We are currently collecting responses for an upcoming external audit of our safeguarding practices. If you have any reflections or comments, please fill out the survey here.
We are committed to ensuring that the Diocese of Salisbury provides a safe environment for everyone, especially children and young people who may be at risk of abuse or neglect.
Here you’ll find advice, information, and resources to help parishes understand how to achieve the best possible standards of safeguarding, and signposting for those who may wish to access support.
Contact our Safeguarding Team for advice or support:
The team is available from Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. You can:
- Email safeguarding@salisbury.anglican.org
- Phone 07500 664800 (Monday to Thursday inclusive and on call Monday and Tuesday evenings until 9pm)
- Phone 07469 857888 (Tuesday to Friday inclusive and on call Wednesday and Thursday evenings until 9pm)
If your query is urgent or out of hours, please contact thirtyone:eight on 0303 0031111.
If someone is at immediate risk of harm, please call 999 in an emergency.
If you wish to report a concern, see advice under the 'Safeguarding in parishes' heading further down or the 'What to do if you have a concern' box immediately below.
Responding Well to Victims and Survivors of Abuse: Support options (video)
Responding Well to Victims and Survivors of Abuse (Church of England website)
Diocesan commitment to safeguarding
We follow the national legal and procedural framework for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults and
Church of England policy and practice.
We act promptly on any complaints made and work in close partnership with Police and Social Care where children or vulnerable adults have been harmed or are at risk of harm or mistreatment.
We care for those who have been abused in the past and provide a range of support and signposting for survivors and victims of Church related abuse.
We support national policy from the Church of England including following the practice guidance
Responding Well to victims and survivors of abuse.
Survivor care and support
If you are looking through this page it might be because something has happened to you, you are struggling and looking for support, or because you want to help someone close to you. Seeking support when you are struggling or thinking about speaking out about any kind of abuse, can often raise all kinds of emotions.
There may be many reasons why you have not spoken out before. It can feel overwhelming and frightening, but it can also be the first step towards support, healing, and recovery. You are not to blame for what happened to you.
You will be heard, be supported and have your concerns taken seriously no matter how recent or long ago and regardless of where the abuse took place. It is your choice who you share your experience with. Within your local church or Parish you may wish to speak to your Parish Safeguarding Officer or a member of the clergy. You may choose instead to contact the Diocesan Safeguarding Team, our Independent Sexual Violence Advisor, or one of the organisations listed below.
People to contact
The Safeguarding Team works alongside an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) called Nina Tanner. Nina works for a Domestic Abuse charity called FearLess and is commissioned for one day a week by the Diocese of Salisbury.
Nina offers support and signposting to anyone who has experienced any form of abuse within a church context whether that abuse took place recently or in the past.
Nina’s role is separate from the diocese so she will not share client information with the Safeguarding Team unless the client consents to this.
Nina can be contacted directly:
Contact can also be made via the
Diocesan Safeguarding Advisors.
Helpful organisations
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Safe Spaces- A free and independent support service providing a confidential, personal and safe space for anyone who has been abused through their relationship with either the Church of England, the Catholic Church of England and Wales or the Church in Wales. They offer a helpline, a live web chat and website.
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The Survivors Trust - The largest umbrella agency for specialist sexual violence support services in Europe. They support survivors of any age who have experienced all forms of sexual violence, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation to access information, advice, support and therapy.
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MACSAS - Standing for Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors, this charity supports women and men from Christian backgrounds who?have been sexually abused by Ministers or Clergy, as children or as adults. They offer support in a number of ways including a helpline.
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NAPAC – The National Association for People Abused in Childhood support adults who have suffered any type of abuse in childhood. They have a national free helpline and other support.
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Respond – Respond seek to support people with learning disabilities, autism or both who have experienced trauma in their lives through psychotherapy, advocacy, campaigning and other support.
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Life Signs – A user-led service offering support for those who self-harm.
