Safeguarding

Our Commitment to You

Our parish of St Matthew and St Luke, Chadderton is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults from harm. We follow the House of Bishops guidance and policies, and have a nominated Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO). Our PSO is the Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor whose contact details are given below. However, you can always contact a member of our clergy or Churchwarden Team who will be able to signpost you to the most relevant service for assistance. The Diocese of Manchester’s safeguarding pages contain vital links and information. If you are concerned that a child or adult has been harmed or may be at risk of harm please contact the Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor. If you have immediate concerns about the safety of someone, contact the police and your local authority’s children or adult social care services.

Produced by the Church of England, the Parish Safeguarding Handbook gives full details of our processes and proceedures relating to the handling of safeguarding disclosures.

Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor

The Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser is Abbey Clephane-Wilson. She can be contacted at safeguarding@manchester.anglican.org and by calling 0161 828 1465 or 07384 460958.

In an Emergency

If you have immediate concerns about the safety of someone, please contact the police and your local authority Children or Adults Service.

Out of Hours Support

The Diocese of Manchester partners with thirtyone:eight and you can access their Safeguarding Helpline if the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser is unavailable. Thirtyone:eight can be contacted on 0303 003 1111. This service also handles any safeguarding queries outside of office hours on weekdays and weekends. An Information Sharing Agreement between the two organisations will allow the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser to receive a copy of the advice thirtyone:eight may offer a caller.

Safe Spaces

Safe Spaces is for anyone who feels they have experienced church related abuse of any form in England or Wales. Safe Spaces comprises a team of trained support advocates who have undergone specialist training in supporting survivors of sexual violence and who have received additional specific training in how the churches respond to abuse cases, the way in which faith and church-related settings have been used to carry out abuse, and the issues affecting people who have had or still have, a relationship with the church. You can contact the Safe Spaces team using the channels below:

• Telephone: 0300 303 1056 (note an answerphone is available outside of opening times)
• Email: safespaces@firstlight.org.uk
• A live chat service is also available through the Safe Spaces website

Safe Spaces has the following opening hours:

• Monday - Friday: 9am - 9pm
• Saturday: 9am - 1pm
• Sunday: 1pm - 5pm

Useful Websites for Support

Listed below are the websites are some services that you may wish to consider contacting for help and support:

• National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)
• Womens' Aid (a female domestic abuse charity)
• Restored Relationships (a Christian domestic abuse charity)
• Mankind (a male domestic abuse charity)
• Stop it Now (a child safeguarding organisation)
• Social Care Institute for Excellence
• Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command
• Hourglass (an adult safeguarding charity)
• Age UK (an adult safeguarding charity)
• Barnardos (a child protection charity)
• The Clewer Initiative (a modern slavery charity)
• The Government's work to end modern slavery
• MACSAS (a charity which supports women and men who have been sexually abused, as children or adults, by ministers, clergy or others under the guise of the Church)
• House of Survivors
• Surviving Church

Useful Phone Numbers for Support

• NSPCC - For adults concerned about a child: 0808 800 5000
• ChildLine - For children and young people: 0800 1111
• Action on Elder Abuse helpline: 0808 808 8141
• 24-hour National Domestic Violence Helpline: 0808 200 0247
• NAPAC – offers support and advice to adult survivors of childhood abuse: 0808 801 0331
• Stop It Now – preventing child sexual abuse: 0808 1000 900
• Cruse – a bereavement helpline: 0808 808 1677

Your Privacy

The PCC of St Matthew and St Luke, Chadderton take the security of your personal data extremely seriously. Should you notify us of a safeguarding incident, all information collected will be processed in accordance with our Data Privacy Notice. Note our PSO, Church Officers, and PCC cannot guarantee confidentiality surrounding safeguarding disclosures.