Safeguarding Policy Statement 

 

Introduction

Paraklesis is a project of the registered charity “My Ministry” founded in 2021. We primarily work to support children’s, youth, families ministers and other professional across the UK with a particular focus on empowering and equipping the local church to thrive in ministry with children, young people and families.

 

Applicability

This policy applies to anyone working on our behalf, including our trustees, consultants, mentors and other volunteers.

Partner organisations will required to have their own safeguarding procedure that must, as a minimum, meet the standards outlined below, and include any additional legal or regulatory requirements specific to their work. These include, but are not limited to other UK regulators if applicable.

Safeguarding will be appropriately reflected in other relevant policies and procedures.
 

Principles

We believe that :

• Nobody who is involved in our work should ever experience abuse, harm, neglect or exploitation.
• We all have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all our beneficiaries, staff and volunteers, to keep them safe and to work in a way that protects them.
• We all have a collective responsibility for creating a culture in which people not only feel safe, but are also able to speak up, if they have any concerns.

Types of Abuse

Abuse can take many forms, such as physical, psychological or emotional, financial, sexual or institutional abuse, including neglect and exploitation. Signs that may indicate the different types of abuse are in the Appendix below.
 

Reporting Concerns

If a crime is in progress, or an individual is in immediate danger, call the police, as you would in any other circumstances. 

If you are a beneficiary, or member of the public, make your concerns known to a member of our team, who will alert our Trustee with responsibility for safeguarding.

For mentors and volunteers, make your concerns known, in the first instance to the lead development worker for Paraklesis, Ali Campbell. If you feel unable to do so, speak to a trustee.   
 

Responsibilities

Trustees. This safeguarding policy will be reviewed and approved by the Board annually.

The lead trustee for safeguarding is Ruth Hassall and she has responsibility for the oversight of all aspects of safety, including whistleblowing and Health and Safety at Work.  This will include:

• Creating a culture of respect, in which everyone feel safe and able to speak up.
• An annual review of safety, with recommendations to the Board.
• Receiving regular reports, to ensure this and related policies are being applied consistently.
• Providing oversight of any lapses in safeguarding and ensuring that any issues are properly investigated and dealt with quickly, fairly and sensitively, and any reporting to the Police/statutory authorities is carried out.
• Leading the organisation in way that makes everyone feels safe and able to speak up.
• Ensuring safeguarding risk assessments are carried out and appropriate action taken to minimise these risks, as part of our risk management processes.
• Ensuring that all relevant checks are carried out in recruiting staff and volunteers. 
• Planning programmes/activities to take into account potential safeguarding risks, to ensure these are adequately mitigated.
• Ensuring that all appointments that require DBS clearance and safeguarding training are identified, including the level of DBS and any training required. Ensuring that a central register is maintained and subject to regular monitoring to ensure that DBS clearances and training are kept up-to-date.
• Ensuring that safeguarding requirements (eg DBS) and responsibilities are reflected in job descriptions, appraisal objectives and personal development plans, as appropriate.
• Listening and engaging, beneficiaries, staff, volunteers and others and involving them as appropriate. Responding to any concerns sensitively and acting quickly to address these.
• Ensuring that personal data is stored and managed in a safe way that is compliant with data protection regulations, including valid consent to use any imagery or video.
• Making staff, volunteers and others aware of :
  • Our safeguarding procedures and their specific safeguarding responsibilities on induction, with regular updates/reminders, as necessary.
  • The signs of potential abuse and how to report these.

Everyone. To be aware of our procedures, undertake any necessary training, be aware of the risks and signs of potential abuse and, if you have concerns, to report these immediately (see above).  

Fundraising

We will ensure that:

• We comply with the Code of Fundraising Practice, including fundraising that involves children.
• Staff and volunteers are made aware of the Institute of Fundraising guidance on keeping fundraising safe and the NCVO Guidance on vulnerable people and fundraising.
• Our fundraising material is accessible, clear and ethical, including not placing any undue pressure on individuals to donate.
• We do not either solicit nor accept donations from anyone whom we know or think may not be competent to make their own decisions.We are sensitive to any particular need that a donor may have.

Online Safety

We will identify and manage online risks by ensuring:

• Volunteers, staff and trustees understand how to keep themselves safe online. We may use high privacy settings and password access to meetings to support this.
• The online services we provide are suitable for our users. For example, use age restrictions and offer password protection to help keep people safe.
• The services we use and/or provide are safe and in line with our code of conduct.
• We protect people’s personal data and follow data protection legislation.
• We have permission to display any images on our website or social media accounts, including consent from an individual, parent, etc.
• We clearly explain how users can report online concerns.  Concerns may be reported using this policy, or direct to a social media provider using their reporting process.

Working with other Organisations

In working with other organisations, including any grant making, we will comply with Charity Commission guidance by carrying out relevant due diligence and having a written agreement that sets out:

• Our relationship.
• The role of each organisation.
• Monitoring and reporting arrangements.

Version Control - Approval and Review

This policy will be reviewed periodically, or following an incident, change in legislation, or other significant factors. It will also be reviewed as part of any safeguarding incident investigation, to test that it has been complied with and to see if any improvements might realistically be made to it.

Trustee with Responsibility for Safeguarding :

Ruth Hassall
ruthhassall@btinternet.com

This policy was last reviewed / approved : December 2025

Appendix 1 - Signs of Abuse