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In this safeguarding newsletter:
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 Welcome
Good news in that I am pleased to introduce Angela Colman to the safeguarding team. She brings a wealth of safeguarding experience to the diocese and has hit the ground running since her appointment.
Angela said:
 "I am delighted to be part of the team and build on the continued good work and practice improvement in responding well to safeguarding concerns and keep our worshipping communities safe. I am pleased to be able to bring my safeguarding experience having worked with churches and voluntary organisations for over 30 years as well my experience managing projects for local authorities, Barnardo’s, Spurgeon’s and 4Children and as an inspector. I also worked with both offenders and survivors of many forms of abuse.
I recognise the challenges of members of clergy and parish safeguarding officers and will continue to meet and support them with their safeguarding arrangements and commitment to a safer church.
It’s good to be part of a diocese making a positive difference. Willesden is my area of responsibility, so I look forward to getting out and about more”.
Martin Goodwin
Head of Safeguarding
safeguarding.london.anglican.org
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Future of Safeguarding Report
Following the publication of the Alexis Jay Report on the future of safeguarding in the Church of England, the Wilkinson/Jay Response Group have launched an initial survey to gather feedback from across the Church on the Jay Report. This is the first of the fieldwork activities and will be followed by further qualitative fieldwork (interviews, focus groups, workshops) in coming weeks. You are warmly invited to complete this survey, which should take around 15 minutes, as it will help the response group to test initial reactions to the recommendations.
You can complete the Wilkinson/Jay Group Initial Survey here; it will close at 5pm on Thursday 18 April. Please do pass the survey link onto anyone else who may wish to complete it.
The Terms of Reference for the Response Group have also been updated, following helpful feedback and to add names of Response Group members.
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National Safeguarding Standards
These have been developed over the last three years as a framework to enable the Church to understand the quality and, most importantly, the impact of its safeguarding activities. All activities, at all levels across the Church, will relate to at least one of the five Standards:
- Culture, Leadership and Capacity
- Prevention
- Recognising, Assessing and Managing Risk
- Victims and Survivors
- Learning, Supervision and Support
They will therefore enable everyone to connect and integrate activities, leading to a safer church. You can read more about the National Safeguarding Standards on the Church of England website. The Standards are accompanied by some very helpful notes and resources to help parishes and Dioceses to better understand where we are with safeguarding.
Each Standard contains:
- A statement of the Standard itself.
- An explanation of why it is important.
- A series of 'What Good Looks Like' Indicators - detailed criteria showing how well a Standard is being achieved.
- Details of relevant House of Bishops' Guidance and Code, training, resources and tools.
It is not expected that everyone will be able to meet every indicator overnight. The Standards set out a direction of travel and will enable us to identify both strengths and areas for development, which will in turn inform strategic planning of our safeguarding.
We are working on some more detailed information to send out on this in the next few weeks.
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Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO) training and development
The monthly drop-ins on ZOOM for parish safeguarding officers continue to be well attended with very positive feedback. The upcoming drop-in sessions are listed under parish resources on the safeguarding web pages.
The next couple of sessions will be on:
- Thursday 2nd May, 1900-1930
- Friday 7th June, 1200-1300
Bullet point notes of new questions raised in the sessions can be found on the current safeguarding webpages under safeguarding drop-in sessions.
Area DSAs are also running a series of training events to help support PSOs in their role. Please do attend one of these, the feedback is very positive from those who are new in post and those who are more established. You can ask your area DSA when the next sessions in your area are via the duty inbox.
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Safeguarding Dashboards
This helpful resource is in active uses by the majority of parishes now and the feedback continues to be excellent with many examples such as this:
"I have a been safe guarding officer ( in various forms) for 10 years now and was getting to the stage of saying enough is enough and looking for someone else to take over but actually if I can get this dashboard working I think I can stay on for a few more years.
It’s a great tool for showing the other PCC members all the things they need to be mindful of ( and it’s not just me banging on about things)
Also our vicar is great and it keeps him up to date too."
If you have any questions about them, please continue to contact Sara Black.
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Good News Stories
Father Ian Booth has been championing an initiative by Haringey Council to end violence against women and girls in the area and amongst his Deanery colleagues. You can read more about in this presentation. in the area and amongst his Deanery colleagues. St Michael’s Wood Green has been identified as a safe haven for those who want to disclose domestic abuse.
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Rev Graham Hunter has been developing the support and response offered at St John's Hoxton in cases of domestic abuse and raise awareness. He has shared the Domestic Abuse poster he created for use on noticeboards.
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Safeguarding Hubs
Parishes in the Diocese of London were among the first in the country to be offered a Safeguarding Hub to help you with safer recruitment and people management, but are not a requirement. You can watch a 3-minute video or download a brochure here.
