Safeguarding Dashboards were launched in 2018, and they are now used in 10,000 parishes across every diocese in the Church of England.

We already had ample evidence that the dashboard is helping parishes to make progress towards the National Safeguarding Standards.  However, we wanted to find out what the users think about the dashboard.  Do they find it helpful?  Were they happy with any support they requested?  Do they have any suggested improvements?

Not every diocese wanted to participate in the survey, but we are very grateful for the 1,734 responses from parish users in the 31 dioceses that did.

Most of the dashboard users are clergy or Parish Safeguarding Officers, and the main findings are:

• The dashboard is easy to use, and it helps people to keep track of what needs to be done.
• The dashboard is making safeguarding simpler, and it is helping to build confidence.
• Most users have not needed help, or they were happy with the support given.

Download the Parish Survey Results to discover more about these main findings.

Making the dashboard even better

We are particularly grateful to parish users who suggested improvements to the dashboard.  These have been carefully considered, and we have plans to make Safeguarding Dashboards  even better in 2026.

• Advance notifications
  We were asked to provide Dashboard Owners with the option of receiving email notifications in advance of green lights turning amber.
   
• Better control over email notifications
  We want to give Dashboard Owners better control over the type and frequency of the email notifications that they choose to receive (if any).
   
• Schedule of tasks
  Many people like the simplicity of the traffic lights, but it’s not always easy to spot which tasks are the most urgent.  We were asked to show dates as well as traffic lights, and we want to provide this information in a new report.
   
• Positive feedback
  We were asked to send parishes positive feedback as they make progress with their dashboard.
   
• Tutorial videos
  We were asked to provide some tutorial vidieos for Dashboard Owners and PCC members.
   

All these improvements will be made during 2026.