The CSSA judges Hallam as ‘Results Being Achieved’ in safeguarding people.
19 June 2024
The Catholic Diocese of Hallam, in an audit of their safeguarding practice today, has been judged by the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA) to be graded as ‘Results Being Achieved.’ The regulatory agency for England and Wales report that the Diocese demonstrates clear evidence of working towards the eight national safeguarding standards. The Diocese was able to satisfy independent auditors from within the CSSA about how it keeps people safe.
Hallam had participated voluntarily in the pilot phase of the CSSA Baseline audit programme in June 2022 and received an overall grading of ‘Early Progress’. In this latest audit, six of the eight safeguarding standards were found to be consistently ‘achieving results’, with the other two as ‘firm progress’.
The Catholic Diocese was particularly strong on helping ensure that the expectations around commitment to survivors, and other Diocesan policies, are followed in practice. Hallam demonstrated to auditors how it learns from its own internal audits and how it has actioned safeguarding recommendations from the CSSA’s previous audit and other relevant reviews. Completion rates of safeguarding training are high, particularly in clergy members.
The CSSA’s recommendations for Hallam include to better develop accessibility of safeguarding advice and support when the office is not staffed. The audit also found that the Diocese should finalise and publish a complaints policy and re-release their ‘Caring Safely for Others’ document to ensure it is widely understood. The CSSA recommends that Hallam shares any learning from survivors to help ensure it influences policy and practice across the Diocese.
Steve Ashley, Chief Executive Officer, CSSA, says: “Hallam was courageous in volunteering to be one of the first dioceses to get a pilot audit in 2022. What we have seen is that they have made significant progress – their overall outcome has improved by two gradings. They should be satisfied with their progress in helping keep people safe in their churches and communities across the Catholic Diocese. They must keep improving as they have so far. Only this way can they assure a wider public that everything possible is being done to help prevent harm.
“We know that for some survivors, what we find in our audit of today’s safeguarding, may not represent their past experience. We are acutely aware how painful this can be sometimes for individuals. Our door is open, and we will not compromise in scrutinising a church body’s commitment to survivors now or in the future. We are sorry where this causes pain to anyone based on their personal history with the Catholic Church.”
Having exceeded potential lower gradings (in a scale ranging from ‘below basic,’ ‘basic’ ‘early progress’ and ‘firm progress’) Hallam 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 Diocese’s scoring across eight areas of work relating to safeguarding standards.
The CSSA publish the Executive Summary of safeguarding audits from Catholic Church bodies in England and Wales. You can find the Executive Summary of Hallam’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