The CSSA judges Liverpool Archdiocese as ‘Results Being Achieved’ in safeguarding people.
22 January 2024
Liverpool Archdiocese, in the first audit of their safeguarding practice today, has been judged by the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA) to be graded as ‘Results Being Achieved.’ The safeguarding regulatory agency for England and Wales report that the Archdiocese demonstrate clear evidence of working towards the eight national safeguarding standards. The Archdiocese was able to satisfy independent auditors from within the CSSA about how it helps keep people safe.
Liverpool was strongest in areas concerned with communicating the Church’s safeguarding message. Results were found to be ‘being achieved’ in six of the eight other areas. Significantly, auditors found evidence that a clear zero-tolerance approach to abuse is modelled and championed by leaders.
The CSSA auditors identified further scope for development in areas including: the Archdiocese’s quality assurance and continuous improvement processes, and consideration of the functioning of the safeguarding committee.
The CSSA’s recommendations for Liverpool include: that the Archdiocese review the resourcing of the safeguarding team; consider how learning from survivors can be disseminated throughout the Archdiocese and to provide a transparent policy as to how complaints about priests’ application of safeguarding policy would be managed.
Steve Ashley, Chief Executive Officer, CSSA says: “These results show that Liverpool is achieving the standards expected, and they should be satisfied with their progress in helping keep people safe in their churches and communities across the Catholic Archdiocese. They must keep improving. Only this way can they assure a wider public that everything possible is being done to help prevent harm.
“The CSSA set high standards, for which we make no apology. Liverpool is achieving results. The fact that they engaged so openly, and showed us steps they had taken to re-frame the safeguarding narrative, tells us a lot about their approach to people’s safety.”
Having exceeded potential lower gradings (in a scale ranging from ‘below basic,’ ‘basic’ ‘early progress’ and ‘firm progress’) Liverpool have further work to do to achieve either of the two higher gradings possible (namely ‘Comprehensive Assurance’ and ‘Exemplary’). The overall grading of ‘Results Being Achieved’ represents a combination of the Archdiocese’s scoring across eight areas of work relating to safeguarding standards.
The CSSA publish the Executive Summary of safeguarding audits from every Catholic Church body in England and Wales. You can find the Executive Summary of Liverpool’s audit here.
ENDS
More information about the CSSA’s audit process can be found here.
Journalists: to speak with Steve Ashley, CEO, or Nazir Afzal, OBE, Chair, please initially contact Sarah Gleadall: sarah.gleadall@catholicsafeguarding.org.uk