After two and a half years of leading the RLSS, Dani Wardman has decided to stand down as Chief Executive at the end of May 2024. She has expressed her great sadness at leaving the RLSS but has, after much consideration, accepted a role as CEO of the Medaille Trust, a modern slavery charity. Dani was instrumental in the set up of the RLSS, her leadership and commitment to improving outcomes for all involved in safeguarding has been outstanding.

We all wish Dani well in her new endeavours and thank her getting us to this point. We have known for a short while that Dani had secured a new role, so we have been working in the background to ensure a smooth transition of leadership.

With an excellent RLSS team in place, the Board decided to advertise the CEO role internally in the first instance, and I am delighted to announce that Melissa Andrews, currently Head of Membership has been successful. Melissa will work along side Dani for the next two months and take up her Chief Executive position on 31st May.

Melissa brings an enormous energy and understanding to the role and will work with the membership, staff team and Board to build on the RLSS achievements to date. Melissa is an ideal candidate for this role, she understands our work, the scale and importance of what we deliver and the environment in which we operate. She has a track record of successful engagement, operational and financial management in the public and private sector, as well as in a Religious Life Group.

I know you will join with me in thanking Dani for her hard work and welcome Melissa to as she picks up the baton and leads the RLSS into its next phase.

The RLSS has moved into the Liverpool Office which will be its main based of operation. We hope to have some open days to invite RLGs to visit us once our building work in the training room is complete. 

Following the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse into the Catholic Church, the RLSS would like to recognise all the people who made this vital and pivotal piece of work possible, chiefly all of the victim/survivors who shared their stories with IICSA, the Catholic Church and the wider public to put an end to abuse within the Catholic Church. We recognise those who came forward did so at huge personal cost, in order to prevent harm to others and we admire and commend their bravery in doing so.

In November 2020, the Church commissioned an independent review into its safeguarding work and structures. One of the areas recommended was a specialist organisation to provide safeguarding support for Religious Life Groups (RLGs). The RLSS is this specialist provision and has been delivering services to nearly 200 RLGs from 2nd February 2022.

As a new organisation we recognise there is still much change needed and we welcome the final report so it can aid and inform our work both now and into the future. We do not believe the job of safeguarding is ever complete, and this final report does not signify the end of our efforts for a safer church, it is the foundation from which to build upon.

The RLSS will continue to put victims/survivors at the heart of our work, to empower them and aid them to feel heard. We will continue to make the protection of all people our key safeguarding message and we will of course keep pushing for continuous and demonstrable improvement in all areas of safeguarding. In short we are committed to continuing to address the many challenges to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of children and vulnerable adults for the Catholic Church identified by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.