We are committed to excellence in safeguarding practice
The Diocese and Church of England are committed to safely recruiting and supporting all workers and volunteers. The Church of England’s Safer Recruitment and People Management Guidance (see section below for links to each section of the guidance) must be followed for all new appointments for paid and volunteers working with children, young people and/or vulnerable adults. For roles which support ministry and offer a profile in the church please see the relevant section for recruitment guidance.
Safer Recruitment and People Management Guidance – comprises of 16 sections, each of which includes
- Requirements – The minimum standards that everyone must adhere too
- Good practice advice – Information about why the requirements must be met, and how to meet them to a good level
- Toolkit – Templates and resources that can be used
Click here to view the Church of England Safer Recruitment and People Management Guidance.
Links to template documents for use when completing the safer recruitment process:
- Volunteer role description
- Person Specification Template
- Application form template
- Confidential declaration form (as per Diocese guidelines this should be completed by anyone taking on a volunteer or paid role in the church)
- Privacy Notice (to be given to the person completing a confidential declaration form, this will need personalising for your church and information added in the sections highlighted in yellow)
- Example Interview Questions
- Reference request template
- Letter of appointment template
- Example volunteer agreement
- Induction Checklist
- Sample Volunteer Support Meeting Agenda
- Recruitment, DBS and training record keeping template
- Code of Safer Working Practice
Please remember if someone completes a confidential declaration form and answers yes to any of the questions asked then you must contact the Safeguarding team for advice before proceeding any further with the recruitment process.
Roles which support ministry and offer a profile within the church eg: welcomers, homegroup leaders, tea and coffee servers
These roles still require a form of safer recruitment. The Diocesan Safeguarding Team’s advice, in line with the House of Bishops safeguarding policies is that all such roles should follow a basic 4-step safer recruitment process:
- A short role description is given to the volunteer
- The volunteer completes a confidential declaration form which is reviewed by the Parish Safeguarding Officer and the privacy notice to accompany. Both these documents can be downloaded from the following page of the Diocese Web Site – Safer recruitment for parishes and churches
- The volunteer commits to undertaking basic online safeguarding training which can be accessed via the Church of England Safeguarding Training Portal – Safeguarding Training Portal (cofeportal.org)
- The volunteer is given a code of safer working practice – available here
NO PERSON SHOULD COMMENCE IN ANY ROLE UNTIL THE APPROPRIATE SAFER RECRUITMENT PROCESSES HAVE BEEN COMPLETED AND THEY HAVE ALSO COMPLETED BASIC ONLINE SAFEGUARDING TRAINING
New Activities
If your church is setting up a new activity then please ensure you have covered the following before the activity commences:
- Your church insurance is aware you will be running the activity
- The activity has been authorised by the PCC and recorded in the minutes
- All volunteers/paid workers must complete the safer recruitment process appropriate to their role
- An activity risk assessment should be completed and reviewed regularly for each activity which is associated with children, young people and/or vulnerable adults which are run in the name of the church – you can download this here
Other useful template documents
- Model Activity Risk Assessment
- Model Personal Risk Assessment tool
- Model Registration form – Activities and Trips for children, young people, adults, church groups, day visits, camps, residential holidays
- Model Risk Assessment Checklist for Home Visiting
- Model Volunteer Driver Agreement when undertaking voluntary driver transport for children and vulnerable adults in private cars on behalf of the PCC/Church
- Model Recording Safeguarding Concerns Form
- Model Passenger Consent Form when being transported in private cars on behalf of the PCC
- Model Release Form, Photography and Privacy Notice
- Model safeguarding provision that can be attached to any hire of church premises agreement
- A3 Safer Church Poster
Recruitment of Ex-Offenders
Having a criminal record will not necessarily bar you from working with us. But we do follow strict guidelines and procedures for the recruitment of ex-offenders which we expect all parishes to follow – read our policy here
Recruitment of Overseas Applicants
Overseas applicants must complete the Church of England Safer Recruitment Process & Right to Works Checks before commencing their role. For information relating to DBS checks for overseas volunteers please see the following page of the government guidelines
Recruitment for Parish Safeguarding Officers
All new appointments to the role of Parish Safeguarding Officer should complete the following Safer Recruitment Process:
- Provide them with the role description which they should read and understand. For details of the tasks involved in the role of the PSO please read the PSO’s role description.
- Complete a confidential declaration form
- Complete an application form and provide two references which should be requested and verified
- If eligible to obtain an enhanced DBS check, see the following guidance – DBS checks for Parish Safeguarding Officers to help you decide if your PSO is eligible for a DBS check.
- Have their appointment approved by PCC – this should be recorded in the minutes
Recruitment for PCC Trustees
As PCC trustee are elected to their role they must once elected to role complete a Trustee Eligibility Fit and Propers Persons Eligibility and the Charity Commission recommends that if the governing body sponsors in its own name work with children, young people and vulnerable adults the trustees always obtain an enhanced without barring dbs check for child and adult workforce. They must then complete the relevant level of safeguarding training which for PCC trustees is Basic, Foundation and Raising Awareness of Domestic Abuse which can all be completed online via the Church of England Safeguarding Training Portal – https://safeguardingtraining.cofeportal.org/. The Diocese does offer some face to face sessions of these safeguarding trainings for details please contact Karen Williams or Debbie Doran.
For further information or queries relating to Safer Recruitment contact Debbie Doran, Safeguarding Support, tel 0151 705 2124 any Tuesday or Wednesday or email: deborah.doran@dioceseofliverpool.kinsta.cloud or the Safeguarding team via email: safeguarding.teams@liverpool.anglican.org
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