In agreement with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, INEQE Safeguarding Group has been commissioned by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) to conduct an Independent Review of its governance framework and safeguarding arrangements.

A Summary of the agreed Terms of Reference

Governance is the essential link that ensures safeguarding moves from a theoretical policy to an operational reality. In Northern Ireland, safeguarding is a fundamental component of the ‘Public Trust’ requirement; therefore, a failure in safeguarding is legally viewed as a failure of the charity’s core purpose, which can result in the loss of charitable status. Robust governance structures provide the oversight, supervisory and disciplinary functions necessary to address professional misconduct or breaches of trust that might otherwise go unchecked. Ultimately, the Charity Commission views the ‘ownership’ of these governance structures by trustees as the primary driver for advancing the cultural change required to rebuild public trust and ensure the safety of all beneficiaries.

To this end the Review will:

  • Assess the effectiveness of governance across all component elements of the PCI, with a focus on Trustee responsibilities and regulatory compliance.
  • Examine and evaluate frameworks for supervision and the efficacy of disciplinary processes in addressing safeguarding concerns or other related matters, for example, breaches of trust, or professional misconduct.
  • Assess how insights from previous incidents, audits or reports are captured and embedded into continuous improvement processes.

Trustees, including Ministers and Elders, must possess the professional competence necessary to discharge their legal and fiduciary duties while upholding the integrity of the church’s ‘Religious Designation’. The PCI is also responsible for ensuring that safeguarding professionals hold the specific technical qualifications required to manage complex cases and offer expert, trauma-informed support to survivors.

The Review will therefore:

  • Evaluate the policies and practice that ensure those in leadership and safeguarding roles possess the requisite skills and meet suitability standards.
  • Evaluate the ongoing training and advice provided to Church Safeguarding Officers, Trustees and local governing bodies.

Effective safeguarding depends on a rigorous alignment between formal policy and its practical application. To remain effective, organisations must continuously test and evaluate how policies perform in practice.

The Review will therefore:

  • Examine the adequacy of safeguarding policies and their implementation, specifically regarding leadership oversight, line of sight, case management and record-keeping.
  • Assess the effectiveness of guidance provided by the PCI’s central bodies to its constituent parts.

Share Your Views

Your input will help us focus the review and improve our final recommendations. There will be a range of opportunities throughout the review to engage with the team. In the first instance, we will be releasing a range of online surveys within the coming weeks.

To get in touch and share information with us, or to register your interest in participating in the surveys, please complete the contact form below.

All contacts will be treated as confidential. We will only share information if what you tell us indicates a serious risk of harm.

Contact the Governance and Safeguarding Review Team

Thank you for considering contacting the Independent Governance and Safeguarding Review Team. Please complete the form below where your submission will be shared directly with the Governance and Safeguarding Review Team at Ineqe Safeguarding Group.

All submissions are handled with strict confidentiality. We will only disclose information if your message indicates an alleged criminal offence or a serious risk of harm to yourself or others.

Any allegations of crime should be made to the PSNI or An Garda Síochána.

Please note: This inbox is not monitored 24/7

The safety of everyone is important

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger. Call the police immediately on 999 or if you are calling from the Republic of Ireland phone 112. Please do not wait or complete this form.

Presbyterian Church In Ireland Safeguarding Team

To locate the contact details of the safeguarding team, please visit the link below.

If you require social services advice and support out of hours in regards to a potential safeguarding concern for any child or adult contact: 

Want to talk?
Further Support

Mental Health

Mental Health Access Pack

A Christian website for churches with basic information on common mental health issues as well as links to further information. Contains some useful basic information on giving pastoral care. Endorsed by the Church of England and other UK churches.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Here you’ll find readable, user-friendly and evidence-based information on mental health problems, treatments and other topics, written by qualified psychiatrists with help from patients and carers.

CCEF

Resources on biblical counselling including books, blog articles and short videos.

Lifeline

A free 24 hour Northern Ireland based telephone service (0808 808 8000) for people experiencing distress or despair (also available to people concerned about someone else) using trained counsellors.

The Samaritans

A free helpline (116 123 from any phone) is available in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Childline

Telephone and online help available to anyone aged up to nineteen.