If you are a parish safeguarding dashboards owner at level 2 or 3, your Safeguarding Hub is available to you and will appear on your dashboard.
The Hubs work very similarly to the Dashboards and there is a development to enable the Hubs and Dashboards to communicate with each other directly. The are set up in three stages:
- Stage 1 - DBS and training records
- Stage 2 - Role descriptions and person specifications
- Stage 3 - Safer recruitment
There is a video and more information about the safeguarding hubs here. |
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We welcome Jill Webb and her team as our new training provider. She is an experienced trainer and has worked with several other Dioceses.
31:8 will continue to offer out of hours support for safeguarding concerns and your DBS checks.
We now use the Church of England portal to administer our safeguarding Leadership training, the same place that you can take the Basic and Foundation training. The workbooks, links to the training, reflections and certificates will be accessed via your personal account on this portal.
Instructions on how to book onto a Leadership course can be found on the current safeguarding web pages. These courses continue to be supported by a Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor (DSA) for additional support in the local context. They do get booked up quickly so please book as far in advance as possible. If you are not sure when your Leadership training expires, please ask your area office of contact us.
All safeguarding training should be taken every three years at the highest level required for those with applicable roles.
This means that if someone is required to do Leadership level training, they do not need to refresh their Basic or Foundation training, if they just require Foundation training then they do not need to renew their Basic training etc.
Although it is only guidance, we do suggest that everyone completes at least Basic safeguarding training.
We do understand that sometimes you are unable to attend a course you have booked on to, but please can we ask that you let us know if you are not able to attend a course so that we can offer your place to someone else.
To check which level of training you're required to complete, please the appendixes in the Safeguarding and Learning Development Framework or the training pages on our website.
If you are unsure of what level of training you require or have any questions please contact safeguarding.training@london.anglican.org
National Training are creating a virtual safeguarding library. Please email safeguarding.training@london.anglican.org if you have any suggestions.
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The Raising Awareness of Domestic Abuse course is available on the Church of England training portal.
It is a specialist course exploring the nature and dynamics of domestic abuse, with a focus on church settings. Everyone holding any pastoral role within the Church should take this course, especially:
- Anyone holding the Bishop’s licence, commission, authorisation, or permission (clergy, PtO, Readers, LLMs)
- Churchwardens
- Lay Chapter Members.
- Pastoral Visitors
- PCC Members
- Safeguarding Officers
The course is online and takes around 1 1/2 to 2 hours to complete.
Everyone involved in the recruitment process is also required to complete the Church of England's online Safer Recruitment and People Management course. This is a free course, but participants will need to register for an account.
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The Team
Each episcopal area now has a dedicated Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor (DSA):
- Jo Bingham - Stepney
- Michelle Burns - Edmonton
- Claire Meaney - Two Cities
- Angela Colman - Willesden
- Caryn Weber - Kensington
We also have a duty rota where a different DSA may respond initially, but your allocated area DSA will always be updated and is likely to take up any query that is not quickly resolved.
In addition to our area safeguarding advisors, the team is supported by:
- Susie Barber, Administrator
- Sara Black, Safer Churches Programme Manager
- Vicki Boxall - Casework Supervisor
- Lee Elliott - additional safeguarding advisor support and cover
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Please do continue to share your thoughts on anything you would like to see in coming editions so that we can make this monthly newsletter a truly valuable resource.
We would love to include short stories from parishes where safeguarding has gone well, or where an issue has resulted in learning you would like to share.
We would also like to hear from you with suggestions of anything you would like us to cover in a future newsletter, or any feedback you have generally.
Please send in any contributions for future newsletters.
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 Contacting the Diocesan Safeguarding Team
If you have a concern about a child or adult at risk of harm or abuse, please contact us in one of the following ways:
- Email the Safeguarding Team at safeguarding@london.anglican.org
- Safeguarding Helpline: 020 7932 1224
- Complete a Concern Form and return it to safeguarding@london.anglican.org.
If you are not sure whether a concern should be taken forward, please make contact with the duty Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor (DSA) or your area DSA for advice and guidance using the contact details above.
Note: this mailbox is only monitored Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
Concerns between 5pm and midnight Monday to Friday, or between 9am and midnight on weekends and bank holidays can be directed to 31:8 via their helpline: 0303 003 1111. option 2.
If you have immediate concerns about someone’s safety, please contact the police or your local authority Children or Adult Social Care Services.
General enquiries - safeguarding@london.anglican.org or 020 7932 1224
Training enquiries - safeguarding.training@london.anglican.org or 020 7932 1224
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Subscribe to this newsletter
We are keen to ensure that this newsletter reaches everyone who would like to receive it. If you would like to subscribe to this monthly newsletter, please do so here or from the Homepage of the safeguarding website. You can unsubscribe at any time.
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