SAFEGUARDING STATEMENT

The trustees, staff, and volunteers at Life Church Wilmslow take our responsibility for the safety and protection of staff, volunteers, and service users seriously. We believe that a child or young person should never experience abuse of any kind. We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people to keep them safe. We are committed to practice in a way that protects them.

Specifically, we commit to the following principles:

·      We commit ourselves to nurture, protect and safeguard our service users and any others we come into contact with, particularly children, young people and vulnerable adults.

·      We recognise that safeguarding is the responsibility of the whole Life Church community.

·      We undertake to exercise proper care in the selection, appointment, training and support of those working in both paid and voluntary positions with children or vulnerable adults, including the use of Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) disclosures and making appropriate referrals to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

·      We will respond without delay to concerns or allegations that a child or vulnerable adult may have been harmed, cooperating with the police and social care services in any investigation.

·      We will challenge any abuse of power by anyone in a position of trust.

·      We will seek to offer pastoral care and support to anyone who has suffered abuse, developing with them appropriate pastoral support.

·      We will seek to offer pastoral care and support, including supervision and referral to the proper authorities, to any member of our church community known to have offended against a child, young person or vulnerable adult.

Who can I speak to?

If you have any concerns around the welfare of a child or adult, you should speak to:

Alan Charlesworth (Chair of the Trustees): leaders@lifechurchwilmslow.org

Darren Morgan (Safeguarding Lead): safeguarding@lifechurchwilmslow.org

What do the Life Church team do when I report something?

In the event of a disclosure or safeguarding incident, the following steps will be taken:

STAGE 1 – RECORD & REPORT

(RESPONSIBILITY OF ALL WORKERS)

A written record must be made of the concern(s) and the concern(s) should be reported to the Designated Person within 24 hours (if verbally, followed up in writing ASAP). The report should include time, date, location, and exact quotes wherever possible.

If a child or young person is in imminent danger of harm a referral should be made to the Police or Social Services without delay and the Designated Person informed as soon as possible after.

STAGE 2 – REVIEW & REFER

(RESPONSIBILITY OF DESIGNATED SAFEGUARDING OFFICER)

The report will be reviewed by the DSO with any other relevant information and a decision will be taken (often in liaison with others) as to what action should follow. Any formal referral to Social Services should normally be made within 24 hours of receiving the report. If the police or social services advise the DSO to make a formal referral, this

advice should be followed.

If a child or young person is in imminent danger of harm a referral should be made to the Police or Social Services without delay.

STAGE 3 – SUPPORT & REPORT

(RESPONSIBILITY OF DESIGNATED SAFEGUARDING OFFICER & TRUSTEES)

Support should be offered to all parties affected by any safeguarding concerns including the referrer (by more than one person for the different parties). All allegations against a worker should be referred to the Local Authority Designated Officer in the local authority to investigate. If a worker is subsequently dismissed from their work with children, then a referral needs to be made to the Independent Safeguarding Authority. Child Safeguarding incidents should be reported to the Charity Commission as a serious incident in the annual return.