Last year, a BBC investigation into the Church of England’s approach to allegations about Blackburn priest Andrew Hindley exposed serious failings in child protection; this was reported in our post Safeguarding at Blackburn Cathedral. On 3 July 2025, the Diocese of Blackburn published Audit highlights ‘strong commitment to safeguarding’ across Diocese but ‘urgent improvement’ needed at Cathedral, extracts of which are reproduced below.

Audit highlights ‘strong commitment to safeguarding’ across Diocese but ‘urgent improvement’ needed at Cathedral

3rd July 2025

The Diocese of Blackburn as a whole has a ‘strong commitment to safeguarding’ according to the findings of a newly-published independent audit.  

Meanwhile, Blackburn Cathedral’s approach to safeguarding requires ‘urgent improvement’. The audit was carried out by the INEQE Safeguarding Group as part of a rolling programme across The Church of England to be completed by 2028 and involving all dioceses. It was commissioned by The Archbishop’s Council in conjunction with the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team (NST).

It assesses safeguarding arrangements against National Safeguarding Standards to gauge how effectively Dioceses and Cathedrals are fostering environments where everyone feels safe, respected and valued. In this context, the independent audit, which is published today, concludes that there is a strong commitment to safeguarding in the diocese, driven and supported by the parish safeguarding officers and the diocesan safeguarding team.

The diocese works with a ‘safeguarding first approach prioritising the safety of people and not hesitating, when appropriate, to make difficult decisions’. In addition, the survivors’ Consultative Group provides a valuable platform to build upon to ensure that victim and survivors’ voices are heard. Key messages from the audit report for the diocese include:

• Survey responders using words like ‘inclusive’ and ‘collaborative’ to describe  safeguarding culture
• A Diocesan Safeguarding Team that has a survivor-centred approach, recognising individual needs and empowering survivors to direct their own care
• Local practice in safer recruitment is effective, including comprehensive training for recruitment personnel and accessible online resources
• Safeguarding awareness is actively promoted through drop-in sessions, peer networking, collaboration with regional and national networks and diocesan communications, including regular ebulletins and easy access to key information on the Diocesan website
• The diocese has ‘a thorough approach to its prevention activity’
• Early reporting and open dialogue is encouraged at all times
• There is ‘strong use of safeguarding plans’ including multi-agency collaboration and the setting out of clear expectations
• And training is accessible with tailored courses available meeting specific needs

To further enhance its safeguarding work the audit also makes a series of key recommendations to strengthen all aspects of what the report describes as a Diocese which is on a ‘positive trajectory’ with a ‘strong commitment to safeguarding’ and a clear ‘safeguarding first approach’ guiding decisions at all times. These recommendations for the diocese include addressing capacity constraints within the Diocesan Safeguarding Team (DST). Doing this, the report says, will support considerations of how the Diocese might reconfigure safeguarding arrangements to deliver clearly autonomous and operationally independent safeguarding.

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At the same time as carrying out the audit of the Diocese, INEQE Safeguarding Group also conducted a similar independent audit of Blackburn Cathedral. Together these audits make up parts 1 and 2 of the report issued today.  The full report may be read here or here.

While Dioceses and Cathedrals are both part of the Church of England they operate as distinct entities, with the Cathedral in any Diocese functioning independently as a charity with responsibility for its own autonomous safeguarding arrangements.

The audit of Blackburn Cathedral does acknowledge positive aspects within the Cathedral’s approach to safeguarding (particularly in relation to good practice for safeguarding in the choir school and the commitment of some leaders, staff, and volunteers); but overall it also highlights what it describes as ‘critical vulnerabilities that demand urgent and comprehensive attention’. It goes on to say there has been ‘questionable decision-making, inadequate safeguarding capacity and expertise, poor communication, inconsistencies in practice, and a failure to embed robust governance, oversight and accountability’.

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The full audit of the Diocese and Cathedral was conducted from October 2024 to February 2025 and included a comprehensive review of 470 key documents; seven focus groups; 423 responses to an anonymous online survey and interviews with staff, volunteers and a broad range of stakeholders.

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• If you need safeguarding support – now or in the future – you can contact the Diocesan Safeguarding Team on 01254 503088; via safeguarding@blackburn.anglican.org or you can call Catherine Smith, Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser on 07711 485170 or Sophie Booth, Assistant Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser on 07468 971759. You can also find contact information on the diocesan website here.

Blackburn Cathedral’s response to the Audit is here. and the Safeguarding section of the diocesan website has a dedicated page for the INEQE Audit, here.