by Gilo

We return to a familiar theme in this blog: the part played by the Church of England’s insurers, the Ecclesiastical Insurance Office (EIO), in the story of church safeguarding. In numerous media articles EIO has been found to have behaved in an obstructive and re-abusive way in its dealing with survivors.  The company had also repeatedly dissembled (put out false information) about the Elliott Review. This review had criticised the church authorities and the way in which their ‘agents’ had undermined the process for making fair settlements with survivors. In recent weeks this same insurance company has accepted liability in a data breach case.  This involved the release of confidential information on Ecclesiastical’s website which named the survivor.  This data breach has been settled by a payment of £30,000 plus costs.  Significantly at the same time an agreement for mediation (in planning stage) has been made over the past undermining by EIO of the Elliott Review.  This important settlement has been achieved by Richard Scorer and Jonathan Price (barrister) and represents an important precedent-setting outcome. It will be embarrassing for the Church, especially to a senior bishop and Archbishops’ Council from whom Gilo is now seeking mediated apologies for their part in complicity with the dissembling and the closing down across years of any questions about this. 

Richard Scorer, the solicitor in this case, said: 

“The outcome of this case speaks for itself. Ecclesiastical initially treated the claim as a claim for a minor data breach. But they have now paid substantially more by way of damages than would ordinarily be paid for a simple breach. In addition, their CEO Mark Hews has provided an unreserved apology, and they have agreed to a further mediation about the wider issue of their public treatment of the Elliott review. By settling the matter in this way, they have in reality acknowledged that this data breach occurred in a wider context of EIO failings towards survivors, some of which were explored in IICSA, and that those failings significantly aggravated this data breach. I hope that these events will be part of an urgent and radical reshaping of EIO’s behaviour towards survivors, and the full implementation of the Elliott report”.

Gilo says:

It’s good that Ecclesiastical Insurance is finally coming to mediation over their repeated public dissembling around the Review into my case. The Bishop mandated to implement the review recommendations (Sarah Mullally) and the Secretary General of Archbishops Council (William Nye) remained silent to every question and request for help on this. Eventually an SAR (Subject Access Request) revealed complicity between Archbishops Council and the National Safeguarding Team and Ecclesiastical and showed they had sought to work together on reputational management; see link: https://survivingchurch.org/2020/09/15/thoughts-on-the-elliott-review-translation-by-archbishops-council/ 

It is disturbing that a three-day data breach which we think was likely to be accidental has had almost as much value as the abuse settlement with an impact lasting decades. I took home £3500 more than from the original settlement. It shows how derisory the abuse settlements are in the hands of the Church of England’s insurer and lawyers.

Phil Johnson comments: 

It is utterly incomprehensible that the amount of compensation for a data breach that lasted 3 days can result in the victim receiving more money than they did from a claim that involved very serious sexual abuse and over four decades of suffering its consequences.

What is more astounding is that these payments are to the same victim and come from the same insurer, highlighting how much more valuable its reputation seems to be compared with victims’ abuse, losses and suffering.

Ian Elliott, the internationally recognised safeguarding expert and reviewer, has said:

“I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge and welcome the agreement to reach a mediated settlement with Ecclesiastical Insurance regarding the dissembling that has marked their response to the review that I undertook of a historic abuse case for the Church of England. Over the course of the years since I produced the report, EIO have made comments on national television, on their website, and in evidence to the Inquiry (IICSA),  regarding the accuracy of my assessments, claiming that they were flawed. These damaging statements are completely untrue. Despite this, they were never publicly withdrawn and no attempt has ever been made by EIO or the Church to set the record straight. Telling the truth is important and when that does not happen, trust is damaged and lost.”

Andrew Graystone, advocate for survivors, comments: 

“Around the world churches are beginning to face up to the cost of redress for victims of church abuse. The Catholic Church in Australia is facing a bill of £112 million. Anglican churches there are selling off land and property to meet their bills. The Church of England doesn’t appear to have begun to think about this process. As yet there I can’t find a line for redress in any church budget for the coming years. 

I wish the House of Bishops in England would step up and take responsibility for the damage the church has done. Instead, victims and survivors of abuse in the Church of England find the church’s hierarchy resistant at every stage. It’s not that the bishops don’t care about justice and healing for victims of church abuse. Some certainly do. It’s just quite low on their list of priorities. 

As Gilo and many others know only too well, every engagement with the church on this issue is an uphill struggle. Some survivors who have already lost years to fighting to have their voices heard, fear that they will face further years of legal battles to persuade the church to make redress.  

Bishops need to understand that healing for victims of abuse is not a drag on the mission of the church. It IS the mission of the church.”

Tony who has campaigned alongside Gilo for recognition of the injustice of CofE legal and insurer structures says:

“We set up House of Survivors website (www.houseofsurvivors.org) to provide a clear, indisputable and evidenced narrative of the re-abuse experienced by survivors of CofE abuse, and to hold up a mirror to the Church of England and Ecclesiastical Insurance. Survivors’ lives and chance of repair have been horse traded for corporate commercial gain by the Church’s own insurance company, Ecclesiastical. They have created a huge moral mess, which needs to be addressed by them both. To align with their charitable public PR profile, we have called upon EIO and their parent Benefact Trust (formerly AllChurches Trust) to contribute £100million into the Church’s Redress Scheme over the next four years in lieu of corporate repentance for their part in the callous disregard and belittling of the lived experience of lifelong trauma, and the denial of repair of abuse survivors’ lives.”

Bishop Alan Wilson who was present at the settlement meeting, comments:

“In all my dealings with Ecclesiastical I have witnessed their aspiration to be seen as an industry leader. But for that to happen Ecclesiastical has to build an honest relationship with all its stakeholders, including victims and survivors.

Churches and insurers tend to say that they incorporate survivor experience in their response without actually doing so. The Church produces big rhetoric about engagement whilst fashioning ‘lessons learned reviews’ that drag on for years without anyone seemingly learning any lessons. Meanwhile our insurer steers well clear of any external independent accountability whilst parading and hiding behind its Guiding Principles. I applaud survivors like Gilo and Tony and others for bringing so much to daylight and evidencing that our insurer needs serious scrutiny in its handling of survivors.”