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

By Anon & Friends

No. 5: Reaching Towards Truth and Justice

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.

From: Archbishop Justin

To:      Survivors Representative

July 2024 

Thank you for your recent email dated 16 July 2024 and I am grateful for you taking the time to write to both myself and Archbishop Stephen. Stephen is currently away on holiday, but we didn’t want that to delay a response to you. 

Following the termination of the contracts of the ISB members, the Archbishops’ Council have sought to ensure the survivors you reference are being cared for. As you know, it has not been a straightforward process to establish contact with all of them and understandably some have been hesitant to engage.

For several months support and advocacy has been available to these individuals through FearFree and I understand that many have made extensive use of this service. You may be aware that we now have the framework in place so that appropriate independent reviews of cases can be provided as was set out to the General Synod in GS Mis 1393.  Whilst the survivors have requested their engagement is kept confidential, there are some who wish their review to take place, and these will shortly be commissioned. I hope these reviews will be part of a process which allows the individuals to be both heard and to bring a certain level of closure to the trauma and abuse they have suffered.

My hope is that others who to date have not had the confidence to engage in this work, will do so in the future. But of course, trust must be earnt, and this is something both Stephen and I, along with the Archbishops’ Council are acutely aware of. 

I note the point in your penultimate paragraph around suicide ideation which is deeply distressing. As the names of those in the group are unknown to me, if you have concerns about any individuals, please can I ask you to report this to the appropriate statutory service if you haven’t done so already.

There is no room for complacency within our structures around safeguarding and as you will be aware, the General Synod mandated the group who authored The Future of Church Safeguarding, to report back in February 2025 with further analysis and recommendations which I look forward to engaging with.

I am very grateful for you taking the time to write. With best wishes,  Justin

Again, very little, if anything above, is true, or bears any relation to reality. The “ISB-11” are unanimous that they have been left without independent support, and continue to be denied the reviews they were promised. More recent concerns and abuses have included:

1. Members of Archbishops’ Council repeatedly lying to General Synod.
2. Stephen Cottrell lying to Synod about the summary closure of the ISB.
3. Stephen Cottrell lying about a promised independent review.
4. The continued perpetuation of abuse and the re-abuse of victims.
5. Constant delays in reviews.
6. Cover-ups of corruption and incompetence.
7. The total lack of transparency on legal expenditure.

The Lead Bishop for Church of England Safeguarding has no relevant professional qualifications or externally validated training in the field. Nor does her work fall under any independent or statutory regulation body. Her role is to be a spokesperson for the Archbishops’ Council, who in turn continue to perpetrate the main abuse. Most people inside the Church of England and at General Synod will be under the impression she has accountability and some recognised training. She has none. Given that nobody could ever teach in a school, practice medically or in law, the claim to be the “Lead Bishop…” of anything is a likely deception, and especially in safeguarding.

Under the circumstances, with no regulation, training, accountability, transparency, professional standards or any other safety mechanism one would expect from a public body, we ask for the following. That all responsibility for safeguarding is stripped from the Church of England forthwith, and transferred to an independent, regulated body, who will be funded by the churches and other stakeholders (as in other industries). This will enable:

1. Minimum standards of compliance be applied to the Church of England with immediate effect in data compliance, employment rights, financial oversight, charity regulation, etc.
2. Minimum standards of trustee compliance are made mandatory and statutory in every sphere of Church of England governance, especially in relation to conflicts of interest policies and registers of interest.
3. Law firms and auditors engaged by dioceses, National Church Institutions, Lambeth Palace and Archbishops’ Council must be changed regularly, and the contract open to properly regulated competition.
4. The Church of England complies with the Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights, especially the right to a fair trial. At present, like the Post Office, clergy and others can be taken to court by one person who will be, simultaneously, the complainant, investigator, prosecutor, judge, jury, bishop and pastor. This is not justice. This is Orwellian – the Church of England being “a law unto itself”. Clergy have committed suicide facing this (see: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57780729). 

We are writing to you as our Member of Parliament, since the cost of all of this is now increasingly falling on the taxpayer in any case, as victims of abuse cannot secure reparation, justice and closure as a result of the continued actions of the Church of England.

The NHS and mental health services are under severe threat, and social services are hugely overstretched. Yet the Church of England’s opacity of operation and dishonest dealings with victims of abuse is only adding to the burdens that the UK taxpayer is being asked to carry. 

Furthermore, it is unconscionable that Bishops – unelected, and only from one home nation – should be privileged with seats in the legislature (House of Lords) and able to claim expenses and other ‘perks’, when they themselves are under no form of mandatory, statutory or professional regulation, and exempt from laws that bind others.

We are firmly of the belief that these matters now need statutory intervention, and the Church of England – with a £10 billion endowment, and in receipt of millions of pounds of Gift Aid tax revenues every year – must comply with the law like any other public body. If it will not do so, then the government should consider withdrawing its privileged, charitable and established status forthwith.

Truth and Justice are no longer to be found within the Church of England hierarchy. Its leadership have opted to speak from a post-truth PR platform, and operate outside any normative standards of justice, and sits aloof from any accountability and transparency. We believe it is not safe practice or good stewardship to donate to any charity that is run like this. Such an operation should not be funded or supported by donors. Weighed and found wanting on the scales of justice, only externally imposed reform can save the Church of England from itself. And doing even more damage to so many others. These ongoing abuses must be stopped at once, and for all.