to not do Safeguarding training?

[Sausagenbacon]

I belong to a church, and occasionally serve coffee at the end of the service. I am being asked to take Safeguarding training, which I think is utterly pointless.
I have expressed this and been told that it's policy, and I have to do it.
AIBU to just stop doing coffee?

I work with children and am the safeguarding lead for the centre I work in, but we have a designated Safeguarding officer for the whole company. Before I did the training (which is really not that difficult) I didn't fully understand the importance of it. It really just helps you be aware of different areas of concern for people. My role isn't to judge a situation, but is more to make sure anything is reported properly to the head of safeguarding so things are recorded properly in case situations arise. It may seem OTT but it can really help to have a record of things to stop abuse getting missed - which sadly we have seen countless times, to old and young alike. IMO just do the training. Learning something is no skin of your nose.

@AlisonDonut it requires slightly more than knowing who the designated safeguarding officer is.
How to react or say if there is a disclosure. Awareness etc.
It's certainly not pointless.

I run a small charity. All volunteers have to do safeguarding training, whatever their role. It’s a short on- line session for most. It’s a charity commission requirement. The church probably have similar rules. We spend so much time chasing volunteers to do training when we could do other stuff. I would honestly just do it. And maybe while you are there ask why they need you to given your role - they may just have a good answer…

I know what safeguarding is. If someone discloses something when you hand them a coffee you say 'sugar is over there' and then refer the disclosure to a safeguarding officer. You don't get involved in a discussion, or start an investigation, or do anything else other than refer it.

I work with volunteers for a charity, and while it's different as our service users are children, if a volunteer is placed in a setting without completing the safeguarding training they are not covered by our insurance policies. So if any accusations were made against them for example, we wouldn't provide any legal representation / cover costs for them.

If you don't want to do it then fine, but it seems to be cutting your nose off to spite your face if you enjoy this role. There are reasons for undergoing ST and I am always wary and pay extra attention to those volunteers who put up a fight about it, it says a lot about their character.

We had volunteers who refused CRB checks, in fact were Very offended when told. It's policy I'm afraid.

@justasking111 Lots of people have criminal records but would still pass a DBS. In most cases affront may be a cover up for being afraid of a DBS.

Really? No, you do not get "involved" as you say. What do you do if the safeguarding officer is not around. Do you say "awfully sorry, I haven't done the training and the relevant person is not around on a Tuesday?" As I said, there is a bit more to safeguarding than you are implying.

@ThistleTits the minister will be around.

It was more of a "what if." Unless it's time constraints or perhaps you think you have been away from learning for too long. It will be a very informal learning environment.

I have to do safeguarding annually as part of my job and I was asked to give up my Saturday to do safeguarding training for a voluntary role I do at a church. I have to admit my attitude was similar to yours and I really thought it was pointless but I did it anyway because I enjoy doing the voluntary role.

In the end I found it more interesting than I thought as the church safeguarding comes from a slightly different perspective to my work. I'm not catholic so I'm not referring to anything specific, but a huge part of it was ensuring mistakes of the past aren't repeated whilst also acknowledging that the church shouldn't turn its back on anyone so may end of having a duty of care to both a custom and a perpetrator. I expected it to be wishy washy but a lot of it was ensuring outdated attitudes were challenged and giving practical advice for where there was a conflict of interest - for example a woman escaping dv joins your congregation and weeks later so does her abuser, or you have children attend your church and you discover a member of the congregation has previously abused children. It also had a large focus on elder abuse as with aging congregations that is probably what you're most likely to come across so they want to know you know how to spot the signs.

Tldr:// I know it's really annoying but they do come at it from a different perspective to usual safeguarding and I think it's part of the church's drive to push out the turning a blind eye that so often happened in the past and reconcile their duty of care to all people with the need to keep the vulnerable safe.

@ThistleTits if it is C of E it is an online course, not face to face

Thar not a very christian attitude is it?

Safeguarding isn’t about passing. You hand coffee out to elderly people, what if you noticed something that would need to be reported? Safeguarding training is not pointless. It could potentially help you to help others if they need it.

I know what safeguarding is. If someone discloses something when you hand them a coffee you say 'sugar is over there' and then refer the disclosure to a safeguarding officer. You don't get involved in a discussion, or start an investigation, or do anything else other than refer it
Safeguarding is more than what someone should do in the event a person makes a disclosure though.

Safeguarding includes noticing concerns, including any changes in the people you're interacting with, and knowing how to respond to disclosure, which includes how to navigate the discussion when a disclosure is made so that the person feels heard but you're not investigating or asking leading questions.

