In October 2019, an independent review of the safeguarding structures and arrangements within the Catholic Church in England and Wales was set in motion. Given the significant changes in the social and political environment since the work done by Lord Nolan in 2001 and by the Cumberlege Commission in 2007, along with the greater numbers involved in safeguarding in the Church, it was felt that such a review was clearly overdue.
Central to these recommendations was the replacement of the then existent national safeguarding bodies: the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission (NCSC) and Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service (CSAS) with three newly constituted entities:
- The Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency: A new professional standards body with regulatory powers.
- A dedicated entity regarding safeguarding for Religious Life Groups, which are more formally defined as Religious Life Safeguarding Services (RLSS) covering religious orders and congregations.
- A National Tribunal to address the canonical matters connected to clergy discipline and canonical offences, exercising jurisdiction exclusively in the canonical forum but extending to preliminary case evaluation and beyond.