Action Mental Health

A Northern Ireland based charity with a focus on helping people with mental health problems get back into employment but also with a number of other support services such as supporting people with eating disorders, alcohol relate problems, etc.

Aware NI

A Northern Ireland based charity providing support groups for people with depression.

Mindwise

A Northern Ireland based charity providing support to people with mental health problems including support in housing and back into employment as well as integration into society and support for those detained by the police.

Beacon

A Northern Ireland based charity under the umbrella of NIAMH (Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health) providing support services for people with mental health problems including housing support

Praxis

A Northern Ireland based charity providing support to people with mental health problems including support in housing, a befriending scheme and counselling services.

Nexus

A Northern Ireland based counselling service for survivors of sexual abuse, victims of sexual violence including those who have experienced rape and sexual assault.

Public Health Agency (NI)

Directory of services to help improve mental health and emotional wellbeing

Health Service Executive (ROI)

Organisations that provide mental health supports and services

Fresh Light

Is a ministry of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to adults, available to all faiths and none.  Operating from a Christian understanding of life and the world, volunteers are committed to standards of best practice and ethics in their counselling.  The ministry we offer seeks to bring comfort, strength, peace, hope and transformation in difficult seasons of life.

Mental Health First Aid

Aware NI

A depression charity with online and in person support groups and offers training for mental health

Mental Health First Aid Ireland

Mental Health First Aid Ireland teaches adults how to recognise, understand, and respond to other’s mental health challenges or mental health crisis, until professional help is received, or the crisis resolves.

Victim Support

Victim Support NI

You can contact them from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday on the phone number below. 
Alternatively, you can email either their Belfast or Foyle offices.

Crime Victims Helpline (ROI)

For those living in the Republic of Ireland  contact the Crime Victims Helpline on Freephone 116 006  or visit their website below.

Domestic Abuse

The National Office for Victims of Abuse (ROI)

The National Office for Victims of Abuse provides assistance, support and advice for people in abusive relationships.

Freephone: 1800 252 524

The Domestic and Sexual Abuse Helpline (NI)

You can avail of further support from the Domestic and Sexual Abuse Helpline in Northern Ireland.

Women’s Aid Ireland

Domestic Abuse Helpline

Men’s Aid Ireland

Men’s Aid Ireland is a service for men who are experiencing domestic violence.

  • Call: 01 554 3811 — Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm.

Older People experiencing abuse (ROI)

Older People experiencing abuse in the home can call the HSE information line on 1800 700 700.

The Independent Review Team

Click their names for more information

Jim is a former Chief Police Officer and was the founding Chief Executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre. He is currently the CEO of the INEQE Safeguarding Group and the Independent Children and Young Persons Safeguarding Commissioner of the City and Hackney, Bromley and Lambeth LSCPs.

Having graduated from the UK College of Policing Senior Command Course, he completed a Post- Graduate Diploma in Criminology and Criminal Justice Management at Cambridge University.

A former UK Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) lead for domestic violence and child abuse investigations, internet safety and countering human trafficking. He was a co-author on the UK’s first Domestic Homicide Review and was appointed by the then Home Secretary to lead the initial scoping review of the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

More recently, he led wide-ranging safeguarding reviews of NHS Trusts, Oxfam GB and an international faith-based organisation at the request of the Charity Commission (England and Wales). He has also commissioned and overseen a number of contemporary Serious Case and Practice Learning Reviews, including the recent Child Q SCPR. Jim has been called to give evidence to the UK Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and has appeared before numerous Parliamentary Committees.

Director of Operations and Project Lead: Hannah is a Lead Auditor for all review and audit activity undertaken by INEQE. She will act as the Project Manager. Her experience in Project Manager extends to all major reviews ranging from The King’s Trust (formerly the Prince’s Trust) to Church of England Safeguarding Audits of which 23 have been completed.

Hannah brings significant practical experience from the third sector across the UK and internationally. She has worked overseas in a faith-based setting and was a member of a team that travelled to Kosovo with ‘European Christian Mission’ to engage with programmes for children in refugee camps. She also led site visits in Tanzania and Rwanda as part of INEQE’s review of Oxfam GB.

