Safeguarding

Everyone who comes to this church has the right to be safe here. That applies to children, to young people, and to adults who may be at risk because of age, disability, illness or circumstance.

This page is a summary of our safeguarding policy. The full policy is available on request and is reviewed annually by the elders.

Our commitment

• The welfare of a child or an adult at risk comes before the reputation of this congregation, before anyone's feelings, and before any wish to handle something quietly.
• Everyone who works with children, young people or adults at risk holds a current enhanced DBS check and has completed safeguarding training before they begin.
• No adult works alone and unsupervised with children. Activities are staffed so that there are always at least two adults present.
• Registers are taken at every children's and youth activity, and parents or carers complete a registration form covering medical needs and emergency contacts.
• Concerns are recorded in writing, dated, and kept securely.
• We report to the statutory authorities. It is not our job to investigate an allegation, decide whether it is true, or confront the person it concerns.

Raising a concern

If you are worried about a child or an adult at risk — whether the concern is about someone connected to this church or not — please tell us. You do not need to be certain, and you do not need evidence. Reporting a worry is not an accusation.

• Speak to the safeguarding lead.
• Or speak to any elder. They will pass it to the safeguarding lead the same day.
• Or use the contact form on this website and mark the subject as Safeguarding. Messages marked that way go straight to the safeguarding lead.

If someone is in immediate danger

Call 999. Do not wait to speak to anyone here first.

If a child or adult is at risk of harm but not in immediate danger, contact the Haringey Council safeguarding team, or the police on 101. You do not need our permission and you do not need to tell us first.

• Police — 999 in an emergency, 101 otherwise.
• NSPCC Helpline — 0808 800 5000, for adults worried about a child.
• Childline — 0800 1111, free and confidential, for anyone under 19.
• Haringey Council — contact the children's or adults' safeguarding team through haringey.gov.uk.

What happens next

The safeguarding lead will write down what you have told us, exactly as you said it. You will be told what we intend to do.

Where the threshold for referral is met, we will refer to the local authority or the police — with your consent where we can obtain it, and without it where a delay would put someone at risk.

Anyone against whom an allegation is made will be stood down from any role involving children or adults at risk while the matter is looked into by the proper authorities.

We will not promise confidentiality we cannot keep. Information is shared only with those who need it, but the safety of the person at risk decides who that is.

Photography at church activities

No photograph or film of a child is taken at a church activity, or published on this website or anywhere else, without written consent from a parent or carer. Consent can be withdrawn at any time and we will remove the image.

If you would prefer not to appear in photographs yourself, tell whoever is holding the camera. Nobody will ask why.

Doorstep Support, our charity

Doorstep Support, the church's community outreach arm, has a safeguarding policy of its own — version 1.0, effective August 2026 — and it binds everyone who acts for the initiative: staff, coordinators, volunteers, trustees, partners and contractors. Its rules are simple and non-negotiable. Nobody visits a home alone, and there are at least two team members on every route. Nobody enters without being invited, and a responsible adult must be present if children are at home. At schools and care homes the team signs in and delivers to staff. No photograph, name, address or story is shared without a signed consent form, and no child's face is published without a parent's or guardian's written consent.

Before a first delivery every volunteer completes an application naming two referees, an ID check, a self-declaration, a basic DBS check if they will visit homes, care homes or schools, and a one-hour safeguarding induction, refreshed every year. Any concern is reported to the initiative's safeguarding officer within 24 hours — after the emergency services, on 999, if someone is in immediate danger — and written down: date, time, what was seen or heard, who was involved. Nobody is penalised for raising a concern in good faith. Records are kept securely for seven years, and a breach of the policy means removal from the initiative's activities and, where the law is broken, a report to the police.

• Doorstep Support safeguarding policy (PDF)
• About Doorstep Support

Review

The elders review this policy every year and after any significant incident. If you think something here is inadequate, please say so — we would rather hear it.