WARNING WHO?

Who is actually responsible for Safeguarding in the Church of England? "Everyone!" is we trust the reply of all those involved in its work and ministry, but what's the legal situation? Who carries the can - individual clergy & bishops? corporate bodies such as synods or councils? national or local bodies? The Charity Commission is focussed on "Trustees" but which Trustees and at which level?

A recent case has highlighted for us an issue that is going to be hard to grapple with, both legally and practically, though we believe that Faithful Responsibility provides a framework for resolving this.

To skip the background to this case, jump to here.

BACKGROUND

The Charities Commission have issued Formal Warnings to the dioceses of Chelmsford and Liverpool (click the links to see the documents/websites)

over their handling of a Safeguarding case (and the CofE's response) Two key phrases (my highlights) in the Warnings are:

"...the trustees failed to consider or investigate the complaint..." and "...There were insufficient processes and procedures in place to ensure that the trustees have adequate oversight of safeguarding and protecting those who come into the charity, including through appropriate reporting and monitoring."

The written response from Liverpool was short and accepting but the accompanying video was similar to the longer response from Chelmsford which, whilst respectful of the requirements, is both robust and also thought provoking. In this post, I want to look particularly at these quotes from the Chelmsford statement: "Operational management of cases is delegated to experienced safeguarding professionals and those with executive responsibilities, supported by the National Safeguarding Team and statutory authorities in relevant cases..." and this: "We are aware that greater Trustee oversight of individual cases may also have implications for plans to move towards greater independence of safeguarding in the Church of England..."

THE DILEMMA

That the Commission have sent the Warning to the dioceses involved is interesting because the Diocese are not the charity. The Diocesan Board of Finance is the charity, which has its own trustees and is separate to the Diocesan Synod, Bishops Leadership Team and Bishops Council. The National Safeguarding Team reports to Archbishops Council, which is, in legal terms, independent of the dioceses involved.

The associated issue in safeguarding is thus, what is the charity - the Diocese or the Parish (noting that not all parishes are currently registered charities though most will be by 2031, and they are all still subject to the Commissions rules and regulation)?

In the case discussed above, the following people/bodies are known or believed to have been involved, noting that creating a timeline and complete story from the various reports on 2 allegations is not possible:

1. An allegation was made to "senior clergy" including the Archbishop of York, who had been the alleged perpetrator's diocesan bishop. It is alleged that the Archbishop knew this before the alleged perpetrator took up a new position.

2. An allegation, it is not clear which, was made to Chelmsford diocese and passed to the National Safeguarding Team.

3. An allegation, probably also from Chelmsford diocese and which may be the same as #2 was, possibly, made initially to a journalist and then to a vicar who passed it to an archdeacon and from there it ended up with the National team.

4. The victim involved in #3 also tried to initiate a CDM (Clergy Discipline Measure) action in Chelmsford Diocese, who were supportive, but this was denied by an independent judge, the Deputy President of Tribunals.

5. The victim involved in #3 also reported the matter to the Police who conducted inquiries but did not proceed with a case.

6. Whilst Channel 4  claimed that the Crown Appointments Commission were not told of the allegations before making an appointment, the Church of England response was that the Commission met before the allegations were received.

7. Liverpool diocese received the reports but it is not clear when.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS TO PERCEPTION

1. Bishops are trained in how to respond to press or regulatory questions on safeguarding - the reason bishops don't get involved these days is because they've been (correctly) told not to, not because they don't care. This could have helped with the C4 documentary, where a robust response, as framed by the bishops of Chelmsford and Liverpool would have been advantageous.

2. The Archbishops Council sits down with the Charities Commission and explains how the church works (or doesn't). I accept that this is an impossible task as who the Trustees are in any situation is unclear to the church but it would be nice to know they'd tried.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS TO REALITY

1. The government sets up a statutory Safeguarding body covering all religious and voluntary organisations. This has been suggested by the Children's Commissioner for Wales and has its attractions - it is obviously 'independent' - but it's unclear if there is any appetite for this in government.

2. The church rationalises its structures so it becomes a single charity. This would have a similar effect as #1 but, given that 'simply' merging two parishes into one can take decades, it's unlikely to happen.

3. The church establishes a safeguarding organisation that is operationally independent of the leadership at all levels. This is what we are attempting to do with Faithful Responsibility: The dioceses are responsible for ensuring that parishes, schools, etc., follow the national guidelines and for recommending improvements. An independent organisation, responsible to and funded by the national church, undertakes the management of safeguarding concerns. This means that trustees maintain responsibility for the process but they don’t manage or do the actual work of investigating safeguarding concerns. An analogy is the Trustees buy, insure and maintain the van, and provide approved Maps and a copy of the Highway Code, but hire a skilled logistics group to get the goods to the correct destination.