In February 2019, at the conclusion of the meeting in the Vatican on ‘The Protection of Minors in the Church’, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued guidance which states:

“It is essential that the community be advised that they have the duty and the right to report sexual misconduct to a contact person in the diocese or religious order. These contact details should be in the public domain … In every case, and for all the phases of dealing with cases, these two points should be followed at all times: (i) protocols established should be respected; (ii) civil or domestic laws should be obeyed.”

However, in May 2019, Pope Francis issued a papal law (Motu Proprio) which focussed specifically on crimes of sexual abuse. The papal law stated that where a priest or member of a religious institute has “notice of, or well-founded motives to believe” that child sexual abuse has been committed, that person “is obliged to report promptly” the matter to their bishop or religious superior. Cardinal Vincent Nichols said that:

“This is, in effect, the canonical establishment of a duty to report suspicions of abuse within the Church.”

There is a mandatory instruction to report, however there is room for professional judgement:

• We can decide NOT to report if the historical abuse is not linked to the Church and there is a solid rationale not to report (such as the accused person posing no risk to children or vulnerable adults). Always ensure this is recorded in a robust manner with all rationale behind decision making clearly recorded.
• We can report anonymously (so not reveal the name of the victim/survivor) even if historical abuse is linked to the Church.  As above, always ensure this is recorded in a robust manner with all rationale behind decision making clearly recorded.
• Mandatory reporting is only concerned with people directly associated with the Church (including lay) in a Church role (even voluntary) but not wider.

RLSS Safeguarding Guidelines state:

In accordance with article 19 of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter, “Vos Estis Lux Mundi”, 7 May 2019, it is the policy of the Catholic Church in England and Wales to report to the statutory authorities, all allegations of abuse made against those working in the name of the Church, regardless of whether the allegations or concerns relate to a person’s behaviour in relation to their role within the Church, or another setting. This policy must be applied in all situations where it is alleged, or there are reasonable grounds to believe, that a member of the Religious Community, lay persons, or associated volunteer or employee, has acted in one of the following ways:

• Has behaved in a way that has harmed or is likely to have caused harm to a child or a vulnerable adult. This would include any vulnerable adult irrespective of the cause of that vulnerability or whether the vulnerability is temporary or permanent.

• Has or is suspected to have committed a criminal offence against or related to a child or a vulnerable adult (including a vulnerable adult as indicated above).

• Has behaved towards a child or vulnerable adult in a way that indicates they may pose a risk of harm to children or vulnerable adults

• Has behaved in a way or made statements indicating that they may not be suitable to work with children or vulnerable adults.

• Has behaved in such a way that, by actions or omissions, their conduct has been intended to interfere with, prejudice, undermine or avoid a criminal, civil or canonical investigation, against any person associated with or a member of a contracting congregation.

It is also the policy of the Catholic Church in England and Wales to report to statutory authorities where a child or an adult is at immediate risk of harm, or there is concern that a child or adult is suffering or is likely to be suffering from significant harm, from somebody who does not hold a role within the Church. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Someone who is at serious risk of harm from self or others
• Someone who poses a serious risk of harm to someone else
• Concerned about a child or vulnerable adult at risk of harm from someone else
• Concerns over someone’s mental capacity

When the issue raised needs to be reported, the individual raising the issue must be informed that the information will not be kept confidential and that the details will be passed on to police and any other appropriate body/authority. Staff should be supportive of the individual making the disclosure but should not seek more details than necessary, for an initial statutory referral. If the referrer and/or victim/survivor wishes to remain anonymous this will be respected, except when it jeopardises the welfare of an individual and then consent to anonymity would be waived.                                                                                                 

Statutory Authorities

You should ensure you are aware of how to make referrals to the following Statutory Authorities:

Call 020 7901 1920 to make a verbal report. Complete Form CM1 and pass to CSSA via your Diocesan Safeguarding Lead or the RLSS.

Local Safeguarding Children or Adults Boards are multi-agency bodies set up in every local authority. They lead and co-ordinate the effectiveness of the safeguarding work of their members and partner agencies to protect children and adults at risk. You should ensure that you know the telephone number and website for the children and adult boards for the local authority in which the child or vulnerable adult is found or resides. Ordinarily a telephone conversation will be the initial contact followed by a referral in writing. You should expect action and/or contact back within 48 hours and you should obtain social services or Police report references for inclusion on the relevant case file owned by the RLG, RLSS or Diocese Safeguarding Co-ordinator.

999 for emergencies

101 for non-emergencies

Where it is believed that a criminal offence may have taken place, regardless of whether the accused person is living or deceased, the allegation must be referred to the Police, within 1 working day.

The Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) will have a published email address and telephone number.

When a person’s conduct towards a child or an adult may impact on their suitability to work with or continue to work with children or adults, the allegation must be referred to the LADO for safeguarding action, within 1 working day.

You should use this online link to make a report to The Charity Commission:

https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/report-a-serious-incident

If your Religious Life Group is a registered charity you will need to report serious safeguarding incidents to the The Charity Commission.

You can submit a referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service using their secure online form found by clicking the link below or by calling 03000 200 190 for advice:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/making-barring-referrals-to-the-dbs#online-referral-form-and-registering-for-a-digital-account

You must make a report to the Disclosure and Barring service if you have:

• Reported a person because they harmed someone
• Reported a person or changed their role because they might have harmed someone
• Were planning to report them for either of these reasons, but they resigned or left your RLG first

You can use this online link to contact Ofsted about a School if you have safeguarding concerns regarding a pupil.

https://contact.ofsted.gov.uk/online-complaints

Ofsted cannot respond to or resolve individual complaints but you can still tell Ofsted about a problem with a school. They can use the information you provide to decide when to inspect and what areas to focus the inspection on.

You can use the online link below to contact the Department for Education if you have concerns about safeguarding within a Nursery or School or provider of Further Education.

https://form.education.gov.uk/service/Contact_the_Department_for_Education

You can complain to the DfE directly if:

• A child is at risk
• A child is missing school
• The school is stopping you from following its complaints procedure

You can contact the Care Quality Commission on 03000 616161 or at enquiries@cqc.org.uk or by using using the online link below:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/give-feedback-on-care

If you have concerns about the way in which the Mental Capacity Act has been used, have a concern about adult social care or a hospital, community or mental health service then you can contact CQC for advice.

This list is not exhaustive and it may be appropriate to contact other authorities such as a person’s GP or school.