Safeguarding is also about good practice within roles throughout an organisation to safeguard volunteers and service user/organisation members as well as being vigilant for potential signs of harm. This is why organisations do, or should do, safeguarding refreshers so that the organisational culture is one that safeguards.people Vs a culture where it's viewed as a pointless tick box exercise because it's unlikely someone's going to disclose to me anyway, and if they did I'd just tell the safeguarding person so why should I have to do the training again?

Safeguarding is everybody’s business. Working with potentially vulnerable people, you need to know what signs to look out for and even if you do, safe guarding training needs to be updated every few years.

You should absolutely do it - it'll be quick, informative and worth while. I'm sure the Church would be sad to see you go, especially if you're cemented into the team.

Maybe you're doing yourself a disservice by thinking you 'just' do the tea/coffee!

Safeguarding training is something we should all do. Many positions whether paid or unpaid often require it as mandatory. And not only that, it often needs to be kept up to date - repeating it every 12 months indefinitely whilst you're in the role. You might feel at times you're repeating yourself, but it's always good to have a refresher.

Paid or unpaid, you are a part of a community based team, you should all be trained to the required levels necessary regardless of post.

I doubt the training would be too harsh, and you'd be supported to ensure you understand and pass the material required.

And as we Christians often do when we need guidance, pray on it.

Good Luck OP with what you decided.

*SudokuMania · Yesterday 16:58

"I think that volunteer work should not involve an unreasonable burden of training. So if the training is up to an hour, I would do it. But if it is longer than that, I would not do it."
My DH volunteered to help at an event. It involved children but he'd not be left alone with them and would be surrounded by other adults with the appropriate training.
The safeguarding course was 3 hours - longer than he'd be at the event itself.
He doesn't have time for that! So he had to pull out.'*

That is ridiculous @SudokuMania - it is not surprising there is a shortage of volunteers with these kind of rules.

It's an online course. You don't even have to watch the whole thing - just skip through to the questions. Wouldn't take long at all! But if you'd rather not volunteer that's your prerogative.

Why wouldn’t you do something that might help you spot the signs of when someone may need support or help I some way? Not everyone suffering or lonely makes it obvious. It’ll also allow you to understand what safeguarding is and isn’t - so you are confident reporting any concerns you might have about the behaviour of other volunteers should it be inappropriate.
it about protecting the vulnerable- whether they are very young or old or just people in need of support.
But if you aren’t interested then I guess you just stop helping out.

I volunteer and all our regular helpers have DBS checks too. Anyone who doesn’t want to do a safeguarding course wouldn’t be welcome anyway.

If you did the training perhaps you'd understand why it isn't pointless. You're actually in an excellent position for people to tell you things and you may find that people make disclosures which are a safeguarding issue. You could easily find out someone is being abused by their carer or children, or being taken advantage of by a neighbour. It really could make a huge difference.

You clearly misunderstand ‘safeguarding training’ 🙄 it’s not about the “little old tea lady” causing injury or death 🙄

The argument is that there needs to be some real thought about who we demand gets training. You, and many others here, seem to be saying that anyone who might possibly come into contact with anyone vulnerable needs to have this training. Well - that is everyone. That's not a reasonable approach.

Maybe in an ideal world, we ALL have ALL the training. Every person who is not a hermit gets first aid, food handling (just in case), mental health first aid, DEI, whatever they are calling the do-not-sexually-harass people training these days, administering naloxone training, and more.

Except that's not really reasonable. You need to actually fit what you ask of people to their role. It might make sense to ask people doing the tea and food to get a food handling course. Or maybe even first aid - though in workplaces often the requirement is a certain number of people per shift should have some of these kinds of courses, not everyone, unless it really is directly their job.

Someone said volunteerism is being killed, and that is true. It is harder and harder to get people in these roles. And part of the reason is that there are more and more demands on volunteers to tick these boxes. It takes more time, it means people have to make themselves available at other times, etc.

There 10 minute online courses people are talking about are not doing much, if anything, other than ticking a box for the insurance company. It does however put barriers in the way of someone stepping up to do a simple job.

Except you have to understand and recognise potential issues to do so..…. for which you need the training.

@TempestTost thank you for that post. It clearly outlines the issue.
I think at a minimum we should not be asking volunteers to do training when people being paid for the same task in a commercial organisation do not have to do the training. It is illogical and a barrier to expect more from volunteers than is expected from paid workers.