What Do We Mean By Safeguarding?

For The Charity Commission’s purposes

As part of fulfilling your Trustees duties, you must take reasonable steps to protect people who come into contact with your Religious Life Group from harm.

This includes:

• People who benefit from your Religious Life Group’s work

• Staff

• Volunteers

It may also include other people who come into contact with your Religious Life Group through its work.

Consider the different people who are within and who come into contact with your Religious Life Group.

Create a list of who these might be so that you get a better understanding of the Charity Commission’s view on who you have a duty to protect.

All charities have a responsibility to ensure they don’t cause harm to anyone who has contact with them. Charities working with children or adults at risk have extra responsibilities.

As a Trustee you must make sure your Religious Life Group fulfils this responsibility. Even if you delegate some activities to a Safeguarding Lead or the Subcommittee, you retain overall responsibility.

The charity commission will hold trustees to account if things go wrong and will check that trustees followed this guidance and the law. Trustees are expected to take responsibility for putting things right.

Harm and abuse have a devastating impact. A strong safeguarding culture means:

• You protect people

• You minimise the risks of any harm or abuse

• Everyone has confidence their concerns will be dealt with appropriately

• Everyone at the Religious Life Group understands their role