48 Response Accepted

Mandatory Catholic safeguarding training

Recommendation

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales should ensure that safeguarding training is mandatory for all staff and volunteers in roles where they work with children or victims and survivors of abuse. It should also be a requirement that regular refresher training is completed. The training should consider the impact of child sexual abuse, including the impact of trauma and the perspective of victims and survivors, and should be developed in conjunction with the Survivor Advisory Panel.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
- On 30 April 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that it had mandated that clergy and parish safeguarding representatives must undergo basic safeguarding awareness training (Government Response, Catholic Bishops' Conference, April 2021).
- In May 2023, the government confirmed that mandatory safeguarding training had been implemented across the Catholic Church in England and Wales (Government Response to IICSA Final Report, HM Government, May 2023).
Sources
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by Claude (Anthropic) on 11 Apr 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
Jurisdiction
England
Section Reference
E
Response
Accepted
Accepted UK Government
22 May 2023

On 30 April 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that it had mandated that clergy and parish safeguarding representatives must undergo baseline safeguarding training, supplemented by biennial refresher training. The reach of mandatory training was extended to volunteers.

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
Roman Catholic Church Training Safeguarding
Recommendation age 5.4 yrs
Last formal update 1055 days ago