THE Church of England must move much faster in its efforts to overhaul safeguarding, the Charity Commission reports. The current implementation of reform is being pursued with “insufficient urgency and pace”, it says.
A press release issued by the Commission on Friday says that the Archbishops’ Council “must rapidly speed up the delivery of safeguarding improvements” and “close gaps in its approach to handling complaints”.
The recent independent safeguarding structures agreed by the General Synod in February (News, 11 February) needs to be implemented inside 18 months, it says: a 12 months earlier than is usually recommended under the present plan. In the mean time, “robust interim measures” are needed to maintain people protected.
The warning is an element of a Regulatory Action Plan issued by the Charity Commission, after the publication of the Makin review. The plan was informed by the Wilkinson review of the demise of the Church’s Independent Safeguarding Board (News, 11 December 2023), and Professor Alexis Jay’s report Future of Church Safeguarding report (News, 21 February 2024), in addition to information provided by the Archbishops’ Council, diocesan bishops, and diocesan boards of finance.
“Public debate in regards to the Church’s approach to safeguarding following publication of the Makin Review — and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s resignation over the problem — exacerbated regulatory concerns that progress towards safeguarding improvements identified in the varied independent reports was not happening with sufficient pace,” the statement says.
“There is insufficient urgency and pace in implementing responses to past safeguarding reviews, and the present approach to doing so is fragmented and overly complex. For example, the Council’s current timescale of 2028 to pass the essential laws to implement independent safeguarding is simply too slow, representing a four-year gap because the publication of the Jay Review.”
The Commission also expressed concern that the Church didn’t treat allegations of abuse from an adult not assessed to be vulnerable as a safeguarding issue. “The Commission’s guidance is evident that trustees must take reasonable steps to guard from harm all individuals who come into contact with their charity.”
The Commission had “found no evidence of mismanagement or misconduct by the trustees of the Archbishops’ Council”, it continued, and recognised that progress had been made lately. “However, the Commission has made it clear that it expects the Archbishops’ Council to take all steps inside its powers to implement outstanding safeguarding reforms at a much faster pace.”
In the mean time, the trustees should “facilitate interim arrangements sufficient to handle identified safeguarding risks until the legislative changes are in place”, the statement says. “These should reflect the Commission’s guidance to trustees in addition to Church policy and procedure.”
The Commission has also told the Archbishops’ Council to discover any safeguarding risks that may require interim non-legislative measures.
In response, the Archbishops’ Council has said that it plans to determine an interim independent scrutiny body for Church. The Commission also acknowledged the recent appointment of Dame Christine Ryan as executive chair of the Church’s Safeguarding Structures Programme Board to guide work on the structural changes agreed by the Synod (News, 30 September).
The chief executive of the Charity Commission, David Holdsworth, said on Friday that it was time for the Church of England “to maneuver from review to reform, and from debate to delivery”.
“Everyone recognises that improving safeguarding is an ongoing journey, but within the Archbishops’ Council’s case the progress on that journey should be made in greater, bolder steps, informed by the experience of victims and survivors.”
Progress could be monitored, he said. “The Commission will monitor the charity’s progress against our Regulatory Action Plan, and reserve all regulatory options for the longer term if sufficient progress just isn’t made at pace.”
