Safer recruitment for parishes and churches

We are committed to excellence in safeguarding practice

The Diocese and Church of England are committed to safely recruiting and supporting all workers and volunteers who work with children, young people and vulnerable adults who attend church activities. The Church of England's Safer Recruitment and People Management Guidance (see section below for links to each section of the guidance) must be followed for all new appointments for paid and volunteers working with children, young people and/or vulnerable adults.

Safer Recruitment and People Management Guidance - comprises of 16 sections, each of which includes

Requirements - The minimum standards that everyone must adhere too
Good practice advice - Information about why the requirements must be met, and how to meet them to a good level
Toolkit - Templates and resources that can be used

The following is the link to the Church of England Safer Recruitment and People Management Guidance: :https://www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding/safeguarding-e-manual/safer-recruitment-and-people-management-guidance

Links to template documents for use when completing the safer recruitment process:

Volunteer role description
Person Specification Template
Application form template
Confidential declaration form (as per Diocese guidelines this should be completed by anyone taking on a volunteer or paid role in the church)
Privacy Notice (to be given to the person completing a confidential declaration form, this will need personalising for your church and information added in the sections highlighted in yellow)
Example Interview Questions
Reference request template
Letter of appointment template
Induction Checklist
Sample Volunteer Support Meeting Agenda
Recruitment, DBS and training record keeping template
Code of Safer Working Practice

Please remember if someone completes a confidential declaration form and answers yes to any of the questions asked then you must contact the Safeguarding team for advice before proceeding any further with the recruitment process.

Roles which offer a profile within the church eg: welcomers, homegroup leaders, tea and coffee servers

These roles still require a form of safer recruitment. The Diocesan Safeguarding Team's advice, in line with the House of Bishops safeguarding policies is that all such roles should follow a basic 4-step safer recruitment process:

A short role description is given to the volunteer
The volunteer completes a confidential declaration form which is reviewed by the Parish Safeguarding Officer and the privacy notice to accompany. Both these documents can be downloaded from the following page of the Diocese Web Site - Safer recruitment for parishes and churches - Diocese of Liverpool (anglican.org)
The volunteer commits to undertaking basic online safeguarding training which can be accessed via the Church of England Safeguarding Training Portal - Safeguarding Training Portal (cofeportal.org)
The volunteer is given a code of safer working practice - available here

NO PERSON SHOULD COMMENCE IN ANY ROLE UNTIL THE APPROPRIATE SAFER RECRUITMENT PROCESSES HAVE BEEN COMPLETED AND THEY HAVE ALSO COMPLETED BASIC ONLINE SAFEGUARDING TRAINING

New Activities

If your church is setting up a new activity then please ensure you have covered the following before the activity commences:

Your church insurance is aware you will be running the activity
The activity has been authorised by the PCC and recorded in the minutes
All volunteers/paid workers must complete the safer recruitment process appropriate to their role
An activity risk assessment should be completed and reviewed regularly for each activity which is associated with children, young people and/or vulnerable adults which are run in the name of the church - you can download this here

Recruitment of Ex-Offenders

Having a criminal record will not necessarily bar you from working with us. But we do follow strict guidelines and procedures for the recruitment of ex-offenders which we expect all parishes to follow - read our policy here

Recruitment of Overseas Applicants

Overseas applicants must complete the Church of England Safer Recruitment Process & Right to Works Checks before commencing their role. For information relating to DBS checks for overseas volunteers please see the following page of the Diocese Web Site and government guidelines

Recruitment for Parish Safeguarding Officers

All new appointments to the role of Parish Safeguarding Officer should complete the following Safer Recruitment Process:

Provide them with the role description which they should read and understand. For details of the tasks involved in the role of the PSO please read the PSO's role description .
Complete a confidential declaration form
Complete an application form and provide two references which should be requested and verified
If eligible to obtain an enhanced DBS check, see the following guidance - DBS checks for Parish Safeguarding Officers to help you decide if your PSO is eligible for a DBS check.
Have their appointment approved by PCC - this should be recorded in the minutes

Recruitment for PCC Trustees

As PCC trustee are elected to their role they must once elected to role complete a Trustee Eligibility Fit and Propers Persons Eligibility and the Charity Commission recommends that if the governing body sponsors in its own name work with children, young people and vulnerable adults the trustees always obtain an enhanced with barring dbs check for child and adult workforce

For further information or queries relating to Safer Recruitment contact Debbie Doran, Safeguarding Support, tel 0151 705 2124 any Tuesday or Wednesday or email: deborah.doran@liverpool.anglican.org or the Safeguarding team via email: safeguarding.team@liverpool.anglican.org

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