Recommendation 7: Catholic complaints policy with escalation process
From The Roman Catholic Church Investigation Report, published 10 November 2020.
Recommendation
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales and the Conference of Religious should publish a national policy for complaints about the way in which a safeguarding case is handled. The policy should deal with communication with complainants during the complaints process and set out an escalation process for all complainants to have their complaint assessed by an independent adjudicator, if they are unhappy with how their complaint has been handled.
In brief (written by this site)
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse reported in October 2022 that the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated in April 2021 that a framework and template for complaints, including clear communication and an escalation process, was ratified by the Bishops in November 2020 (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Oct 2022). It also reported in October 2022 that by November 2021, the CSSA website had launched containing the National Safeguarding Standards, the National Safeguarding policy, and practice guidance documents (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Oct 2022).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
No government response to this recommendation is on the record yet.
Delivery
No statement on delivery from Catholic Bishops Conference has been found in the sources searched (last checked 2 October 2026). This is separate from the response above.
What other bodies have found
In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (20 October 2022)
On 30 April 2021, the Catholic Council for the Inquiry stated that a framework and template for complaints which includes the need for clear communication between the complainant and those handling the complaint, and an escalation of the process if the outcome it felt to be unsatisfactory, was ratified by the Bishops in their November Plenary Assembly in 2020. In November 2021, the CSSA website had been launched and contained the National Safeguarding Standards, the National Safeguarding policy, and practice guidance documents.
From: Recommendations - Roman Catholic Church investigation report
Site note: These are the Inquiry's own words, from its recommendations page for the Roman Catholic Church investigation report, captured by the Internet Archive on 20 October 2022. They are the Inquiry's account of what the body told it, not the body's own words.
Responsible bodies
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
Finding