Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd – statement about former registered affiliate

7 September 2026

The CSSA confirms that the religious order, the Congregation of Our Lady of the Good Shepherd (previously registered as an affiliate) has chosen to end their contractual arrangement with the safeguarding Inspectorate, placing themselves outside of the scope of independent safeguarding inspection.

In March 2026, the CSSA published the results of the baseline audit of Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd and judged the Order to be ‘not meeting’ safeguarding standards  (‘not met’ being the lowest grade awardable).

Their choice not to be affiliated to the CSSA means that their progress in implementing the recommendations of this audit will not be monitored. The CSSA will therefore not be able to provide any assurance that the risks identified within this audit have been addressed.

The CSSA has notified relevant statutory and Catholic Church organisations of its concerns around the Order’s safeguarding arrangements and its decision not to allow further oversight. The Inspectorate’s expectations now include that the Order does not misrepresent their safeguarding arrangements in any way by stating, or implying, that they are subject to independent oversight.

Steve Ashley, CEO, CSSA said: “It is of deep concern to us that any Catholic Church body would decide to step away from their contractual arrangements with us as the only independent inspectorate of Catholic safeguarding. It means that there is no transparency in how they keep people safe, and we therefore cannot moniter, or publish, our assessment of risk to people.  Should the Order reconsider their position, or their commitment to the Catholic One Church approach to safeguarding, our door is open.”

ENDS

Notes:

You can see a list of CSSA registered affiliates HERE.

You can read the results of audits of religious life groups HERE.