Thank you for taking the time to consider completing this survey from the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Team.

Survey scope
Please be assured this survey is not about asking questions relating to your past or present experiences of abuse, harm or neglect. Its aim is to listen to your views about how we can develop and implement a survivor engagement framework and enable victims and survivors of any form of abuse to engage with the Church of England.

By ‘engagement’ we mean how the Church works collaboratively with victims and survivors to develop and improve safeguarding and protect all in the Church. The questions are designed to support the development of principles and practices that will frame survivors’ role and voice in the safeguarding work of the Church (what we call a framework throughout this survey).

Your participation
The survey should take about 12-15 minutes to complete but of course this is only an estimate. The responses you provide will remain anonymous, and they will be stored and processed by the National Safeguarding Team on behalf of Archbishops' Council. If you prefer the survey in a Word format or have any questions, please ask a trusted person to email engage.safeguarding@churchofengland.org without disclosing your personal data. 

Your data
By completing this survey, you are consenting to the National Church Institutions (NCIs) processing your data as per the privacy notice. Your individual answers will not be shared with anyone except the Survivor Engagement Team at the National Safeguarding Team (NST) for the purposes of analysis and report writing. For more information on how the NCIs process personal information and on your rights under data protection legislation, please read the survivor engagement privacy notice.

Available support
We recognise that the terms ‘survivor’ and ‘victim’ used throughout the survey are labels. Labels are not always helpful and do not represent all personal experiences. We hope you still can engage with the survey.

We also understand that completing the survey may cause distress or impact in other ways, and you might feel the need to talk to someone. Support is available from the Safe Spaces helpline on 0300 303 1056 and/or visit the website http://www.safespacesenglandandwales.org.uk/.
 

1. The voices of victims and survivors of abuse are valuable to help make the Church a safer place. Whether or not you currently engage, what would motivate you to further engage and/or participate in the safeguarding work of the Church?

Please tick the motivations and expectations below that apply to you
 

 

2. What barriers or challenges might affect your engagement?

Please tick the answers below that matter to you:
 

 

3. There is a range of survivor engagement opportunities and activities for people to participate. 

In the following list, please rate the importance of what would make any survivor engagement activity inclusive and accessible.

If you would like to add more answers to this question, please use the comment box at the bottom to share your views

ImportantVery importantEssential
Offering a range of engagement opportunities
Using simple and appropriate language in materials
Ensuring a variety of people are involved rather than the same people
Actively listening to children and young people
Using fair selection processes (e.g. applications and interviews) for membership in governance bodies and working groups
Meeting disability or other special requirements and reasonable adjustments to make participation possible
Valuing survivors coming from diverse groups and communities as role models
Speaking openly about diversity in any engagement activity
Making training on diversity essential for everyone involved (church staff and survivors)
Offering information in more than one language
 

4. How can the Church ensure that any survivor engagement activity does not retraumatise or negatively affect you?

In the list below, there are areas which are considered as being important by survivors currently engaging with the Church.


√ Protecting my rights of confidentiality, privacy and anonymity

√ Being given the choice whether to remain anonymous or use pseudonyms

√ Considering my personal needs, triggers and/or any other special requirements before being involved in tasks and activities

√ Preventing and challenging certain attitudes that have the potential to harm and retraumatise

√ Being full informed about the content of engagement before any engagement (i.e. meeting agendas, briefs, etc.)

√ Enabling a sense of care and human connection in all activities involving survivors

√ Setting up and maintaining clear boundaries and trusted working relationship with church staff

√ Tackling any unfair treatment promptly and sensitively

√ Feeling welcomed, listened and supported throughout my engagement


Please use the box below to indicate what else is might needed or missed to prevent re-traumatisation and/or harm.

 

5. In which of the following ways would you like to hear about survivor engagement opportunities?

 

6. How should the Church recognise and value your engagement? Please tick all that apply

 

7. The following statements describe different ways of interaction and engagement with the Church. 

Please tick the answers that apply to you personally, and use the comment box to share any thoughts or propose alternative ways of interaction. 

YesNoMaybe
Remotely (e.g. Zoom or Teams meetings online)
Face to face meetings and interactions centrally at Church House in Westminster, London
Face to face meetings and interactions at non-church related premises
Hybrid arrangements (combined working remotely and face-to-face at Church House)
Hybrid arrangements (combined working remotely and face-to-face at non-church related premises)
Via emails
Online surveys
 

8. This is the last question in relation to the framework.

Current engagement with victims and survivors highlights the need to actively listen to all survivors and embed a coordinated, consistent and empathetic approach to their engagement with the Church. In your opinion, to what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

You have one choice per statement and space for additional comments if you wish so.

 

Strongly agreeAgreeNeither agree nor disagreeDisagreeStrongly disagreeI am not sure
A clear policy of how the Church brings survivors and church officers to work together will help make the Church a safer place
Any survivor engagement framework should include a mechanism (either through a code of conduct or a charter) that will enable and protect the working relationships for all those involved.
Getting everyone around the table can create open spaces where sensitive issues can be debated between leaders, survivors, professionals, academics and other valuable partners.
 

9. Thank you so much for your time to complete the main part of the survey.

Please answer the last questions that refer to all protected characteristics within the Equality Act (2010). Providing your answers will assist us to ensure we listened to all voices in this survey.

First, what is your age please?
 

 

10. Do you consider yourself? Please tick the answer that you feel it is the appropriate one to share

 

11. What best describes your gender?

 

12. Do you consider yourself to be a disabled person?

 

13. What is your current marital status?

 

14. What is your sexual orientation?

 

15. Do you identify yourself as transgender?

 

16. What is your ethnicity?

 

17. What is your religion?

 

18. Thank you so much for completing this anonymous survey and for all your help. If the survey has an impact on you and you feel the need to talk to someone, please call Safe Spaces on the helpline 0300 303 1056 or visit their website here. 

What next
Learning from the survey will inform a publicly accessible report on the Church of England’s website later in the year, which will include key themes from this questionnaire and next steps to develop the framework.

The report will be published at http://www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding/survivorengagement. If you are interested in being sent this report, please write to engage.safeguarding@churchofengand.org.uk. You do not need to say you have taken part in the survey to request a copy of the report.

If you would like to seek more information around survivor engagement in the Church of England and/or register today your interest in getting involved with the development of the survivor engagement framework or current safeguarding work of the Church in general, please visit this webpage.