Funding jobs

Job Title: Safeguarding Officer

Reporting to: Chief Operating Officer

Professional Supervision: The Regional Safeguarding Lead

Contract: Permanent

Salary: £22,500 per annum (FTE £39,375)

Hours per week: 20 hours

Annual Leave: 25 days plus bank holidays (Pro Rota)

Role Description

The Safeguarding Officer will lead and oversee all aspects of safeguarding within St Edmundsbury Cathedral, ensuring that the Cathedral remains a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment for children, young people, and vulnerable adults.

You will be responsible for ensuring that the Cathedral meets all statutory safeguarding obligations and complies fully with the Church of England’s national safeguarding policies, diocesan frameworks, and relevant legislation. This includes proactively identifying potential risks, responding appropriately to safeguarding concerns, and ensuring effective reporting and case management in partnership with the Diocesan Safeguarding Team and statutory agencies.

Beyond compliance, this role is about embedding a culture of care, accountability, and transparency across the Cathedral community. You will support clergy, staff, and volunteers to understand their safeguarding responsibilities, ensure safer recruitment and training practices, and provide guidance and reassurance when safeguarding issues arise.

By acting as a source of expert advice, leadership, and advocacy, the Safeguarding Officer will help the Cathedral community uphold the highest standards of safety, dignity, and pastoral care, ensuring that everyone, regardless of age, background, or circumstance, can participate fully and confidently in Cathedral life.

The Cathedral Safeguarding Officer has operational authority within the Cathedral (subject to agreement with the Diocesan Safeguarding Officer with respect to responding to concerns and allegations against Church officers) for the following responsibilities, arranged according to the Church of England’s National Safeguarding Standards.

These four National Safeguarding Standards provide the framework for effective safeguarding practice across all Church settings:

1. Culture, Leadership, and Capacity – Promoting a culture where safeguarding is embedded in every aspect of Cathedral life, ensuring that leaders, clergy, staff, and volunteers model and champion best practice.
2. Prevention – Implementing robust safer recruitment, induction, and training processes, and proactively identifying and mitigating potential safeguarding risks.
3. Responding to Concerns – Ensuring that all concerns, disclosures, and allegations are taken seriously, responded to promptly, and managed in partnership with statutory agencies and the Diocesan Safeguarding Team.
4. Learning, Supervision, and Quality Assurance – Fostering continual improvement through regular review, reflection, and evaluation of safeguarding practice, ensuring accountability and transparency at all levels.

Together, these standards guide the Cathedral’s commitment to providing a safe, nurturing, and trustworthy environment for all who engage with its worship, ministry, and community life.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic leadership

• Act as the Cathedral’s primary safeguarding lead, providing authoritative advice and operational oversight to the Chapter, leadership team, clergy, staff and volunteers.
• Ensure compliance with national Church of England safeguarding guidance, diocesan requirements and all relevant statutory legislation.
• Develop, maintain and drive a measurable safeguarding action plan and improvement programme, ensuring policies and practice are implemented consistently across Cathedral activities.
• Produce clear, timely safeguarding reports and briefings for Chapter and committees translating case and compliance information into strategic recommendations.
• Actively promote a culture of accountability and continuous improvement, supporting leaders to embed safeguarding into planning, events, recruitment and everyday practice.
• Engaging in professional supervision and quality assurance provided by the relevant Regional Safeguarding Lead, and in continual professional development, including ensuring that the requirements of the National Safeguarding Learning and Development Framework for Safeguarding Officers are met.

Safer recruitment

• Lead and oversee safer recruitment processes for all paid roles and volunteer positions, ensuring job descriptions, interviews and selection processes assess safeguarding suitability.
• Support managers to make informed recruitment decisions and ensure all new starters receive safeguarding induction and appropriate supervision.

