The criteria which indicate that this standard is being met include…

TS1: Training

The Church body will:

• Ensure that all clergy and religious who require it, including those in formation, have access to and avail themselves of nationally agreed safeguarding training to support their contribution to the Church body’s safeguarding practice.
• Require all overseas personnel, and those that are new to ministry, to have received training in the safeguarding standards and to have a good understanding of their content, prior to being involved in active ministry.
• Ensure that all lay employees and volunteers receive safeguarding training appropriate to their role, including specialist training for those with specific leadership or safeguarding responsibilities.
• Promote continuous improvement through regular review of the range, quality and impact of training provided.
• Produce a training needs analysis to facilitate the provision of training.
• Avail themselves of locally provided safeguarding training from relevant organisations in the area.
• Keep records of those who avail themselves of training opportunities and proactively engage with those who do not attend.

TS2: Support

The leadership of the Church body will:

• Prioritise the provision of effective safeguarding training.
• Maintain active oversight of its training provision to address any failures to meet its training requirements which may impact negatively on its practice.

The following represents evidence that would indicate compliance with this standard:

• The existence of a safeguarding training plan for the Church body, which has been updated and revised.
• A comprehensive training needs analysis for safeguarding for the Church body.
• Notes within the minutes of management and leadership meetings for the Church body, that the training needs are being tracked and discussed.
• An induction programme for new leaders and other key roles within the Church body.

< Standard Six

Standard Eight >

The post Standard Seven: Training and Support for Safeguarding appeared first on Catholic Safeguarding Council.

The criteria which indicate that this standard is being met include…

HRM1: Safer Recruitment

The Church body will:

• Ensure that all safer recruitment procedures have been completed and the results acted upon for all clergy, religious, lay and voluntary posts.
• Ensure that all visiting clergy and religious have received necessary vetting, including the receipt of a celebret and testimonial of suitability (when stipulated) prior to active ministry.
• Maintain up to date records of all postholders to ensure that all Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks are completed in a timely way.
• Ensure prompt and robust risk-based responses to blemished DBS, keeping accurate records of actions taken in response.

HRM2: Human Resource Management and Support

The Church body’s leadership will:

• Agree, publish and implement a safeguarding complaints policy, making it available to all who may wish to make use of it.
• Agree, publish and implement a whistle blowing policy, making it readily available to all eligible to use it.
• Maintain active oversight of all safer recruitment, complaints and whistle blowing processes to ensure compliance with policy expectations and learning from practice.

The following represents evidence that indicates that this standard is being met:

• Leadership of the Church body is regularly informed of any delays in completing screening checks for new personnel in safeguarding roles.
• Appropriate checks are made on all overseas personnel.
• Records are monitored by leadership to ensure that they are up to date.
• Training is provided to those involved in the supervision and management of offenders or those who are subject to a safeguarding plan.

< Standard Five

Standard Seven >

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The criteria which indicate that this standard is being met include…

Engaging and Caring (EC) 1

The Church body will:

• Respond to any disclosure of abuse with compassion and care, provide signposting, support and advice, and offer pastoral care tailored to the needs of the individual.
• Establish access to personnel with training relevant to specific needs, to deliver professional support when required.
• Collaborate with other organisations, both voluntary and statutory, who specialise in this area of work.
• Learn from the experience of those that are provided with a service, to confirm that it is meeting their needs.
• Reflect on any disclosures that it receives with a view to drawing learning from them.

EC2

The Leadership of the Church body will:

• Actively reflect upon their individual and organisational response to those who report having been harmed.
• Make themselves available to engage with those who report having been harmed in order to respond to their needs.
• Support development in their practice that is aimed at enhancing a compassionate and caring response.

The following represents evidence that would indicate compliance with this standard:

• Seeking training for all members who may receive a disclosure of abuse to help them respond in a compassionate and caring way.
• Signposting to other organisations that have appropriately trained personnel to respond to those that report that have been harmed.
• Commissioning reviews of their practice from the CSSA (Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency).
• Creating conversations with those that report that they have been harmed, either in groups or individually.
• Records that show that the experience of those that report that they have been harmed has been actively discussed and reflected upon within leadership and management meetings in the Church body.

< Standard Two

Standard Four >

The post Standard Three: Engaging with and Caring for those who report having been harmed appeared first on Catholic Safeguarding Council.

The criteria which indicate that this standard is being met include…

Communicating Safeguarding Message (CSM) 1

The Church body will:

• Have a written plan that describes how it will communicate its safeguarding messages, to whom, and in what manner.
• Regularly review its communication plan, taking account of developments in its practice.
• Link to other Church bodies and organisations to promote a safer environment within the Church and local community.

CSM2

The Church body’s leadership will:

• Actively engage with victims and survivors, volunteers, parents, and guardians, adults at risk and children and young people, when deciding how to communicate their safeguarding messages most effectively.
• Promote an understanding of their commitment to effective safeguarding amongst those that they serve, and to the wider public.
• Demonstrate that they own the safeguarding messages that they produce.

The following represents evidence that would indicate compliance with this standard.

• The existence of a written plan that details the Church body’s approach to communicating its safeguarding messages.
• Reviews of the communication plan and a timetable for planned revision.
• Links with local organisations, voluntary and statutory, that are present within the community.
• Reference to safeguarding messages in management and leadership meetings within the Church body.
• Existence of posters and other notices containing essential safeguarding information on open display in any premises that the Church body operates within.

< Standard One

Standard Three >

The post Standard Two: Communicating the Church’s Safeguarding Message appeared first on Catholic Safeguarding Council.

Following the recommendations in the Elliott review and IICSA, the CSSA produced eight standards. The eight standards lay out what CSSA expects in terms of level of safeguarding practice in church bodies such as dioceses and religious life groups. The CSSA’s role through their inspection process, is to ensure compliance with those standards.

The eight standards are:

The post National Safeguarding Standards appeared first on Catholic Safeguarding Council.