Note from Nazir

5 September 2023

As Autumn starts to make an appearance, for some faiths and cultures, September represents the new year. For many of us, from whatever background, September often has that ‘new start’ feeling.

At CSSA we constantly look for opportunities to refresh and renew our commitment. That is, to audit church bodies in England and Wales, and publish what we find. We work with the Church to support and empower them to meet the eight national safeguarding standards. That’s what we do.

In order for all this to work, we need good working relationships with the church bodies – because we all want this to work, and we all want to help keep people safe.

We’re really pleased to today (4 September 2023) publish the list of church bodies who have committed to working with us. They have agreed to be audited by our independent team of specialists, and to having the results of their audit published here on our website.

At the CSSA we’re also here to offer assurance to the public about the Catholic Church’s commitment to continuous improvement in safeguarding.

So, we thank these church bodies for being open to this process and helping us all become more transparent.

It may not be new year for everyone, but this feels like a good, energising way to renew all our commitment to safeguarding work.

Nazir Afzal, OBE, Chair, CSSA