At St Thomas’ Church and The Dove Café we want to be a part of building a society that is free from abuse. This is a central Christian issue for us because we believe in the God who loves and values every person and so we want to share in God’s will for the people whom we serve, and who surround us.

Implementing good safeguarding practices, including a Safe Recruitment process is essential work that we must do to help make society a safer place. Spending time and resources on safeguarding is as important as any other part of our church life and ministry.

As a church we commit to creating our own safe spaces by implementing our agreed safeguarding policy and risk assessments, by ensuring that staff and volunteers are properly trained to recognise and deal with abuse, allegations and disclosure of abuse wherever it may occur, whether in the church or elsewhere, and by being bold in wanting to build a better church culture.