Spalding and Weston councillors raise concerns over lack of help from the system for vulnerable adults

The public are left ‘frustrated’ by the lack of help from the authorities in looking after vulnerable individuals, according to concerned councillors.

South Holland District Council’s cabinet agreed a new safeguarding policy at a meeting on Tuesday - but members aired issues with the way the system currently works.

Wygate ward councillor Roger Gambba-Jones raised a recent case of a person in his area who had been wandering the streets and stopping cars to ask for lifts.

He said the public had tried to raise the matter with social services but became frustrated with the system very quickly.

He added: “I am slightly concerned that we have a comprehensive document here that refers to all these agencies and yet when the public try to address it there are still these barriers when they raise concerns.”

He said there were elderly people who had been abandoned by their relatives - and hoped the council could do something to help people with concerns over people in their neighbourhood.

He expressed fears that such people could end up missing or even dead if they do not get help when the community raises an alarm.

Coun Anthony Casson, who represents Moulton, Weston and Cowbit, spoke of a similar issue in his ward a few years ago.

He said: “There was a person running up and down the street frightening young children with a mask on and a toy gun.

“The police were involved in it and it was obvious that the person needed help but it took ages and ages for anybody to realise how serious it was before anything happened.

“Children were told not to go out, even in their own gardens.”

Councillors will get training to help them to understand how to spot issues and what to do when they are raised.

There will also be briefing sessions for community groups and organisations who need to consider safeguarding.

Coun Bryan Alcock said: “This is nothing new, it’s been going on for years and years.

“People in this situation get distraught they don’t know what to do. What the general public want is a one stop shop.”

He added that people do not mind which bit of the service they interact with - but they just want to contact someone who doesn’t say ‘it’s not my job’.

The policy includes safeguarding children and adults, ‘hate and mate’ crime, modern slavery, domestic abuse and cuckooing.