Our approach to safeguarding for interviews and surveys

What is safeguarding?

Safeguarding seeks to protect people from harm. Harm means abuse and neglect. Harm includes physical, sexual and emotional abuse as well as neglect.

This is based on the legal definitions which can be found in more detail below:

For children: safeguarding means protecting children from maltreatment.

For adults: safeguarding means protecting an adult’s right to live safely, free from abuse and neglect.

Safeguarding are processes which organisations put in place to protect people who they come into contact with from harm.

What is the Programme’s safeguarding process for interviews and surveys?

Any information you share with us, during interviews and surveys, is confidential. However, we have our own safeguarding process, which allows us to respond to information we hear that leads us to believe that:

you or someone else has been harmed
is at risk of harm
you or someone else has harmed someone else, or is at risk of harming someone else

In some cases, this means we have to break our confidentiality with you. In other cases, we will discuss your options. For example, whether you want to share this information with others. Or we can help you share this information. This is so other people can help protect you or others.

If you tell us something that concerns us, we will discuss it with you first.

There are some circumstances where we may have to tell somebody, especially if there are concerns about child abuse or neglect. In other circumstances, we will ask if you’d like to report these concerns yourself.

If you’d like us to support you to report these concerns, we will have a conversation with our Safeguarding Lead. Based on this conversation, we will make a decision on whether to share the information we have heard. This might lead us to share this information or not share it. We will record the decision we have made and why we have made it in our Safeguarding Log. We will let you know what we have decided to do and why.

What information can I tell you?

Your participation is voluntary – you must give your consent to be involved and must consent for us to use what you share. You are welcome to share as much or as little as you want with us during your participation – it is your choice what you tell us.

If you do choose to tell us something and we are concerned that you or someone else has been harmed or are at risk of harm, we may have to respond to it as part of our safeguarding process.

I have a concern or allegations of possible abuse or neglect. What should I do?

We are unable to support you to respond to safeguarding issues you may have already raised, or wish to raise, about an individual, or individuals, within the Church of England. These issues remain subject to Church of England safeguarding processes.

You share information with us which makes us concerned for you or someone else. How will we respond?

You may tell us information that leads us to believe that:

a child or adult are at immediate risk of abuse or neglect
you are at immediate risk of abuse or neglect
you or someone else has been harmed and this has not been reported
you or someone else is at risk of harm and this has not been reported

During the interview: Based on the information we hear, we may decide to pause the interview – for example, we understand that issues relating to the Church of England’s safeguarding practice will affect people in different ways and may involve very sensitive and distressing topics. We will explain why we have paused the interview and tell you that we will discuss this information at the end of the session. We may decide to stop the interview depending on the circumstances to allow you to take a break or to end the session altogether.

We will have a conversation to establish if you would like to share the information with others by yourself and we will also provide advice on how you can access support.

Please note, there are circumstances where we must tell someone about what we have heard – this is where we believe that there is information about a child or adult who is currently at risk of harm. In these cases, we cannot always maintain confidentiality with you.

After the interview: If you would like us to support you to share the information, we will then have a conversation with our Safeguarding Lead. This is a specific individual working for the Programme who is responsible for advising us on safeguarding issues.

If the safeguarding leads advises us to share the information, we will share this information.

If you already receive support from an individual or organisation, we may refer issues through them as they may be the best person to respond to this information.

If you do not receive support from an individual or organisation, we will share that information with children’s social care or adult social care if the individual in question is considered to be a child or vulnerable adult.

This entire process will take place within 24 hours.

How will we respond to safeguarding issues in the online survey?

During the online survey, there is an opportunity to write answers to our questions. Taking part in this survey is voluntary – you may tell us as little or as much as you’d like. Notably, your responses will be anonymous – this means nothing can be linked back to you or anyone else.

We will ask for your consent to use your responses to the survey in the final report, including anonymised quotes (we may use your words but we will remove any information that might lead you or someone else being identified).

If there are concerns, for example that a criminal offence has been committed or there is evidence of child abuse or neglect, we may have to tell somebody about what you have written. We are doing this to prevent harm to you or to others. As the survey is anonymous we cannot contact you to let you know this.

We will have a conversation with our Safeguarding Lead to determine if we should share or not share the information, including if we have enough information to make a referral to the police or social care.

