Safeguarding means protecting a citizen’s health, wellbeing and human rights, enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. It is a collective responsibility of all of our Parishioners to be aware of the protocols that are set in place, by law, to comply with this.
People who are working with children and vulnerable adults, either paid or volunteers, need to go through a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service), formerly called a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau), check, to obtain a certificate which shows that checks have been made on that person in order to confirm, at that stage, that there is no adverse records found on them. These certificates need to be renewed every 3 years. (Used to be 5 years.)
People paid for their work should be checked through their employer, there is usually a charge for this service but parishioner volunteers should contact the Parish Office, to be directed to the Safeguarding Representative in our Parish. There is no charge for this service as a volunteer. Some people may have a DBS certificate from another organisation but that will not suffice for volunteering in another organisation.
St Paul’s does have a number of volunteer roles for which a DBS is a requirement e.g. working with the children making their First Holy Communion or Confirmation and those attending Little Church. Also Eucharistic Ministers who go into people’s homes or the Nursing Homes to administer Holy Communion will require a DBS. Also a DBS will be required if working with the St Vincent De Paul group and having contact with families/adults to support them in challenging times. A DBS in needed by anyone who is volunteering in a role which requires one to one support to children or vulnerable adults.
There are many volunteer roles within the Parish that do not need a DBS certificate, e.g. Welcomers, Readers, Eucharistic Ministers administering communion within a service, cleaners, flower arrangers to name but a few, but if you are unsure please just ask.
If you need a DBS certificate, the system is not onerous;, just a bit repetitive! You will be given 4/5 very short forms to complete (only half a page in 2 cases!). The representative will take some basic details and create an online application which will then be e-mailed to you to complete online (there is a paper form if you cannot access an online form). The representative will then need to see your completed forms and see and photocopy three forms of ID, showing your name, address and date of birth, to verify your information. The ID photocopies and the completed forms are sent to the Curial Office of the Shrewsbury Diocese. Lastly the representative completes the online verification. If all is in order the DBS certificate will be sent to you. These need renewing every 3 years as stated above.
We sincerely thank all our volunteers for their support of our parishioners in whatever way they are involved and in particular in the welfare of other parishioners.
Any issues on this matter please get in touch, thanks.
Christina Starkie, Safeguarding Representative
More information:
- Diocese of Shrewsbury: -> Safeguarding information
- CBCEW: -> Safeguarding information
- The Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA): -> Safeguarding information
- UK Government: many documents particularly focused on children in education, and vulnerable adults within the social care services and NHS.
[9 Feb 22]