Safeguarding
Why is Safeguarding Important to us?
Here at C3 Hope we treat Safeguarding with the utmost importance and have worked hard to create an Honest, Open and Transparent culture where people feel safe and always have the opportunity to raise their concerns. Over the past 12 months we’ve dedicated time to fine-tune our Safeguarding process and team in order to strengthen the value we place on safety. On this page you’ll find everything you need to know about Safeguarding, from who’s who on the team, to how to raise a concern and what the Safeguarding process looks like!
In the spirit of transparency we’ve also included our current Safeguarding policy that we hold as an organisation, this policy is reviewed annually to ensure we’re up-to-date with current legal requirements and best practice. You can view a copy here.
We work with Thirtyone:eight, an independent Christian safeguarding charity which helps individuals, organisations, charities, faith and community groups to protect vulnerable people from abuse. They provide us with regular updates and consultation on safeguarding issues, they’ve put together this helpful informative video on safeguarding on Sundays, click here to give it a watch.
If you have any questions or would like to talk to a member of our Safeguarding team, don’t hesitate to reach out using the contact details on this page.
Who is responsible for Safeguarding?
C3 Hope is a large organisation and we’ve therefore taken time to appoint a dedicated Safeguarding lead over each of our main departments. Each of our board members is trained as a safeguarding lead and they will act both individually and collectively. C3 Trust UK and Hope Community Foundation have appointed Safeguard leads who the Safeguarding Board reports and who act as advisors and provide accountability to the designated safeguarding leads.
Contact details for the individual leads can be accessed via our reception team, simply get in touch using the email or phone details listed below.
Mark McKnight
Safeguarding Co-ordinator,
The Hope Centre &
Hope Community Foundation
Lois Willis
C3 Hope Safeguard Lead
Liz Muthiah
Hope Community Foundation Safeguarding Trustee
Claire Parkinson
C3 Hope Kids Safeguarding Lead
Sorcha Sherwin
C3 Hope YTH Safeguarding Lead
Jess Bramhall
C3 Hope Sunday Service Safeguarding Lead
Joanne Hemmingfield
C3 Trust UK Safeguarding Trustee
The Safeguarding Process
If you need to raise a concern, or interested to know how you would go about raising a concern, then you can see the three simple steps that you’d be involved in outlined below…
Step One -
Talk to the relevant department leader and/or Safeguarding Lead about the concerns you have. We recommend doing this in person or via phone call, if you need their details then you can get in touch with our reception team (details below) and they’ll provide you with the right details.
If you think the situation requirements contact immediately and our team are out of office then click here for a list of emergency contacts.
Step Two -
Once you’ve spoken to the relevant Safeguarding Lead, you’ll agree next steps for your concern.
This could include you having to speak to other professionals and/or statutory services depending on the concern but the Safeguarding Lead will inform you if this is needed or not.
Step Three -
If your concern is moving forward as a Safeguarding issue then the Safeguard Lead will take responsibility from this point onwards and will reach out to you to inform you of progress if and when needed.
Contact Details
In order to help ensure that the correct Safeguarding Lead is involved in the process, we are streamlining all concerns through our main Hope Centre building reception team, simply call or email the details below and let them know if you have a concern you’d like to raise and the relevant safeguard lead that you need to discuss it with.
We’d like to encourage you to not divulge any specific details of the issue to the team, in order to help situations remain confidential.
They’ll give you the relevant email and/or phone number in order for you to make contact with them. If the designated lead is on annual leave, they’ll inform you and give you details for the next best person to contact.
contact number – 0114 213 2070
contact email – reception@thehopecentre.org.uk
Alternatively, if you’re in the building and would like to discuss your concern face-to-face, simply head to reception and ask for Mark McKnight, our Safeguarding Lead. If he’s in the building our team will inform him and you can arrange a meeting.
Our heart is to create an honest, open and transparent culture so we do encourage you to raise your concern as soon as possible. Even if you’re unsure if it’s a Safeguarding issue or not, please reach out, our team is well-trained and will help navigate whatever issue you raise to us.
Complete our 'Raise a Concern' form
Once you’ve spoken to the relevant safeguard lead, they may or may not (depending on the concern raised) ask you to complete our ‘Raise a Concern’ form. If so, please click the link and follow the steps outlined in the form, ensuring you include as much detail as possible.