Last updated 28th June 2023

Welcome to our safeguarding pages

Safeguarding: Everyone's responsibility

Safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults is central to our mission and ministry and is integral in the Diocesan Vision, which asks us to consider how to make our church communities healthier.

It is everyone's responsibility.

These safeguarding pages guide all those in the Diocese of Blackburn on the part that they need to play to ensure the church is a safe environment where concerns are responded to and people can flourish.

You can navigate the safeguarding menu on the homepage to explore our other safeguarding pages or click the links below to go straight to particular pages ...

Other safeguarding pages for this Diocese

There is full support and guidance available on the rest of the pages that make up this safeguarding section of our website. 

These pages are listed below for quick access ...

• Overview
• Reporting a safeguarding concern
• Diocesan Safeguarding Team Contacts
• Parish Safeguarding Dashboard Tool
• Past Cases Review 2 Updates
• Past Cases Review 2: Resources/information
• Past Cases Review 2: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• Parish Safeguarding Toolkit
• Safeguarding Training Programme 2022
• Diocesan/national policies and guidance
• Safer recruitment and DBS checks
• Diocesan Safeguarding Audit and Action Plan
• Newsletters

By drawing in specialist support where needed and by working together in a transparent way, all those with safeguarding responsibility in parishes and the Diocese can help to create healthy Church communities which have a positive and transformative effect on our society.

All churches and faith communities are required to have in place arrangements which include:

• Procedures to identify, respond to and report concerns
• Codes of safer practice
• Safer recruitment procedures

Our policies will govern the work undertaken with children, young people and vulnerable adults who attend church or take part in activities on church premises (or that are organised by the church) within the parish.

Liability insurance in relation to such issues may be invalidated if such policy is not in place and being implemented.

Being clear about safeguarding support available

All parishes in The Church of England are required to make their local safeguarding arrangements clearly accessible via the home page of their parish website.

There should be an obvious link to further information, including contact details. 

For parishes using the A Church Near You (ACNY) website as their ONLY parish website the safeguarding contact link appears automatically. 

Parishes with their own separate website however must also make sure contact information is clearly available on the homepage as soon as possible, if it isn't there already. This is required, even if a parish also has a presence on ACNY. 

If you haven't done this already please do so as soon as possible. Suggested wording:

The parish of xxxxx is committed to the safeguarding of children, young people and adults. We follow the House of Bishops guidance and policies and we have our own Parish Safeguarding Officer(s), PSO(s) xxx add your own contact details here xxx. The Diocese of Blackburn's safeguarding pages contain vital links and information including contact details for the Diocesan Safeguarding Team (DST) who advise our PSOs. If you are concerned a child or adult has been harmed or may be at risk of harm please contact the DST. If you have immediate concerns about the safety of someone, please contact the police and your local authority Children or Adults Services.

For further guidance about ensuring prominency for your safeguarding information, alongside other parish obligations in relation to safeguarding, see the Parish Safeguarding Toolkit page here on our website.

You can also email the safeguarding team for more information about this via catherine.smith@blackburn.anglican.org and safeguarding@blackburn.anglican.org

Confidentiality Declaration

The Diocesan Safeguarding Team has a secure electronic system for retaining any safeguarding information we receive.  Access to the information is restricted to those in the team who are working on the concern and complies to our privacy commitment under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). We may, on occasions, share this information with statutory organisations to comply with our obligations under national legislation.   Where it is necessary for the safeguarding of children or vulnerable adults, we will share information with others involved in safeguarding within the church, but we will inform you of our intention to do so.  Further information can be obtained from the Safeguarding team upon request.

Ronnie Semley, October 2022