What support is available to victims and survivors of abuse?

The Programme is not able to directly support victims and survivors of abuse. However, there are a number of alternatives. Information on support services provided by other organisations is available here and will be shared with you if you take part in our engagement should you wish to reach for additional support.

We understand that issues relating to the Church of England’s safeguarding practice will have affected people in different ways and may involve very sensitive and distressing topics. We encourage you to look after yourself as you engage with these issues.

If you are in crisis

If you are in crisis and are unable to keep yourself safe, or are having thoughts of self-harm or suicide that you may act on, please consider the following emergency options:

Go to any Hospital or A&E department or book an emergency appointment with your GP

Call 999 and ask for an ambulance or for non-emergency health advice call the NHS on 111.

If you need urgent support but don’t want to contact the health service call the Samaritans 24/7 helpline on 116 123.

If you need emotional support please consider contacting one of the organisations below

Specific organisations

Safe Spaces (www.safespacesenglandandwales.org.uk): Safe Spaces is a free and independent support service, providing a confidential, personal and safe space for anyone who has been abused by someone in the Church or as a result of their relationship with the Church of England, the Catholic Church in England and Wales or the Church of Wales. You can contact Safe Spaces by telephoning them on 0300 3031056 or emailing them at [email protected].

Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors (www.macsas.org.uk): MACSAS supports women and men who have been sexually abused, as children or adults, by ministers, clergy or others under the guise of the Church. There are resources available on the website, as well as a telephone and email helpline. You can contact MACSAS by telephoning them on 08088 010340 or emailing them at [email protected].

National Association for People Abused in Childhood (www.napac.org.uk): NAPAC offer support to adult survivors of all types of childhood abuse, including physical, sexual, emotional abuse or neglect. You can get in contact with NAPAC by telephoning them on 0808 801 0331 or emailing them at [email protected]. You can also use their grounding for flashbacks or read their booklets for survivors.

General organisations for adults

Shout (www.giveusashout.org): Shout is the UK’s first and only free, confidential, 24/7 text messaging support service for anyone who is struggling to cope. Shout has trained volunteers who are there to listen at any time of day or night, and messages won’t appear on your phone bill. To start a conversation, text the word ‘SHOUT’ to 85258.

Samaritans (www.samaritans.org): Samaritans is a charity dedicated to reducing feelings of isolation and disconnection that can lead to suicide. You can call Samaritans any time, day or night, from any phone for free. You can also email or write a letter. You can contact Samaritans by telephoning them on 116 123, by emailing them at [email protected] or by writing to them for free using the address Freepost SAMARITANS LETTERS. You can also use their self-help app to keep track of how you’re feeling, and get recommendations for things you can do to help yourself cope, feel better and stay safe in a crisis.

SANEline (https://www.sane.org.uk/how-we-help/emotional-support/saneline-services): SANEline is a national out-of-hours mental health helpline offering specialist emotional support and information to anyone affected by mental illness, including family, friends and carers. You can get in contact with SANEline by telephoning them on 0300 304 7000. You can also ask for a callback by leaving a message on 07984 967 708 giving them your first name and phone number.

Mind (www.mind.org.uk): Mind provides advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. You can get in contact with Mind by telephoning them on 0300 123 3393, by emailing them at [email protected] or by writing to them using the address Mind Infoline, PO Box 75225, London, E15 9FS

Kooth (www.kooth.com): Kooth is a digital mental health and wellbeing company working to provide a welcoming space for digital mental health care, available to all. The platform offers articles, discussion boards, the opportunity to chat with a member of their team and allows you to write your own daily journal. Join Kooth using this link.

General organisations for children

Childline (www.childline.org.uk): Childline is a free, private and confidential service to help anyone under 19 with any issue they’re going through. You can talk about anything. Whether it’s something big or small, they have trained counsellors who are there to support you. You can contact Childline by telephoning them on 0800 1111. You can also sign up for an account which is confidential and use their 1-2-1 counsellor chat – sign up here.
Kooth (www.kooth.com): Kooth is a digital mental health and wellbeing company working to provide a welcoming space for digital mental health care, available to all. The platform offers articles, discussion boards, the opportunity to chat with a member of their team and allows you to write your own daily journal. Join Kooth using this link.