Create diocesan safeguarding officers
IICSA · The Anglican Church Investigation Report · Issued 6 October 2020 · Addressed to: Church of England
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation, E
The Church of England should create the role of a diocesan safeguarding officer to replace the diocesan safeguarding adviser. Diocesan safeguarding officers should have the authority to make decisions independently of the diocesan bishop in respect of key safeguarding tasks, including: escalating incidents to the National Safeguarding Team, statutory authorities and the Charity Commission; advising on the suspension of clergy in safeguarding matters; investigating and/or commissioning investigations into safeguarding incidents; risk assessments and associated plans for church officers and members of the congregation; and supporting complainants in safeguarding-related issues. Diocesan safeguarding officers should be employed locally, by the Diocese Board of Finance. The diocesan safeguarding officer's work should be professionally supervised and quality assured by the National Safeguarding Team. The National Safeguarding Team should set the broad requirements for anyone applying to be a diocesan safeguarding officer (adapting as required the existing requirements in respect of diocesan safeguarding advisers). It should be enshrined in policy that those who are volunteers and who do not follow the directions of diocesan safeguarding officers should be removed from responsibility of working with children.
IICSA, The Anglican Church Investigation Report · 6 Oct 2020 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- In July 2024, the General Synod voted in support of next steps on safeguarding independence, which may address the creation of the diocesan safeguarding officer role with decision-making authority (Church of England, General Synod, July 2024).
- No published confirmation that the advisory role has been replaced with an officer role with formal decision-making authority as specified has been identified to March 2026.
Response — verbatim from government
●UK Government
On 29 March 2021, a joint response from the National Safeguarding Steering Group, the House of Bishops and the Archbishops' Council stated that Canon C30 and the associated Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor Regulations would be amended to: (a) ensure the diocesan safeguarding adviser is replaced by the diocesan safeguarding officer (DSO), (b) strengthen and clarify that safeguarding decisions are to be made by the DSO, and (c) set out the independence of the DSO. The joint response also stated that the National Safeguarding Team had begun incorporating the principle that voluntary roles must follow House of Bishops' safeguarding requirements into work to revise national safeguarding policies.
UK Government · 22 May 2023 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
No published activity has been recorded against this recommendation yet.
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.