We acknowledge children’s and adults’ right to protection from abuse, regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or beliefs. We consider that the welfare of children is paramount. We will follow legislation, statutory guidance and recognised good practice in order to protect vulnerable people in our church.

We will seek to establish a caring environment in which there is an informed vigilance about the dangers of abuse.

We will implement, maintain and regularly review the procedures outlined in this policy, which are designed to prevent and to be alert to abuse.

We will appoint a Safeguarding Coordinator and Deputy Safeguarding Coordinator, who will have specific responsibilities for safeguarding, although we recognise that safeguarding is a whole church responsibility. The Safeguarding Coordinator is the person to whom all concerns or allegations should be addressed. In the absence of the Safeguarding Coordinator, the Deputy Safeguarding Coordinator should be contacted.

We will organise activities in such a way as to promote a safe environment and minimise the risk of harm to children and adults.

We will follow a safer recruitment process for the selection and appointment of people to work with children or adults at risk, whether voluntary or paid, lay or ordained.

We are committed to providing support, supervision, resources and training to those who work with children and adults.

We will use rigorous and careful supervision to protect people from the risks associated with known offenders within the congregation, including implementing contracts with known offenders and those who have been assessed as posing a risk.

We believe that domestic abuse in all its forms is unacceptable and inconsistent with a Christian way of living and recognise that it can affect both adults and children.

All concerns and allegations of abuse will be responded to appropriately, including referring to the statutory authorities if necessary.

We will co-operate with the statutory authorities in any investigation, will follow multi-agency decisions and will maintain confidentiality of any investigations to those directly involved.

We will refer concerns about staff - volunteers and paid, lay and ordained - that meet the relevant criteria to the Local Authority Designated Officer

Click here for details of our Safeguarding Policy Statement.

Aim and purpose of the policy

The aim of the policy is to provide procedures for promoting safeguarding, preventing abuse and protecting children, adults at risk and workers. This includes clear procedures for taking appropriate action when safeguarding concerns are raised involving children and adults within our church, or those who attend our activities and events. This policy has been written in conjunction with guidance from the following documents: Safe to Grow (2011) & Model Safeguarding Policy and Procedures (2017); Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018): (DCFS 2018).

Who this policy applies to

This policy is approved and endorsed by the Leadership and applies to:

all those who attend our church
our trustees and volunteers
organisations who hire our building with the agreement to operate under the church safeguarding policy

Children and parents/carers will be informed of this policy and our procedures.

The term ‘children’ refers to those under the age of 18 years.

Duty of care and confidentiality

We have a duty of care to all beneficiaries of the church, whether adults or children. We will maintain confidentiality at all times, except in circumstances where to do so would place the individual or another individual at risk of harm.

Preventing abuse

The church will appoint Safeguarding and Deputy Safeguarding Coordinator(s) for safeguarding children and adults. A job description is attached here, The Role of a Church Safeguarding Coordinator.

Activities will be organised in accordance with good practice guidelines so as to promote a safe environment and healthy relationships, whilst minimising opportunities for harm, misunderstanding or false accusation. For each event, risk assessments will be carried out, appropriate consent forms will be used (for children’s activities), appropriate records will be kept and adequate insurance will be in place.

Ratios

When working with groups of children or young people, it is important that the level of supervision is appropriate to their age group and their needs, which may be very specific. In general, younger children need to be more closely supervised and may require a higher adult to child ratio. If the group is mixed gender, the supervising staff should also include both male and female workers wherever possible.

The NSPCC recommends the following adult to child ratios for voluntary organisations:

Aged 0 - 2 years: 1 adult to 3 children.
Aged 2 - 3 years: 1 adult to 4 children.
Aged 4 - 8 years: 1 adult to 6 children.
Aged 9 - 12 years: 1 adult to 8 children.
Aged 13 - 18 years: 1 adult to 10 children.

When deciding on the number of adults required, it is important to bear in mind that these ratios are guidelines only: in certain situations it will be necessary to have a higher number of adults than the recommendations suggest. If, for instance, the children or young people have specific support needs, or a risk assessment identifies behaviour as a potential issue for the group or event, the number of supervising adults will need to be higher.

It may not always be possible to adhere to these recommended ratios. However, every effort should be made to achieve the best level of supervision of children at all times.

