A parishioner1 has the legal right to attend divine service and, they cannot be excluded from a particular service unless there is a specific condition in a Sexual Harm Prevention Order or other court order, which restricts an offender’s or ex-offender’s movements or actions in some way. All Church Safety Plans which relate to parishioners are therefore voluntary.
Although a parishioner has a right to attend public worship, this does not extend to other events taking place in the Church - for example, someone who presents safeguarding risks can be excluded from attending gatherings or events after or outside of a service, including the meetings of specific groups or clubs. If the person in question is not a parishioner, they have no legal right to attend a parish church, even on Sundays or Holy Days2 .
The duty to provide an opportunity to worship for all also applies to cathedrals, and for cathedrals the ability to exclude a person from divine service is further limited. The Legal Advisory Commission, has advised that a cathedral may have a legal status and role which is both local and national. This means that it would be wrong to refuse entry to any person who resides in England, unless it could be shown that they had some unlawful purpose for being present. Further, it is possible that even overseas visitors could assert an interest in being admitted on the basis that some cathedrals (e.g. Canterbury Cathedral, St Paul’s Cathedral) have a place in “international Christendom”.
- 1A parishioner is any person who resides within the confines of the parish boundaries and any person who does not reside within the boundary, but occupies (without being resident in it) land within that boundary and pays a rent or otherwise - e.g. A shop owner.
- 2Cole v Police Constable 443A [1937] 1KB 136.