CSSA Standards – Criteria

Standard 1: Safeguarding is embedded in the Church body’s leadership, governance, ministry and culture:

LGC 3 Ministry and culture – The Church body will: ·Identify, prevent and mitigate safeguarding risks in its structures, culture and practice of ministry. ·Regularly support and participate in any safeguarding training that is provided. ·Actively promote the ‘Caring for others’ pastoral and personal conduct standards agreed by the Bishops Conference in April 2020, and the Integrity in Ministry standards produced by the Conference of Religious. ·Seek to continuously improve its practices by focusing on and learning from the outcomes of its responses to safeguarding cases.

Standard 3: Engaging with and caring for those who report having been harmed:

EC1 – The Church body will: ·Respond to any disclosure of abuse with compassion and care, seeking to provide signposting as appropriate to support and advice, and offer pastoral care tailored to the needs of the individual. ·Establish access to personnel with training relevant to specific needs, to deliver professional mental health and other appropriate support when required. ·Collaborate with other organisations, both voluntary and statutory, who specialise in this area of work. ·Look to learn from the experience of those that are provided with a service, to confirm it is meeting their needs. ·Reflect on any disclosures that it receives with a view to drawing learning from them to inform CSSA/RLSS and future safeguarding practice across the One Church.

Standard 4: Effective Management of Allegations and Concerns:

EF1 – The Church body will: ·Ensure that it receives and responds to allegations in line with nationally agreed policies. ·Receive allegations and concerns respectfully, identifying and addressing the difficulties faced by those making disclosures and those receiving and responding to them ·Will always collect such information into an allegation as necessary, providing that this does not conflict with, or jeopardise the actions taken by the statutory authorities. ·Provide support for those disclosing or raising a concern, and those against whom an allegation or concern is raised. ·Maintain an appropriate level of confidentiality in respect of allegations or concerns, in line with accepted standards. ·Keep accurate records of any allegations disclosed in accordance with data protection principles, national policies and procedures, and in a way that makes the information recorded easily accessible.

EF2 – The Church body will: ·Ensure that all allegations of abuse are passed on without delay to the appropriate statutory authorities for investigation. ·Comply with the stipulations of Vos Estis Lux Mundi (2019) and the CDF’s Vadecum (2020) regarding responding to and supporting those who report having been harmed. ·Where relevant, inform the CSSA/RLSS of the existence of the allegations and share with them the details that would enable them to provide support if required. ·Routinely seek to draw and share learning from any concerns that are raised as a way of developing its own and the wider ‘One Church’ practice.

SMR 2 Support – The Church body will: ·Adhere to national policies and/or practice guidance that set out how a respondent is to be informed when an allegation has been made and supported thereafter. ·Be mindful of the impact on the wellbeing of the respondent and appoint a support person with the responsibility for listening to and addressing the pastoral needs of the respondent. ·Access suitably accredited professionals to deliver professional mental health and other appropriate support when required. ·Ensure the respondent has access to suitable legal representation when subject to statutory/canonical investigation.

Standard 7: Training and Support for Safeguarding:

TS1 Training – The Church body will: ·Ensure that all its members who require it, including those in formation, have access to and avail themselves of nationally agreed safeguarding training to support their contribution to the Church body’s safeguarding practice. ·Avail themselves of locally provided safeguarding training from relevant organisations in the area. ·Keep records of those who avail themselves of training opportunities and proactively engage with those who do not attend.

TS2 Support – The leadership of the Church body will: Prioritise the provision of effective safeguarding training which delivers and promotes critical reflection on practice.