From the PSD Desk June 2024

11 June 2024

Dear Safe Church Coordinator, Church Office Administrators and Pastors,

Here is some additional information about recent and pending updates regarding Safety Management Online (SMO).

Exception Reports

Due to the requirements for Working With Children Checks (WWCCs) and Safe Church Training for volunteers, and the increased scrutiny from governments, there is a need for better use of SMO. You are reminded that the Child Protection Procedure requires congregations to use SMO for recording background screening and training. The Professional Standards Department (PSD) supports congregations in this requirement.

SMO has features including automatic monthly Exception Reports, which provide notification of pending expiry and expired compliance. When SMO data is up to date it is an especially useful feature, and PSD staff can assist you to better ensure compliance is up to date. To date, it has been optional for congregations have this feature turned on. The feature will now be turned on for all congregations. This means, as of 1 June, on the first day of very month Coordinators will receive an Exception Report from SMO by email. Reports will only include active records (not those which are archived). Please ensure that the active/archived status is kept up to date.

The parameters of the report will be set as follows:

• In Appointment Status:
  • Background screening check 1 (the check that is used for WWCCs)
    (Background screening check 2, Referee Checks and the Volunteer Process dates will not be included.)
• In Training Status:
  • All training relative to a member’s training level
    (i.e. Level 1 for Team Members; Level 2 for Team Leaders and Coordinators)
• Reports will be emailed to Coordinators only
  (Congregations will have the option of members also being notified. If this is your preference, please email your PSO to advise them.)

The reports will list:

• Records that will expire in the next 3 months.
• Records that have already expired. You are reminded that:
  • If a members WWCC has expired, they should step back from their role until the check is updated.
  • No member in a position of responsibility or trust shall be permitted to commence volunteering for without a current WWCC.

Volunteer Applications

The ChildSafe Safety Management System has always included the need for a ‘Volunteer Application,’ and this was reflected in the Appointment Status of personal records in SMO. Safe Church training no longer uses that terminology, but still requires an intentional ‘Appointment Process.’ SMO has been updated to reflect that. We were not able to update all fields to what we would have liked but have been able to add an ‘Appointed Role’ field. Please start using this. It will help to inform you and PSD of the training requirements for a member.

Training Status

When you next log in to SMO you will notice that the Training Status section will be updated to reflect the new LCANZ Safe Church Training. The changes are:

Current modules	New equivalents	Notes
Level 1 Session 1 Standards of Ethical Behaviour	Level 1 Induction	Also referred to as 1.1
Level 1 Session 2 Introduction to Safety Management	–	No direct equivalent
Level 1 Session 3 Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults	Level 1 Safeguarding	Also referred to as 1.2
Level 1 Refresher	–	No direct equivalent

So, there is no longer initial full Level 1 training and a Level 1 Refresher, just the new simplified Level 1 training.

If you have any queries about this, please contact me, noting that I will be on leave throughout June. I will respond to emails as soon as possible on my return to work on July 2^nd.

Every blessing,

Denise Muschamp
Melbourne
May 2024