Case management

• Receive, triage and respond to safeguarding concerns and disclosures quickly and sensitively, ensuring the safety and welfare of those involved.
• Undertake initial risk and needs assessments and make appropriate referrals to statutory agencies and the Diocesan Safeguarding Team.
• Support and co-ordinate multi-agency responses where required, and follow agreed safeguarding pathways.
• Provide pastoral support and signposting to victims/survivors while ensuring appropriate boundaries, confidentiality and access to specialist support services.
• Manage allegations involving staff or volunteers in line with diocesan procedures, ensuring safe working arrangements are put in place while enquiries proceed.
• Maintain accurate, secure and auditable case records, ensuring all documentation complies with data protection (GDPR) and Cathedral record-keeping protocols

Meetings & governance

• Attend safeguarding-related meetings, including the Safeguarding Committee, Guild Committee and Forum, providing briefings, presenting reports and highlighting risks and compliance matters.
• Prepare agendas, papers and minutes as required; maintain an action log and follow up to ensure agreed actions are completed.
• Escalate unresolved risks or urgent safeguarding matters to Chapter and senior leadership in a timely and constructive manner.
• Attend Diocesan Safeguarding Advisory Panel (DSAP) Meetings.

Training & awareness

• Lead on Cathedral safeguarding training, coordinate and deliver induction and refresher training for staff, volunteers, and clergy.
• Maintain up-to-date records of safeguarding training for all staff and volunteers (showing completion and renewal dates).
• Create accessible safeguarding information and communications for the Cathedral community (e.g., weekly bulletin items, posters, webpages and event briefings) to raise awareness and reinforce good practice.
• Provide tailored briefings for high-risk roles and ongoing advice to managers and supervisors on safeguarding responsibilities.
• To evaluate training to ensure that learnings have been embedded.

Policy & risk management

• Review, update and implement the Cathedral’s safeguarding policies and procedures on a regular schedule (and sooner where guidance or case learning requires change).
• Lead safeguarding risk assessments for services, events, volunteer activities and external bookings; provide straightforward, action-focused mitigation plans for event organisers and hirers.
• Conduct audits and spot-checks to ensure practice aligns with policy and report findings with recommended improvements.
• Ensure contractors, partner organisations and hirers meet required safeguarding standards and that any safeguarding responsibilities are set out contractually where appropriate.

Additional duties and professional development

• Provide clear, timely advice within agreed working hours and support any out-of-hours arrangements for urgent safeguarding concerns as agreed with Chapter.
• Maintain your own professional development through training, supervision and membership of relevant safeguarding networks; ensure learning is shared across the Cathedral.
• Carry out any other reasonable duties that support the effective delivery of safeguarding across the Cathedral.
• Attend the East Anglia Regional Safeguarding Network meeting three times a year, with other DSOs and CSO in the region

Key Relationships

• In the Cathedral, the Dean provides leadership concerning safeguarding, supported by Chapter and senior leadership team requiring good working relationships with both clergy and lay colleagues.
• It is essential that the CSO forms excellent working relationships with key people in the Diocese, including: the Diocesan Safeguarding Officer (DSO), the safeguarding team and other relevant staff; the chair and membership of diocesan safeguarding governance structures e.g., the Diocesan Safeguarding Advisory Panel (DSAP) and relevant sub-groups; and the National Safeguarding Team.
• It is essential to have good connections with colleagues in relevant local third sector agencies, including those working in the fields of homelessness, poverty, domestic abuse, mental health, substance misuse, refugee support, language and learning support, etc. Adults and children who are using, have used or may use the services of the cathedral, particularly in relation to safeguarding.

Person Spesification 

Essential Qualities

Qualifications

• Relevant safeguarding qualification/training, or willingness to undertake

Experience

• Substantial experience working with safeguarding in roles involving children and/or adults at risk.
• Handling safeguarding referrals, disclosures, and case management.
• Liaising with statutory services such as police, social care, and health agencies.
• Delivering safeguarding training or workshops to diverse audiences.
• Producing reports, maintaining accurate records, and managing confidential data.

