Regulation 13: Safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment
Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/2936)
Last verified by Verivius on 19 May 2026. Next review due 17 Aug 2026.
Plain British summary
Service users must be protected from abuse and improper treatment. You need effective systems to prevent abuse, and effective systems to investigate any allegation or evidence of abuse as soon as you become aware of it. Care must not be provided in a way that discriminates, uses disproportionate control or restraint, is degrading, or significantly disregards the service user's needs. Service users cannot be deprived of their liberty without lawful authority.
Full text on legislation.gov.uk. Treat quotes on this page as targeted excerpts, not as a substitute for the regulation.
Targeted verbatim quotes (8)
“Service users must be protected from abuse and improper treatment in accordance with this regulation.”
Reg 13(1) (the headline duty)
“Systems and processes must be established and operated effectively to prevent abuse of service users.”
Reg 13(2) (prevention systems)
“Systems and processes must be established and operated effectively to investigate, immediately upon becoming aware of, any allegation or evidence of such abuse.”
Reg 13(3) (investigation systems)
“A service user must not be deprived of their liberty for the purpose of receiving care or treatment without lawful authority.”
Reg 13(5) (lawful authority for deprivation of liberty)
“any behaviour towards a service user that is an offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003,”
Reg 13(6)(a) (sexual offences)
“ill-treatment (whether of a physical or psychological nature) of a service user,”
Reg 13(6)(b) (ill-treatment)
“theft, misuse or misappropriation of money or property belonging to a service user, or”
Reg 13(6)(c) (theft / misuse / misappropriation)
“neglect of a service user.”
Reg 13(6)(d) (neglect)
What Verivius does for you
Safeguarding lifecycle
Safeguarding concerns are tracked end-to-end with explicit local-authority referral state, statutory-notification state, and an event-stream audit trail. The taxonomy aligns with the Reg 13(6) statutory definition of abuse.