Safe Ministry Check – the form which helps screen volunteer church workers to work with under 18 year olds. Also abbreviated to ‘SMC’

Authorised Delegate – The person in a local church or parish who receives the completed SMC forms (and references where appropriate) and processes them. In some churches, the Senior Minister will fill this role, but in many cases he will delegate this to another member of staff.
This person should have considerable pastoral ministry experience in order to manage some of the matters that can arise in the SMC form, and therefore this should NOT be an admin person or a volunteer Safe Ministry Rep.
Some large churches may have multiple people performing this role, but this form asks each church to nominate just one Authorised Delegate. That person can then distribute the completed forms they receive internally as required.

Once your church is registered and you have your five digit SMC Church ID number to distribute to your members:

• They go to the online form page and enter the Church ID to start the form. Please view that page to see the pre-requisites for applicants using the form.
• At the appropriate place, the form will ask the applicant questions to determine whether they will need to seek a reference. While the vast majority will not, if they do, they will enter the contact details of their referee (usually their previous Senior Minister). That person is emailed a request to complete a short referee form with a personalised link. When the referee submits that form, it is sent straight to your churches Senior Minister or his Authorised Delegate.
• When the main form is submitted, a copy of the form is sent to the applicant and to your church’s Senior Minister or his Authorised Applicant. 
• The role of the SMC Church ID is to allow the Office of the Director of Safe Ministry (ODSM) to link up all applicants forms and referee forms to the church they attended at the time of completing the form.