uk.

All of these documents can be found on our Safeguarding Statement web page which is in the ‘Our Policies’  section of our website.

Why we revisited our approach to safeguarding

Co-production continues to shift and grow. Additionally, as an organisation we want to ensure that we are actively anti-racist and anti-discriminatory. We also want to reduce the anxiety that often surrounds safeguarding and to demystify it, while still being clear about roles, responsibilities and responses.

This refreshed approach represents a cultural shift as much as a structural one.

We are moving:

• From compliance towards care
• From static policy towards living practice
• From surviving participation towards thriving participation

Our documents will continue to evolve alongside feedback and lived experience.

Language matters – and so does how we use it

Safeguarding isn’t just “worst-case scenarios.” It includes wellbeing, good community practice, duty of care and everyday culture. To help us to create welcoming spaces in our own work, we will be asking ourselves:

• When is this safeguarding?
• When is it wellbeing?
• When is it good working practice?
• How do we decide together?

We’ve shifted our language to be clearer and less anxiety-inducing, and we want to start from respect and dignity.

We heard concerns about the use of the term “vulnerable”. It can unnecessarily label or “other” people. Our discussions led to our belief that people aren’t vulnerable by identity; vulnerability is created by context, power, and circumstances.

Vulnerable also has a specific legal use. Safeguarding frameworks often distinguish children and young people, adults, and “vulnerable adults.” People may be more or less vulnerable at different times or in specific circumstances.

Our draft acknowledges particular needs without labelling people. We aim for language that protects without diminishing agency – people’s capacity to act.

Safe spaces: what we mean in practice

We reframed safeguarding to include creating and maintaining safe spaces. Not as a promise that nothing difficult will ever happen, but as a commitment to creating the conditions that minimise harm and support repair when harm occurs.

This includes:

• Being part of co-designing ways of working (Our Community Commitments).
• Clear, shared routes for raising concerns without fear of reprisal (punishment for speaking up).
• Active facilitation that makes time for challenge and reflection, not just “getting through the agenda.”
• Follow-up and accountability so learning turns into change.

What this means for our community

It isn’t down to just one person to maintain safety. Everyone has a role to play. Safeguarding belongs to everyone in the room.

As a community, we prioritise positive impact and care, and we learn. We don’t just concentrate on making sure we follow policies. We build confidence to listen, challenge, and respond. This is a cultural shift. We keep it live. Documents evolve with our practice and your feedback.

Overall, we believe that co-production should not require people to protect themselves in order to participate, and safety is defined as the presence of care, accountability, and belonging.

What’s next

We encourage our community and people working in a range of sectors, to read, use and feedback about our safeguarding materials. This includes exploring how these documents may work alongside existing organisational policies.

If you have feedback, experiences to share, or ideas, please get in touch with us via email on coproduction@ucl.ac.uk.

Thank yous

Thanks to the Safeguarding Statement Development Group who led this work - Aleem Nisar, Alice Odin, Cecily Henry, Debora Mo, Isaac Samuels, Laura Able, Nat Farley, Niccola Hutchinson-Pascal, Nira Shah, Phuong Tu Nguyen, Richard Banks and all the other co-producers and staff members who took part in the co-production of this statement.

Photo Credit: Pete Alexopoulos - From Unsplash