Safeguarding

St Thomas’ Church is committed to the safeguarding of children and adults with care and support needs and to ensuring their well-being.

Our approach to safeguarding is shaped by our belief as Christians that:

• Every human life, at all ages and stages, from conception to old age, is valuable to God and each person bears his image. We believe all people should enjoy and have access to every aspect of the life of our church. We recognise the personal dignity and rights of adults and children and ensure all our policies and procedures reflect this.

• We live in a fallen and sinful world, where there are many risks and dangers and we must seek to protect everyone, and particularly the vulnerable. We recognise that everyone has a responsibility to help prevent harm or abuse to children and adults with care and support needs in all their recognised forms. Our church culture should be characterised by integrity, transparency and vigilance, and should promote the raising of concerns with leaders.

• God cares for the widow, the orphan, and the stranger; he calls us to protect and care for those who are vulnerable in our society, to oppose exploitation and to work for justice. We undertake to exercise proper care in the appointment and selection of those who will work with children and adults with care and support needs.

• Jesus’ example was one of valuing, accepting, and caring for everyone. Following his example, we want this to be the experience of all those we have contact with and we want them to feel empowered to tell us if they are experiencing harm.

We are committed to:

• Following statutory denominational and specialist guidelines in relation to safeguarding children and adults and will ensure that as a church all workers will work within the agreed procedure of our Safeguarding Policy.

• Implementing the requirements of all relevant legislation including but not limited to: Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018; the Disability Discrimination Acts 1995 and 2005; Equality Act 2010; and referring concerns about adults with care and support needs to the local authority under the Care Act 2014.

• Supporting, resourcing and training those who undertake this work.

• Ensuring that we are keeping up to date with national and local developments relating to safeguarding.

• Ensuring that everyone agrees to abide by these recommendations and the guidelines established by this church.

• Supporting all those in this church who are affected by abuse.

We Recognise:

• Children’s Social Services has lead responsibility for investigating all allegations or suspicions of abuse where there are concerns about a child. Adult Social Care has lead responsibility for investigating all allegations or suspicions of abuse where there are concerns about an adult with care and support needs.

• Where an allegation suggests that a criminal offence may have been committed then the police should be contacted as a matter of urgency.

• Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

We will review our Safeguarding Policy annually. A copy of our Safeguarding Policy (April 2026) is available here.

If you have any concerns for a child or adult, please speak to one of the following who have been approved as the safeguarding co-ordinators of St Thomas’ Church:

Hannah Grief, Safeguarding Lead for Children & Adults

Jason Fletcher, Lead Safeguarding Trustee

Their contact details can be found on page 1 of our Safeguarding Policy.