The links below provide guidance, information, and support from statutory authorities and expert organisations.

They are designed to help you:

• Understand safeguarding responsibilities
• Access advice and support for concerns or disclosures
• Stay up to date with national safeguarding standards and legislation
• Learn from best practice across sectors

Please note that these external sites are independently managed. If you need to report a concern or seek advice about a specific safeguarding issue, always follow the guidance provided by your local diocese, religious life group (RLG), or statutory authorities.

Catholic Organisations

Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency
The Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA) was set up in November 2020 by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales in response to the recommendations of an independent review of the Catholic Church’s safeguarding (sometimes called the Elliott Report). It is an independent agency with powers to inspect and review safeguarding standards and to share what it finds.

Religious Life Safeguarding Service (RLSS)
The Religious Life Safeguarding Service (RLSS) is an independent team of safeguarding professionals offering safeguarding services to the Religious of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

Conference of Religious
The Conference of Religious in England and Wales exists for the benefit of all religious in these countries. Its formal membership however, is limited to the Major Superiors of each institute or in the case of his or her temporary absence, to an officially appointed delegate.

Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors
The Commission is a body of experts whose specific task is to propose initiatives to protect minors and vulnerable persons from sexual abuse, as well as initiatives throughout the Church to assist those impacted by abuse and promote local responsibility in safeguarding in churches around the world, uniting their prevention efforts to those of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family of London
The Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Family of London serves the UK’s Ukrainian Catholics of the Byzantine rite who number approximately 13,500. There are currently 16 priests serving 15 parishes and 20 mission points.

Syro-Malabar Eparchy of Great Britain
The Syro-Malabar Eparchy of Great Britain provides for the faithful of the Syro-Malabar Rite resident in the UK. Oversight is provided by the Bishop, Mar Joseph Srampickal.

Survivor resources

Safe Spaces
Safe Spaces is a free and independent support service, providing a confidential, personal and safe space for anyone who has been abused through their relationship with either the Church of England or the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC)
The National Association for People Abused in Childhood is a dedicated national support service for adult survivors of all forms of childhood abuse. Its mission is to provide specialist, confidential support that empowers survivors to heal and thrive.

The Survivors Trust
The Survivors Trust is a national membership organisation supporting specialist rape and sexual abuse services in the voluntary sector. It has over 120 member organisations throughout the UK and Ireland providing specialist support services to over 100,000 survivors each year.

We Are Survivors
We Are Survivors is a survivor focused voluntary sector organisation that aims to create and facilitate safe spaces for male survivors of sexual abuse, rape and sexual exploitation across Greater Manchester providing access to quality assured support.

Other useful organisations and groups

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) helps employers make safer recruitment decisions each year by processing and issuing DBS checks for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The check contains details of convictions and conditional cautions that are considered to be unspent under the terms of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974.

Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA)
IICSA was a statutory inquiry for England and Wales, established in 2015 under the Inquiries Act 2005. Its remit was wide-ranging, but as a statutory inquiry it had the unique authority to compel witnesses and request any material necessary to investigate where institutions failed to protect children in their care. It built the case for change and improvements in how institutions must protect children.

Christian Forum for Safeguarding (CFS)
The Christian Forum for Safeguarding (CFS) is a group made up of the primary and national-level Safeguarding Leads from the majority of mainstream Christian denominations, movements and networks across the UK.

National Working Group Spiritual and Ritual Abuse
In 2011 the National Working Group against Spiritual and Ritual Abuse, (NWG SARA), originally called ‘child abuse linked to faith or belief’, was created by Parliament as a way to bring organisations together to share best practise and learning along with safeguarding children and adults from this form of abuse. The NWG now includes almost seventy national organisations from the UK and abroad, all working together to create greater awareness of this abuse.

Grief to Grace
Grief to Grace is a specialised five-day programme of spiritual and psychological healing for anyone who has suffered sexual, physical, emotional or spiritual abuse in childhood, adolescence or adulthood, including those who are the victims of rape, incest or abuse by a member of the clergy.

Hydrant Programme
The Hydrant Programme was established in August 2022. It was born out of Operation Hydrant, which was formed in June 2014 to deliver the national policing response, oversight, and coordination of non-recent child sexual abuse investigations concerning persons of public prominence, or in relation to those offences which took place within institutional settings.

Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)
SCIE is a not-for-profit independent social care charity that collaborates and innovates in social care to improve people’s lives. It provides consultancy, expert training, extensive resources and information, and evidence-based insights.

LimeCulture
A leading UK-based sexual violence and safeguarding training and consultancy organisation, that equips professionals and organisations with the knowledge and tools to prevent, respond to, and address sexual violence, harassment, and abuse.

Information

Clare’s Law
Clare’s Law gives any member of the public the right to ask the police whether their partner may pose a risk to them. It also allows inquiries about the partner of a close friend or family member. This scheme arose from a landmark case and is commonly referred to as ‘Clare’s Law.’

Sarah’s Law (Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme – CSODS)
Sarah’s Law allows you to formally ask the police whether someone who has contact with a child has a record for child sexual offences or poses a risk to the child for any other reason. It is not legislation, but a guidance scheme using existing police powers to share information about potential risks to children. It is important to note that you must request information about a specific person, and a specific child or children they spent time with, and you cannot request general information about child sex offenders.

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