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ManKind Initiative – a charity offering support for men who have suffered sexual or domestic abuse in the form of a help line, information and guidance.
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GALOP – Galop provides confidential and independent advice and support for LGBT+ people who have experienced sexual assault, abuse or violence. They provide a welcoming, inclusive and safe space to talk, whatever your sexual orientation or gender identity.
Domestic abuse support
These organisations offer support particularly for victims of domestic abuse:
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FearLess (Wiltshire) - A registered charity delivering support services to adults and young people experiencing the trauma of domestic abuse and sexual violence. FearLess delivers services across south-west England including in Wiltshire.
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PARAGON (Dorset) - Formerly You First, Paragon is a specialist team working together empowering change for individuals, families, and our communities. PARAGON is part of T
he YOU Trust and is their domestic abuse, sexual violence and stalking team.
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Hampshire Domestic Abuse Partnership The Hampshire Domestic Abuse Partnership is a group of local services in Hampshire working together to provide help and support for Victims and survivors of abuse, children living with domestic abuse, people who may be abusing or hurting someone and professionals seeking advice.
Safeguarding in parishes
There are a number of resources you can download for use within a parish context.
Policy for Responding to Domestic Abuse here.
Please be aware that the Channel Islands have different documents so please contact the respective island Safeguarding Lead for more information (see information in the Channel Island heading below).
Reporting a concern
If someone is at immediate risk of harm, please call 999 in an emergency.
All other safeguarding concerns within a parish should be brought to the attention of the Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO), Church Safeguarding Officer (CSO in Jersey) or parish priest in the first instance. They can then seek further guidance from one of the
Diocesan Safeguarding Advisors (DSA), contact details listed above, and refer to statutory agencies if appropriate.
Here is a flowchart showing what to do if you have a concern.
If your concern relates to the PSO, CSO or parish priest, please contact the DSO directly. There may be other occasions where someone may have a safeguarding concern but does not want to discuss this within a parish context. If this is the case, the DSA can be contacted directly.
Parish Safeguarding Handbook
This essential handbook summarises the safeguarding responsibilities of parishes, as outlined in the House of Bishops' Safeguarding Policies and Practice Guidance.
You can view an online version of this handbook here or purchase a copy from
Church House Publishing. Information in the handbook is subject to change and there may be some slightly different policy requirements in Salisbury Diocese in regards to training. For up to date information always check our Training Matrix on our website.
Promoting a safer church poster (without space for a church logo)
This poster provides an at-a-glance summary of the Church of England's policy statement on safeguarding. It is designed to help congregations promote and publicise the policy in the local church. You can download a copy of this poster already populated with Salisbury Diocese DSA information, or you can purchase an A3 poster from
Church House Publishing.
Promoting a safer church poster (with space for a church logo)
This poster provides an at-a-glance summary of the Church of England's policy statement on safeguarding. It is designed to help congregations promote and publicise the policy in the local church. There is a space in the top left-hand corner for your church logo.
Model Parish Safeguarding Policy
At the heart of any intention to safeguard children and vulnerable adults in church is a Parish Safeguarding Policy. Your Parish Safeguarding Policy should be displayed in every place where activities involving children and/or vulnerable adults could take place, such as within the church and on church hall noticeboards. The safeguarding policy should be reviewed, signed and dated annually and the copy on display should be updated following every review.
Download the
Model Parish Safeguarding Policy.
Model Parish Safeguarding Concern Recording Template
This document is for recording any safeguarding concerns your parish may become aware of.
Safeguarding in the Channel Islands
The Deaneries of Jersey and Guernsey are currently undergoing the process of being formally attached to the Diocese of Salisbury. Some functions such as safeguarding, finance and administration were transferred to Salisbury in October 2020, followed by pastoral care being handed over at the beginning of 2021.
The legal transfer will be enacted on the receiving of the Order in Council during 2022.
