Safeguarding

Parish of St Peter Hersham - our Safeguarding Policy Statement

At the PCC meeting held on the 28th June 2017 the PCC of St Peter Hersham adopted the Church of England "Promoting a Safer Church" Policy Statement, national policies and Practice Guidance of the House of Bishops and supporting diocesan safeguarding protocols.

"Promoting a Safer Church" sets out the Church of England's commitment to making the church a safer place for all.

The Policies and Practice Guidance applies to all Church bodies and officers. Under new legislation all authorized clergy, bishops, archdeacons, licensed readers and lay workers, churchwardens and PCCs must have due regard to safeguarding guidance issued by the House of Bishops.

As a PCC we are committed to the safeguarding, support, nurture and protection of all in our church community.

Safeguarding means the action the Church takes to promote a safer culture. This means we will promote the welfare of children, young people and adults, work to prevent abuse from occurring, seek to protect those that are at risk of being abused and respond well to those that have been abused. We will take care to identify where a person may present a risk to others, and offer support to them whilst taking steps to mitigate such risks.

We recognise that everyone associated with the church and coming into contact with children, young people and adults, has a role to play and safeguarding. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the whole church community.

We will carefully select and train ordained and lay ministers, volunteers and paid workers with children young people and/or vunerable adults using the Criminal Records Bureau, amongst other tools, to check the background of each person.

We will respond without delay to every safeguarding concern or allegation.

We will co-operate fully with statutory agencies during any investigation concerning a member of the church community.

We will seek to offer informed pastoral care to any child or children, young person or adult who has suffered abuse.

We will care for and supervise any member of our church community known to have offended against a child.

We will review this policy annually and as part of this process will ensure that all our procedures, particularly in relation to the Criminal Record Bureau, are up to date. 

Our Parish Safeguarding Representative is Lynne Claire Watson – 01932 230300

If you would like to read Jonathan Andrew's sermon on Safeguarding given on 19th November 2017 please click.

If you would like to understand more about safeguarding, the Diocesan website provides a vast amount of information pertaining to many different safeguarding issues. Please take a look at the following links :-

          Promoting a Safer Church Policy Statement 2017

          Guildford Diocese Safeguarding and Inclusion

Please look at the Good Practice Guidelines for working with Children and Adults at Risk.

These guidelines have been produced by the Diocese of Guildford and are essential reading for all church volunteers