Knowledge

• Excellent understanding of current safeguarding legislation, guidance, and best practice for children and adults.
• Knowledge of safer recruitment principles and DBS requirements.
• Understanding of GDPR and secure data management in relation to safeguarding.
• Awareness of the Church of England’s safeguarding frameworks and National Safeguarding Standards (or willingness to learn).

Skills and Abilities

• Strong ability to assess risk and make clear, evidence-based decisions.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate sensitively and appropriately at all levels.
• Effective relationship-building skills, including working collaboratively with clergy, volunteers, statutory agencies, and community stakeholders.
• High levels of organisation and attention to detail, with the ability to manage multiple priorities calmly and effectively.
• Confident in designing and delivering safeguarding training and briefings.

Personal Qualities

• Integrity, resilience, and discretion when managing sensitive information.
• Empathy and pastoral sensitivity towards those impacted by abuse or allegations.
• A collaborative, approachable, and supportive leadership style.
• Ability to remain calm and make sound decisions in challenging situations.
• Commitment to promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion.
• Respect for the Cathedral’s Christian values and willingness to work within its ethos.

Desired Qualities

Qualifications

• Relevant professional qualification (e.g. social work, education, counselling, youth work, nursing, or safeguarding).
• Membership of a relevant safeguarding or professional network.

Experience

• Experience working in a Church of England context or other faith-based safeguarding setting.
• Experience of developing and implementing safeguarding policies and risk assessments.

Knowledge

• Knowledge of trauma-informed approaches when supporting victims/survivors.
• Familiarity with Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser (DSA) roles and procedures.

Skills and Abilities

• Experience in facilitating safeguarding learning using innovative or digital approaches.
• Competence in using safeguarding case management systems or CRMs.

Other Requirements

• Willingness to undergo enhanced DBS checks, including barred lists.
• Flexibility to attend occasional evening or weekend meetings and events.
• Commitment to completing all mandatory safeguarding and leadership training as required by the Cathedral and Diocese.

Closing Date: Wednesday 12 November 

About us

CSE is a national charity based in Bristol with a clear mission: to tackle the climate emergency and end the suffering caused by cold homes. We believe in a future where everyone can live in a warm, healthy home powered by a fair and sustainable energy system, and we work with people, organisations and communities to help make that a reality. We collaborate across teams and disciplines to deliver practical change, and we’re proud of our independence, integrity and commitment to social justice. Our people are at the heart of what we do, and we want CSE to be an outstanding place to work, one where colleagues feel supported, included, and empowered to make a difference.

The role

Would you like to play a key role in making CSE a great place to work, enabling our people to deliver on our mission to end fuel poverty and tackle the climate emergency?

We are looking for a proactive and values-driven Senior HR Advisor to join our HR team. This is a newly created role and reflects both organisational growth and the increasing demand for proactive HR support, line manager guidance and HR project delivery.

As Senior HR Advisor, you will act as a trusted HR partner, providing confident advice, empowering line managers, and supporting projects and initiatives that strengthen engagement, wellbeing and performance. You will combine day-to-day HR support with delivering improvements to systems, processes and the employee experience, working closely with the Senior HR Manager and Senior HR Officer.

You will also play a key role in helping us embed new digital HR tools, including our HRIS (Employment Hero), Monday, and SharePoint HR intranet. We are in the early stages of rolling these out, so we are looking for someone tech-savvy who can support the Senior HR Manager with rolling up their sleeves, troubleshooting, and helping staff and line managers get the best out of them.

This is a role for someone who enjoys solving problems, improving ways of working, and helping people thrive. If you’re collaborative, approachable and solutions-focused, and excited by the chance to make a real impact in a mission-led charity, we’d love to hear from you.

Who you are

You are an experienced HR professional who is confident advising managers, balancing compliance with a people-centred approach. You are curious and resilient, always looking for ways to improve systems and processes, and passionate about creating a positive employee experience.

