WHEN Val Strutt was originally asked to become parish safeguarding officer (PSO), she was told it wouldn’t involve much extra work – that was 19 years ago!

In fact, Val has been faithfully supporting the work with children, young people and vulnerable adults at St Wilfrid’s Church, Cowplain, ever since. Her work includes safely recruiting volunteers for activities, ensuring their training is up to date, and dealing with any safeguarding issues that arise.

And she regards it as worthwhile, as she is able – like other PSOs up and down the country – to work hard at enabling parish activities with children and young people to go ahead safely.

As well as ensuring volunteers fill in their Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) forms every three years, she also handles the ‘dashboard’ which reveals any training people are due to have next, and monitors standards and mandatory requirements. This is a good tool for the PCC to establish where each parish is at.

“When the parish needed someone to lead on safeguarding, I happened to be the parish administrator at the time,” she said. “I was told it would just involve some extra filing, but of course it ended up being much more than that as the years rolled on!

“People assume that being the safeguarding officer just involves paperwork around DBS forms. But safer recruitment is much more than that.

“It also involves reminding people that they need to get the latest safeguarding training, and also monitoring any pastoral uses, and dealing with policies and practices.

“Sometimes you feel that it can be seen as safeguarding placing obstacles in the way of good ideas, but it is actually all about ensuring these activities can go ahead as safely as possible.

“It is very important that people are aware of what to do if they have safeguarding concerns, and familiarise themselves with flowcharts and posters around the building. I can’t emphasise that enough as safeguarding is everyone’s business.

“I enjoy the regular training that I have, including the annual safeguarding conference. It’s good to network with other parish safeguarding officers who are in the same situations. And it’s quite rewarding to be able to listen and help one another.

“And when a difficult situation happens, that’s when the training becomes really useful. You may need to sit down and listen to people who have different experiences of what happened and listen to all views, trying to be objective and not judgmental.

“I know I can always talk to the diocesan safeguarding teamand my vicar, who are all very helpful. It can also involve going through the more formal process of a core group.

“I wouldn’t have known that the role of parish safeguarding officer would develop in the way that it has, but it is rewarding when you see activities for children, young people and vulnerable adults going ahead in a safe way. I have been blessed with the help available to me, including the diocesan safeguarding team and parish team.”

Our policy is that every parish in our diocese should have its own safeguarding officer, filling the role that Val has done for St Wilfrid’s. A full induction programme and ongoing training is provided.