More information regarding safeguarding on the respective Islands can be accessed here:
Deanery of Guernsey (including Alderney and Sark) and the
Deanery of Jersey.
The Channel Islands follow National Church of England safeguarding guidance and policies unless their own Island legislation dictates otherwise. Both Islands have their own Safeguarding Handbook (Guernsey) and Safeguarding Policy (Jersey) which can be found on their respective Deanery websites.
Safeguarding contacts:
Guernsey
Safer Recruitment and DBS checks
Safer Recruitment is a set of principles to help make sure staff and volunteers are suitable to work with children, young people and vulnerable adults.
Safer recruitment fulfils two important functions. It can identify at an early stage people who should not be working with children, young people or vulnerable adults.
It also sends a clear message to the wider community that should they attempt to do so, such people will be identified and prevented from taking on roles of trust.
Disclosure and Barring Service
A Disclosures and Barring Service (DBS) check is one element of safer recruitment as it provides criminal records information about a person held by the police and government departments.
There are different levels of DBS checks (Basic, Enhanced, and Enhanced with Barring) which can be applied for depending on the role the person is going to be undertaking.
We have designed a matrix which gives an indication of the minimum level of check required for each role:
download a copy of the Training and DBS Matrix.
Within Salisbury Diocese we use a company called
APCS to process our checks.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA)
The Anglican Church in England and Wales was one of 15 strands that was considered by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). On 6 October 2021IICSA published its Investigation Report, The Anglican Church – Safeguarding in the Church of England and the Church in Wales.
The Executive Summary provides an overview of findings and can be read alongside the Recommendations.
More on IICSA
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the lead Safeguarding Bishop and the National Director of the Church of England National Safeguarding Team wrote
an open letter in response to the October publication. The Bishop of Salisbury reported to the Diocesan Synod in October 2020 commenting that the report was sobering and "requires a careful and thorough response".
If the contents of this report prompt you or someone you know to seek help or advice, please contact one of the
Diocesan Safeguarding Advisors. Support and signposting can be arranged to meet individual needs. For more information, please see above for the Survivor Care and Support information.
Within the Diocese of Salisbury we are working in collaboration with the
National Safeguarding Team (NST) to respond to the relevant recommendations made by IICSA. If you would like more information about the changes we are making, please contact one of the?Diocesan Safeguarding Advisors.
Past Cases Review 2 (PCR2)
The Diocese of Salisbury has taken an active role in the PCR2 process which began in 2019. You can read the diocese and Channel Island reports in full and executive summaries below. These were published on 5 October 2022:
Diocese of Salisbury
Full report
Executive Summary
Channel Island
Full report
Executive Summary
Past Cases Review background
In 2007, the House of Bishops commissioned a large-scale review of child protection cases to identify individuals within the Church community who presented a risk to children. This became known as the Past Case Review (PCR) 2007-2009.
In 2018, an independent assessment report by Sir Roger Singleton was published and submitted to the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). This report highlighted shortcomings of PCR and made recommendations that all dioceses must carry out a further review to identify cases of concern and evaluate their safeguarding actions.
In response the House of Bishop's commissioned a Past Cases Review 2 (PCR2) which is still underway across the country. This review is wider and includes incidents and/or allegations of abuse against vulnerable adults as well as children. Because survivor engagement was identified to be lacking in the original PCR, this review will also consider what sources of support have been offered to known victims and survivors.
Diocese of Salisbury completed the PCR2 process in 2019 and since then the Deaneries of Jersey and Guernsey in the Channel Islands have also completed their report in 2021.
If you have any questions about PCR2, or need any advice, please contact one of the Diocesan Safeguarding Advisors or for more information and/or guidance you can visit the
Church of England website.
To find out more about support within the Diocese of Salisbury for survivors and victims who have experienced abuse see the relevant heading above.
Contact the Safeguarding Team
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Get in touch
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For non-emergency advice and support outside of the teams working hours, please contact thirtyone:eight on 0303 0031111. |
