The Diocese of Nottingham takes great responsibility to deliver good practice in safeguarding, ensuring our church communities can thrive in a safe, enriching, and healthy environment. Having developed robust policies and guidance, the safety and care of all is integral to our ministry , faith and ongoing journey.
‘I give you a new commandment: love one another; just as I have loved you, you also must love one another. By this love you have for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples.’ (John 13: 34-35)
I am grateful that we have a very professional diocesan Safeguarding team who train, support and work closely with our excellent parish Safeguarding Representatives. But the duty to love one another, to protect and safeguard one another, is part of that commandment we have all received from Christ Jesus; at its heart is the duty to help protect the safety and dignity of everyone, especially the most vulnerable, and to respect, listen carefully to, and learn from, those who have been victims and survivors of abuse.
So Safeguarding of others is part and parcel of the DNA of every Christian; an essential characteristic of our identity as Christ’s followers, and so it must be reflected in the way we all seek to protect, respect, and treat each other with care. The responsibility for Safeguarding across our diocese is therefore something that we cannot simply leave to others.
Only if each one of us is engaged in this way of thinking and acting can we foster a lived culture of safeguarding across our diocese.
I urge everyone in our parishes and chaplaincies to give your Safeguarding representative your full support, and to join with them in fostering a deeper and more evident culture of safeguarding, care and protection for everyone. It is our shared responsibility to ensure that our parishes and chaplaincies are safe places for everyone, especially those who are most vulnerable in our society.
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Patrick McKinney
Bishop of Nottingham
To report a safeguarding concern please contact the Safeguarding Office by telephone or email.
Please note the Safeguarding office is open Monday to Friday between 9am to 5pm only.
Emails and phone calls are not monitored outside these times.
If you are concerned about the welfare of a child or adult at risk, do not delay in contacting the police, using 999 if a child or adult is believed to be in immediate danger.
Feedback is both welcomed and appreciated and helps us to shape the service we deliver as well as informing our learning and helping us to continuously develop our safeguarding practices.
Our response and support to victim and survivors of abuse is paramount. We have taken great steps to ensure that the Diocese can offer victim and survivor lead support and listen to how we can improve. The Diocese of Nottingham’s victim and survivor charter outlines our pledge to support, respond well and provides access to support services and agencies.
Safe Spaces is a free and independent support service, providing a confidential, personal, and safe space for anyone who has been abused through their relationship with the Church.
Organisations, helplines, and statutory agencies.
Safer recruitment packs and forms.
This Parish Safeguarding Handbook has been developed to support parishes to safeguard church communities and to consider their responsibility towards safeguarding the welfare of any person in the name of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Nottingham.
This Safeguarding toolkit of resources and information is to work alongside the parish safeguarding handbook, to equip parishes in excellent safeguarding practice and standards.
Recognising, Responding, Reporting.
Safeguarding training equips our Clergy, volunteers and employees with the knowledge and tools to safeguard well, and creates a healthy culture of safeguarding which supports parishes and their church communities in best practice.
All future diocesan training will be available to book via Eventbrite links from the website and advertised through emails and newsletters.
The national training learning portal can be accessed by clicking here.
The Trustees Safeguarding Sub Committee is responsible for leading strategic direction of safeguarding policy and practice within the Diocese. The Committee is chaired by one of the Diocesan trustees and other members are trustee’s and safeguarding professionals from partnership agencies and the statutory services.
Michael Stokes (Chair) – Trustee
Mairin Casey - Trustee
Emma Spencer - MAPPA
Julia Baker – Detective Inspector, Lincolnshire Police
Ross Leather – Adult Social Care
Maggie Clark – Governance
Canon Peter Vellacott – Canonical Lawyer
Canon John Kyne – Clergy Safeguarding Lead
Rachael Campion – Director of Safeguarding
David Lawes - Chief Operating Officer
The Diocesan safeguarding network is made up of various roles within the Diocese who have responsibility for safeguarding in their department within the Curia and Diocese. The network enables us to come together and discuss and share good safeguarding practice, identify any gaps in operational safeguarding and develop good procedures in many different areas across the Diocese of Nottingham.
Rachael Campion - Director of Safeguarding
Jane Black - Safeguarding Support and Volunteer Coordinator
Joe Hopkins - Director of Adult Formation
Andrew Wakely - Deacon Representative
Paul Bodenham – Caritas
Gregory Treloar – Director of Music
Naomi Archer-Roberts - Director of Communication
Frances Cordes – Clergy Health and Wellbeing Officer
Christa Wardle - Support & Administration Officer (HR & Governance)
Erin Doughty - Director of Diocesan Youth Service
The Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency, CSSA, is a new central agency that has been created as the professional standards body to which all Catholic Dioceses and Religious Life Groups in England and Wales will be accountable.