She holds a BA (Hons) in Politics and Theology and an LLM in Human Rights from Queen’s University Belfast and an M.Phil from Trinity College Dublin. Hannah also has experience as a counsellor with Childline.

Strategic Advisor, Harvey is a former Assistant Director at the Charity Commission for England and Wales (CCEW), with over 20 years of practical experience in the charity sector. He was Head of CCEW’s Investigations and Enforcement Division, responsible for the conduct and delivery of the commission’s largest and most complex statutory inquiries. Many of these were significant, high-profile inquiries, which garnered media and public interest. His work included oversight and supervision of improvements to governance and safeguarding arrangements across a diverse range of faith-based and non-faith-based charities.

Harvey was the senior business lead for the commission’s extensive work with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. He also served as senior technical adviser, providing internal and external advice on governance and charity-related safeguarding matters; as well as liaison with partner agencies, UK Parliament constituency MPs and select committees.

In addition to performing several volunteer roles in the sector, he has served as a trustee for two UK charities with national profiles.

Maurine is the Head of Legal. She is a Barrister at Law and the former Head of Legal at CEOP, SOCA and legal advisor to the NCA. She has experience across the criminal justice sector, Magistrates court, Family Law, policing procedure, senior management and governance. Maurine is a key advisor on the Quality Assurance and Ethics Panel. Furthermore, she is a Trustee of a number of charities to whom she provides legal advice.

Bill is the Chief Operating Officer at INEQE Safeguarding Group. He is a former Senior Police Officer with extensive global experience conducting strategic and thematic inspections. He has been involved in the recent large-scale safeguarding governance audits undertaken by INEQE. He sits on the Church of England Monitoring body which oversees their audit programme.

Bill holds an Honours Degree in Law and a Masters in Criminal Justice Management. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a Prince2 project manager.

Head of Education and Learning, graduating from the University of Greenwich with a degree in Primary Education. She is a highly experienced teacher and has taught in primary and secondary schools across Northern Ireland and England. She has developed a deep expertise in family-based safeguarding and leads INEQE’s work on youth engagement across faith-based environments.

Rory is a senior professional adviser. He is a qualified social worker with over 30 years’ experience working with children and vulnerable adults. He co-designed the first Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH). He also participates in all major reviews undertaken by INEQE specialising in thresholds, case management and escalation.

Laura is a Senior Research Analyst. She holds a PhD in Sociology. Her research areas centre on the construction of childhood, the construction of gender and sexuality and how this impacts girls and young women as well as the impact of the digital age on the expression of gender and sexuality.

Lauren is a Senior Research Officer. She holds an MSc in Psychological Research Methods in Child Development and a BSc with Honours in Psychology. In her undergraduate degree her final year thesis explored how the environmental shift to formal schooling affected the development of false belief understanding in children. Subsequently, her Masters thesis focused on differences in neurocognitive development depending on age.

Research and Data Analyst: Specialising in quantitative and qualitative methodologies, Rhianna has a robust background in data interpretation within the healthcare and charitable sectors. She holds an MSc in Clinical Health Psychology and previously worked for a suicide-prevention charity.

Neil is a former Detective Sergeant with 31 years experience across England and Northern Ireland. He served in supervisory roles within major crime investigations, Public Protection Branch and child abuse enquiries. He has led complex high-risk investigations throughout his career, successfully investigating and convicting an individual found to be responsible for the largest ‘catfishing’ exploitation case involving over 3,500 victims.

Business and Training Manager. Jemma has extensive experience in social care including specialising in trauma-informed support with a specific emphasis on residential care. Throughout her career, she has developed expertise in therapeutic practices and effective management of complex and challenging situations. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Psychology and Biology.

Trauma Informed Practice

INEQE takes a trauma-informed approach to ensure that the voices of victims and survivors are heard at all levels. Measures are adopted to support them before, during, and after their engagement with the review team.

To achieve a positive outcome for victims and survivors, participants can choose how they wish to engage with the review team, whether through face-to-face discussions, confidential surveys or contact forms, or online video calls. INEQE gathers their accounts using the method that best provides participants with choice and empowerment.