Over the last twenty years there has been an increasing professionalisation of safeguarding in Dioceses and Religious Life Groups, with much that is positive and effective in safeguarding in the Catholic Church, particularly at grass roots level. However, the landscape of safeguarding continues to mature and there remains work to be done in improving safeguarding in the Church.  

Bishops and leaders of Religious Life Groups are committed to making those improvements, particularly in responding to incidents and disclosures and listening to the wisdom of survivors.

In 2019, the Bishops in England and Wales commissioning Ian Elliott, an internationally renowned expert in this area, to review existing structures focussing on six key elements namely: the safeguarding infrastructure and organisation, alignment of Dioceses and Religious Life Groups, accountability, training, policy and procedures and financial arrangements. The Bishops received Ian Elliott's report in November 2020 and have accepted in full the recommendations the project seeks to put in place.

A website providing updates and resources has been created - this provides an important overview of the structures and will be populated with more information as the project develops.

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Click on the links below to read the latest Catholic Safeguarding Project newsletter or visit the project website:

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