DBS campaigns to lift churches’ awareness

A CAMPAIGN to lift awareness of the legal duty to refer safeguarding concerns to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is being rolled out by the DBS across south-eastern England.

The campaign, which involves online and face-to-face workshops and materials, has a selected give attention to faith-based organisations. The DBS refers to evaluation suggesting that, up to now seven years, the religion sector accounts for just 0.51 per cent of all referrals.

The acting head of partnerships on the DBS, Cathy Taylor, said in a press release on Thursday that “every sector has an obligation to guard vulnerable people, and we all know that stronger awareness results in stronger safeguarding.

“By working closely with faith-based organisations, and providing them with the knowledge and tools they need, we are able to close the referral gap and create safer communities for everybody.”

Ms Taylor said that the campaign was “vital to making sure that every one organisations understand their legal responsibilities in relation to safeguarding”.

Pop-up clinics on legal duties in relation to referral might be held across November and December in Reading, Tonbridge, Brighton, and Southampton.

These clinics will, a press release says, include “myth-busting across the referral process”. Participants might be walked through the technique of making a referral, and real-world examples might be given to display referral thresholds.

Virtual workshops for organisations to satisfy their regional outreach adviser are also being held. Registration for each the pop-up clinics and virtual workshops is out there on the DBS’s Eventbrite page.

In due course, 60-second explanatory videos concerning the duty to refer may even be published on the DBS YouTube channel.

The DBS website says that a referral must be made when an individual has been faraway from the regulated activity that they were undertaking (which required a DBS check), owing to “motion or inaction that has harmed or placed a member of a vulnerable group including children, susceptible to harm”.