The Diocese of Guildford is committed to achieving the best possible standards of safeguarding. Here you’ll find advice, information and resources to help, along with signposting for those who may wish to access support.
What you can find on this page...
Safeguarding Policy & Guidance
Parish Dashboard
Resources
Past Cases Review 2
Safeguarding governance
“I urge all parishes and worshipping communities to ensure that the protocols on these pages are implemented and reviewed regularly in line with diocesan policy, while thanking you for every way in which your church is having a transformative effect on the lives of others."
Bishop Andrew
Contact our Safeguarding Team
Updated in November 2023
To report or discuss a safeguarding concern, please contact the Safeguarding Team on 01483 790379 or email safeguarding@cofeguildford.org.uk Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm.
If someone is at immediate risk of harm, please call 999 in an emergency.
For other enquiries, please contact one of the team.
Safeguarding Policy & Guidance
In order to ensure that we are all working in line with the most up to date safeguarding guidance and policies, the diocese adopts wherever possible the national Church of England Safeguarding policies and templates. This is supported by local guidance and best practice.
To do this:
• Display the signed Policy Statement clearly on the church notice board. We recommend that a copy of the statement is made available on the parish website (PSO details may be redacted to protect privacy).
• What does this mean for PCCs and Incumbents in the Guildford Diocese?
Read this document to learn more: Safeguarding Responsibilities of the PCC and Incumbent 2023 (Revised November 2023)
If a serious safeguarding incident takes place within your parish, it must be disclosed to the Charity Commission. Learn more below.
The Charity Commission states:
“If a serious incident takes place within your charity, it is important that there is prompt, full and frank disclosure to the Commission. You need to report what happened and, importantly, let the Commission know how you are dealing with it, even if you have also reported it to the police, donors or another regulator. A serious incident is an adverse event, whether actual or alleged, which results in or risks significant:
For the purposes of this guidance, “significant” means significant in the context of your charity, taking account of its staff, operations, finances and/or reputation.”
If a serious incident happens, it is important that there is prompt, full and frank disclosure to the Commission.
Where serious incidents are reported to it, the Charity Commission can decide whether a particular charity should be given regulatory advice or guidance; or, in very serious cases, whether the Charity Commission needs to take further steps to protect other charities.
If the matter is related to a safeguarding matter, use this flow chart to help you follow the right process for reporting it. The Safeguarding Team will help you.
Although it is the PCC/trustees responsibility to report such incidents to the Charity Commission, the national church has agreed with the Charity Commission that this can be done on your behalf, and this is how the Safeguarding Team can help. We will always discuss the decision to report with you, but you can delegate us to do the actual reporting by completing the PCC Delegation Form and sending a scanned copy to safeguarding@cofeguildford.org.uk for our records.
NB: Whilst a PCC delegates the actual reporting actions, there will be background agreements and information sharing between the church and the diocese safeguarding team so that there is agreement in place – this way a PCC is not abdicating its responsibility, just delegating the actual reporting action. The Delegation Form document above sets out how that all happens.
The Charity Commission has regulatory powers to ensure that charity trustees can manage the risks of incidents and that they have put in appropriate steps to mitigate those risks.
The Diocesan Safeguarding team can support and work with you reporting serious safeguarding incidents on your behalf. In that scenario, it’s important to ensure that your obligation and accountability as a PCC trustee body is not ‘abdicated’ but that we work together on any incident to agree actions. This means your reporting is properly ‘delegated’ to us by your PCC so that we may report on your behalf.
Please return the completed form electronically to: safeguarding@cofeguildford.org.uk, if not already done so.
Parish dashboard
The Parish Safeguarding Dashboard is a simple to use, online tool, that helps you keep track of safeguarding in your church and keeps you up to date with local and national changes in safeguarding requirements. It has its own website with more information on how to get started, how to progress to the next level, FAQs and tutorials.
If you haven't already signed up to use the Dashboard, please email the Safeguarding Team and we will send you an invitation.
Would you appreciate the chance to speak to one of the Safeguarding Team about your Parish Dashboard?
Simply log into Zoom & join one of these 60 minutes drop in sessions – no need to book, just click on the link.
More dates will be released in due course.
In the meantime if you need help with your Dashboard or Hub, please contact Clearly Simpler.
Past Cases Review 2
The Church of England published the report following the Past Cases Review 2 (PCR2) on Wednesday 5 October 2022. Links to all relevant information regarding the publication, both locally and nationally, can be found below:
- National PCR2 Report
- National Press Release on publication of PCR2 Report
- Diocese of Guildford Executive Summary on PCR2
- Diocese of Guildford Press Release on publication of PCR2 Report
If anyone needs support or listening services, please find them here.
The Bishop of Guildford wrote to all his parish incumbents to check their records to ensure that all safeguarding concerns have been reported to the appropriate authorities. This is part of the Past Cases Review 2 (PCR2), ordered by the House of Bishops to ensure that our churches and church related activities are as safe as possible for children and vulnerable adults.
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
On 20 October 2022 IICSA (the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse) published their final report, which can be found here.
Safeguarding governance
The Diocesan Safeguarding Advisory Panel (DSAP) provides oversight of our safeguarding arrangements across the diocese, including independent advice, scrutiny challenge and expertise on case management safeguarding policies, procedures and practices.
Resources
- Useful Templates and Resources on Church of England website
- Volunteer Role Description template
- Person Specification for a Volunteer Role template
- Policy for Recruiting Ex-Offenders July 2024 template
- Lone Working protocol April 2022
- Lone Working Record Template
- Lone Working Record Template (Vulnerability Identified)
- Use of Private Dwellings for Youth and Children's Work FAQ
| File | Type | Size | Uploaded on | Download |
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Safeguarding image for use on website |
PNG | 90.34 KB | 15 December 2023 | Download |
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Safeguarding poster for West Sussex |
866.19 KB | 15 December 2023 | Download | |
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Safeguarding poster for Surrey |
866.30 KB | 15 December 2023 | Download | |
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Safeguarding poster for Kingston |
866.22 KB | 15 December 2023 | Download | |
| Safeguarding poster for Hampshire | 866.17 KB | 15 December 2023 |
