Letting of church premises to non-church groups

Churches letting their premises to non-church groups should ensure that a copy of the Agreement for Use of Church Hall or Church has been signed.

Within the Terms and Conditions section of the Agreement for Use of Church Hall or Church, the User is asked to confirm that they are aware of the requirement to safeguard the welfare of children, young people and protected adults and keep them safe from harm and abuse.

The User must have adopted a recruitment procedure for working with children, young people and/or protected adults which, where appropriate, includes requiring employees and volunteers to be members of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups Scheme as laid down by the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 ("the Act") and will comply with the Act in all respects.

If the User is found to be in breach of these undertakings, the Congregation shall have the right to terminate this Agreement with immediate effect.

The Agreement for Use of Church Hall or Church states that the Church should not involve itself in the supervision of the User's activities. It stresses that any involvement of Church personnel may give outsiders the impression that the Users were operating in some way under the umbrella of the congregation. This could have its own dangers vis-à-vis questions of legal liability.

If child or adult protection issues are suspected or reported to the church, the information received should be passed to the Social Work Service, Police Scotland and the Safeguarding Service as soon as possible.

Use of Church buildings and insurance

Please refer to the Church of Scotland Insurance Services for further details on this matter.