Media reports about a review of our Safeguarding processes

You may have seen reports in the media this week about a review into safeguarding processes that has taken place. The review, which was not national, has not been widely shared. The Communications Team provided the statement to the Times newspaper and other media who reported the Times story. If you are approached by the media, please contact our Director of Communications, Jillian Moody – moodyj@methodistchurch.org.uk, and the Team will be pleased to help.

It is possible that this will cause people who have experienced abuse to contact a minister. Should that happen, please consult the District Safeguarding Office.

Statement:

We recognise that there are reported incidents of  sexism and misogyny within our church and properly listening and responding to those who have been abused still needs to improve. The report was commissioned so we can better understand how our processes affect those involved in them, particularly how we have failed those who have not been heard when they have complained and how we can address this behaviour when it happens. We will continue to work to make sure everyone understands abuse of any kind is not acceptable in our churches. As part of this report we spoke to many survivors, and we are grateful that they were willing to describe their experiences as this will better inform our work in the future.

Alongside this work in safeguarding, we have also introduced a service for people who have experienced discrimination or abuse, brought in analysis of equality and diversity data that will help us identify patterns of abuse, and developed an anti-bullying policy as part of the on-going review of our safeguarding policy. We will study the recommendations of this report carefully and use them as we continue our work to improve our response to survivors of abuse.