We very much hope your church never suffers a misfortune and there are all sorts of things that you can do to help ensure that it never does. Prevention is always better than a cure, and you can stave off a lot of potential threats with routine maintenance and simple precautions, such as
- Ensuring that you have a functioning lightning conductor;
- Carrying out regular tests of the wiring and acting on any recommendations in the electrician’s report;
- Installing a roof alarm if some or all of the roof is covered in lead;
- Security-making valuables;
- Keeping the church open during the day so you benefit from passive surveillance;
- Joining a Neighbourhood Watch scheme;
- Telling your congregation and neighbours whenever building work is taking place at your church and asking them to report people dressed like contractors who appear when they are not expected.
For more detailed advice on security, a good place to start is Ecclesiastical Insurance’s guidance on the subject (you don’t have to be one of their clients to consult it).
Make sure that you keep up to date with your insurance. Note carefully any conditions included in your policy, as not observing them might invalidate your cover in the event of a claim. If you have any queries about insurance, it’s always best to refer them direct to your provider. Insurance is a specialised area and you need to get the advice direct from the horse’s mouth.
That said, we’re conscious of the fact that insurance premiums represent a major annual outlay and that many PCCs are keen to look at ways of reducing them. If that is the case, and especially if you’re wondering about doing that by reducing your cover to less than 100% of its estimated rebuild value, then you can obtain independent advice about that from the Diocese:
Insurance guidance | PDF
All that said, forewarned is still forearmed and by reading the guidance here you’ll know how to respond in the unlikely event of an emergency.
What to know if an emergency happens at your church:
If you’ve been the victim of a crime such as vandalism or theft, you must report it to the police. If you discover a crime is in progress, call 999, but don’t attempt to challenge the perpetrators. If the criminals have left the scene, call 101 (the non-emergency number) or fill out a report on-line here. These are the points you need to cover to help the police to act:
- Location: give the postcode of your church.
- Nature of the crime: give brief details of what was stolen (downpipes/flashing/ roof covering/lightning conductor) where was it stolen from, and the damage done to the building.
- Time: when did the theft happen? If you can’t be exact, give a timeframe (i.e. between ‘x’ and ‘y’ o’clock).
- Sightings: were there any witnesses? If so, what did they see and would they be prepared to give statements? Are there CCTV cameras and have you examined the footage?
- Forensics: the thieves might have left useful evidence, so check with the police that you’re not inadvertently tampering with a crime scene.
- Proof: was the lead treated with SmartWater or any other form of forensic marking system that could trace it to your church? This is really important if the police catch the thieves or scrap dealer red-handed.
Make sure that you ask the police to class the incident as a heritage crime and to bring it to the attention of the Rural Task Force. Suffolk Police needs this intelligence to monitor threats to historic places, and there are longer sentencing tariffs for heritage crimes in the event of a conviction.
If you think you’ll need to make an insurance claim, or are concerned that someone else might, you should also report the incident to your insurer straight away.
If the fabric of your church has been damaged and you need to carry out urgent work to make it safe (e.g. dismantling something that is at risk of falling down, boarding up a window or door that’s been smashed in, installing a temporary roof covering), please contact the DAC Secretary and request an interim faculty. You should provide photographs of the affected area, along with a brief explanation of what happened and what needs to be done. Interim faculties are processed by e-mail, not through the on-line faculty system, and can usually be granted on the same day. But please note that interim faculties cover only what is needed to eliminate health and safety risks and/or to make the building usable again. For permanent repairs, you’ll need to follow the usual List B/faculty process.
Further resources
Ecclesiastical Insurance’s guidance on metal theft | Weblink
Historic England’s guidance on metal theft from places of worship | Weblink