49 Response Accepted AI-assessed

Catholic non-compliance framework

Recommendation

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales and the Conference of Religious should publish a clear framework for dealing with cases of non-compliance with safeguarding policies and procedures. That framework should identify who is responsible for dealing with issues of non-compliance at all levels of the Church, and include the measures or sanctions for non-compliance.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
According to the Catholic Council for the Inquiry's statement in September 2021, the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA) was established as a professional standards agency for the Catholic Church, including a dedicated audit function with powers of sanction. According to the Catholic Council for the Inquiry, trustee bodies of all Catholic dioceses and religious orders were invited to subscribe to the CSSA, which is intended to provide a framework for addressing non-compliance with national safeguarding policies. No further published evidence has been identified since May 2023.
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 19 Mar 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk, www.legislation.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk
Jurisdiction
England
Section Reference
E
Response
Accepted
Accepted UK Government
22 May 2023

On 30 September 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that the trustee bodies of all Catholic dioceses and religious orders were invited to subscribe to the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency. The Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency was established as a professional standards agency for the Catholic Church, and includes a dedicated audit function with necessary powers of sanction, which would provide a framework for dealing with cases of non-compliance with the national safeguarding standards and the related national safeguarding policies and procedures.

Read Full Response
Source
Inquiry IICSA
Report The Roman Catholic Church Investigation Report 10 Nov 2020
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Catholic Bishops Conference Primary
Themes & Tags
Weak Government Accountability & Scrutiny Roman Catholic Church Compliance Safeguarding
Recommendation age 5.4 yrs
Last formal update 1037 days ago