Calls for Archbishop of York’s resignation over CofE safeguarding failures

A dame who was sacked from the Church of England’s now defunct Independent Safeguarding Board (ISB) has called for the Archbishop of York to follow the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, in stepping down. 

Welby resigned last week over failures within the handling of abuse by the late John Smyth, which the Makin Review said amounted to a “cover-up” by the Church of England. There have since been calls for others to follow suit. 

Dame Jasvinder Sanghera told the Mail on Sunday that the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, also needs to go. 

She said she had repeatedly tried to boost concerns with Cottrell about safeguarding complaints and had pleaded with each Archbishops to re-open 12 cases dating from the Eighties to the early 2000s. Only one case was re-opened and he or she claims that her pleas were “ignored”.

“I sat down with each archbishops and poured my heart out, saying we want help. It went unheard – they’ve chosen to look the opposite way,” she said. 

“The real currency of leadership is transparency and trust. Sadly, Stephen [Cottrell] has not demonstrated either with survivors.

“I think stepping down is probably the most appropriate thing to do.”

She alleged that the response from the Archbishops was “appalling” and that when she sought to advocate for the needs of victims, it was “not thoroughly received”. 

“At every point, once we tried to get them to listen, we were ignored. There are people who find themselves still in place who should be held to account,” she said. 

“There were sexual, physical and emotional allegations in addition to bullying, intimidation and lots of going to the Church for a safeguarding response and being let down.

“This is about victims and survivors and doing the precise thing. These victims are still waiting for closure and compensation.

“Some of their complaints are against very senior bishops.” 

A spokeswoman for the Archbishop of York denied that he had “ignored” safeguarding concerns.

“The Archbishop has all the time taken safeguarding very seriously, particularly his commitment to victims and survivors, and he commends Dame Jasvinder’s work on this necessary area,” she said. 

“But it isn’t true to say that these victims and survivors have been ‘ignored’.

“He believes the long run of Church safeguarding needs independent structures and scrutiny while ensuring it stays everyone’s responsibility.

“The Archbishop deeply regrets the impact on victims following the disbandment of the ISB, which was a call taken collectively by the Archbishops’ Council. This was attributable to a breakdown in relations with independent members.”

In a hugely controversial move, the ISB was disbanded last 12 months and Dame Jasvinder was sacked with its two other members, Steve Reeves and acting Chair Meg Munn.

The decision was taken by the Archbishops’ Council which said on the time that working relationships with two ISB members had “broken down”. 

In scathing comments to Synod soon after, Dame Jasvinder claimed they were sacked because “we were too independent”.

“We did our job too well and when I’m being told, and Steve is being told, that we’re too survivor-led and too survivor-focused, I feel the Church has an issue,” she said. 

Reeves also addressed Synod on the time, saying that when the Archbishops’ Council talks of independence, they don’t mean it in the way in which that “you and I and the typical person on the street means independence”.

“They mean semi-detached, not independent,” he said.

Archbishop Cottrell, who’s the second most senior figure within the Church of England, has rejected calls for any more resignations after Welby stepped down last Tuesday. 

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Archbishop Cottrell said that Welby’s resignation was enough “because he has resigned for the institutional failings”, and people involved within the cover-up were “not bishops”.