Did You Know?

AnonJW

That if you are a congregation member you can ask to see the updated (Jan 2012) Child Safeguarding Policy, all 46 pages of it.The Elders have been instructed to make it available to those that make the request!

slimboyfat

In what country?

AnonJW

It's the case in the UK , not sure about elsewhere.

Phizzy

Any chance of posting a link, or PM ing a copy ?

cedars

Phizzy asks a good question. Surely the inevitable thing would be to get it posted on here so that we can take a closer look at the small print?

I would be intrigued as to whether any of the "official" policy conflicts with known JW doctrine.

Cedars

JWB

I thought the following letter, originally posted on a blogsite which is now closed, might be of interest.

A LETTER FROM THE CHARITY COMMISSION
____________________________________

Charity Commission Direct
PO Box 1227, Liverpool L69 3UG

t: 020 76-- ----
f: 020 76-- ----

Date: 10 October 2011

Dear Mr -----------

Re: Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain (1077961) ('the charity')

Thank you for your letter and enclosures that we received on 27 September. I understand that you have concerns about 'child safety in relation to the religious organisation known as Jehovah's Witnesses', and in particular that the charity does not have a child protection policy or carry out CRB checks on its trustees / elders.

The Commission's role

I think it would be helpful if I start by outlining our role and regulatory remit. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. Our job as regulator is to work with charities to ensure that they are accountable, well run and meet their legal obligations under charity law. As a regulator, we have a duty to consider concerns brought to our attention.

However, our statutory powers of intervention are limited and trustees have a broad discretion to manage their charity as they see fit, within charity law and the charity's own governing document. Additionally, we would not take up complaints where it would be disproportionate to do so, or where another regulator is better placed to examine the concerns.

The charity's child protection policy

As you highlight in 2008-09 we investigated one of the branches of the charity as reported in our Charities Back on Track publication of that year.

Following that case we worked with the charity to ensure that they developed a general policy for the protection of children, which was completed and then distributed to the various Jehovah's Witness charities throughout England and Wales.

If you wish to obtain a copy of this document you should contact the charity directly.

===

The charity's CRB checks

Report

I think I should clarify that in Charities Back on Track 2008-09 we did not specifically require the charity's trustees to carry out CRB checks. The Times newspaper [2] combined specific comments about the case into the charity with general comments about best practise for trustees to imply that this was the case. The relevant part of the report that covered our ongoing requirements for the charity stated:

'The Commission required the charity to produce a child protection policy as the charity had no written policy in place. We are currently working with the charity's umbrella body to produce a full child protection policy which, when agreed, will be binding on all of the branches of the charity it represents.'

As mentioned above, the charity has complied with this requirement and established and distributed a full child protection policy.

CRB checks

The Commission is not able to become involved in matters that are outside the scope of our regulatory responsibilities. This includes the specific issues of child protection best practice. We are not the body which ensures child protection or runs the CRB scheme -- this falls to the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA). Further details about these organisations can be found by using the following links:

CRB: http://www.crb.gov.uk/

ISA: http://www.isa.homeoffice.gov.uk/

The charity is under a legal obligation to get people CRB checked when they are likely to undertake 'regulated activities'.

However, although it is best practise for all trustees to be CRB checked, there is no requirement for all trustees / elders to be checked - see our guidance:

http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/publications/cc30.aspx#6).

If the CRB or ISA had concerns that the charity was not undertaking appropriate checks or complying with their legal duties they are able to refer the matter to us and we would consider if we had a regulatory role. As stated above, our role as the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales is to work with charities to ensure that they are accountable, well run and meet their legal obligations. If we were to receive a referral from CRB or ISA suggesting that this was not the case with regards to child protection, we would of course treat this very seriously.

In general terms the trustees have the power to govern their charity as they see fit, and the issue of child protection is outside of the Commission's remit. If the charity trustees act in accordance with

Page 2 of 3

===

the law and their governing document, we cannot get involved. We have not received any evidence that this is not the case in this instance.

Further information

I appreciate that due to your son's involvement with this religion you have strong feelings about how the charity should go about fulfilling its duty to protect children. I hope that I have explained how progress has been made in this area, but also that the Commission is not the body that ensures compliance with the law regarding child safeguarding.

Further information about the Commission's complaints process, including detail on what complaints we can and cannot deal with, can be found in our complaints guidance available here:

http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Publications/cc47.aspx.

Yours sincerely

S------- R--------

Large Charities Division
Charity Commission
0207 6-- ----

Page 3 of 3
__________

The Times article:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6881322.ece

"Charities Back on Track 2008-09":

http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/library/track09.pdf

cedars

AnonJW, you have a PM.

Thanks, Cedars

hotspur

Ummm... bit stuck here.

How can you ask to see something if you don't know it exists? Typical WTS move... "yes, we give you permission to see it if you should ask to do so (how did you know there was one?)" Gotcha!

This is the first I've heard of such a document and it's through an 'apostate' site. There won't be many dubbies who will know about this!

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