First in a series of guest articles detailing the unhappy situation in the Church of England with regard to its failures in the management of Safeguarding.

by Martyn Percy

No. 1: Who Pays?

Trust and confidence in the Archbishops’ Council and National Safeguarding Team is broken beyond repair. The statements made on safeguarding and issued by both Archbishops, senior staff and Lead Bishops seem designed only mislead both church and public. Yet ordinary members of the church seem to be powerless in the face of the lack of accountability and competence over the ways in which safeguarding policy and practice is being operated.

Recently, the Archbishop of York was found to have deliberately lied to General Synod over progress on reviews and the closure of the ISB. Victims of abuse are now writing to their MPs and calling out the deceptions, incompetence and cover-ups. In a short series of five extracts of letters sent to Members of Parliament, the case for root and branch reform is set out.

These short extracts detail the deceptions fed to General Synod, the wider Church of England and general public. On the scales of justice, we find that statements from either of the Archbishops cannot be trusted and have little weight. Furthermore, little, if anything, that the Archbishops’ Council says to General Synod about safeguarding is likely to be true.  The scales of justice can no longer be balanced, and victims are now calling upon Parliament to intervene as a matter of urgency.

In five brief extracts taken from letters to MPs, the issues now being put to Parliament are carefully set out, and the call for independent statutory regulation of church safeguarding is made. Victims of abuse and injustice have no confidence in the Church of England’s leadership being able or willing to address the abuses it continues to perpetrate. Only external legal independent intervention can right these wrongs, and finally put a complete stop to all of the continuing injustices that the Church of England’s safeguarding policies and practices perpetuate.

We write to inform you that victims of sexual abuse at the hands of the Church of England are now receiving ‘Cease and Desist’ letter from Farrer & Co., stating that complaints about the conduct of the Archbishops’ Council and other officers amount to acts of harassment. At the same time, the Archbishops claim that Non-Disclosure Agreements’ have no place in the Church of England in safeguarding disputes. Yet they continue to be used.

Attempts made to discover how much the ‘Cease and Desist’ letters have cost the charity, how many victims are being persecuted with threats of police action, legal costs if they persist in complaining, and whether or not all the members of the Archbishops’ Council are even aware of who is writing in their name as trustees, have been firmly rebuked. Audit Committee members have been told to mind their own business.

Recently, Andrew Selous, a former Member of Parliament and a Church Estates Commissioner responsible for answering other MP’s questions about the Church of England, faced some testing questions on safeguarding matters in mid-December 2023. In response to questions raised by Sir Ben Bradshaw in the House of Commons over serious concerns relating to the conduct of the Archbishops’ Council in safeguarding and Mr. William Nye’s treatment of victims of abuse, the Secretary General of the Archbishops’ Council and General Synod responded to Mr. Selous as follows: 

Dear Andrew

You passed on some further questions received from Sir Ben Bradshaw about the Archbishops’ Council’s interim support scheme for victims and survivors of Church-related abuse.

The Scheme was developed to assist victims and survivors in urgent need and at point of crisis. It is operated by the Archbishops’ Council (AC), and responds to urgent requests from victims and survivors of Church-related abuse.  Neither the AC nor the Church of England more widely can support victims and survivors indefinitely; and it would be unhelpful if victims and survivors become dependent on financial assistance for the Church of England in the long term…the AC nor other Church of England bodies can take the place of the statutory benefits system. However, each application is reviewed by the Scheme panel…assessed, and awards made on an individual’s needs and circumstances on a case-by-case basis applying the terms of reference.

The National Safeguarding Team provide regular updates to the Archbishops’ Council about the Scheme, including management information.  The Scheme does not have specific performance targets in place.  The Scheme staff are developing an applicant feedback form but that is not currently in place. 

All complaints against members of staff of the National Church Institutions are logged and monitored by the Director for the business area.  Any complaints against members of the National Safeguarding Teams are monitored by the senior leadership team for recurring themes and, where necessary, to improve working practices and service delivery.  

The Scheme staff have collected feedback from applicants who have provided it, and this is also acted upon to improve the scheme delivery.  An example of this is that feedback from applicants to the Scheme have informed the recent review and amendment to the TORs, and an increase in resources in the team to manage the demands.  

I am not aware of a commitment to record and publish satisfaction levels.  We have no plans to publish this data.  Feedback on the Scheme will be used to inform and improve working practices as part of our continued commitment to listen and act on victims’ and survivors’ voices. 

Sir Ben posed various questions relating to the Archbishops’ Council’s Audit and Risk Committee (ARC).  I should note that the roles of the ARC, and of AC management are distinct. The role of the ARC is to support an organisation in fulfilling its governance and oversight responsibilities in relation to financial reporting, internal control structure, risk management systems and internal and external audit functions. It acts as a strategic oversight function that should be independent from the management functions which are responsible for the design, operation, and monitoring of the internal control structure.

The AC ARC Terms of Reference reflect that independent role of the committee. Whilst the ARC could request that an internal audit review of the Interim Support Scheme be undertaken, it would not be appropriate for the ARC to become involved in the management of the Interim Support Scheme, including any monitoring activities and decision making.  For all AC internal audit reviews that are carried out, the findings of these audits are presented to the AC ARC for review and consideration, and to note and consider potential further actions as may be appropriate based on the audit conclusions.  

I hope this is useful. 

Best wishes for Advent and Christmas, 

William Nye LVO
Secretary General.

The risk and the responsibility in safeguarding, as Mr. Nye describes it, is therefore to be passed on to the taxpayer and government, and back to the victims. Mr. Nye, as Secretary General, confirms that Church of England policy is to ultimately pass on the costs, risks and responsibility for victims of sexual abuse and harmed by its actions and processes to HM Treasury and the taxpayers. The context for this note might be treated as an unfortunate one-off lapse, were it not for a number of Diocesan Directors of Finance in the Church of England reportedly briefed by Mr. Nye that they did not need to be setting aside contingency funds in their diocesan budgets and forward planning for legal claims made by victims of abuse, as such accountability for any likely financial compensation will never happen.

As a model of governance, the Church of England has lost the trust, confidence and respect of the nation. A recent social policy survey for the University of London found church leaders to be amongst our least trusted public figures. No amount of spin, PR or propaganda can re-set this. There will be no reform or renewal of the church until the endemic truth-decay is properly addressed.