You will bring:

· Strong knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practice, ideally supported by CIPD Level 5 (or equivalent experience).

· Experience advising line managers on employee matters.

· Experience contributing to HR projects

· Confidence using HR systems and digital platforms

· Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, and the ability to adapt your approach to different audiences.

· Strong organisational skills with high attention to detail, and the ability to balance priorities in a fast-paced environment.

· A collaborative, values-led approach that champions inclusion and builds trust with staff and managers.

What we offer

Working at CSE means being part of a supportive, purpose-driven team, where your skills contribute to real social and environmental change. We offer:

· Salary: Scale F (£36,075 - £43,211)

· Pension: 8% employer / 6% employee

· Holiday: 25 days AL plus BH’s

· Benefits:

o TOIL programme and flexibility to support work–life balance

o A commitment to supporting your role progression and continued development

o Health Cash Plan

o Life Assurance

o Enhanced sick pay, maternity pay, adoption pay

o Access to retail discounts and discounted breakdown cover

o Employee Assistance Programme

o Staff activities like yoga at lunch and a book club

o Tech Scheme

o Cycle to Work Scheme

Our culture and values

At CSE, our values shape how we work together and with others.

· Commitment to our mission

· Collaboration

· Conscientiousness

· Initiative

Application procedure

To apply, please complete CSE’s application form attached. Applications should clearly demonstrate how your skills and experience meet the person specification outlined in the job description.

The closing date for applications is 10:00 on Monday 24 November 2025.

Interviews will take place on w/c. Monday 1 December and Monday 8 Decmeber 2025.

Applications should be emailed or sent by post to: Centre for Sustainable Energy, St James Court, St James Parade, Bristol BS1 3LH.

If shortlisted for interview, we will ask you to provide evidence demonstrating your eligibility for employment in the UK.

About us

We’re Breast Cancer Now, the research and support charity. We’re the place to turn to for anything and everything to do with breast cancer. However you’re experiencing breast cancer, we’re here. 

The brightest minds in breast cancer research are here. Making life-saving research happen in labs across the UK and Ireland. Support services, trustworthy breast cancer information and specialist nurses are here. Ready to support you whenever you need it. Dedicated campaigners are here. Fighting for the best possible treatment, services and care for anyone affected by breast cancer.

About the role

The health information team produced high quality, accessible health and patient information for people affected by breast cancer or worried about their breast health. Our printed information is used by healthcare professionals across the UK, and our online information includes over 200 webpages.

The health content editor plays a pivotal role in the creation and reviewing of our information portfolio. We’re looking for an organised and collaborative individual to project manage and edit individual information products, working alongside our team of subject matter experts.

About you

You’re a clear communicator with the ability to break down complex medical information for a lay audience. You have excellent attention to detail and are committed to making health information accessible and accurate. You’ll be an experienced editor looking to put your skills and knowledge into practice. You’re someone who is used to juggling an array of projects and can manage and prioritise them.

Job description and benefits

Please download the job description and our attractive benefits package.

Primary location of role and hybrid working

This role is primarily based in our London office. Our hybrid working model allows you to work up to 3 days per week at home.

When applying

We hope you choose to apply for this role. To support your application, you’ll be asked to submit your anonymised CV and a supporting statement online. Please refer to the essential criteria on the person specification and clearly provide as much information as you can with examples, to demonstrate how and where you meet the criteria. If you’ve any immediate questions please contact the Breast Cancer now recruitment team.

Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion

We’re committed to promoting equity, valuing diversity and creating an inclusive environment – for everyone who works for us, works with us, supports us and who we support.

Closing date Wednesday 19 November 2025 9 am

Interview date Week commencing 1 December 2025

We reserve the right to close this advert early. Therefore, to avoid disappointment please submit your application as soon as possible, if you’re interested in this opportunity.