Parish Safeguarding

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Charity Commission expectations - PCC accountability

Why this matters: PCC members are charity trustees. The Charity Commission expects trustees to treat safeguarding as a governance priority and to take reasonable steps to protect everyone who encounters the charity through its work, including beneficiaries, staff, volunteers, worshippers, visitors and community users.

The PCC retains overall responsibility for safeguarding governance even where day-to-day tasks are delegated to the PSO, clergy, wardens, DBS administrator or a safeguarding group.
Trustees should ensure safeguarding policies, procedures and parish practice are understood, followed and reviewed regularly, with risks recorded and monitored through PCC business.
The PCC should be able to evidence proportionate oversight: named roles, training and DBS records, safer recruitment decisions, risk assessments, incident records, action logs and clear minutes showing that safeguarding is discussed and followed up.
Where safeguarding concerns amount to a Serious Incident, reporting to the Charity Commission is a trustee responsibility and is additional to any duty to contact the police, local authority, diocesan safeguarding team or another statutory agency.
If arrangements are weak, vacant or under-resourced, the PCC should record the risk, agree interim controls, seek diocesan support and keep progress under review until sustainable arrangements are in place.

Practical PCC accountability questions:

Can the PCC show when safeguarding was last reviewed and what actions were agreed?
Are safeguarding risks included in parish risk management rather than left only to informal discussion?
Do trustees know how concerns are reported, escalated and recorded?
Is there a clear route for deciding whether a safeguarding matter may need Serious Incident Reporting?

Parish Safeguarding Officer

Key principles:

Every parish should have an appropriately experienced, named PSO, or share a named PSO with other parishes where appropriate.
Legal safeguarding responsibility remains with each individual PCC.
The incumbent, or their spouse, cannot be the named PSO.
If there is no PSO, the PCC and incumbent should put interim safeguarding arrangements in place, keep a record of those arrangements and document efforts to recruit a new PSO.
Safeguarding tasks can be shared among suitable volunteers or staff, with deputies supporting the role where this is proportionate to parish size and activity.
The church community should know who to contact with safeguarding concerns during any vacancy.

Guidance

The level of safeguarding resource required will depend on the size and complexity of the parish and the activities taking place. PSOs are usually volunteers, although some larger parishes may have paid staff who support safeguarding administration, such as DBS processing and training records. Some parishes appoint separate PSOs for children and vulnerable adults where there is a greater volume of safeguarding activity.

Church of England guidance states that every parish should have an appropriately experienced, named PSO to work with the Incumbent and PCC, or share a named PSO with other parishes where appropriate.

Where a parish is temporarily without a PSO, the PCC and Incumbent should ensure suitable interim arrangements are in place so that safeguarding responsibilities continue to be fulfilled. This may include sharing tasks among suitable volunteers or staff, or adopting a team approach with deputies supporting the role. Where there is no Incumbent or PSO, responsibility rests with the churchwardens and PCC.

A record should be kept of these arrangements and the steps being taken to recruit a new PSO. The church community should also be informed who to contact with any safeguarding concerns during the vacancy.

All Parish Safeguarding Officers (PSOs) are encouraged to regularly read the PSO Welcome Pack
Guidance and codes of practice are available in the Church of England's Safeguarding e-manual further information and links can be found on the Safeguarding Dashboard.
More information relating to Safer Recruitment including DBS checks can be found Safer Recruitment & DBS - Diocese of Hereford
Every PCC across the Church of England follows the House of Bishops’ Safeguarding Policy and must sign the statement: ‘Promoting a Safer Church.’
A full checklist for parishes can be found on our parish checklist page Parish Safeguarding Checklist - Diocese of Hereford, these are the minimum requirements every parish must follow.

Support for Parish Safeguarding Officers

Contact the Diocesan Safeguarding team for support and advice at any time. Regular meetings, training events are published in our weekly eNews bulletin alongside information on this website. Please do sign up to receive eNews if you are not already subscribed.

Safeguarding Dashboard

Our diocese has adopted Safeguarding Dashboards. This is an online tool to support safeguarding administration and governance for all parishes.

Watch a short video - or download a brochure - to learn more about this tool.

Further details can be found at safeguardingdashboards.org.uk where you can also log on to your Parish Safeguarding Dashboard page online. If you experience any issues logging in, please email the safeguarding team for assistance

You can use this quick guide document, which explains how to use the Dashboards.

Details of how to sign up to the Parish Safeguarding Dashboard can be requested from the safeguarding team. You will need to provide the following information:

Your name and role in your parish
The name of the parish you are a part of/need access to the dashboard
If you need to be an owner (with the ability to edit the dashboard information) or a viewer (with no ability to edit dashboard information

Safeguarding Hub

The Safeguarding Hub works alongside the Parish Safeguarding Dashboard, supports safer recruitment and training, keeping a simple record. The Safeguarding Hub is free to use.

Keep track of DBS checks and safeguarding training.
Create role descriptions and person specifications.
Track the safer recruitment of new volunteers.

This brochure explains how the Safeguarding Hub works.

If you already have access to your Safeguarding Hub you can log in via your Parish Safeguarding Dashboard.

Please contact the safeguarding team for advice and support if you are experiencing any technical issues.

‘Promoting a Safer Church - Action Plan’

Every PCC in ecouraged to create a Parish/Benefice Safeguarding Action Plan. This document details all the actions and is also an effective tool to track progress. The Parish Safeguarding Action Plan will be used as the basis for a Parish Audit.

The Parish Safeguarding Dashboard is the online version of this tool and is very easy to use.

Please contact DSO Lisa Anderson for more information.