Brief notes of discussions at this drop-in session are:
- One participant had run the online Domestic Abuse training with her parish. They trained over 20 people in the session. It stimulated excellent discussion and she felt it was a very rewarding way of doing the training.
- All PSOs should have a DBS and leadership training. However, we would like to prioritise completing the PSO induction training as this is very helpful for the role of PSO.
- The Update Service can be useful. It is free for volunteers and means that a new DBS is not needed after three years. It is the responsibility of the applicant to sign up to it, and this must be done within 30 days of the original certificate being issued (not received). To do an update service check, the recruiter/evidence checker should see proof of photo ID (driving licence or passport) and send a copy of this and the original DBS certificate along with a permission to access the update service form into the safeguarding inbox.
The update service can also be used for people who have signed up to it from other roles, as long as the role is similar (teacher on certificate and Sunday School leader on the church) and the workforce is the same (adult, child or adult and child). There is more information on the safeguarding website.
The update service can also be used for paid roles, but there is a charge of £13/year and the diocese does not cover this cost.
Note: We cannot use the update service for clergy or Licenced Lay Ministers. - Can we use DBS from other settings? No. Unless a role meets the criteria for an update service check and the applicant has subscribed, then a new DBS needs to be requested.
- Is it usual to have no concerns raised? If a parish has activities such youth work, drop-ins, foodbanks etc. then that would be very unusual. If this is the case then it would be good to have conversations with all staff to make sure they are aware of how to recognise a concern and what they should be raising. Similarly, it is important that those who offer prayer ministry know what to report.
- Safeguarding Sunday is a good way of raising awareness of safeguarding in the parish. Safeguarding Sunday this year is November 17, but this can be done any Sunday in the year, or several times over the year. Information and resources are available on the Safeguarding Sunday web pages.
- If someone who is mentally unwell is causing difficulties with others, it also important to support anyone else who is affected.
- Always come into the Diocesan Safeguarding Team with any questions on anything at all that is safeguarding related.
- Can we use safeguarding from a work setting? We ask that people who have done safeguarding training in their work setting take the Church of England safeguarding training as this training is from a church perspective, which can be very different to a work setting.
- If space is an issue for posters, the priority should be to display the information about how to contact the PSO, other agencies and the Diocese, covered by the Safer Churches Poster.
- There was a request for the parish self audit for 2023. This should be completed by everyone not yet working at level 3 of the parish safeguarding dashboards.
Parishes that are working at level 3 of the dashboards should just complete the Safeguarding Action Plan and Confidential Data Sheet.