Diocesan policies and procedures

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Diocesan Safeguarding Policies

Safeguarding Policy

Domestic Abuse Policy

Whistleblowing Policy

National Safeguarding Policy

The Church of England has been in the process of developing a set of National Safeguarding Standards since 2020.

Read: The Church of England National Safeguarding Standards

The Five National Safeguarding Standards

The Five Standards are essential for the Church to understand the quality and, most importantly, the impact of its safeguarding activity:

Culture, leadership and capacity

Church bodies have safe and healthy cultures, effective leadership, resourcing and scrutiny arrangements necessary to deliver high-quality safeguarding practices and outcomes.

Prevention

Church bodies have in place a planned range of measures which together are effective in preventing abuse in their context

Safer Recruitment & People Management Resources | The Church of England

Recognising, assessing and managing risk

Risk assessments, safety plans and associated processes are of a high quality and result in positive outcomes. The assessment and management of risk is underpinned by effective partnership working

Victims and survivors

Victims and survivors experience the timeliness and quality of Church bodies’ responses to disclosures, and their subsequent support, as positively meeting their needs, including their search for justice and helping their healing process

Victims and Survivors Leaflet

Download File

Learning, supervision and support

All those engaged in safeguarding-related activity in Church bodies receive the type and level of learning, professional development, support and supervision necessary to respond to safeguarding situations, victims and survivors, and respondents, effectively

Know How Hub | The Church of England

Codes of Practice

Safeguarding in Recognised Religious Communities

A Safe Church

A Safe Church is a manual containing the Diocesan policies, procedures and guidelines for safeguarding children, safeguarding adults who may be vulnerable, and responding to domestic abuse. Significant amendments were made in 2019, in addition to the changes made in 2018, in line with a number of new and revised policies from the House of Bishops and the National Safeguarding Team and to reflect changes in wider safeguarding procedure and legislation.

The contents of A Safe Church can be downloaded here in sections. The manual is designed to be used as a tool as and when necessary: some sections will be of more relevance to some people than to others; and you may need to find specific sections in a hurry, depending on your particular concern. We recommend that you download How to & Contents in order to assist you in deciding which sections you need.

If you are unable to find the relevant information, or if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Diocesan Safeguarding Team on 020 7939 9476.

A Safe Church

Please note, Section 5 – Selecting Staff is now out of date so please look at the Church of England Safer Recruitment and People Management Guidance which can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding/safeguarding-e-manual/safer-recruitment-and-people-management-guidance