Quaker Life Network Safeguarding Cluster

 Safeguarding support – Ministry & Outreach team

We now have a new telephone number for all safeguarding contact:

or email: safe@quaker.org.uk

Safeguarding training

What are your area meeting's practices in training volunteers?

Guidance suggests that area meetings should appoint a safeguarding coordinator, and many appoint a deputy. It is also good practice to have a trustee with responsibility for safeguarding. Quaker Life's current guidance is that Friends with area meeting responsibility for safeguarding should have some role-specific training.

• Does your area meeting provide training for its co-ordinator, deputy and lead trustee?
• Does your area meeting also offer safeguarding training to those Friends who work with children, young people and vulnerable adults, whether in regulated activity or not?
• Are Friends with eldership and oversight responsibility offered any training?
• Are Friends serving on nominations committee's aware of the implication of making appointments and what the training needs of role-holders are?

Friends with safeguarding responsibility might form a rota of meeting visits to offer guidance and training to other role-holders whose activities bring them into contact with children, young people or vulnerable adults.

We heard recently of one area meeting holding a very successful training session. It was run by Thirtyone:eight (formerly CCPAS) at a meeting house, with input from the area meeting safeguarding co-ordinator. Each local meeting was encouraged to send two or three Friends, making around 20 Friends. Thirtyone:eight publicised it to other churches, with around 45 people attending in all. This proved to be a useful way of having expert training, sensitive to Quaker approaches, on Quaker premises.

Model documents

Thank you to everyone who sent in their safeguarding policies which have been written or revised recently. Jonathan Carmichael, our Simpler Meetings Project Manager, is part way through compiling a revised model policy, using some very helpful wording from these examples, and with help from Thirtyone:eight. He is aiming to have drafts available by the end of January. If you would like to contribute comments on these as they are developed, please let Jonathan know, jonathanc@quaker.org.uk.

If there are documents you would like to have available, do ask, as you are probably not alone.  And if you have recently updated your policy or procedures, please do send them to Jonathan. 

Documents on QGroup Safe

The store of Quaker safeguarding documents at https://groups.quaker.org.uk/groups/safe/, has recently been weeded, and given some clearer structure. Once the new model documents are complete, you will find them there, and some others will be taken down.

New Safeguarding pages on BYM website

We have added two new pages to the BYM website.  The BYM's main Safeguarding page now links all the safeguarding pages together, making them easier to find. Another focuses on someone who has a concern about abuse, and explains who they can talk to.  We have also refreshed the Safeguarding Co-Ordinator page.  Please send any feedback on these pages to jonathanc@quaker.org.uk .

AM safeguarding budget

Does your area meeting have a budget for safeguarding? There are costs associated with safeguarding that trustees should be aware of when budget setting. Some examples of things to consider are:

• annual membership to Thirtyone:eight, £120
• training - for the safeguarding coordinator and for role-holders in local meetings
• contingency funding in case 'paid for' support is required from an outside agency
• funding for administration to support role-holders
• secure archiving facilities

An update on the safeguarding team at Friends House

Several staff at Friends House take on some safeguarding responsibilities as part of our other responsibilities.

Support for meetings

In the Ministry and Outreach Team, a member of staff helps support our meetings. Gill Sewell did a great job with this support but left Friends House at the end of October. While we are making new arrangements, the Ministry and Outreach team continue to provide this support where possible. We strongly advise Meetings in any case that 'Thirtyone:eight' (formerly called CCPAS) is your best starting point. They are the experts who can help with legal and technical advice for safeguarding. If after speaking to 'thirtyone:eight' you believe it would be helpful to get some specific Quaker-focussed advice then of course get in touch.

Contact details:

Thirtyone:eight offers a wide range of advice and expertise (telephone helpline 0303 003 11 11 or by email info@thirtyoneeight.org) at times of need (all advice is confirmed in writing). There is a members-only area of their website with up-to-date information including an online manual about best practice.

Friends House safeguarding telephone number 020 7663 1103 or safe@quaker.org.uk. Please note that we are unable to give advice or urgent help - Thirtyone:eight can help in those cases. Our help is limited to support on the Quaker context for safeguarding, support with being a safeguarding co-ordinator, further documents, frequent questions, and pastoral support for role-holders.

Resources to support meetings

We provide a range of resources and templates to support meetings. They can be found in the QGroup or resource bank. At Friends House, Jonathan Carmichael, our Simpler Meetings Project Manager, (020 7663 1066 or jonathanc@quaker.org.uk) is currently improving these resources (see below).

Criminal records checking

One element of providing a safer environment for those who are at risk of abuse (such as children and young people in our children's meetings) is to ask for criminal record checks for eligible roles. At Quakers we use Due Diligence Checking (DDC) to provide this service for us. Contact DDC on 0845 644 3298 or contact@ddc.uk.net. A member of staff at Friends House can help if DDC are unable to provide the support you need: Neil Jarvis 020 7663 1192 or safe@quaker.org.uk. You may find the FAQ answers your question - it's in the resource bank here: https://groups.quaker.org.uk/groups/safe/

DBS/PVG update from Neil

Useful resources

Some Friends tell me they are finding the two DBS resources on the QGroup helpful. One is a 'Frequently Asked Questions' which attempts to answer some of the common difficulties all of us have with DBS and PVG. For instance, what's the difference between regulated and unregulated activity? Should we check everyone who's supporting our children's meetings? Should we start checking our Overseers?

The other document is an application flowchart showing the very broad process for DBS (on one side) and PVG (on the other) - what the main steps are for checks through DDC (Due Diligence Checking - our DBS/PVG administrator).

New DBS 'Basic Checks'

You may know that for DBS in England and Wales there are different levels of check. For our meetings and role holders we either have an 'Enhanced Check' (where there is unregulated activity) or 'Enhanced Check with Barred Lists' (where there is regulated activity). DBS also provides a 'Standard Check', a lower level check, and now a 'Basic Check'. One advantage of the Basic Check is that you can apply directly to DBS without going through another organisation (like DDC). However, both the Standard Check and Basic Check are not relevant to eligible role holders like those supporting our children's meetings. So, for the time being, please carry on applying for enhanced checks through DDC.

Is your Meeting's verifier changing next year?

We use DDC for administering our criminal record checks. You may be changing responsibility for your verifier at the start of the new year - please let 'updates@quaker.org.uk' know. (If this role is performed by your clerk and you are changing clerk, please still let 'updates' know that your new clerk will also be your 'verifier'.) My colleagues who check the 'updates' email address maintain the central BYM database of role holders and once a month they will let DDC know of any changes.