Safeguarding – Communities Together Durham

Safeguarding Policy Statement

Communities Together Durham (CTD) is a charity working principally in the Diocese of Durham. Our activities are focussed on:

Enabling churches to make a greater contribution to the social and spiritual transformation of communities in the Durham Diocesan Area.
Supporting churches and faith-based organisations’ response to poverty and marginalisation – through direct funding, development work and infrastructure support.
Enabling churches to influence and shape social and economic policy.”

Founded by the Church Urban Fund and the Diocese of Durham, we work within the guidelines of the Church of England in ‘Promoting a Safer Church’.

We follow the safeguarding guidance and protocols of the Church of England, which can be found in the e-manual https://www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding/safeguarding-e-manual. Our external safeguarding advisor is Beth Miller, Durham Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser.

Our responsibility

At Communities Together Durham we believe that everyone has the right to be kept safe from harm, exploitation and abuse. We recognise that:

Everyone, regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation or identity, has a right to equal protection from all types of harm, exploitation, and abuse.
Some of the people we work with or come into contact with may be in more vulnerable circumstances and less able to protect themselves, because of the impact of previous experiences, their level of dependency on others, physical or mental ill health, communication needs or because they are children.
We have a responsibility to ensure our people and activities do no harm to others, and that they do not expose them to the risk of harm, exploitation and abuse.

Our safeguarding commitment

We are committed to building strong and safe communities and we believe that all our staff and volunteers play an active part in keeping themselves and those they work with safe.

We do this by:

Valuing, listening to and respecting those we work with.
Encouraging the active participation of our staff and volunteers and those we work with in keeping themselves and others safe, ensuring they have a voice and a choice and know how to seek help if they need it.
Carrying out appropriate risk assessments for all our activities to ensure the safety of those present.
Recruiting staff and volunteers safely, ensuring all necessary checks are made to assess their suitability.
Ensuring all staff and volunteers are made aware of this policy and have access to appropriate training to understand their responsibilities.
Having effective procedures in place for responding promptly to safeguarding concerns and designated staff to respond to them.
Monitoring the implementation of our safeguarding policy and taking any measures required to strengthen and improve existing practice.
Promoting the adoption and implementation of robust safeguarding procedures to our partners.
Reviewing the implementation of the safeguarding policy and procedures at least annually.

Responding to safeguarding concerns

A safeguarding concern is any worry or concern about the safety or well-being of a person because of something seen or heard, or information which has been received. This includes any concerns about the behaviour of our staff or volunteers which is harmful or puts others at risk. E.g., someone may tell you they, or someone they know, has been harmed, exploited, or abused or you might witness a situation where a person is putting the safety of an adult or child at risk. Concerns may be about the past or present.

What will we do when we have a safeguarding concern?

We will:

Act quickly and appropriately when a safeguarding concern is reported to us.
Treat all safeguarding concerns in a professional, confidential and sensitive way.
Always act in the best interests of people, respecting and involving them, giving them a choice over decision making which impacts them, unless they lack the capacity to do so or it would put them at serious risk of harm, exploitation, abuse or neglect.
Provide people with safe and appropriate advice, signposting and referring them to services that meet their needs.
Work in partnership with other organisations, including statutory services like the police and social care to make sure people get the help they need.
Refer concerns where a child or adult at risk has been or is at significant risk of harm, exploitation, abuse and neglect to local authority social care or the police.
Protect confidential information except where the wider duty of care or the public interest might justify making it known.

How to report a safeguarding concern

Anyone can report a safeguarding concern. You can:

Speak to one of our employees if you are attending one of our activities or events.
Speak to the Team Leader, the Safeguarding Lead Trustee or the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser if you are a CTD employee or volunteer.
If you are worried about the safety or welfare of an adult, call the NSPCC Adult Helpline for confidential advice on 0808 800 5000.
If you are worried about the safety or welfare of a child call the police. 999 for an emergency. 101 for a non-emergency.

Anyone can contact the Diocesan Safeguarding Officer directly on beth.miller@durham.anglican.org mobile no 07968 034075. If as an employee or volunteer you make a report to the NSPCC, the Police or any other agency you must also inform the Team Leader, Safeguarding Trustee or Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser.

Safeguarding contacts

Designated Safeguarding Lead: Rev Dr Alexander Jones, CEO on alexander.jones@communitiestogetherdurham.org.uk

RAS Project Lead: Rev Joanne Thorns on joanne.thorns@communitiestogetherdurham.org.uk

Designated Safeguarding Trustee: Rev Sheila Bamber, Chair of Trustees on sheilab1554@gmail.com