The latest proposal for reforming Church of England safeguarding structures is contained in this document
which is due to be considered on Wednesday 11 February at 2.00 pm. Its Executive Summary reads:
In February 2025 the General Synod voted decisively for greater independence in the Church of England’s management of safeguarding. This report sets out the work that has been done since then to turn this decision into reality and, in particular, to deliver change at pace. It includes the following.
- A vision for a new charity, provisionally named as the Independent Safeguarding Authority. This charity will be an operationally independent organisation, led by a majority-independent non-executive Board. Executive functions of the charity will be led by a Chief Safeguarding Officer, whose operational safeguarding responsibilities will be a protected function of the charity and not subject to Board discussion or determination.
- A plan for a new, standardised complaints handling process comprising:
- A standard mandatory process for each Diocesan Board of Finance and other relevant Church bodies to follow; and
- A national external ombudsman-style body to provide resolution of complaints after processes within Church bodies have been exhausted.
The General Synod is asked to welcome this update, endorse the direction of travel set out in it and look forward to considering detailed proposals in futures Groups of Sessions.
Gavin Drake has written a comprehensive briefing paper (linked below) and a shorter blog which we linked to earlier today in our previous Opinion article. I found his analysis very helpful, and recommend its reading in full.
Blog: Delay and control: the problems with the Archbishops’ Council’s safeguarding plans
Briefing: The Church of England and independent safeguarding: why GS 2429 falls short
This briefing examines the Archbishops’ Council’s latest proposals for independent safeguarding, set out in GS 2429, and assesses them against the commitments, expectations, and regulatory requirements that have accumulated since the collapse of the Independent Safeguarding Board and the commissioning of the Jay and Wilkinson reviews.
Its focus is narrower and more fundamental. It is not an assessment of the diligence, competence, or good faith of safeguarding professionals. Instead, it asks whether the governance and accountability model now proposed is capable of delivering genuinely independent safeguarding in practice, or whether it preserves institutional control behind the language of reform. In that sense, GS 2429 is not merely a technical plan but a test of whether the Church is prepared to accept external constraint and independent authority as the price of restoring trust.
GS 2429 must be understood not as an isolated policy document but as part of a long chain of commitments and failures. IICSA, the creation and collapse of the ISB, Parliamentary scrutiny, the commissioning of Professor Alexis Jay, and the Charity Commission’s intervention have progressively narrowed the scope for delay. The question is no longer whether the Church intends to improve safeguarding, but whether it will do so in a way that transfers power and accountability away from the structures that have repeatedly failed victims and survivors…
Gavin refers repeatedly to the original report by Alexis Jay which recommended a system of total independence. This report is still available on the Church of England website but its annex of legal advice is not. For those interested here is a copy.
Congratulations to Mr Salmond and Mrs Sturgeon. They got their independent Scotland after all!
(According to C of E definition of independence that is.)
Why is the Church so resistant to full independence?
WIlliam, I am surprised that there is only one comment to this thread (the issue being of great concern).
But I mus also say that I think your comment – even if there were a couple of hundred comments on this thread – would win “comment of the week”.
You can see it.
I can see it.
Just about everyone else can see it.
Why can’t the Archbishops’ Council, the archbishops and the secretary general see it?
Jay and Charity Commissioners and yourself get it. There have been comments on this issues for as long as I have been on TA. Those of us who are not close to synodical processes or church structures stand back in amazement or confusion. I see it (with zero knowledge or experience) as the conflict between a Bishop’s need for pastoral care of priests in their diocese v. independent bodies, as evidenced by the confusion between CDM ad safeguarding. I hope yourself and Holdsworth and others can bring some clarity and urgency to the issue. The armour of God requires a… Read more »
The problem is that the thread has been growing so fast above – and Synod is running. William I saw your comment and couldn’t add to it !
Gavin all the people you list to William can of course see it. But they are pretending they can’t as they are determined to hang onto power at all costs . And because it is so blatantly wrong they are having to rush about pretending to themselves very hard.
I’m always amazed how few people reply to safeguarding threads and total respect to you for keeping going
I am an outsider, and stand back amazed. Simple, clear, articulated, enabled, independent processes seem to be beyond CoE. Of course safeguarding processes can become heavy, work expands to fit the resources, and some professionals have an interest in expanding resources. But making all safeguarding documents a tenth of the size, coordinating across dioceses, and being client/victim focussed would help. i compare to athletics clubs merely to compare with secular. Secular are far from perfect. I spent some time recently developing a photo policy for my club, what is amazing was that there was no template I could take from… Read more »
I like Gavin Drake’s critique of the current system and what is supposed to (slowly) improve it. I just don’t get it: the Church decides to commission a report by an expert. She gives that report in a reasoned and knowledgeable way, and then it seems, some vested interests say, “Hmmmm, well, let’s think about it.” For no really good reasons as far as I can see; but maybe that’s opaque deliberately. My first question is, What do they want to hide/protect? Second: Why commission the report unless there was a commitment to implement it? Third: What does it say… Read more »