Parish safeguarding responsibilities

Everyone who participates in the life of the Church has a role to play in promoting a safer church for all.

To help parishes with this, there are several policies, expected actions, and best practices that a parish must undertake or have due regard for, to ensure their churches and the activities they run are safe and healthy spaces for all.

On this page you will find information about the:

Policies to be adopted
Displaying safeguarding information
Safer management of activities held within a church building 
Other useful guidance
 

Policies to be adopted

Safeguarding policy and action plan
A PCC must adopt and promote the national church's Promoting a Safer Church safeguarding policy, as well as approve an action plan to implement it.

The policy to be adopted, and the notice to help promote that your PCC has adopted the policy, can be found below:

• National 'Promoting a safer-church' policy
• Formal Parish Safeguarding Statement adoption notice

Once a PCC has adopted the policy, it must ensure that there is a 'Promoting a Safer Church' action plan in place that sets out, in line with national and local priorities, how the policy is being put into action. 

The PCC must approve the action plan and review it at least once a year.

The Safeguarding Dashboard can automatically generate an action plan that can be presented to the PCC for discussion and approval.  

It is good practice to have safeguarding on the agenda of PCC meetings.
 

Recruitment of ex-offender policy
The Parish Safeguarding Handbook states that the incumbent and PCC will have a policy statement on the recruitment of ex-offenders.

Additionally, the Church of England's document, 'Practice Guidance: Safer Recruitment', also states that: "Applicants for paid and volunteer positions must be clear about how they will be treated if they are ex-offenders."

To assist parishes, the Diocese of Rochester's ex-offender policy can be used/amended, and then approved by PCCs.

Download the Diocese of Rochester template ex-offender policy

It should be reviewed every three years. 

Records and Information Management
The PCC must comply with all data protection legislation, especially regarding how they use and store information about any church officers and any safeguarding records.

Extensive guidance for parishes on data management and the General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR) can be found on the links below:

• Records and Information Management - Church of England retention schedules.
• Parish Resources: Parishes and GDPR - Explanation and information around GDPR.

Displaying safeguarding information

In church buildings
You should prominently display throughout all your church premises the following information:

• Promoting a Safer Church Poster - there are now four options available, allowing a church to include photos, logos or not. The contact details for the Diocesan Safeguarding Team are included in each:
  • Promoting a Safer Church Poster no logo editable
  • Promoting a Safer Church Poster no logo and photo editable
  • Promoting a Safer Church Poster logo editable
  • Promoting a Safer Church Poster logo and photo editable
     
• Information about where someone can get help with a safeguarding issue relating to a child or adult, domestic abuse, and key helplines e.g. ChildLine.  You may wish to use information from our Support for Victim/Survivors page.
   
• A formal statement of adoption of the House of Bishops’ ‘Promoting a Safer Church' policy. This should be signed on behalf of PCC:
  • National 'Promoting a Safer Church' policy
  • Formal Parish Safeguarding Statement adoption notice

On websites
A parish's safeguarding arrangements should be clearly visible on the front page of the parish website. This means:

• A link from the front page of your website to a page detailing your safeguarding policy and who’s who - either in the menu bar or on the body of the page.
• Clear and accessible information about how victims and survivors can report abuse within the church, where to gain support, and links to local services. You may wish to link to our Support for Victim/Survivors support page.

If you do not have a website, your parish should offer some information on your parish's dedicated A Church Near You (ACNY) pages.

The ACNY website has a ‘safeguarding’ tab on every page that will take the user through to a map highlighting diocesan safeguarding details.

Sharing safeguarding information with young people 
Sharing information with young people about where they can access help in the parish with a matter that is worrying them is important.

The Diocesan Safeguarding team has created several resources for parishes to use if they wish:
 

If you have further questions about displaying safeguarding information well, please contact the Safeguarding Team or Communications on communications@rochester.anglican.org
 

Safer management of activities held within a church building

Church organised activities
All church activities for children, young people, or vulnerable adults must be:

•   Authorised by the PCC
•   Risk assessed
•   Covered by appropriate insurance 
•   Overseen by leaders and helpers who have been safely recruited

More guidance related to church activities can be found below:
Safer Recruitment and People Management Guidance | The Church of England

Non-church organised activities
All non-church organised activities for children, young people, or vulnerable adults held on church premises must be:

• Authorised by the PCC
• Have a hire agreement
• Signed supplementary agreement.

A hire agreement is always required, even if the premises are being provided free of charge. (This does not include hiring by private individuals for private events, eg. a private party’.)  

Hall hire forms:

• Hiring of Church premises guidance notes
• Hiring of Church Premises Hiring Agreement
• Hiring of Church Premises Hiring Agreement for short-term Bookings
• Hiring of Church Premises Supplementary Agreement for Groups Working with Children Young People or Vulnerable Adults

Other useful guidance

Lone working policy

 

Key contacts