IN CALLING, on Sunday, for aspects of the Church’s provision for safeguarding to be placed in “special measures”, the Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, was clear that this did not include safeguarding at parish level, where “brilliant work” was under way. “It distresses me that parish safeguarding teams, their . . . morale is shot to pieces by this,” she told Radio 4.
This week, one priest told the Church Times that revelations in the Makin review had “dented the confidence of many in the pews”. The fears she voiced — “What if we miss something? What if we make a mistake? What if we don’t fill in an online form? What if a policy is not approved?” — have no doubt haunted others in recent weeks. The Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North, has described “real fear in the local church”, with clergy in need of reassurance about whether they have correctly followed safeguarding processes, or fearing the consequences of failing to recruit a parish safeguarding officer (PSO).
Even before the Makin review, the Jay review had heard from PSOs who felt “ill-equipped to manage the role”. One volunteer spoke of the tendency of the National Safeguarding Team to “set standards based on full-time employment models”, pointing out that “people carrying out their recommendations are volunteers dealing with volunteers, often in an environment where roles are difficult to fill.”
We also heard, however, of the value of resources such as parish dashboards (an administrative website that collects all church safeguarding guidance, practice, and policy in one place), and supportive diocesan advisers, and of strong commitment in the pews to creating a safer church. Mr Makin’s vision of a “golden thread” of safeguarding running throughout the Church, with safeguarding recognised as “everybody’s business”, has plenty of advocates at this level, it seems.
The challenge in the wake of his review will be to balance this overarching principle with clear lines of responsibility. The spotlight is now trained on failures to report knowledge of abuse, or to ensure effectively that action was taken, with a common defence being the belief that responsibility lay elsewhere. Independent reviews have raised questions about whether complying with policy is sufficient, at least in the case of bishops. Lord Sentamu, who argued that responsibility lay at diocesan level, was told that “no Church law excuses the responsibility of individuals not to act on matters of a safeguarding nature” (News, 12 May 2023).
Work now needs to be done to educate people at every level of the Church about the responsibility to report knowledge of abuse, and to emphasise that, in the atmosphere of learning recommended by Bishop North, seeking guidance and checking your understanding is always a wise course of action.