Safer Recruitment

We are committed to safer recruitment and selection of all volunteers and will ensure that these procedures are followed, which include:

asking applicants to complete an application form
providing workers with job descriptions and person specifications
completion of self declaration forms
obtaining Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) / Protecting Vulnerable Groups scheme (PVG) checks wherever legally entitled to do so
taking up two references (not from family members)
interviewing candidates

Safeguarding training will be provided and workers will be given support and supervision in their role.

All trustees and workers will work within a code of conduct and understand that there may be action taken if this code is not followed. The code for workers is attached here, Code of Conduct for Working with Children or Young People

If we become aware of someone within our congregation known to have harmed children or adults in the past we will co-operate with them and the relevant statutory authorities to put in place a plan to minimise the risk of harm to children and adults.

Organisations wishing to hire our building for activities with children or adults must confirm in writing that they will follow the principles of this safeguarding policy as a condition of the letting agreement. If they have their own safeguarding policy, they will be asked to provide a copy. If they do not have their own safeguarding policy, the church will encourage them to adopt one before agreeing to the hire, or may agree that they can follow the church safeguarding policy and procedures.

What are we protecting people from?

The definitions of abuse differ between children and adults. Please see What is Abuse and Neglect of Children? for the definitions relating to children and What is Abuse of Adults at Risk? for those relating to adults.

How to recognise abuse

It is important to be aware of the possible signs and symptoms of abuse. Some signs could be indicators of a number of different categories of abuse.

Please see Signs of Possible Abuse in Children for those relating to children and Signs of Possible Abuse in Adults for those relating to adults at risk.

It is essential to note that these are only indicators of possible abuse. There may be other, innocent, reasons for these signs and/or behaviour. They will, however, be a guide to assist in assessing whether abuse of one form or another is a possible explanation for a child or adult's behaviour.

What to do if there is a disclosure or allegation of abuse

If a child, young person or adult makes a disclosure that they are being abused and / or an allegation of abuse against someone, it is important that the person being told:

stays calm and listens carefully
reassures them that they have done the right thing in telling
does not investigate or ask leading questions
explains that they will need to tell someone else if anyone is at risk of harm, in order to help them
does not promise to keep secret what they have been told
informs the church Safeguarding Coordinator as soon as possible (if they are implicated in the allegation, informs the Deputy Safeguarding Officer)
makes a written record of the allegation, disclosure or incident and signs and dates this record. This should be given to the church Safeguarding Coordinator and stored securely in a locked filing cabinet. A template is attached as the Safeguarding Incident Recording Form.

Procedure in the event of a concern of abuse

If there is an immediate threat of harm, the Police should be contacted without delay.

Where it is judged that there is no immediate threat of harm, the following will occur:

The concern should be discussed with the church Safeguarding Coordinator and a decision made as to whether the concern warrants a referral to the statutory authorities.
A confidential record will be made of the conversation and the circumstances surrounding it using the template (Safeguarding Incident Recording Form). This record will be kept securely and a copy passed to statutory authorities if a referral is made.
The person about whom the allegation is made must not be informed by anyone in the church if it is judged that to do so could place a child or adult at increased risk. If the statutory authorities are involved, they should be consulted beforehand.

If someone in the church is alleged or known to have harmed children or adults

Contact Thirty:eight so that they can offer advice and support, and we will contact the relevant statutory authority.

For concerns relating to adults, Adult Social Care will be contacted.

Review

The Leadership will review this policy annually, amending and updating it as required, and informing the Annual Church Meeting that this has been done.

Key Contacts: Sources of advice and support

The church Safeguarding Coordinator is the person to whom all concerns or allegations should be addressed:

Name: James Stafford

Telephone No:

Email:

In the absence of the Safeguarding Coordinator, the Deputy Safeguarding Coordinator can be contacted:

Name: David Stubbings

Telephone No:

Thirtyone:eight - 24 hour helpline: 0303 003 1111

Statutory contact in the case of a child or adult at risk

Onecall is the enquiry and referral number for adult social care, children’s services and community health enquiries and referrals in Northumberland. You can also use Onecall to make children and adults safeguarding referrals. 24 hour phone line: 01670 536 400
Email: onecall@northumbria-healthcare.nhs.uk Please note out of office hours are for emergency referrals only and if emailing outside of office hours please be aware that this will be dealt with the next working day.
Northumberland LADO: Adam Hall
- Tel: 01670 623979
- Email: LADO@northumberland.gov.uk
- or Adam.hall01@northumberland.gov.uk

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